You know what, I was thinking that it was gonna be harder to conduct online lessons with the little ones, but I was definitely wrong… First of all, surprisingly, they are all pretty much used to be online -I guess that’s why we call them digital natives- and as the academic stuff is not that busy in this level, the lessons are just going very well so far (knock on the wood)…
As I said in my first blog post about designing online lessons for very young learners, the secret is to keep things interactive.
If you haven’t seen my first blog post, please click here to have a look at our first 30 minutes online lesson plan for 4 to 6 year olds which was actually pretty interactive and fun, too. Also, I shared some useful tips that may help you to have better control over the whole online lesson experience.
So, here comes the second 30 minute online lesson plan…
We have started our lesson with greetings and a hello song, just like we do at the school. I preferred to sing the song by myself, with the kids but if you want you can play a song of course.
Right after this, it was our story routine. Kids have their own mini story books (a week before in their English activities program mail, I asked parents to help kids read the story before the lesson and be sure that kids have the books with them during our lesson). I showed my story cards and kids were holding theirs; I read a line and asked them to repeat after me. It is better to have them repeat after you so that they don’t get distracted. If you have a short story, you may want to ask some questions about the story, too. But normally I don’t do it (except the very first time) as I don’t want to break the flow.
After reading time, I asked kids to get 4 coloring pencils: Red, blue, green and yellow. They rushed and found pencils and showed them to me.
This part was just for fun. Our kids already know these colors.
There is a very old song that I used to use (12 years ago!), I found that song in some of the files and remembered that it was actually a very nice warmer. I don’t remember what course book song it was but here it is 🙂
So, we danced!
After this dancing activity, I wanted to talk about clothing -as it was our new unit- so I showed them flashcards (yes, just like in the classroom:) and first asked them what they were and them had them repeat after me.
“It’s a coat. It’s a coat. What color is it? It’s a yellow coat. Say again: It’s a yellow coat.”
As the conclusion, I asked them one by one:
“What are you wearing Irem? Is this a t-shirt or a jumper? what color is it?”
When I got the answers from them, I made the rest of the class repeat the sentence.
“Irem is wearing a grey t-shirt” Say it one more time: “Irem is wearing a grey t-shirt!”
That’s it 🙂
And of course I ended my lesson with a huge smile on my face, telling how much I love them and sending virtual kisses through my camera ^_^
Love conquers all…
Peace!
