How To Teach 2 Year Olds
A Compilation Of Tips And Ideas

Thanks

Firstly a big thank you is due to the 250 teachers who contributed to this document and whose names can be found at the bottom. Many of the ideas I received were the same in different forms, so if you are not quoted it just means I did not take anything new from your email, but your email was still useful as it reinforced the ideas and information.

In fact I had so many of the same ideas that it made me realise that 2 year old children the world over are not that different. However a teacher still has to fulfil the social expectations of the local culture because 2 year olds can repeat things at home, and a teacher can get into trouble if parents feel lesson content is inappropriate. Therefore take the ideas from this document that suit your country and leave out anything that would not be accepted there.

I did not say "Arie Farnam (the winner) says, "this" While "Shona Mutch" says "this" because it would get seriously cumbersome and could make for heavy reading. So instead I mixed everything together and give acknowledgements at the end. I hope that's OK for you all!   Top

Introduction

Do you think that two year olds are really too young to learn a foreign language?
Actually it's easier for two year olds
General characteristics of teaching two-year olds
Are immersion lessons better than using the native language?

How to teach two year olds

Be concrete, not abstract
Getting started
Routine and class openers
Total physical response
Nursery rhymes and rhythm
Puppets
Teaching games and ideas
Mystery bags and boxes
Songs
Stories
Making things
Things two year olds love
Things two year olds find funny
Teacher tips
Teaching reading and writing
Summary and Acknowledgements

Introduction

Do you think that two year olds are really too young to learn a foreign language?

I did, but not any more. My brief experience with a two and a half year old, who had "gate-crashed" my three year old class because the parents wanted him to be the next Einstein, was that not a lot was going on in there! And I didn't know what to do with him, as you could not interact with him in the same way as you can with the three year olds. But after sending out the email to you that old view is no dead and buried, never to surface again! Having received all the insight and ideas from so many teachers on the subject I now understand that two is an excellent time to start and there is so much one can do with a child that age that it makes me want to dive right into a classroom!   Top

Actually, it's easier for two year olds

There are even great advantages to learning English as a second language from age two because the children are still learning their own language and children's capacity for learning things before they are three is second to none! They will just learn English naturally alongside the other language. They also haven't reached that stage yet of embarrassment or wanting to be like other children. They are learning how to speak in general at an accelerated rate but are not self-conscious enough to distinguish between their mother tongue and a foreign language - so they can learn somewhat like a bilingual child would without inhibitions. In fact it is a superb time and rich with opportunity but needs a different approach. It is obviously more effective (as with all age groups) the more often you can meet.

Maurita's story is a typical example of how much the children can learn at this age, even when it looks like they are not participating or getting anything out of the class:

"I used to teach music to three year olds and I remember in particular one very little girl who would just sit and stare at me without singing, smiling or moving a muscle. She didn't like to take part in anything. A few months later I met her mother at a function and she said," Oh. So you are Maurita! My child spends hours in her room pretending to be you. She dances and sings at the top of her voice." This little girl knows every word of every song. I was so taken aback and realised that children don't need to physically get involved not to be taking it all in."   Top

General characteristics of teaching two year olds

This age group in the main do not really need a teacher to learn, they simply need a native speaker to play with for a considerable amount of time so that they build a relationship and find a motivation to communicate and learn the language. This is because they are still very focused on their own activities and get bored very easily unless they are pleasing themselves. They might prefer to sit out on a story time session, and you can't make them join in. It's very hard to 'teach' English nor can you get a group of them to do what YOU want. So, you follow their lead and adapt to what they're doing. It's about playing with them rather than organising them per se and allowing them to draw you into their world. It's not what you do but more that that the child is to exposed to free play in an environment where English is spoken. Two year olds will do anything to get attention. Therefore your just being there and focusing on them is enough to inspire thrills and learning extravaganzas.

Ideally you need a spacious room, lots of toys, real objects (and failing having real objects, flashcards) and little songs with lyrics that are repetitive. It may be a while before they start singing along but they will be exposed to English words and can mime with the teacher while listening.

The thing I believe that makes all the difference is NOT TO EXPECT too much of them. I don't mean in terms of what they learn, more in terms of how they behave. They won't concentrate all the time, so take lots of little breaks, change the tempo and give treats. Go for a walk...and name a few things when you are doing so even if it is nothing to do with your lesson. Do 'go to sleep' breaks…not really, just lie down and be quiet for a minute...it is amazing how it can re focus.

Never insist that the child should speak English. Language is a new thing to them and their sense of security is still strongly attached to their mother tongue. It should be fun and if you try to force them to speak you may well put them off English for life. The one thing they do not like is rules ... a more open ended approach works best where they can come in and go out of an activity at their choice.

The activities and games that they find enjoyable can be repeated in every lesson because kids at that age feel secure with their routine. Activities are best kept short; say 5-8 minutes, because little kids get bored easily. It is beneficial to give a CD with words and songs to parents and ask them to play it at home or in the car so that the child listens to the target language daily (not only when he/she is class). While two year olds most likely will not be able to concentrate and listen to a story read by a teacher, they can concentrate on real objects like propos and actions, so tell the story using hands on real objects, movement, vivid pictures, dance and music and anything that is total physical response.

Two year olds like to be in the middle of things... if you are sweeping they want to sweep, if you are cutting they want to cut, if you are dancing they want to dance. Two year olds are fabulous. They find wonder in everyday activities and are generally not afraid to try anything and they want to try everything at least once but probably more.

Two year olds vary remarkably in their ability to produce words - the gap between boys and girls can be as great as six months but they are always soaking it up. At 2 they will only have between 20 and 40 words in their own language (24mths,somewhere between 26 and 28 months, most children will have a language explosion...these are statistics, every child is very different). It's also crucial to remember that children of this age will not be able to produce many sounds and native children cannot make them either. Maturity allows sounds to be made, not teachers. Blends are a good example, often 2 and 3 year old native kids will say "fy" instead of "fly", "dink" instead of "drink", "fink" instead of "think". There are hundreds of examples, so a great deal of care should be taken not to over correct the child. The language instructor should say the word/s clearly, allow the child time to practice the word, listening to the correct form repeated and leave it at that. At 2 the child will do much better with another language if they are happy, and feel secure and accepted by the listener.

The "class" or "classes" should be short and frequent. Not always what parents want, as it's a lot of work to get the child there for 30 or 45mins. However progress will be greater with three shorter classes per week rather than one long one.

On the subject of parents it is highly recommended to have them present during class time, and it should be a necessity for at least the first few classes while the child or children build up a relationship with the teacher. Parents can stop the tears, and it lets mum reinforce at home and creates a terrific bond between mums, mums and their kids and is great for the teacher to see such a happy group.

The main thing with little ones is to make learning fun and remember that even though we think they may not be learning, they are taking everything on board. Little children have a far greater capacity to learn and remember than older students. You may wonder whether any is going in because it will not look like it on the surface and then a parent will tell you that their child has been singing a song in English at home, or suddenly the child will name a word or say something that you were not even aware that you had "taught".   Top

Are immersion lessons better than using native language?

Linguists believe that children cannot grasp the concept of other languages until at least age 3 and more likely age 4 - and then it is still a pretty abstract concept. What they understand is that different individuals speak differently. As long as a certain person only speaks to the child in a certain language, the child is unlikely to get confused. Their brains are primed to catalogue different people's speech in 'cubby holes' that eventually become different languages. In areas with very high linguistic diversity, such as parts of Africa and Oceania, it is common for children to speak as many as 4 or 5 languages. For a language teacher, this means that it is probably best to simply speak the language you are teaching and chat to the children while you play with them.

Another advantage to the language immersion approach to toddlers is that theoretically, you could do it without being able to understand the child's first language. It is undoubtedly very useful to understand the native language, because the children will very likely use it in class and may say the word you want in their first language, which let's you know they have at least understood the word or what you are saying. It is good to be able to understand them because you can tell what they want to do. As they progress and can actually say some things in English, gradually start to pretend not to understand them, in order to persuade them to try English. Blank looks and expressions of confusion are the best way, rather than, "No, that isn't correct". If you say "No" with children that little, you risk that they will misunderstand and think you are simply disagreeing with them about the content.

While immersion is probably best with two year olds, minimal use of the native language can be very useful when you get into games as the children grow. It can be an asset to be able to quickly explain a game in two sentences and then get right back to playing the game in English. This does open up possibilities for many activities and games that would otherwise be difficult or time-consuming to explain. However there are ways round this by using demonstration and mime, and by teaching key verbs and commands to the children early on in English, such as 'jump, touch, run, stop, start, go, throw' and so on.

You may be a parent or a teacher in a school where the children know you speak their language and you cannot pretend that you don't. A way round this is to use puppets and soft toys, and they only speak English. The children will want to communicate with these cute characters and this will be a major motivation for them to enter into the game of learning English.   Top

How To Teach Two Year Olds

Be concrete, not abstract
At two children will not be interested in concepts such as days of the week, or even numbers and colours, as these are too abstract. New words are best introduced with real objects first. One can always use pictures at a later stage once the children have experience the real item.

Use materials like 'plasticine' or 'play dough'. At this age children cannot draw, but they love to squish!! Tell stories where you pass round an item...an orange, a ball, a battery powered drill without the drill bit or battery, or anything that has an interest of its own, i.e. can be bounced, eaten, sniffed, heard, felt or tasted. Make noises and bring in items that make noises, jars, shakers, tins and so on. Use music, movement and dance. Use simple language and repeat it over and over.   Top

Getting Started

• Before you start doing anything in class it helps to build up a rapport with the child or children first with the parents present, especially the mother, share a moment together perhaps have something to eat and drink, offer and let the child offer you food or drink these are primal security building actions.  Then you can proceed with confidence to play and communication activities.  All children are different, but generally, if you don't take this step you can expect the children to shy away from you and hide in their mother's arms, there may even be tears, and it will take a while before you can coax them out.

• To prepare, decide on the overall structure of your class, making sure it includes physical movement, quiet time, hands on activities, music and songs with actions as well as some free play.  A sample class might look like this: Start with some movement and music followed by your class opener.  Continue with a series of short activities, lasting about 5 minutes each.  You might start with drawing objects out of your magic box or bag of 5 key vocabulary words for the day then a picture book and a story that incorporates the new words and uses lots of noises and inflections.  Then you can do some sort of art project that has them using crayons, finger paints, watercolours or 'play doe'.  You may have to pre-cut things and assist with glue sticks. Immediately after they'll need to get up and MOVE. After organized games or play with movement, you can have "stations" with toy areas (stacking, house, balls, pillows, books) for 5 minutes of roaming play. Then regroup at a table or carpet mats for a puppet "show" where you tell a story with soft toys or puppets.  Finish up with another song and your closing ritual.

• Throughout your time together use words more constantly and on a simpler level than you would with an English-speaking toddler. It is somewhat similar to what you would do with a baby. If building with blocks, repeat "block" and "blocks" over and over.  Say something like, "Let's build a tower" and "higher, higher" and "up" and "one more" and then, "Can you knock it down?" and "Yay! They all fall down!"

• This is very different from what you would do with older children and it is much more focussed on passive understanding, rather than on speaking. While we play, I hold up objects and ask, "What is that?" I do this so often that it doesn't interrupt the play. It is just part of it after awhile. The children don't always answer. The difficult part is actually convincing watching parents not to try to force the children to answer. They either know the answer or they don't. If they know it, they'll generally say it. If they don't, I'll provide it and move on.

• Stay on their level, sit down and let them move around you, plenty of eye contact, exaggerate your facial expressions and put plenty of stress on the words you want to relate. Play with them and literally say what you are doing and what they are doing, putting stress on the words that are important.   Top

Routine and Class Opener Ideas

Children this age are reassured by routine so always open and close the class with the same rituals. During class repeat activities, songs, stories and games that the children love as well as introducing new words and chatting away to them. 

It can be a good idea to start with something physical such as a dance or song to get the children to burn off a little energy before sitting them quietly in a circle for greetings or your regular class opener. Right before class, I do a total physical response activity where they learn simple actions, such as, clap your hands, stomp your feet, wave your hands, wiggle your fingers, turn around, sit down, stand up, shake your body, etc. Yoga for two year olds is also a good source for learning using active warm-ups. You should do the same routine for about three months. And then build on or change the opening "dance'" routine. Jumping on a mattress or something soft is also a great activity that they love. After this the children will be ready to sit quietly and take part in your opening class ritual. Here are some ideas from teachers: 

Class opener idea 1
We begin each class with "Good Morning to you, good morning to you, good morning, good morning, good morning to you," to the melody of "Happy Birthday to you". I then insert 2-4 names in the place of "you" and "everybody" at the end. You should see their faces light up when their name is sung! We then end each class with "Goodbye to you." After a while, kids will begin to sing along with you! 

Class opener idea
I begin with a voice warm up I learned from Drama classes. Saying "Ma, ma, ma" while raising my hands from lower to higher. As the hands go up, so does your voice. Then back down. Next you can clap on each "ma". At the end I give a "ma" with one arm fully stretched out. Then another "ma" with the other arm stretched out. So both arms are spread wide open. Give yourself a big hug and cry out Mama! The same warm up can work for Pa. Which turns into Papa. 

Class opener idea 3
Before singing, we all sit in a circle and each comes to the "magic" box to select a musical instrument. I start with the same "song" every lesson to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb: It's time to sit and learn English, Learn English learn English. It's time to sit and learn English, Hi, how are you? I'm fine thank you, Fine thank you, fine thank you, I'm fine thank you, And _____ (fill in a child's name here) how are you. Each verse is faster and louder than the one before. 

We all sing and "play" our instruments and I name a new child in the last line of the second verse until all have been called. They usually repeat my question "how are you" instead of answering it, so I say "fine, thank you" and they repeat that too. To the same tune, at the end of every lesson we sing: "Bye-bye my friends, see you soon, see you soon, see you soon. Bye-bye my friends see you soon at English class." waving at each bye-bye and making "glasses" with our fingers at "see you soon".    Top

Total Physical Response Ideas 

Use TPR activities frequently during class, mixed up with making things, quiet time, songs, story time, general play and games. Total physical response means that students use their whole body to learn. Here are some examples from teachers:

• I told them we would play ROCKET, so they all stood on cushions and repeated the numbers after me and they were supposed to jump on the floor at number 10. Then I let each of them to count from 1 to 10 for the others to jump down. This way they learned and have been learning all the numbers from 1 to 10. After such success with the ROCKET I understood that whatever they learn by using their bodies they never forget, so whenever is possible I make them use their bodies.

• The lesson was 'At the Park', so to introduce the vocabulary I took them to a park, and showed them flowers and made them repeat the word, then a butterfly and they repeated it until a great deal of the vocabulary related to the park was covered. After that and while we were still at the park we played "theatre" and one student was a flower, and she acted as a flower, the other was a butterfly, the other a tree, and so on, then I was giving the commands such as "The butterfly is flying, FLY butterfly FLY", and the butterfly flew around and stopped to "SMELL the flower. When I am sure they have understood the vocabulary and the verbs I chose a child and ask him/her to give the commands. Needless to say that even the shy ones wanted to be the director and give the commands in English.

• I have changed the alphabet into a chant and will do my best to describe its actions, they simply love it and want to chant the ABC everyday, not knowing that they are also learning the building blocks for all the English words that they will ever learn. What a fun way to learn a very important aspect of English. Say A to F while making punching motions with the fist. Tap yourself on the head on G and pull a foul face, like someone that has been hit with a hammer. Continue with H to N in the same fashion as A to F but much slower with a lower voice as if you wanted to sound stupid. O is stretched out while your voice towers higher and higher and then you freeze and pause in anticipation. P-Q-R is done in quick succession while slapping your hands on your legs. S is then stretched out and suddenly interrupted by T, which is done explosively, as if someone made you jump! U and V is furiously done with pointing fingers W is done in a high pitched voice almost like a beg for mercy X and Y are done by slumping forward in stages. At Z you drop the arms to the floor. You snore like a sleeping person and wake up with a start.

• I would often go through the entire alphabet with them, having them repeat the letter and the sound with claps or hops or another thing. Teacher: A a a Students: A a a (clapping three times) or: Teacher: A a a Ss: A a a (hopping three times) A great way to get them to burn energy.

• For numbers we do the MONKEY JUMP, which is just counting with actions. 1 is arms up high 2 is one arm out horizontally 3 is other arm out horizontally 4 is one arm up at elbow 5 is other arm up at elbow 6 is one arm down at elbow 7 is other arm down at elbow 8 is both arms down by side 9 is crouch down 10 is jump up with a big YIPPPEEEEEE! We do that one again and again. The first time we did it I had a cardboard monkey with arms and legs that moved to show them the actions but now I just show them the monkey and we do it together."

• Ask the children to touch the pictures or items that you name but in different ways. I'll lightly tap the bear card and then they lightly tap the duck when asked, or touch it with a fist, or slap, etc.

• A simple thing that teachers do with the children is to have them form a 'train' when they move around the classroom and throughout the school. With one hand they hold the back of the garment of the child in front of them. When the children have the hang of this add in the 'choo, choo' and 'toot toot' sounds of the train. A teacher described that adding the sounds so greatly amuses and focuses the children that they have stopped touching the things on the wall as they walk down the hall together. In the classroom use the 'train' as an activity to teach 'slow' 'fast' 'run' 'walk' 'stop' and 'loud' and 'quietly'. And they love it.

• Building models using several large empty cardboard boxes works well. I use only English when we do this and it works as the kids watch and copy you as they hear the instructions. The models are usually trains we can sit in and shout "toot toot", (nothing fantastic) but its the listening and absorbing of the language. One could also stack the boxes on top of each other to make a house with each box being a different room. Children can go into the boxes on the ground floor and take turns sitting in the rooms there. They can also place toys and furniture in the rooms. A large box could be a swimming pool which the children jump in, or put their toys in for a swim. Cut the top and bottom off a box to make a tunnel.    Top

Nursery rhymes and rhythm

• I use Nursery rhymes and find the littlies love them because I put them into action songs. For example, the old one of Jelly on the plate, I put the child on my knee, facing away, juggle them up and down to Jelly on the plate and when it comes to "wibble-wobble", I gently shake them from side to side. I have changed "sweets in a jar" to "candy in a jar" (Korean kids don't know what sweets are) and go through the motion of up and down and when you have to say "shake it up, shake it up", tickle them. The kids love it! I work mostly with Korean kids and they are incredibly ticklish so we have a lot of laughter in my classes. After hearing you say the rhymes many times they start repeating it as you say it.

• Pretend you a are train with many coaches Pasta, tunafish (it sounds like a train) Pasta, tunafish Pasta, tunafish Sweetcorn (it sounds like a train whistle) Sweetcorn

Puppets

• Instead of the teacher teaching words you have the puppet teaching it. I begin each class with slowly pulling a puppet out of a colourful bag. I say, "I have a friend. Mickey Mouse! Hello Mickey (with two claps on Hello ). Good morning Mickey" Then Mickey flies to a high place in the room away from arms reach. 

• Use a puppet and flashcards or real objects that will fit in the puppet's mouth. Tell the kids the lion is hungry and must be fed with the right object or flashcard. The puppet says "wow" "yummy" when it is pleased with what the kids give it but when it is not, it starts biting (softly) the kid's hair or little finger. My students burst out laughing whenever we do this.

• Have a puppet that keeps interrupting or making squeaking noises as you tell them a story.  One of them is my little kangaroo. It's incredibly difficult for kids to pronounce this word "kangaroo", but thanks to my strategy of letting the kangaroo enter every lesson after knocking at the door, the kids are really excited and they all know the name.

• If a students says he likes apples, the puppet would make a sick face and interact with the class saying he didn't like apples, but he loved bananas, and then start hugging the students to express the emotion.

• I've used one at home with my youngest child. The hand puppet can only speak English and best of all he does say some silly things! We're currently living in France and although the children speak both English and French, when they are in France they speak French. I speak to them in English but they know I speak fluently so they talk back to me in French. However, quite by chance whilst going through some boxes of old toys with my youngest son, Max, we came across a 'Pinocchio' hand puppet. Max said, (in French) 'can you make him talk Mummy?' I replied 'of course!' and put on the puppet and it spoke to Max in English 'Hello, what's your name?' (I gave him a funny voice, to make it different from my own), my son replied (he was 3 1/2 at the time) in the most perfect English 'My name is Max, what's yours?' I was very surprised and ever since every time we take Pinocchio off the shelf Max always communicates with him in English, sometimes if he's not sure of a word he asks me first, then he tells Pinocchio. Pinocchio does silly things at times he gets the names of things mixed up which makes Max laugh and naturally he corrects him, sometimes Pinocchio contests and asks me if that's right and I tell him that Max is absolutely right. Pinocchio is Max's best friend, he even talks to him on his own when I'm not around and it's all in English, amazing!
  
  I would really recommend this with preschoolers, I wasn't able to use Pinocchio when I taught English to Max's class (Max is too attached) but I did use a small teddy bear when I was using your Hetty and the Lion story, they loved him and had no problem repeating words to 'teddy' and answering him when he asked questions. Teddy was always hungry too and the children loved 'feeding' him with the flash cards. Teddy would talk in my ear 'Ice cream' I would repeat it and all the children with Ice cream flash cards would give them to teddy and he would devour them making lots of noise! The children found this hysterical. ? My group's favourite is "Naughty Teddy' because he does tend to be a bit cheeky and hide the resources/flashcards, which of course I can never remember which one he's taken so the kids have to help me! It makes the topics so real for the kids and they love it when he falls asleep and hides somewhere in the room before the start of every lesson!   Top

Teaching Games and Ideas

• Children at a young age are very attracted by what they see, so dress up and act out what you want to teach. For example, to talk about going to the store and different foods put your coat on as if you were going out and hold a basket. Go to the shop by walking across the room to a desk or somewhere that you have designated as the store. Buy a banana. Take it from the desk and put it in your basket and say, "I bought a BANANA." Then ask the kids, "What is in my basket?" Provide the answer if they do not and continue shopping for items. Then repeat this and let the children act it out with you. Let them place the banana in the basket for you. At two they may just want to hold the banana or they may just be watching you, or not even that. Carry on, it will all be sinking in, and after a few more minutes, change the activity. Vary this shopping trip by doing it with prams and babies instead of the basket. Let children bring their toys shopping and buy food for them.

• Playing at Doctors is a big favourite! The children love having sick toys, fevers. This is good for body parts too.

• Children like playing out something that happens at home such as pretending to cook, mixing ingredients and baking, or pretending to mow the lawn, or pretending to be pregnant if mummy at home is pregnant.

• Animals are a huge favourite in stories with books, with felt boards, simple animal puzzles in wood, animal soft toys and pretending to be the animal through movement and noises.

• If you show flashcards of vocabulary tape the pictures to the real objects the first few times you work with those words until you know the children understand them and have made the link between the picture and the real object.

• I often play the game in which we change our roles - they are teachers, I am the pupil. I choose one picture and only the kids are able to see it. I guess, "Is it a banana?" and they are supposed to say "Yes, it is" or "No, it isn't" To make them concentrated, instead of choosing one of the words we are learning I often ask, "Is it Kate?" (insert one of the names of the children in the group here) and that will make them laugh, and make them more motivated to answer you with, "Yes, it is. No, it isn't."

• Name a colour, such as blue, and the children run around and find things that are blue, they say "blue" and they give them to you and put them in your basket. Then, all together take all the items out of the basket and show everyone what we have found.

• One is a game I play with coloured drinking straws. I use this game when introducing colours. I buy a box of straws containing at least 4 colours - say blue, green, orange and red. Once the children have learnt to say the colours and recognize the colours I stand in the middle of the class (I have my children sit in a horseshoe) and I throw the straws up into the air and let them fall all over the floor. I have 28 children per class and if I use 4 different colours it looks a real mess with 112 straws thrown all over the floor. The looks on their faces are absolutely priceless. They can't believe that Miss Jude has thrown something all over the floor. As I throw them I call out "find me orange" and they go on a mass scramble on their hands and knees giggling away trying to find orange. After each colour I go around the class collecting the straw and the child has to tell me the colour. This continues until all the colours have been picked up.

• I spread out flashcards of food and utensils (use real ones if you have them) and I say: "I'm hungry. I want some spaghetti." (Pick up the spaghetti, smell it, smack my lips, pretend to dig in with my fingers but stop myself) and ask: "What can I eat it with?" And I pick up a cup. "Can I eat spaghetti with a cup?" "No!" the children shout, although some shout, "Yes!" because they think the idea is so hysterical. Repeat with other utensils and objects until finally you pick up the right one. They love this!

• I hold the flashcard of an animal so they can't see what it is. I make the animal sound and pretend it came from behind me and that the sound frightens me..."What's that?" I say with a scared look on my face, almost afraid to look behind me. You should see the look on their faces! "It's a cat!" They shout. "Really?" I ask. "YES." When they guess correctly I turn the flashcard around and let out a heavy sigh: "Whew, it's a cat!" I say with relief.

• I then devised different games that could be played on the mat. Since two year olds like to throw things, I purchased various sizes of coloured 'puffballs' and we played; "Shuffle Puff" where the child has to blow or push a puffball to a certain numbered square, "Ball Puff" where the child tries to hit the small puffball on the mat with a larger one, "Basket Puff" where the child tries to get the puffball in a basket or other container.

• I often make up very short scenarios with the dolls and one of the key ones is where one doll is crying and the other is trying to comfort her and we learn that she has lost her ball. So, I ask the kids to help find the ball. The first time, this is kind of confusing. I use a worried facial expression, because children are very attentive the expressions of adults, and I wander around looking and saying "Look. Where is the ball? Look. Look." Given that I have already semi-hidden the objects in the room, the kids can find them fairly easily. You stumble through the first time and when a child finds one of the objects, they get a lot of smiles and praise and they immediately understand the concept of searching and the question "Where is...?" After that the kids love this game and it is great reinforcement for any vocabulary that can be represented as an object or picture.

• For revision exercises or new lessons being taught, they must bring their favourite toy teddy or "alien" robots. They then have to teach their toys. I pretend to be the doll asking silly questions and repeating what they tell me to do. They can also do this in pairs.

• A fun game is "Hammer Head". You need a ball and a soft play hammer with a really soft end and that makes noises? If you don't have exactly this improvise. Everybody sits in a circle. I have a number of flashcards and I put one over my face so I cannot see the children, with the picture facing outwards and say, "GO" many times like this "gogogogogogogo, STOP!" then I take the card down and see which child has the ball, and he or she should say the word if possible. The children love it because they don't know when I will say stop and they pass the ball so quickly because they don't want to say the English word. The child with the ball names the flashcard and if correct, he or she can hit me on the head with the soft hammer and if wrong it's the other way around and I can hit the child with the hammer. This makes the children cry with laughter and you will hear them shout out "go go go go go stop" when they want to play as it's really a great game.

• Teaching "Be Quiet" with a gag: If you are sitting in a chair while they are sitting on the floor, make a performance of sitting down in the chair. Place it down facing the wrong way and straddle it. Sit down in it with your back to them. Put it upside down. Always ask, "Is this okay?" so they get the concept of yes and no. With the help of a squeaky toy and a bag for your flashcards (and the toy), you can teach them the phrase "Be quiet!" Sit down in the chair with your hand grasping the squeaky toy inside the bag (unseen to the kids). As soon as you sit down, make the toy squeak and jump up. Reprimand the chair with the key phrase. Have some students try to sit down while you crouch behind the chair and squeak for them. If you ever have a situation where kids are making too much noise, you can use the phrase and they should understand it. The group will usually join in. Because it was associated with a humorous gag, the student(s) singled out won't feel as threatened.

• Also try introducing two cards. For example, hold Apple in your left hand, Banana in your right. Hold up Apple, they say Apple. Hold up Banana, they say Banana. Go back and forth and have them get settled in a rhythm and then suddenly hold up Apple twice in a row. They'll without a doubt say Banana.

• Flash cards: I would lay out about four or five flash cards on the floor and give a student a toy hammer that makes a squeaking noise. I would ask him to hit a certain flash card. Or I would give them a toy car and have them drive the toy car to the correct flash card. Or give them some fuzzy dice to place on the correct flash card. If they choose the correct flash card they hold it up in front of the class and say what it is. - class repeats. Or you can ask, "What do you like?" A student chooses the card he likes, whether the cards are fruit, colours, animals or whatever and says, "I like tigers."

• Basically I emphasized one word with the silliest expression I could muster (which also had me making the most unusual body movement I have ever done) I'll explain! I had the idea to use music with a rock "n" roll beat as I used to teach rock 'n' roll dancing. The lyrics were way too advanced but repetitive, when it came to the chorus I'd jump up and wriggle everything, when I landed I'd say "let's dance" with as much excitement that I could. (Obviously his mother was doing it too) He thought it was hilarious and by the third time he copied us with his version of the words! After that I just added more words from the song. It wasn't the best vocabulary but it built his interest, which I feel is the main goal at that age.

• Have actions written on a dice or two or have them written on wooden ice lolly sticks of the same size and colour. Then kids just throw the dice and fate shows them what to do or pick one of the sticks that you hold in hand and there it is... They love the moment of suspense and expectation what is to come. You can add new actions from time to time.

• Shapes: The children liked to draw shapes on the board. However, I would draw dots where the corners of the shape would be. If it was a triangle I would draw three dots and the students would connect the dots to make the triangle. Later you can have them make a shape face. "Who can draw a circle head?" I would say. Or "Who can draw a rectangle eye, or triangle nose?" etc. As long as what the students are doing are at least a little bit fun they will want to participate.

• When teaching letter sounds we make the sound quietly as we go done the hall ie. /s/- we slither and sway making the /s/ /s/ sound.

• This will not work in all cultures and only once the children have gotten to know you. Get them to undress (they love being nude) and then to put their clothes back on one by one whilst saying the names (shoe, sock etc.) NOTE: Only works with small groups unless you have 2 teachers!! ? Children can relate very well to masks! (Watch out that these are not scary masks) When little twos put on the animal masks, a magical spell seems to cast into them transforming them into the little animal, imitating the sound and movement. 

• Most countries have cheap colourful laundry baskets. The light ones that fold up are the best. The students can throw coloured balls into the basket. Believe me; walking into a room with a basket full of coloured balls gets you noticed. ? Playing with tea sets, Wendy house, play house, dolls' houses and furniture ? Dressing up in a silly way in grown up things, mostly accessories, as they are not so good at dressing themselves.

• When teaching I think the best tools are real life props. When introducing new words I always try to bring along the real thing. When discussing rooms in the house I brought along wooden spoons and plastic containers for pretend baking in the "Kitchen", plastic knives and forks and plastic food for pretend eating in the "Dining Room" and the most fun was shower sponges and a big bottle of blowing bubbles for the "Bathroom". I managed to find some bubbles that didn't make too much mess. The children thought the "Bathroom" was the most fun room in the house.

• Teaching 2 year-olds requires lots of hands on like blocks, stacking things, putting small things in bigger holes, rolling balls, jumping on pillows, running and touching walls/pictures, noise-makers (dried leaves/beans in a jar/musical instruments).

• For example, we found some cute monkey pictures online, coloured and laminated them, taped them to Popsicle sticks and now use them in "Five Little Monkeys". I also have similar props for "Five Little Ladybugs" and "Five Little Ducks". All of these are along the same theme and the children love them, asking for a replay as soon as the music stops. I think that the reason they like these so much is because of the involvement of all three learning styles. They can see the puppets, listen to the rhyme (and say it) and do the actions. This involves auditory, kinaesthetic and visual stimulation all at once.

• My two-year-olds love playing outside with hula-hoops, so I would place the hula- hoop on the ground and give commands, such as, JUMP IN, JUMP OUT, JUMP AROUND. Also, I would command them to hold it UP and DOWN, so they can learn basic commands and action words while they're playing with the hula-hoop.    Top

Mystery Bags and Boxes 

For circle time or as part of the class opening routine many teachers use a variety of mystery bags or magic boxes as follows:

• Take a bag containing familiar items such as a truck, bus, doll sized cup or teapot etc. The children reach into the bag, pull out an item and name it. If the child pulling out the item cannot name it let any other child, and if not the teacher does it. As the days go by change the items one by one so that new words are introduced very gradually and words are revised thoroughly.

• They love baskets of toys, all kinds, all different colours, shapes and textures. Start with just a few toys, 5 max (if you have 2 children have 2 of each, you must avoid conflict), take each one out one by one, let the child discover it and repeat the name, 'truck' for instance, say, 'what a lovely 'TRUCK', (offer it to the child) and say 'it's a blue 'Truck'', 'you're pushing the 'TRUCK''. He'll be eager to discover the next one so don't take too long for the next one, however if he's still interested in the truck, regain his attention by touching him gently and saying his name. Use the same method with the following toys. When you've looked at them all, say, 'it's time to 'PUT' the toys in the 'BASKET' show them what to do and they'll probably help and again say what you are doing and stress the key words, e.g. 'PUT' the 'TRUCK' (hold and show the truck) in the 'BASKET'. This activity should be repeated a few times, not in the same day of course but at each session, before adding new toys. As you repeat this activity you'll find that suddenly a child will repeat the word to you, it's essential you show that you are very pleased and repeat the word again afterwards, don't try and correct him if pronunciation isn't quite right, just repeat the word. Avoid saying "No, not 'xxx' but 'yyy'", instead quite simply repeat the word.

• What works very well with teaching counting, is that I would put my bag on my lap and make as if I am looking for something. I act surprised - as if there is something funny or unbelievable in the bag and then pull out my little plastic frog. This is then my only word I teach them for that day - frog. The next day I would repeat the whole routine and let two frogs out of the bag, one after the other, making fuss over both. Then I simply go on illustrating 1 frog, 2 frogs - about 6 or 8 times. I call them to me and let them sit on my lap and show this to them repeating the words and showing on and then 2 frogs. If they repeat after me they are rewarded with a sticker. Even the shyest one cannot resist a shiny colourful sticker.

• One of the things that children aged 1-2 years old find funny is the magic box. I took a card box from home (it could also be an old suitcase) and covered it with colourful paper. In the box I put all the items I'm going to use in the class (e.g.: stories, games, song box). After some classes they recognise it immediately!! What I do is creating a lot of expectation, that is, I open the box a little bit and close immediately making a lot of noise ooh! aaah! And I repeat it two or three times. They all laugh and copy my funny faces!! It's hilarious!!! Even for me!!!   Top

Songs

• Simple songs with actions are wonderful, and depending on the songs/actions, will develop not only language skills, but also hand/eye coordination, fine and gross motor skills. All of this also supports development of the children's own language. Counting, letters, prepositions of time place in songs, leads to more awareness in general.

• They love to sing. I've made up songs that accompany some of your stories using silly, simple melodies, "Archie and pony, jump, jump, jump. Archie and pony, one, two, three." The same words, over and over again. You can do simple dances along with the song, too.

• When we are singing songs, they love to use different volumes and speeds. We sing quietly, explode loudly, sing slowly in a deep voice then as quickly as possible. They absolutely love it!

• At the end of the ABC song one day I finished it by singing very loudly with high notes like an opera singer that went on as long as I had breath for. I threw my arms in the air and put my head back to get that last note out and the children just about fell over laughing. Ever since that day that's how we end our ABC song. The children spin around with their arms in the air and all compete to sing that last note the longest.

• List of songs that work well with 2 year olds from Yvonne Brand: Here we go round the mulberry bush, Oh we can play on the big brass drum, There was a princess long ago, Looby Loo, The Grand Old Duke of York, Ring a ring o' roses, The Farmer's in his Den, Five Little Speckled Frogs, The Wheels on the bus, The big ship sails on the alley alley o, Oranges and Lemons, Heads and Shoulders Knees and Toes, Hokey Cokey, One finger, one thumb keep moving, Where is Thumbkin, Open, shut them, Incy Wincy Spider, Two little dicky birds, Round and round the garden, If you're happy and you know it, This old man, One two three four five, This little pig

• "Let's clap our hands together, let's clap our hands together and have a lovely time (stamp feet, nod head, swing arms, wiggle bottom), .. let's go to sleep together we've had a lovely time! This gets them going with actions and body parts, especially hands, feet, head. ? When teaching numbers I have often used the popular song "Ten green bottles". Recently I filled up with water (or sand) some plastic bottles and while singing I let the bottles fall from a shelf or a table. This is great fun with kids!

• London Bridge I form a bridge with another teacher and the students sing it and when we reach the end, we trap some of the students into our arms. They absolutely love it! 

• All of my students regardless of age love to do the motions for "I'm a little teapot." When we sing "tip me over and pour me out," they must balance on one leg and tilt to one side without falling over. When several of students do, they find that to be a riot. Also, to the same tune, we have sung, "I'm a little snowman" and when we sing "then, I slowly melt away," we pretend that we're getting smaller and smaller by crouching down and they find that amusing that the snowman is melting. Of course, I'll have a picture of a snowman to give them a picture to keep in mind while they're singing it.

• For 'one potato two potato' I made up my own movements that started off as counting with the one potato (put one fist out) two potato (the other fist goes on top) three potato (the bottom fist goes on top again) and repeat, then instead I had them kind of run around the room and I play tag and bump them on the head as we sing the song and don't ask me why but they absolutely love it.

• 'The wheels on the bus' is another wonderfully useful action song for the children, especially when the babies cry, the bell rings, the doors open and close and we bump up and down. I don't worry too much about what they are saying. Doing some actions and comprehension at this age is more important but if they are able to speak then that is really encouraging. By the following year they will be able to sing the words better and remember so many more of the actions.   Top

Stories

• Stories with surprises and when you make funny faces while you are doing them, like really exaggerated faces... ...in the dark dark house, there's a dark dark door, and behind the dark dark door (door being dramatized) and kind of a spooky but not too spooky voice required...all the way to the dark dark closet (you can make that as long as you want) and then you get to a dark dark MOSQUITO
• They love to listen to stories where they have to act some vocabulary while they are listening; soon they are waiting eagerly to listen to the word to act it. 
• Three or four words per page or picture enough so simplify stories yet further
• The kids love searching for things in pictures. Shelley says: "My stories are probably too difficult for two year olds to find all the hidden ducks and the cowboys and Indians in the story for the rooms of the house, but they could search and find much bigger objects in the pictures instead.
• Lastly, when we are having story time the children love to either kiss the characters on the pages or pretend to eat whatever food is in the story. My 2 year olds love to pretend eat just about anything! (Shelley's confession: Even I can relate to that because I used to kiss my Clint Eastwood poster goodnight, and I was a lot older than two!)
• Stories told with props, finger puppets or hand puppets are the best tools for interactive and engaging time during stories. Funny voices provide the best laughter in class.
• Story idea: I once created a story of a little rabbit-like character which liked the colour pink and looked for it in nature. To find it, it came across other colours and creatures. This is more or less the story. The same colour was repeated (pink) in the same question pattern (have you seen the pink colour?) an the other creatures replied the same (No. I haven't. But I've got red/blue, etc). So, as the story went on, they could repeat the phrases.
• As I retell stories I pretend to forget the word or the name of the character and immediately almost all of the children supply the missing word.
• It's like playing role plays without a fixed script...they create their own story and, if you follow them, the result is that they feel important...they have the power to change the endings, to change everything they like and there is an adult playing with them with their own rules.
• They were really caught by the magic of the story when they could hug a character (if the story was about a monkey, they loved hugging a monkey soft toy, kissing it, talking to it, etc.). If the story included a house, I made one out of a cardboard box, and children loved putting the monkey in the house, and taking it out of the house, knocking at the door, calling the monkey, and so on...In the case of Hetty and the Lion, you can use a lion soft toy, a fairy (a doll), plastic fruit, etc. From experience, I can say that children at that age are active doers rather than passive listeners of a story. They want to take part in it. Once they know the story, you can make them act it out wearing masks, costumes, every child can be given a role, they can wear make-up (especially girls, who love it).
• They will not tolerate much monologue on your part. You can read or tell a story but, as soon as the child starts batting at the pages and trying to turn them, you know they are getting bored. You immediately revert to pointing to pictures and saying, "What is that?" or asking, "Where is the horse?"
• They don't need to know every word in between as long as they have pictures. I have also made myself a picture of woman with a big round belly and a doctor to tell a simplified version of "There was an old woman who swallowed a fly..." In my version, she ate a fly and she didn't like it, so she went to the doctor and the doctor said, "Hmmmm...Hmmmm... Eat a spider and the spider will catch the fly." I have little pictures of animals and I actually mime her eating them and place them in her belly. I have some difficulty with the complex parts like "I don't know why she ate the fly" but they like the rhyme so they don't entirely mind that they don't understand every word. In the story of the old woman who ate the fly, they love that every time I mention the spider, I tickle them. That is good because it gets them to listen to the story and try to predict when the spider is about to appear.
• When looking at a picture book of Pooh bear, I remembered how I loved it when I was a child that my dad always crowed "Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun" and bounced up and down every time he came to Tiger in the story. So, I do that and the kids love it too. From that I would have to say that the easiest generalization is that they love gregarious motions, expressions, voices and sound effects. The more I can have a specific sound affect or motion connected to a particular story (which I should always use when I tell the story), the more they like the story.
• When you read a story for relaxation, allow them to sit anywhere in class - some crawl under a table, others lie on the pillows and another will sit in a far corner. They soon come closer for the pictures to be seen or are very quiet just enjoying the story. You can also show them the pictures beforehand and ask questions about it, then send them off. They then have to recall the pictures while the story is read.
• I use felt images that I stick on a large felt storyboard. It works really well. I make up stories and add characters as I go along. The children can actually be involved in the story , for example "sticking on the flowers", or "taking off the naughty wolf".
• If I decide to read an actual book to them, I tell them that if they don't understand, to close their eyes and listen to the music of the English language. It is really funny, as instead of becoming frustrated, and agitated, I see their eyes close, and they sit back and listen to the rest of the story.
• When reading a story I insert the children's names in place of the characters
• Another one that works well is Dear Zoo. I like to ask them in their own language why they think an animal from the zoo wouldn't make a good pet and then in English we all say together TOO BIG, TOO TALL, TOO FIERCE etc. ? We make story boards on painters sticks - like the 3 little pigs, the wolf, the different houses - just colour them and laminate, glue on the paint sticks and hand them out to the kids, when it comes to the part that they are holding, they hold it up. They love this and become involved in the story ? I use puppets, create scenes from the story using props (even shining a torch over a basin of water to show the reflection of the moon works well) and dramatize the characters in the story to make it come alive.    Top

Making Things

This section is very short but if you are teaching the children for longer periods then crafts and colouring add variety, teach motor skills, coordination and make a good break in class from more intense language learning activities. You may still chat away in English as the work is carried on.

• Here she learned to cut with a scissors as she would cut and paste the animals on ice- cream sticks and we made a zoo with the help of a Styrofoam box. As each animal asked to enter the zoo, she, as zookeeper, had to say it's name and decide if it could join the others.
• Once, I took a round wafer, and said to her: "This is your face". She said, "No, my face is here", and she touched her face. But I told her again; "this is your face, and now we are going to put eyes, nose, mouth and ears". Then I put two little cookies as the eyes, a candy as a nose, two candies as its ears, and another as a mouth. She was very happy, and said. "Now that is my face. Can I eat it?" I said "yes, but first we are going to repeat the face's parts."
• Another quiet pastime was a scrapbook divided into colours. We went through magazines and catalogues and found things that were, yellow, red etc. Old birthday or Christmas cards or postcards are always good for pretty pictures to cut out. Although an adult usually has to do most of the cutting, while the children can do the pasting.   Top

Things two year olds love

• Another winner is simply hiding things around the room. I hide the things I want them to learn all around the classroom and say. 'Where's the dog?' and they go off to find it. If they bring the wrong thing back you say 'No! That's a cat.. Find the dog.' Very simple but fun.
• Jumping on things that are soft
• Funny versions of hide and seek where they might stick their heads under a cushion and think you can't see them-like an ostrich!
• What the kids did enjoy a lot was experimenting with phonemes (making lots of funny faces and noises) and then collocating the sounds with the vocabulary. It was a rather physical, clownish activity
• They love "being" animals. For example, going to and from my classroom, we walk like a snake, hissing and wiggling up the stairs. (The 3-6 year olds love this too!). "How are we walking today?" they ask.
• Since they don't even speak their native language very much, hand signs, motions, or sounds work well too. I can say "fish" and their wiggling hands will pop up horizontally with their thumb pointing up, or "dog" and they'll pant or bark, or "eat" and they'll touch their fingers together and bring them up to their mouth, or "bell" and they'll jingle an imaginary bell.
• They love pop-up books, looking under flaps and looking for things
• On a one to one basis, modelling the word whilst holding the object, which the child will naturally want to take, not giving the object until the child makes an attempt at saying the desired language. (Hold on to the object until the child tries, however, wait and allow the child to try, if they say nothing, give them the desired object and repeat the word/words.
• They love to discover things under boxes, so we knock on a big plastic box and hep, I lift the box and the kids scream out the fruit or flower. I also found teaching with real items very useful because flashcards are too boring.
• They love it when I say "Are you ready?" Then I get a wonderful and loud "Ready" in return. Or we sit in a circle and before we start to work, I roll my fingers in the middle, like a wave and all the kids follow me from the other directions. I raise my voice and when we all meet with our fingers, we lift them up. It's a wonderful way to make sure they are all with me.
• I know the kids love it when I teach them the "what type of beans?" Running beans...your start to run on the spot Tall beans.... stretch up as high as you can Broad beans.... stretch out as far as you can and blow you cheeks out Jelly beans.... move your body like jelly Bake beans...move around like you just sat on a hot stove.....
• Fancy dress and pyjama parties with their mums also dressed up in pyjamas, listening to a "pyjama story" and crawling into the tent pitched in class to have a "sleep". A lot of fun and relaxed way of getting some things taught.
• They sure do like it when they come into the class quietly and I pretend not to hear or see them and then suddenly "see" them with amazement.
• Sometimes I "forget" their names and I have to play a guessing game – also when work is reviewed. They love it when they can teach the "forgetful" teacher. You can also put on your "thinking cap" (a silly hat) which just "doesn't want to work today" so the students have to help you remember what you have taught them.
• They still love peek-a-boo, baby faces, cause and effect. They love to play with towers and knock them over. Preschoolers also love it when I set up a block wall for them to knock down with trucks.
• They are also starting the early stages of make believe and will walk around having "conversations" on the phone. They enjoy it when you "call" someone and hand the phone back to them. "Alice, go to the zoo." (Alice goes to the zoo and sits.) " Where is Alice?" "She's at the zoo." Or use two students. "They are at the beach." You can have the students call each other on toy cell phones. "Hi Alice, Where are you?" "I'm at the farm. Where are you?" "I'm at the store." "Oh okay. See you later." "Good-bye."
• We also went on a bear hunt around the classroom and they loved following me under desks. I had hidden a teddy bear in a cabinet before they came in. I lead them to the cabinet and grabbed the bear and growled. They jumped and then laughed!
• One of their favourite things that I have done is to use coloured pom poms to teach colours. They LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them.
• Change the beginning sound of everyone's name ie. /b/---Denise becomes Benise, Taylor-Baylor, Kaydon-Baydon, etc. THEY LOVE IT!
• I made use of Teletubbies series as well, first we decided who which role would take and we moved and acted as the Teletubbies in the film while repeating the same expressions. They really enjoyed it!   Top

Things two year olds find funny

• Slapstick…fall over.... miss your chair when you go to sit down.... have a catchphrase you use like//SILLY ME!! Or ALL FALL DOWN!!! Get them to say it with you...its all about visual, physical humour at this age...dress up.... pull faces.
• When doing music they love songs that involve standing up or sitting down with a plop they think that's very hilarious, anything exaggerated they love.
• What they really think is hilarious is if we sing a song and dance in slow motion, and then the next time speed it up as fast as we can. And then to calm them down again, we end with the slow motion or normal speed. (3-6 year olds love this too!)
• Preschoolers find it funny listening to robot commands. ? When they put on their hoods (of their jackets or sweaters), I pretend that they are completely unrecognisable and try to guess who this new stranger is... Hmm, are you Lisa? Paul? My mommy? Etc. When they can't contain the secret of their real identities any longer, they take off their hoods, explode with laughter and are so proud that they tricked me!
• Preschoolers think it is hilarious when you "can't see them". When a child is talking instead of listening or doing something naughty to get attention you can ask, "where is Shelley?" "Can you see her" or if she is talking "children can you hear something" "I can't" or "I think we have a ghost because I can here something, can you?" the other children will think its hilarious and yell out "there she is!" The reverse psychology works wonders as well.
• You can say "I'm wearing a skirt" when your wearing pants and so on. Go to school wearing shorts over your trousers or a T-shirt over your jumper dress up or have someone dress as a clown and have a flower that squirts water, or just dress up and pretend that you are not their teacher but you are looking for their teacher, ask the children where she is
• They all love gold stars but not on their work.........on their feet, hands, noses etc.
• They even laugh when I ask their age and say "you must be 10, right?"
• When a teacher uses funny voices, like squeaky, deep.... or when the teacher pretends to cry the children find it hysterical.
• For instance, for teaching colours I had them all sitting on the floor in a circle with toes in the middle. After the usual pointing out who is wearing which colour.. I then took off my slippers and had on two different coloured socks. They thought this was hilarious and soon told me what colour the socks were.
• I realized they find funny all what they consider "scary" and "disgusting": the "tingling monster", the "crazy surgeon" and the " vegetarian vampire " are their favourite "scary" games. On the other hand the "special soup" with bat wings, spider legs, and all what they can imagine (and draw on the paper....) is always an involving game! (it can be special soup, special ice cream, special cake, etc. etc.)
• He loves being chased, so we play a lot, first I try to touch him and then the other way around.
• You know that they don't differentiate reality from fantasy yet, so we play with a sort of gadget that is attached to a plastic tube to water the plants and he pretends to wet me. I run so that he can't wet me. He rolls on the floor laughing with this game and the water is imaginary.
• All preschoolers seem to find bodily functions hilarious. I know this may be a little inappropriate in a language class, but in my experience kids are rolling on the floor with laughter if you suddenly ask them "what do you think XYZ did next?" wait for response, and then if there are no suggestions, ask, "Did he/she go out for a wee?" Another trick to get them interested and involved is to attribute some of their typical behaviour patterns to the protagonists of the story
• My two year old son loves hiding himself. I've kept a huge box where the TV set was sent to my house and he hides in there and we play that I don't know where he is. So he starts showing his hand, then he makes different noises. E.g. as if he were a lion, monkey, horse, etc.
• When I want to eat the cake after I say this is a chocolate cake, the cake doesn't go to my mouth but to my nose, so my face became so funny for them and they laugh. ?ly rolling with laughter!
• Little ones love it if you to fall or drop things. They never tire of the clown-like
  behaviour and they always laugh! For example, they all put their instruments away; you make the box spill out. They help put them back and you fall again spilling everything. You "trip" and make the bin of soft balls spill all over. Throw things that represent your key vocabulary and ask them to go pick up ______. They will run and laugh and ask you to do it again!
• They love you to hide too, and even a baby blanket over your head is successful. Pop out with silly faces to get a laugh then toss the blanket over their heads one-by-one. "Lose" something and crawl all over looking for it. Ask them where it is and when they tell you, look the other way so they yell "no!
  Over there!"
  
• I must say that they laughed a lot when I wore strange clothes, or a wig, or when I imitated an animal, or its voice. Then they tried to imitate the animal, or they wanted to wear the clothes or the wig themselves and they laughed their heads out when they saw a friend/classmate wearing them. They also loved to draw little smiley faces on their fingers and to pretend their fingers had a conversation.
  
• With our Vietnamese children, they don't like being called by opposite sex, if they are a boys, they like being called Hero, Lion, Tiger ... If they are girls, they like being called princess, rose, apple...
  
• Preschool children love anything that is the opposite of what you say. I.e., If you say "I'm going to close my eyes, and I don't want anyone to sit down" you will find they all sit down and are laugh. I use this technique when the children won't eat their lunch. I say, "I'm going to close my eyes and I don't want anyone to eat their lunch up". In seconds, the children are all madly shovelling food into their mouths. This idea could easily be adapted for a language game. "I'm going to close my eyes and I don't want anyone to touch the red circle on the wall."
  
• I would often show the cards upside-down, which meant that the children had to communicate to me that it was upside-down. However, I would sometimes turn the card round twice, so that it was still upside-down, which the children found funny. Of course, the more I did it, the funnier it got. (This also gave me an opportunity to teach "right way up".)
  
• They love a tiny tickle and being looked at.  For example, I have a hello song  and on every beat I go round the class looking at each one in the eyes, not for too long as some of them are shy, but just a quick look.  The next time I give them a little tickle.
  
• I have a tiny little spotty dog toy that keeps popping up in different places and they love that.  Sometimes it hangs from an ear or hangs out the back of my trousers and I pretend not to know about it.  It comes out of one of my sleeves during a game.
  
• They find words funny ... ones that feel funny on your tongue, like Bartholomew,  I change my name to this often when I am tired of hearing "Denine" or "Teacher" just to break the repetitiveness and give some comic relief as they try to guess my new name.
  
• I usually ask them to "give me five" when they do something good and I'd pretend they are very powerful when they give me five. (Actually they are not.) Then I fall down because of that. They find it funny every time I fall. I think they kind of enjoy watching the teacher making mistakes.
  
• Preschoolers find BIG facial expressions funny. An example of this happened
  yesterday when I was doing an impulse control exercise with my group of
  preschoolers. The children were in a circle around me. My intention was to blow a string of bubbles and call one name. That would be the child who would come into the circle and get to pop all of the bubbles. (The others had to wait - that is the impulse control part). Anyway, my bubble juice was faulty! Most often when I'd blow through the bubble wand sadly the stuff would just pop, producing no bubbles. The first time this happened the kids chuckled at my look of surprise but as it happened again and again I made my expression of disbelief bigger. The kids were fairly rolling with laughter!
  
• Well I know what else preschoolers find funny. When we do the hokey pokey and the part where your behind goes in and then out and then "shake shake shake". The more you stick your back side in and the more you shake the funnier it is for them.  They love that!   Top

Teacher tips

• Actually, the best place to look for in-expensive items for teaching the little ones is the Pet section in a department or grocery store. Doggy toys are soft, colourful, durable and can be washed. Plus, pet toys are usually too large for choking hazards.
• In my experience kids like magic and I sometimes use to say that when I wear that t- shirt or that hat or that ring I cannot understand my native language anymore and they only can communicate with me in English. That's very effective when you have to encourage kids of your native language to speak English.
• I encouraged the parents to practice the words by colouring them and asking, "How does Arie say that?" while pointing at the various objects. That works pretty well, if the parents will cooperate. With the two-year-old developmental level, it is important that the parents say, "How Arie says it" instead of "in English". One is concrete. The other is abstract.
• However, I only let students participate if they are sitting nicely and raising their hand. This causes students to sit quietly instead of saying, "ME ME ME." If a student tries to get my attention this way I'll say something like, "I will pick Queena because she is sitting nicely." This prevents a lot of chaos.
• Saying no or not now to something you have or are doing can encourage them to want to do/have it. Now you have their attention, ask them if they want to do it with you.
• Sit nervous children away from any stimulus such as doors opening and closing, windows or boisterous children.
• For circle time, in the beginning some of the children are on adults' laps but sneakily have a chair empty beside you and they will sit happily on their own later.
• They have a very narrow focus so if it is not in their face, practically, or hasn't grabbed their attention, you may as well be talking to the wall. ? Don't try to teach hungry kids - it's worthwhile me buying biscuits myself to give them some afternoon tea.
• Have a stamp ready to stamp on the kids' hands when they give a good answer. One of those self inking ones with a star or a smiley face is good. ? Stickers on finished work are a popular motivation, or on their faces or hands or noses.
• I found that using something that the child has fixed on as the starting point is the best way and you can build on that. 2 year olds will notoriously NOT play at something/ look at something/ do something that you have suggested unless it interests them. For example the little girl I taught was fascinated by fish. It didn't matter if they were alive in a pond or pet shop, on a picture or dead on the fishmonger's slab, she couldn't get enough of them so I used it to add vocabulary in general and about fish - big fish, little fish, red fish, white fish, long fish etc. Fins, eyes, tail, swim, fish for tea, and then you can move on to turtle octopus crab seaside river pond fishing whatever. In fact the old fishing game magnet on fishing rod, paper clip on paper fish of all colours is a great one for discussing colours, catching...
• To encourage good behaviour: The one who disturbs the class will have to cover his eyes for...seconds, or he will have to switch places with a good child. I also have a crown, and those who are good become kings/queens
• 2 year olds don't like interference - so when they're supposed to colour in and not doing it, I fill it in for them - they hate that - and pinch the paper off me to do it themselves, often spending a while rubbing out what little I've done.
• Avoid balloons, especially in early lessons, as if they pop the children can lose trust in you.
• Once they get used to the foreigner they also love to get physical and enjoy blowing kisses and hugs when we have a little time.
• Rewarding the kids with your expression, over the top whooping, clapping will make them very happy and all the more inclined to double their efforts and join in more readily.
  
• Blank looks and expressions of confusion work better than frowns or negative
  emotions to motivate them to try to do better.
  
• It's very important to reward every activity with a sticker, draw on smiley face,
  something on a chart, lolly, cookie, anything imaginative etc.
  
• Most children hate being away from the group.  A few minutes separation usually all it takes and then they can join the group when the behaviour stops.  I usually say when you are ready you can come back.  It works.
  
• Forfeits and exclusion games are not a good idea at this age. It can lead to massive tantrums and feeling being very hurt. I have not personally used forfeits on preschoolers as where I teach they don't like to be singled out.
  
• We often blow raspberries on each other's arms legs and tummies for forfeits. If the answer is wrong its a funny way to avoid disappointment. But I tend to avoid highlighting wrong answers with 2 year olds and focus on rewarding correct answers.  Our raspberry blowing is used a lot when a trick bad behaviour situation arises (Like not wanting to share or wait their turn) and it diffuses the situation.
  
• A good calmer could be "going to sleep for 10 seconds". She hates sleeping, but she likes doing it as a game when she's done something wrong.    Top
  

Teaching reading and writing

One teacher's description of how she teaches reading and writing:
I usually look at the books I am going to teach, download flashcards to illustrate each sentence.  For example, a story with a rabbit in it, I find a picture of a rabbit.  I will then write the word rabbit in red, 200pt font and I use Comic Sans as it is the most correct writing font.  After a couple of readings I will introduce the word and place it with the picture of the rabbit. 
I will ask a student to do it eventually.  The students think they are playing a game and hence enjoy doing it.  

My success rate with little students is very high and I had one 2 yr old who was reading her book very well.  It takes about a month for them to learn the books.  To encourage students of this age to write I will write the main sentence from the book onto a page, usually two or three times using a 70pt Trace font, bold.  To help them with their writing skills I will move from student to student helping with the correct pencil grip.  Some students pick it up quickly while others don't.  Once they have mastered the grip they are away.  On the reverse side of the paper I repeat the sentence using 50pt Glimstick font and find a colouring in picture related to the sentence.  I always try to find a funny picture for them to colour and there is a lot of laughter when they see it.  The first thing some of them do is to look at the picture before they write.

I will extend the colouring by telling older students they have to use a particular colour on each of the letters.  This sometimes works with younger students who have already learnt their colours.  I use coloured blocks and get students to give me the correct colour.  If they don't hand over the correct one then we go through an elimination process until they get it.  Eventually they hand the correct colour saying what colour it is.  My own children learned
their colours with brightly coloured clothes pegs!

I'm currently going over the alphabet with them and because they respond so well to visual presentations, I have laminated each letter and accompanied a word that starts with that letter. For example: A is for apple. Eat the apple. (Then, I pretend to hold an apple and bite into it). The students copy me and when we go over the letters they automatically say, "Eat the apple" along with the motion. B is for ball. Bounce the ball  (I bring in a ball and allow each student to make a BIG bounce and LITTLE bounce).

Another teacher contributes the following:
Some years ago, I read an interesting book called "Os bebês podem e devem ler", by the Brazilian author Eliane Leão Figueiredo. The title can be translated into "Babies can and should read". Although the title looks pretentious at first sight, Mrs. Figueiredo submitted her theory to her own three girls.  You would get surprised if I told you her older girl passed the universities exams when she was just 13!!  Basing on her book and on my own experiences with my children as a parent, I bring to you the following ideas:

Make flash cards measuring about half an A4 sheet of paper. Write them with crayons in red and/or blue.
Start with the closest vocabulary with which toddler handles on a daily basis: his / her mommy and daddy!! Write the words MOM and DAD – the very first two words on two flashcards in huge letters. Although the pedagogue did not mention it at all, I would strongly suggest you to adhere the parent's photo on the back of its correspondent flashcard. Those pictures could be 4" x 6" size. Talk to him / her about MOM or DAD; Place both flashcards on the floor about ten feet away from the child. Words and photo must face up. Have the child
walk or crawl toward the flashcards and pick the one you asked him / her to do so. Ask him / her to bring it back to you. Keep in mind that children in this age need a lot movement.

Tell them you would like to know their parents better. Take the pictures apart from flashcards.  Ask them to show you who is MOM and who is DAD, first in the photos, then in words. Have them to match photos and words, so that they can correctly associate both pictures and words.Congratulate him / her at every step achieved. Have little prizes to award him / her for having completed the whole task, even though they've made some mistakes. You can vary the game by putting the flashcards with the images facing down. Once they get familiar which the process, you can hide the flashcards almost entirely on the floor so that they see just its tip.

Then, you can hide them completely. It looks like "hide and seek". Instead of flashcards, you can build gigantic dice with six huge words for the relatives, including him / her.  In the very beginning of this activity, it is very important to start with family members in the vocabulary because children tend to get a little anxious at the first days due to the mom's / dad's absence. So, they will feel their presence somehow, since the separation will be partial. If you could
record these instructions with their own parents' voice, it would help the children further.

Progressively, introduce new vocabulary – small words - according to his / her environment. For instance, CAR, DOG, CAT, SHOE, PANTS, MILK, BATH, SHIRT, SHORT, etc…  Try to figure out what they really enjoy. If they like insects, introduce them in the flashcards. On the hand, they love playground. Hence, they will have a playground vocabulary, and so on…

You can ask them to mount a huge die to take home and give their parents as a gift. Ask them if they would like to write the same words on the die.

Option b. Mission impossible (don't forget the sound track):
Propose to them be a secret agent. They will learn a code nobody knows. This code is the spelling of the words, letter by letter. Start with MOM and DAD. In advance, warn the real mom and dad about this. Both of them should pretend they don't know the "secret code". Children love to know things their parents don't. You can increase the code and propose, under their parents' surveillance, to use walkie-talkies (as an option, two cans with a hole in
center from which a cord goes from one to another. Use them to send and receive secret message. Like, let us say, saving a whale stuck in a river. So, the whale's life will depend on their mission accomplished.   Top

Summary and Acknowledgements

To sum up- attention, stimulation and mutual play, songs, stories, music, rhymes, movement, puppets, hands on interaction; all this equals a fantastic learning experience.

And always remember the important part of education, that of being a good role-model:

"You are very right to say that the 2-year old children don't do much, yet they have that sensitivity of perceiving everything one says and does.  I myself I tried to be conscious of every detail that I "do".  Because in a very unexpected circumstances I see myself on them; my reaction when I lost my patience, my way of reproving the children, my way of gratifying their needs."

A big thank you to all the teachers who wrote in to me, and especially to the following people (in random order): Tere Moana,  Joanna Simm, Zoe Welsh, Stephanie Rowlands, Janett Peñailillo G, Ruth Gerull, Jeanette Hornsby, MOY LIDDELL, Shona Mutch, Julie Schifferling, Anikó Debreczeni, Bettina, Sylvie Guinan, Claire Frank,  Ewelina Michalaska, Rachel Johnson, Pauline Leong, Christopher Regalo, Darelene Knicely, Eftychia Charalambous, Blumie Kesselman, Patricia Madriaga, Xenia Massachs, Sr. Ma. Gracia, Jude Nicholls, Esther Fernandez, Maureen Stevens, Jody S, Rubiela Torres, Carolina Amerio,
Defie Wibifono,  Rosina Reyes, Lally McKenzie, Jackie Morrow, Michelle Samson, Milena Langer, Angela Robb, Cecilia (tutopia), Carol Boquet, Giuliana Veruggio, Giang Tran,  Susan (nungawoman), Luciana Mano de Andrade, Arie Farnam (winner), Mimmie du Toit, Grace Sui, Niki Cooper, Diana Danila, Alison Devaux, Cath Baldwin, Esther Munoz, Lana Retz, Leanne Murphy, Katarina Borguova, Madeline Herrman, Craig Borg, Michaela Block, Angela Azimi, Cristina Oliveira, Robby Kulick, Shelley Suzuki, Louisa Bertrand, Genildo Silva, Christina van Vuuren, Denise (Griff5955), Francesca Saracena, Simon from ABC in Japan, Margaret Ubels-Rattray, Penny (ozinchina), Margaret Shephard, Winston Thorpe, Sheena Cameron, Linda Orr, Denine McCormack, Lulu, Becky Glaser, David Dial, Susan Thomas, Angela Liddell, Liliana Boraciu, Maurita Weissenberg, Maria Okamoto, Charmaine Pinto