Bondaygee Arts & Therapy Center
Creative Soul Arts by James Purdie
Hello again. I just wanted to share with you one of my favorite ESL teaching secrets. This is how I taught my own children as they were growing up in Korea! (Yes even their first language was Korean and to a lesser extent English, since they spent the majority of their days in Kindergarten or with their Korean Aunties and cousins).
As you know, music is one of my big secrets for teaching. Music is great for all kinds of teaching really, but it works amazingly with ESL learners. I just wrote an article about my favorite Musical Movies for ESL Learning, however, for younger children there are some different recommendations. By younger kids, I mean any age before 9 years old. Several recommendations from the “Musical Movies For ESL Learning” article are great too. But there are definitely several more that fit better with younger children.
These were my Super-Star students from Kwang Nam Elementary School in Seoul. This was one of my favorite schools and experiences for sure. You can see how well my “Bondaygee ESL System” works here. Mind you the students were pretty nervous doing their little recitals and did their best to say the words as fast as possible. If you were to talk to them and normal speed they could answer with near perfect pronunciation. Click a student to hear their recitals and the “Browser Back” button to go back to start. The story about these great students can be found here at “The Amazing ESL Story”.
Important Update: The majority of beginner ESL Materials are moving here! System.Bondaygee.com
For the beginner study materials, please choose: ESL Beginners (완전초보) at: System.Bondaygee.com
Bondaygee’s English is for just about everybody. But I must admit, I had a lot of natural enthusiasm for teaching children. Much of that came from my Grandmother, who was my best teacher.
If you happen to be teaching children, make sure you’re using good games to make it fun. Please check out my “BEST ESL GAMES” page. It’s essential for good class experience.
Greetings ESL Teachers and Friends! Today I’m happy to share with you the Best ESL Games I discovered during my career as a very passionate ESL Instructor! I taught in Korea for more than ten years and my tremendous success had a lot do with the fun teaching style I used and innovated.
Great games are an excellent way of making a class exciting. It changes the entire atmosphere, (a breath of fresh air to most Asian students). I frequently used catchy music too while teaching and for lessons, in general, I always used Exciting ESL Games to make everyone feel and believe that they are having fun while learning. You won’t even have to tell them they are learning because it’s all natural fun. That’s how humans learn. Here are some of the best games I collected, polished and innovated over the years.
You will find 2 great games below, but the full list is right here: Best ESL Games List.
If you’re teaching young kids, it doesn’t have to be painful. The first thing these young students need to learn is both the Alphabet and then Phonics for each letter. The way you can do this is to divide the class into two teams, then give a marker pen to the first student of each team. Say like this, “All right, please write for me the letter ___! Go go go!!” They will love it! Trust me!
Next after they have mastered the writing of their ABC’s, change the game to focus on the Phonics. So for the phonics game say, “Please write for me the letter of the alphabet that sounds like “SSSSSSS,” or whatever you choose! It’s a great game and they love it. If you happen to have a set of velcro ABC letters, put the letters on the table. Put the stickable velcro cloth up on the white board. Then have the teams stand back and again have two team reps run for the letters, search and grab one and stick it up on the board. Or try like this, take a set of ABC cards you made, and spread them out on the table and have the kids smack their hand on the top of the card you say. Show that, the kid with the hand at the very bottom was the first!! Hahah. Also, I recommend you make these cards yourself with some A4 paper because they can get torn up fast!
When students continue to advance and there thriving, having a great time, of course you can do word spelling games on the white board with two team reps. Or have the teams spell the letters with little scrabble tiles or letter cards as a team together or individually. As the situation dictates.
My list of favorite ESL Games are as follows:
Thanks for reading this article. Give it a thumbs if you enjoyed it. Feel free to add your games or comments for future visitors. Happy teaching!! Enjoy.
Students having fun in an ESL Game. (The way it should be!)
Hello ESL Teachers and Friends. How are your classes? Would you like a little help in making it better? Try using some of these fun games to liven up your class. I taught in Korea for more than ten years and my success had a lot do with the fun teaching style I used and innovated.
Great games are an excellent way of making a class exciting. I frequently used catchy music while teaching and for lessons, in general, I always used ESL Games to make everyone feel and believe that they are having fun while they learn. Here’s some of the best games.
Can you imagine having a private ESL Class right from your smartphone or laptop? It’s happening every day now all around us! Don’t be left behind!
With technology improving so rapidly it’s becoming obvious that online teaching is the way of the future. There’s no need to waste time and money on transportation costs and the problem of finding a good, experienced teacher. As more and more Universities and hospitals utilize online education, so too will all types of learning be found through the internet. Education will flourish as the “right teacher” is just a few mouse clicks away.