1. Back to Basics: Teaching primary school kids
By: Oksana Kharenko

2. The main point
“The main objective of teaching young learners is not to produce geniuses, but to develop boundless abilities of a personality thus to add more happiness to the existing world.”

3. Recommendations for teachers
Teachers must use different kinds of pictures and visuals
Use method of Total Physical Response
Use different teaching games
Vary the activities throughout class
Use activities that require class repetition
Provide positive motivation

4. Recommendations Continued
Use communicative approach
Use activities that allow children to develop creative thinking
Drawing, craftwork, dramatization
Use authentic materials
Songs, rhymes, chants
Use activities that correspond to your class level

5. 4 basic teaching skills Listening Reading Speaking Writing Vocabulary
Grammar

6. Listening
Listening is the ability to comprehend and understand other English speakers
Start with the basics of listening then work your way to higher levels of listening
Teachers need to speak mostly English since they don’t hear English a lot out of their lesson
Phonetics
Example:
Pattern
sentence- What is your name?
word- what
sound- /w/
*children must repeat vice versa

7. Reading and Listening games & activities
Listen and Do (clap, mime, matching, drawing)
Listen and Repeat (songs, poems, rhymes, doing actions, chants)
Listen and understand (fill in the blank, sentences in order, find the incorrect word)

13. Reading
Reading is a skill that should be trained everyday through demonstration and speech patterns.
Text level should be increased as students master reading.
Students should aim for perfect intonation and phonetic levels.
Students should be able to find new information through reading by a full understanding of the text.
Reading should be done everyday and used to train the other skills.
The same activities can be used to train reading as are used to train listening

19. Vocabulary/Speaking
Children possess A1 level of English after primary school
The concept of teaching vocabulary is providing relevant speech in everyday communication

20. Steps for vocabulary training
Introduction- a teacher should not translate but use visuals, songs, rhymes, miming, gestures
Training- Form an automatic pattern on a phrasal level
Communicative practice- Must provide this language practice through different skills not just speaking

21. Vocabulary games & activities
Vocabulary Training
Listen and repeat
Play vocabulary game
Solve crossword and puzzle
Find the right word and read it
Write the words with missing letters
Draw the words
Fill in the blanks in the sentences
Put the correct word instead of the picture
Look at the picture and express your opinion
Guess what is hidden behind the frame
Communicative Practice
Describe a picture
Speak in pairs
Re-tell the text or stories
Write a short story
Role games

26. Writing
Start teaching writing with teaching letters, words, sentences, short stories
The aim of teaching writing is for students to practice handwriting, spelling, and written speech.

27. Writing activities and games
Handwriting Exercises
-Match capital letter with the small letter
-Put the words in alphabetical order
-find the letter among the words
-Match the words to the picture
-make up a word out of given letters
-decode the word
Spelling Exercises
-write out: the words with the same pronunciation but different spelling (for, four), words starting with B or C, colors, seasons
-fill in the gap
-language games: crosswords, puzzles, word search, word scramble
-translation
- dictation: highest level of activities

28. Writing activities and games continued
Written Speech Exercises
-make up story using the given words
-write a letter (First introduce the letter pattern then finish the letter followed by writing their own letter)
-describe object and people
-create short stories
-write an essay (History of Lesky)

33. Grammar The aim of teaching grammar is to form grammar competence
Grammar competence is the ability to use grammar patterns in oral and written speech and understand it while listening or reading.
Primary school only teaches the basic grammar structure to provide a basis for further understanding.

34. Grammar Training steps
Reception (introduction)
Listen and show, listen and clap, listen and point, look and choose, listen and repeat
Accuracy (training)
Complete, replace, look and say, look and answer, look and guess, play a game, fill in the gaps
Fluency (communicative practice)
Describe, talk, retell, compose, write, dramatize

39. Biblioghaphy
Биркун Л.В., Колтко Н.О. Комунікативні завдання для початкової школи: перший рік навчання. В 2 ч. – Х.: Вид. група “Основа”, 2003.
Don Dallas, Linda Pelham. New Let’s Learn English 1.- Longman, 2007.
Пахомова Т.Г.: Методичні тези.- Черкаси.- 64с., 2009
Пахомова Т.Г., Вакуленко О.О.: Навчаємо молодших. Teach and Enjoy. – Черкаси, 2006
Паценкер І.Б. Серія “English for Me”. Комплект наочних посібників для дошкільних закладів і початкової школи. – “Ранок”, 2009.
Posnayko. Kids’ magazine.
Reference guide for the teacher of English:-Київ: Редакція
загальнопедагогічних газет, 2004