Teaching English at a primary school

[Chinabound]

Hello all, I currently started teaching at a primary school in China. This is my first experience teaching children. Before coming to China I taught computer systems and electronics to Adults. I was wondering if anyone had any good experiences or know of some sites that can help with some resources for teaching English to children? The current course books at the school seem outdated and do have some grammatic errors in them. They are currently using New Primary English in China books, and I would like to hear of other members experiences in teaching at a primary school. Thank you, Steve

[anonymoose]

When I taught English a few years ago, we used "Side by Side" books. They are reasonable, but need to be supplemented with fun activities to avoid becoming too mechanical and monotonous.

[LA Guy]

Hi,

Just curious to see how you are faring with your new adventure.

Sorry, I don't have any related experience and I taught computer software courses in the past also but

would never have considered teaching primary school children.

Was teaching primary school something you considered at home ? ( if you had a teaching credential )

I would think that your fellow colleagues at the school ( assuming you have them ) would be most helpful in

recommending materials and methods that were most effective.

I would think that some forms of entertaining sessions with lots of participation, singing, games and music

would make things fun.

Lots of English Second Language materials on the web.

Lots of stuff on Youtube ( if you can get it ) search: Kindergarten China

Where in China are you teaching ?

Thanks, LA Guy

[Chinabound]

Righ now I am the only Foreign teacher in the primary school in Fushun. The decision for me to teach English was because my wife lives here in China and I did not want to be so far away from her. So far teaching at the primary school seems to be very good. Although the course material they use is outdated. I am trying to find some interesting activities for the students. So any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[chinajobspace]

There are tons of resources on the internet that can solve your very problem. Do a search for TEFL lessons primary or primary ESL lessons and you will get lots of results. Probably the hardest part at this age group is simply classroom management so if you've got that in hand the 'teaching' part will be easy!

[LA Guy]

Hi there,

Wondering if you would care to share some of your experiences teaching in China ?

The good and the bad ?

Thanks, LA Guy

[jaded samurai]

I have used the "Side by Side" books before and I have to say they are EXTREMELY boring for the students, have too much vocab, too difficult of vocab, and often the vocab is useless. It's happened a lot in class (I was forced to use the books) where the students (and even Chinese teacher) didn't know the words in Chinese, which made teaching them the English of it difficult.

Dave's cafe ( http://www.eslcafe.com/ ) should be a good site for small activities. Just as a warning though, it seems a lot of the activities are written by amateurs, and some of them straight up don't work. It's good to think things through before attempting to use anything from there.

[Chinabound]

Thank you to all who have given me advice. The Side by Side books are used by the private English schools here in Fushun. The public primary schools use cheaper books. But i do agree that the Side by Side books are very boring for the students. I have found the teachers guides for the Side by Sides to be very useful though because they are set up like an ESL lesson plan for each page and unit. I teach at three different primary schools in the city and have been instructed to just review the lessons that their Chinese English language teachers have already taught them. I can understand it in a way, since the city does not see too many foreign visitors.

[anonymoose]

I agree that the Side by Side books are boring, but on the other hand, for most kids who are just learning English because they have to, are there any books that are not boring? I still think Side by Side are relatively good compared with what else is available. It's just up to the teacher to supplement the books with other activities to make the class fun.

[feihong]

Do you actually give grades and homework? If not, then just try to make your class fun. There are a lot of activities you can do, but one of the simplest is to teach the kids the lyrics to an English pop song. Another one that worked well for me was to have the students perform skits (you give them the general setting and characters, they come up with the dialogue).

[Chinabound]

I agree with you about the Side by Side books. They seem to be ideal in teaching English grammar to students. I try to use role-playing activities and other activities to keep it interesting for them. I even give them examples and have them in pairs come up with targeted sentences and dialogue about the unit we are learning. As far as grades and homework, they are only given in the private school, the public schools just want the students to learn oral communications from a foreign teacher. Besides, they get enough homework from their Chinese English teachers to keep them plenty busy.

[shrek1on1]

Hi.

I am new to chinese forums but I have been teaching primary school for 18 months now in Henan. The books we use for younger students are "Phonics", "Super kids" and "Let's go". For the slightly older primary kids we use mainly "Look listen and learn" or "Go for it". I find that these books work well and are fairly easy to follow. We usually teach 2 pages in 2 x 45 minute classes.