How to teach remotely with
Teaching and learning online is probably new for you and your students. These are challenging times, but it is important that your students keep up their English and feel secure that life is going on as normal. So, focus on making the online experience fun for all of you and if perhaps you cannot see the children, make sure you encourage, praise and reassure them during the online lessons. If possible, contact the parents / caregivers and explain how you will be running the lessons and how they can help. This is particularly important for children at this age, who may be easily distracted and even confused by this new way of learning. Set up a way of communicating with parents/caregivers and explain what you would like the children to do between classes. Get the students to practise good learning habits by asking them to prepare their learning space – have their books, coloured pencils etc. ready before they start and stress how important it is that they do their ‘homework’. And make sure they have been to the toilet before the class.
Here are some suggestions for how you could use the units in the Greenman coursebooks and materials to support your online classes. The link below takes you to the teaching resources. You can download and share these links with your students. They include links to all the audio and video files in the coursebook lessons as well as letters to parents: https://www.cambridge.org/gb/cambridgeenglish/catalog/primary/ greenman-and-magic-forest/resources click here
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You can also share with parents the link to the Greenman and the Magic Forest app for iPad. The App includes interactive vocabulary games and Greenman stories: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/greenman-and-the-magic-forest/ id964198365 The suggestions below are based on a combination of: > live lessons online > ideas for homework and self-access study While we normally try to limit the use of L1 in the classroom, there will be times when clarifying key words may be helpful to make sure all the students are clear about meaning. Don’t be tempted to use lots of L1, though. Use it only when you know that your students will benefit from the extra support. Try to make the using of English part of the fun.
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Useful tools in live classes: SCREEN-SHARING: share Presentation Plus (if you have it), image files, audio files and short video files (bandwidth permitting).
G R E AT F O R : > giving instructions
> sharing stories and songs
> setting up tasks
> creating your own ‘boardwork’ on screen – extra pictures, words etc to support the lesson (just as you would in the classroom).
> presenting grammar or vocabulary
If you don’t have this, hold your book up to the camera and point at sections of the page you are focusing on.
To find out more about how to conduct a live online lesson and make use of these functions in your online class, please follow this link: https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2020/03/16/using-video-conference-platformteaching-online/ click here
POSTING WORK: if your school has a website or blog, it would be good to create a space where classes can upload photos, videos, their work and share it. If your school doesn’t have this, it would be really great if you could create a blog for each of your classes. You will need to ask parents to email you students’ work, videos etc.
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A suggested structure for an online course following a mainly synchronous approach Teachers will find different ways of conducting these online courses. Timings may be different to the lessons children usually have. It is a good idea to schedule at least 2 lessons a week, so that students get into a rhythm of learning. The lessons suggested below are designed for about 30 minutes in length. They can be broken up into shorter lessons of 15 or 20 minutes, as practically, longer lessons online may be difficult to sustain. Short and frequent is much better at this age. If you can see and hear your students, you will be able to see what they are doing, how much time it takes them and respond appropriately. If you cannot see or hear them, you should imagine how they will be responding, give sufficient time for them to follow your instructions and give praise and support. Use their names (all of them from time to time) to create the illusion that you are aware of them. It is a good idea to imagine them doing the lesson with you. Some lessons are very hard to do online and can be left out. Once you are back in the classroom, you will catch up on these games and fun activities. You can ask students (via their parents/caregivers) to watch appropriate videos and stories on YouTube, BBC and British Council websites, as well as go over lessons and act the stories and dialogues out with their puppets instead. Students who have iPads can do the word games and watch the stories via the Greenman App.
Puppets You will be using your Greenman puppet throughout your lessons as your ‘teaching assistant’. Ask children to make 2 puppets of their own, which they can use during classes to practise dialogues, songs, movements and lots more. They will be more likely to speak aloud in English if they are using different voices for their puppets. They can make more than two if they want. Using different funny voices with the puppets helps students avoid repeating words and phrases with lack of inflection. If they are trying to be funny, they will be more focused on the meaning of what they say. Remember to model language as naturally as possible when you want students to repeat what you say. Puppets can be made from the insides of toilet rolls, old socks, fabric or these are made from small wooden picnic spoons.
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Here is an example lesson from Greenman, Level A To best prepare your students for an online lesson, ask them to > look at the previous lessons and try to remember the words for the pictures in the book > practise the songs they have learnt > before a new unit, look through the pages and check if they know of the words already > make small flashcards of pictures of key vocabulary they can use during their lessons e.g. to raise or point to when you say them or to lift up when they hear them in a song or chant. Tell them exactly what flashcards they will need beforehand.s they will need beforehand. There are a number of tasks we do in class like drawing which will be best done by children on their own and not during the live online lesson. This programme suggests what can be done by the children on their own. Make it clear to them when they should do this.
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Warmers: Why not start each lesson with a song or game (like Simon Says) that the students know well. Encourage them to join in and have fun. This should get them into a positive mood before they start the main part of the lesson. Throughout lessons use ways of ensuring students are paying attention and not drifting off because you aren’t there in person. You can use class management chants like: Eyes on the Door Feet on the Floor Hands behind your back And say no more And ‘shout-outs’, where you shout the first half of a phrase and the students have to shout back the second half. e.g. Teacher
Students
Hocus Pocus!
Everybody focus!
All set!
You bet!
Oh me!
Oh my!
Chiko. Chiko!
Boom. Boom!
You can find lots more like this online e.g. Pinterest. Greenman is designed to establish routines which create a secure environment for young children and to allow them to express themselves and use English to communicate important messages. So, try to follow the lesson patterns that you have established in the classroom online, using the Routine Board every lesson and singing the songs the students know and feel comfortable with.
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STORYTIME
W O R K S H E E T TA S K S
would usually be done on the floor in the classroom. Ask parents / caregivers if they can arrange a space where children can sit on the floor during the lesson and help the child move the screen, so they still see it. If this is not possible at home, it’s not a problem, but maintaining routines is a positive thing.
rely on (a) getting worksheets to all students and some households may not have a printer and (b) monitoring all the students closely as they point or colour and helping them out if they have difficulties. This will be difficult with an online class. You may wish to leave out these tasks until you return to the classroom.
3 I’m Hurt!
Name
35
Lesson 1: Introducing new vocabulary.
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With your Greenman puppet welcome the students and tell them they are excellent for joining in these online lessons and doing work on their own.
Online class
Display the routine board and nominate students to tell you about the weather, if it is a student’s birthday etc.
Online class
If a student has a birthday, sing the Happy Birthday Song. Each lesson, include a few phonics flashcards for sounds that are found in key vocabulary e.g. /f/ for finger and foot or /b/ for black, brown. Say the sounds – students repeat – normally, slowly, fast, in a high voice, in a low voice, on their own, as part of words. You know what sounds your students have problems with, so return to them often.
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Sing some of the songs: Hello song, Weather song, Shapes song etc. Revision from previous unit. Show flashcards of sandpit, slide, seesaw, swing, bucket, spade and ask students if they remember the words. Ask, which is their favourite?
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Online class
Online class
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Have your puppet find the flashcards for the new vocabulary and show one at a time.
Online class
Elicit the words: arm, leg, tummy, foot, finger. Point to your body to elicit the words again. Get students to repeat the words after you. Say point to your: arm, leg, tummy, foot, finger. Show the flashcards for colours: white, black, brown. Elicit the words. Ask children to show you something near them that is white, black or brown.
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Optional – this may be difficult to check with a large class. If students can hold their books up to the camera and point at the same time, it could work.
Online class
Ask students to open page 35 of their student book. As you say the words, ask students to point at the correct picture.
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Play the body rap song.
Online class
Hold the appropriate flashcard as they listen to the song. Say the words of the song slowly with students repeating line by line. Ask students to sing and do the actions with the song.
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Optional – this may be difficult to check with a large class. If students can hold their books up to the camera and point at the same time, it could work.
Online class
Ask students to open page 35 of their student book. As you say the words, ask students to point at the correct picture.
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Story Time.
Online class
Say the story time chant together. Ask students to sit on the floor if they can. Show the pictures on screen and elicit vocabulary, asking questions like ‘What do you see’ and encouraging students to point at the pictures of key words e.g. leg, brown in their own book. Now ask the students to go back to their seats.
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Students can draw Nico or Sam in the box on page 36 in their own time.
Homework
Name
37
Lesson 2: Active Time.
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With your Greenman puppet welcome the students and tell them they are excellent for joining in these online lessons and doing work on their own.
Online class
Display the routine board and nominate students to tell you about the weather, if it is a student’s birthday etc.
Online class
If a student has a birthday, sing the Happy Birthday Song. Sing some of the songs:
Online lesson
Hello song, Weather song, Shapes song etc. Revision from previous unit.
Online class
Show flashcards of: arm, leg, tummy, foot, finger, white, black, brown and ask students if they remember the words. Ask students to point at the parts of the body and things that white, black or brown around them.
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TPR. Say ‘move your fingers’ and show the action. Do this for the other parts of the body they know. Then just give the instruction and students do the action. Point out if they are doing it wrong, by saying ‘is this your arm? No, it’s your leg’.
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Online class
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Say the story time chant and indicate that children should sit on the floor.
Online class
Hold the book in front of you visible to the camera and point clearly. Check the vocabulary by pointing at things in the Big Story and saying: ‘What’s this?’ ‘Is this a hand?’ etc. Read the story as you would normally asking questions and making suitable sounds, facial expressions and gestures. Make sure the pages are visible on screen. You can also play the audio and the students can listen and follow.
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Mime game.
Online class
Mime actions to show your leg hurts. Get Greenman (puppet) to say ‘what’s the matter?’ Replay ‘My leg hurts.’ Get students to repeat this dialogue after you. Ask one student at a time to do an action. The rest of the class say together ‘what’s the matter? And you help the individual student reply with the appropriate statement: ‘My X hurts’. Students can get out two of their puppets and act out the dialogue (at the same time – you don’t need to ask them to perform in front of the camera as the others will get bored and distracted).
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Sing the Table Time chant and wait for the students to get back on their chairs.
Online class
Check the meaning of happy & sad. Elicit the words through facial expressions and body language. Get students to repeat after you ‘I’m happy’ and show they are happy and ‘I’m sad’. Ask students to look at page 37 of their student book. Show them the page on screen Ask students to hold up the correct page to their camera so you can see they have the right page. Say ‘look at picture 1’ and point at it. ‘Is Nico happy?’ Elicit responses from students. ‘Is Nico sad?’ Show them how to colour the correct face to answer the question. Go through the other 3 pictures in the same way. Ask them to show the page to camera, so you can see the completed task.
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Sing the tidy up song, as they tidy up their things, and the goodbye song together.
Online class
Students can draw themselves in the box on page 39 in their own time.
Homework
Name
39
Lesson 3: Active Time.
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With your Greenman puppet welcome the students and tell them they are excellent for joining in these online lessons and doing work on their own.
Online class
Display the routine board and nominate students to tell you about the weather, if it is a student’s birthday etc.
Online class
If a student has a birthday, sing the Happy Birthday Song. Sing some of the songs:
Online lesson
Hello song, Weather song, Shapes song etc. Show Greenman holding a pair of scissors, look shocked/worried and say ‘Be careful’.
Online class
During the lesson as children move around, use the phrase ‘Be careful’. Occasionally wobble and look as if you are going to fall out of your chair and elicit the phrase from the students.
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Present the words: clean, dirty. Show page 22 of the Big Story Book so the students can see Nico’s dirty foot. Say ‘Nico’s foot is dirty.’ Show your hand and ask: ‘Is my hand dirty?’ ‘No, it’s clean’. Ask children to show their clean hands to the camera. Get students to repeat the words and phrases after you. Show your Greenman puppet with a stain on him. Say ‘Greenman is dirty. Let’s clean Greenman’ And wipe the stain off him.
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Online class
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TPR.
Online class
Ask students to stand up and give instructions for them to follow Say ‘Our fingers are dirty’ Look at fingers. ‘Let’s clean our fingers’ do action of cleaning fingers. Give instructions for other parts of the body without doing the actions yourself unless the students are struggling to follow.
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Say the Story Time chant.
Online class
Students sit on the floor (if possible). Show the pages of the story where the children are dirty. Say ‘Nico’s leg is dirty’. Get students to repeat the sentences after you at least twice.
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Ask students to open their student book at page 39.
Online class
Make sure they have the right page by asking them to hold it up to the camera. Point to the child jumping in a puddle. Ask ‘Is he clean or dirty?’ ‘He’s dirty.’ Circle that picture. Make sure they can see that on screen. Point to the other children and ask in the same way. Students circle the children who are dirty.
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Role play with puppet.
Online class
Make sure students have a puppet and a cloth or flannel. Use Greenman and say oh no, the table is dirty and Greenman says ‘Let’s clean it’ and wipes the table. Get the students to join in with you as you find ‘dirty’ things and clean them. Encourage students to repeat the dialogues after you.
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Ask students to trace the line in the water and colour the rest of the picture on page 40.
Homework
Name
41
Lesson 4: Active Time.
1 2 3 4
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With your Greenman puppet welcome the students and tell them they are excellent for joining in these online lessons and doing work on their own.
Online class
Display the routine board and nominate students to tell you about the weather, if it is a student’s birthday etc.
Online class
If a student has a birthday, sing the Happy Birthday Song. Sing some of the songs:
Online lesson
Hello song, Weather song, Shapes song etc. Use flashcards to review the vocabulary introduced so far in the unit.
Online class
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Ask students to stand up and make some room around them. Perhaps someone else at home can help move their chair at this point.
Online class
Stand up yourself and show ‘in’ – your arm in front of you and ‘out’ – your arm behind you. Say ‘show me your hand’ and encourage students to respond by raising their hand. Say ‘put your hand in’ and encourage students to respond by putting their hand in front of them. Say ‘put your hand out’ and encourage students to respond by putting their hand behind them. Repeat with different parts of the body. The first time you play the audio, display the flashcard for the part of the body and invite students to call out the word. The next time you play it, show the actions. Then play it again and ask students to join in. Before they start, say ‘Be careful’. You could do this 2 or 3 times.
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Say the Table Time chant and wait for the students to sit back down and get comfortable.
Online class
Have a prepared presentation to show on screen of a sequence of shapes e.g. square, circle, square, circle, …… Say and point, ‘look square, circle, square, circle. What comes next?’ Ask students to get out their student book and find page 41. Show the page on screen and ask the students to show you the correct page by holding it up to the camera. Point to the first sequence and say ‘hand, foot, hand…. What comes next?’ When they have answered ask them to draw the missing picture. Do the same for the next 2 sequences, allowing enough time for them to draw but not too much for them to become distracted or drift off.
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Ask students to draw their favourite action from the song in the box on page 42.
Homework
12 34 5 Name
43
Lesson 5: Active Time.
1 2 3 4 5 6
With your Greenman puppet welcome the students and tell them they are excellent for joining in these online lessons and doing work on their own.
Online class
Display the routine board and nominate students to tell you about the weather, if it is a student’s birthday etc.
Online class
If a student has a birthday, sing the Happy Birthday Song. Sing some of the songs: Hello song, Weather song, Shapes song etc. Review parts of the body by counting how many of them you have. Only one hand – up to 5.
Online class
Ask students to stand up and count with you while pointing to the parts of the body. Ask students to respond to you calling out a number (1-5) by:
Online class
a. Showing you the correct amount of fingers. b. Showing you the correct amount of pencils or crayons they have. Play the Five Fingers song and hold up the number of fingers heard in the song. Say the song (without the track) slowly together with the students a few times, so they get used to it. Play the song again and students show their fingers as they listen.
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Online lesson
Online class
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Ask students to stand up and make some space carefully – ‘Be careful!’.
Online class
Model drawing each number in the air with your back to the camera but so they can see the air drawing (you may need to practise angling your lap top to get this right). For each number model the air drawing twice, do it with the students twice and then watch them do it on their own twice.
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Students trace the numbers on page 43.
Homework
Once a unit is finished, it would be nice to send each student a message congratulating them on working so hard online and saying you understand if it is difficult for them and you miss them, too.
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We hope you find these guidelines helpful. In addition, you may find these resources helpful: click here
click here
1. Greenman and the Magic Forest resources and app 2. Super Simple songs: features traditional songs and nursery rhymes that are easy to learn and help children practice vocabulary in a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere: https://supersimple.com/supersimple-songs/ 3. World of Better Learning blog: To help support all teachers who now have to teach from home due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we
click here
have created a series of blog posts with expert advice on how to move your classes online. 4. Age-appropriate TV shows and films: To increase students’ exposure to the language outside of school, you could suggest to parents that children watch age-appropriate TV shows and films in English.
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