Working with the alphabet can be frightening for young second language learners.

The best way I found to work with the lower grades in ESL is to dance the ABCs and make shapes with the body while stretching. I’m in the second week of English camp and now teaching third grade Korean students. I have been frustrated over the years that students couldn’t get the basic alphabet even though they finished so many worksheets. I realized they were doing work and then forgetting it. They needed to own the alphabet. We started each day with alphabet aerobics making our body into the letters of the alphabet. We spent two days focusing on clay art and basic Claymation of the alphabet and simple words we could put together. We made it all the way up to X, Y, Z.

The clay is white but students used markers to add colors to the clay.

Students made simple words like milk and cat and dog. We had letter making races and then word scrabble for simple words in clay. Students like milk and cat. I have no idea why. One girl started to move her letters around on the table. I realized that she saw an animation in her mind. I took a couple photos and put them together for her and here is what I got.

In third grade students like English.

For some of them it is their favorite subject. Something happens in the next two years. When they get to fifth grade all of the students say their favorite subject is PE. It’s because they never owned the basic words and letters as their own so when more word were added and homework assignments and lectures about grammar were introduced the students just wrote English off as one of the boring subjects.

If I am bored then for sure my students will be bored.

I spent a week making simple comics and characters with the kids here. We had a role play that the kids wrote based on their characters and they had a lot of laughs. I actually feel better than I did when I started the English camp. However I would like to have a vacation. I will end this with a snowman one of the students made with the left over clay. So often students finish the minimum and say, “Teacher I’m finished.” I told them the first day when you are finished then make something new. This is what I got.

Peace,

@mineopoly