Primary | TeachingEnglish | British Council


	Primary Ideas, materials and tips for teaching younger learners. The Primary tips content here comes from our site for Language Assistants.

Primary

Ideas, materials and tips for teaching younger learners. The Primary tips content here comes from our site for Language Assistants.

LearnEnglish kids


3.51064	Using songs On the British Council’s site for young learners (LearnEnglish Kids) you can find a wide range of songs to use with your students.
3.411505	Using traditional songs You can find many traditional songs for use in the primary classroom on the LearnEnglish Kids website.
3.63793	Using videos You can watch videos and listen to children talk about their lives on the British Council’s NEW LearnEnglish Kids site for young learners.
3.45045	Weather The weather is a fun and enjoyable topic for children. On the LearnEnglish Kids website you can find many materials to practise this topic.
3.650405	What's Your News? What news do your students have today? Watch and listen to British children explaining their latest news, having fun and talking about their interests on the What's Your News? series of short videos on LearnEnglish Kids.


3.83019	A Handful of Poems by Tony Mitton The four poems in this collection are all by Tony Mitton, and the materials are the first to be designed by BritLit for the age range 9 – 11 year olds. Each collection includes text and audio of the poem as well as learning activities, teachers' notes and visual support.
4.075	Down by the Cool of the Pool “Down by the Cool of the Pool” is a rhyming text written by Tony Mitton. Join Frog and his farmyard friends as they dance around the pool.
4.493245	Jack and the Beanstalk This BritLit Primary Kit has been designed for use with any version of the tale. The kit integrates a range of mixed-ability cross-curricular materials within the context of the tale in order to actively engage children and develop their cognitive, linguistic and social skills.
4.09886	Little Red Riding Hood All around the world children love listening to and reading fairy tales in their mother tongue. Whatever the reason, fairy tales provide both children and teachers with a familiar starting point from which to explore stories in a second language.
4.30928	Old MacDonald Had a Farm The kit includes ideas to engage the children in the tale in addition to a host of activities to exploit the story and to extend the topic of farms and farm animals.


4.015875	Carol Read: The secret of working with children In February 2012, Carol Read gave a workshop at the British Council in Warsaw. Her talk covered a range of primary issues and she gave a number of invaluable tips about teaching primary students. Watch her talk here.
3.385715	Listening for young learners In this article I will briefly focus on how I try to develop listening skills with our young learners who are learning English as an additional language.
3.61017	Picture books for all Can I hear you tutting? "Picturebooks for all? But aren't picturebooks for babies and small children?" There are some wonderful examples of picturebooks, often in board book format, which are specifically for babies and small children, but picturebooks are not just for babies.
4.117115	Starting primary Teaching at primary level can cause many teachers, particularly those who have trained to teach adults, a variety of problems and generate a range of worries.
3.707145	Stirrers and settlers for the primary classroom Teaching in the primary classroom is very different from teaching teens or adults because of the amount of energy children have! Knowing how to channel this energy, or when to ‘stir' and when to ‘settle' children will help you achieve balanced lessons without children becoming over-excited on the one hand or bored on the other.


5	My favourite book Introduction I decided to write a tip about using storybooks as in the forum I frequently refer to storybooks as being a way to approach topics and introduce vocabulary with young learners. I’ve detailed a few general tips to
4.066665	Lesson plans Why should I write a plan? You may find that during your time as an assistant you are called upon to not only assist the teacher but to actually teach the English lesson yourself. If this is the case the best option is to be prepared.
4.11111	Maintaining concentration with young learners Introduction Following on from discussions on the forum, this primary tip is designed to help you with keeping children interested in your class. There are so many reasons why their minds could wander and you find that you
3.933335	Homework Introduction Homework is fundamental for learners to make effective progress. Learning a language takes time and time is
4.333335	Drawing and colouring in the primary classroom Introduction Art is an important part of the young learners’ development at school and can also be part of their English learning. Colouring shouldn’t and needn’t however become simply a means to fill in time. Here we look at


A Christmas Lesson
All about me
At the beach
At the funfair
Calendar Based Activities
Chinese New Year
Clothes
Colours: What is pink ?
Creepy Crawlies
Drama with children 1
Drama with children 2
Drawing and colouring in the primary classroom
Easter
English Clubs and Corners
Evaluating Progress
Fairy Tales
Farm animals
First Lessons
Food I like/don't like
Fruit and Vegetables