School is out! What shall we do about the kids?
Camps, nannies or grannies – what have you opted for this summer?
english
Summer reading in English for all ages!
Here we recommend some books to read with your family in English.
Help! There is a stranger in the English classroom!!
Who are these strangers who float in and out of the English classroom? How can we get to know them?
Private English classes for children: which teacher?
Everyone agrees that private tuition is always beneficial, be it for languages, maths or music. But when it comes to choosing a teacher for private English classes for children, some non-English speaking parents have trouble deciding on whom to take on to help their children become fluent. What is more important: that the teacher knows enough Spanish to be able to communicate easily with the parents, or that the teacher is able to make himself/herself understood to the children despite the language barrier? Questions for candidates As I have little teaching experience myself I thought it best to ask the experts for some advice on how to find the right teacher. Paloma Irving, owner of Kids in Madrid and Native Translations, offered the following checklist of questions as guidelines for parents when interviewing potential candidates: How long have you been teaching? What age-range do you most enjoy teaching? How do you handle a “bored” or “unresponsive” or “hyperactive” student? How would you encourage children to continue learning English when not in class? What happens if I need to cancel a class or vice-versa? What other teaching experience or relevant experience do you have? (babysitting, charity work, etc?) It is also worth considering whether the teacher is qualified or not, whether he/she can provide references and whether he/she follows a specific methodology. Some parents prefer the candidates to meet the children before they decide on whom to take on as a teacher, whilst other parents make the decision without involving their children. Either way it is important to establish formal relationships between teacher/parents and teacher/pupils as the children will react positively to this dynamic and will be more inclined to take the classes at home seriously. Teachers’ expectations Most parents have high expectations of what their children can achieve through private tuition; however few parents realize that the native teachers who offer private lessons also have expectations! From anecdotal expectations such as a suitable teaching space to more serious requirements such as no interruptions or distractions, there are several key points which parents should consider in order to help get the most out of the experience. Communication between parents and teachers can be problematic if there is a language barrier. Many non-English speaking parents choose to find teachers via language academies so as to ensure a third-party interpreter who facilitates communication between the adults so that everyone understands the needs & guidelines of the private tuition agreement. According to Brigid McAleer from McAleer Solutions, teachers who give private tuition to children expect fluid collaboration and open communication with the parents. Rather than being impatient to see results, parents should be aware that children all have different learning capabilities and that progress isn’t as easily measured in language learning as it is when learning a musical instrument. Brigid McAleer also highlights the importance of a dedicated space for the class to take place in and that the children have all their study material ready so that the class can begin punctually. Classes at home can be taught in groups but only if the children are the same age and have a similar grasp of the language. Sometimes parents ask a teacher to give classes to siblings of different ages. In this case Brigid McAleer suggests that time be divided between children by age, generally the older the child, the more time with the teacher. One of the added advantages of having a native speaker teaching your children is that they learn more than just a language in class – the pupils also receive first-hand experience of cultural differences and reflections from the teachers who are often still learning the difference between churros and porras, or why Spaniards love embutido so much! Follow our blog to stay up to date with the latest events in the life of Madrid.
New Year’s Resolutions
If, like me, you always start each New Year with a handful of resolutions but find that by mid-February they are all but forgotten, how about sharing these resolutions with your children? We all know how good children are at reminding you of promises you’ve made, especially when they are involved as well! Making bilingualism possible at home is a group effort. How can we expect our children to speak English if we don’t set an example? Forget resolutions like joining a gym or watching less telly – why not make bilingualism at home your resolution for 2013? In July I made a few suggestions about how to keep your children engaged with my article: English over the summer holiday. Why not try them out at home over the next few months? Draw up a motivation chart like this wonderful one here New Year Resolutions Chart New Year Chart and work out some fun family prizes that you can treat yourselves to once you have worked hard to reach your goal. Remember to keep language learning easy and natural as your kids have quite a tough schedule at school already. Here are a few more suggestions: New Year’s Resolutions for Preschoolers We will learn how to count up to five We will learn the colours of the rainbow We will learn five animals and five shapes New Year’s Resolutions for School Age Kids We will play some indoor or outdoor games in English We will listen to English language nursery rhymes and try to sing them together (all of us, not just the kids!) We will count in English when buying things at the shops, getting our pocket money or purchasing tickets for the cinema. We will watch our favourite Disney films in English with our parents. New Year’s Resolutions for Teens We will go to social events in English such as pop concerts, cinema or theatre. We will send text messages in English – hopefully without causing too much confusion! We will read teenage literature in English (parents: if your English isn’t good enough to read then why not choose books that are available in Spanish as well? Go on – teenage literature isn’t as bad as you think! Please feel free to contact me if you want some advice on where to start: info@littlefingersfirst.com). As for me, my New Year’s resolution is to brush up on the subjunctive tense in Spanish… I’ve been here for 13 years and still get it wrong. Wish me luck! Follow our blog to stay up to date with the latest events in the life of Madrid.
Top tips to have fun at home with English games
Can English games be played by Spanish children and their non-English speaking parents? The answer is “yes”! From playing “snap” with picture cards, to outdoor games such as British Bulldog, there is no reason to be language-shy when having fun! Games for infants “I spy” – I play a bilingual version of “I spy” where I say “Veo, veo the door” and the children have to shout “puerta”. This basic game helps with vocabulary recognition. With children who have a more advanced understanding of English, the game can be played the other way around – “I spy la puerta”, to which they have to find the English equivalent. “hot and cold” – this simple game has children looking for an item that has been hidden in the room. When they get close to where the item has been hidden you let them know by saying “hot, hot, hot” and when they are far away then you repeat “cold, cold, cold”. Once they have got the hang of the game more vocabulary can be introduced like “closer”, “up”, “down”, “underneath” etc. Games for primary-age children “Chinese whispers” – this is a fun game to play with a group of primary-aged children. Get the group to sit in a circle. You whisper a simple sentence in the ear of the child nearest to you (“Today is Monday”) and then that child whispers what she heard to the person sitting next to her and so forth until the whispered sentence returns to you. The likelihood is that you will hear something rather different to the original phrase! “Mr Crocodile” – have the children stand in line and ask them to take one step forward if they can answer Mr Crocodile’s question correctly. Then stand ten paces in front of the children and ask them to repeat “Mr Crocodile, Mr Crocodile, can I cross your river?” to which you reply saying “Only if you are wearing something red/blue/stripy/spotty/etc.”. The first one to reach you is the winner. Other versions of the game have all the children wearing “red” walk towards you and those not wearing red running as quickly as possible to avoid being caught by “the crocodile” (you). Any child you catch is out of the game. The last child to survive is the winner and becomes the next Mr Crocodile. KIM games appropriately named considering the webpage that hosts this blog (!), the acronym KIM stands for “Keep in Memory”. The two most popular KIM games I play with children are the Scouts version or the Spot the difference version. a) “Scouts KIM game”: Children playing this game must be able to read and write. I set out several items on a table and cover them with a cloth. I then usually show flash cards which include all the items on the table plus a few more similar things (it could be fruit, shapes, tools, toys, – whatever vocabulary the children are learning at the time). Once I am sure the children know all the words, I then uncover the cloth for 30 seconds so that the children can see what is on the table. Once the items have been covered again I ask them to write down what they saw. Ideally the children will write their list in English but if it comes out in Spanish that is OK as long as the rest of the group help them remember what the item remembered is called in English. The child who remembers the most items in English is the overall winner, but other winners include the child who remembered the most items (even if they write the list in Spanish) and the child who helps his classmates remember the names in English. b) “Spot the difference KIM game”: Here I ask the children to spend a few minutes looking around the room we are in. I then ask them to leave the room for a couple of minutes. I rearrange the room (and sometimes change something about myself too – take my glasses off or put a cardigan on) and ask them to come back in the room. From youngest to oldest I ask them to spot one difference at a time. One-to-one games Quite a few board games can easily be used to practice English at home. I have found dominoes, Snakes & Ladders and ludo excellent for practicing counting in English; whilst “Who’s Who” and “Operation” are always fun to play, especially when your children are learning the parts of the body at school. The KIM games and the “hot and cold” game can be adapted for one-to-one use too. I recently signed up to the mailing list of homeenglishteacher.com and I really can’t recommend it highly enough. The author shares my opinion that it doesn’t matter if you speak to your child in English with an accent – who cares? As long as you and your child can speak good, proper and correct English, the accent really isn’t such a big deal. Go on, what are you waiting for? Follow our blog to stay up to date with the latest events in the life of Madrid.
How to keep your children speaking English during the holidays
If your children see English more as a subject at school than a life skill they are learning then there is the chance that, come the holidays, all the language learnt will remain frozen at the back of our children’s minds during the summertime.
Going to the doctor as a foreigner in Spain
Have you gone to the doctor in Madrid? Being a foreigner in Spain is pretty easy when you have the right information, in this post we share an experience