THE DAY I TAUGHT A LANGUAGE

​After a lot of preparing yesterday, today finally came to help Jane teach English to French primary school children. I was very nervous - as you can imagine! I wanted to use my experience of Drama Games and techniques of learning to be able to teach English. 

I came up with a lesson plan, yesterday, and showed it to Jane, she loved it so much that she asked me to come along today. The lesson consisted of greeting each other in basic English, practicing animals, number and time, and colours. Today, we did not use all my games, as we are keeping some that work better for the younger children on Thursday and Friday. 

Jane grabbed the children's focus by singing "Head, Shoulders, Kees and Toes", then we went around the circle and introduced ourselves and asking "what is your name?" the mispronunciation of some words was adorable! Then we learned some colours, and played with coloured balls. My idea was to pass the ball around the circle - encouraging eye contact, which builds team work and confidence - while repeating "I have a blue ball, I have a red ball" ... etc. This taught the children to recognise colours and build team work. To get the children used to eye contact and colours, we went around the circle describing eye colour "I have blue eyes, you have brown eyes ... I have brown eyes, you have brown eyes ...." etc. Then we went to the gym hall and played "What's the time Mr. Wolf?" Every time a number was called from Mr. Wolf, the children replied "big or small" referencing the size of step they should take. This taught the children sizes and numbers. 

It was a wonderful afternoon, I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed practicing my French with the children and helping them with their English; they responded very well to repeating what I had said or asking me questions - which was great. Plus, they were very understanding that I am not fluent in French!