ACET (Association of Children’s English Teachers)

Many thanks to everyone who came to see the fantastic Mr Thagard, and the equally voluble and fascinating Miss Uchino! It was good to welcome so many old hands, regulars, and a good few new faces as well.

Projector problems aside (oops!), both presentations went off extremely well, with plenty of songful activities being demonstrated.   All attendees will surely have enjoyed a great April motivation boost, and probably an expansion in the size of their ESL children’s music libraries!

Many thanks to Nigel for taking multiple mini-videos, which will get posted in the “Regulars Lounge,” as soon as the technical geekery gets sorted! Thanks to Miki, for supplying the photos! And finally thanks of course to Emi Uchino of Dicekey, and Devon Thangard of Super Simple Songs for making a special trip all the way down from Tokyo just for us! If only there were more hours in an afternoon…

Emi warmed up the presentation with an activity introducing the A-Z of occupations, and showed us how she incorporates sign language into her classes.

Now, a brief “from memory” run down of Devon’s presentation.

1.Using music to regulate the mood of the classroom. Using music to relax students and make them feel comfortable.

2.Using songs as a natural way to “send” children target language as an alternative to drilling/teaching it in the traditional manner.

3.Children misbehave because they don’t understand, not as commonly believed, that they lack the power to concentrate for a long period time. Lack of concentration is due to not being able to understand.

4.A warm-up “How are you” song from Super Simple CD2.  A natural and meaningful way to get students in a position to vary their responses to the How Are You question?

5.Circle making and settling down using song.

6.Do you like brocoli ice-cream, with free flashcards downloadable from the net. An absolute natural first time played winner in class with nen-chu students! Perfect, even without showing using the specific flashcards! (Banana soup more popular than anticipated, though!)

7.Vocabulary building using songs that also teach phonic sounds.

8.Elimination game based on “Catch a Tiger.”

9.Introducing writing/phonics in a fun way using shaving foam, and teams of children.  A fresh (smelling) approach!

10.Charades type activity based where the kids are given actions for nouns as part of a song, but they have to use their own orginal action or mime when expressing it to their classmates!

11.B.I.N.G.O song Super Simple style… with actions added … I think!

That’s the natural recall limit! Any other remembrances very welcome below or by email!!!

Next meeting May 10th at AMIKAS 2F as usual!