25. November 2014
The countdown to Christmas starts next week and the children in our MS/GS (4 and 5 year olds) English after school club have started making some Father Christmas advent calendars.
14. November 2014
Now what is a currant bun you may ask? It is bun that contains currants, sultanas or raisins. Chelsea buns (similar to pains aux raisins) and hot cross buns (eaten at Easter) are the most well-known varieties of currant bun eaten in the UK. In case you were wondering, currants are tiny, dark, raisins made from black grapes.
12. November 2014
This is a traditional English nursery rhyme and singing game about church bells close to the City of London. This rhyme dates back to around 1744 and may have been written about the poverty that was around London at the time (or more sinister topics!).
12. November 2014
Us British do have a reputation for talking about the weather, especially rainy weather! Now why would that be I wonder! We have quite a few nursery rhymes about it too. Rain, Rain, Go Away; Incy Wincy Spider and I hear Thunder to name a few. I am no exception, every year I introduce the weather to my English students and every time we meet I point out of the window and chant "What's the weather like today?". More often than not the response is "it's rainy, it's rainy, that's the weather today!"
11. November 2014
Well, I spent the night in Nursery Rhyme Land and you'll never guess what I saw! A cow, jumping over the moon. What a strange and magical place this is. Let's continue with our adventure. Today's Nursery Rhyme is Hey Diddle Diddle.
10. November 2014
This week I will be sharing some ideas around each of the five Nursery Rhymes, picked out by Music Bugs over in the UK. All these activities are for parents/caregivers and babies and toddlers (aged between 6 months and 3 years). I have been teaching English for over 10 years now, and for the last four of those I have been teaching baby English classes (more about why later). There are not many resources for this age range so I thought here would be a good place to start! The activities are...
06. November 2014
World Nursery Rhyme Week is in its second year. We had such fun last year during our Baby English classes that I thought this year I would share some of our ideas on the blog. The aim of Nursery Rhyme Week is to promote and celebrate the importance of nursery rhymes. They play such an important role in early childhood development by helping children to master key skills such as language and communication as well as social, physical and emotional skills. That includes children learning English...
05. November 2014
It's Bonfire night or Guy Fawkes Night over in the UK today. It is a huge historical event celebrated with huge bonfires, the burning of Guy Fawkes effigies and firework displays up and down the country. To find out more take a look here