Kindergartners love to play games, because it allows them to be away from their desks. Simple games can teach them new vocabulary words and support your lesson plans. A basic game that can teach the alphabet is bingo. Unlike traditional bingo with the B, I, N, G and O columns, use a card with 16 squares. Each square has a random letter inside. Call out letters using scrabble tiles. Do not repeat any of the letters in the scrabble pieces. Children use beans or buttons to cover their letters. The first one with bingo wins. Other games involve teaching children conversation skills. Children can play the game koala by passing a stuffed koala bear around. The kids say, “Koala, please,” to receive the bear. The bear moves through the class by students asking, “Please,” and saying, “Thank you” and “You’re welcome.”
Traditional English language children’s songs are an easy way to get the kids speaking English. Even at the high school level, teachers use chants and songs to teach foreign languages. Teachers can sing easy songs such as “Farmer In the Dell,” “Hickory Dickory Dock” and “Old McDonald.” Select songs that have good visuals. Create flash cards that go along with the characters or actions of the song. For “Hickory Dickory Dock,” use cards with a mouse, clock and the No. 1. Flash the cards as the students sing the words. Look for a children’s nursery rhyme video to show during song time. The video should have an animated version of the song so kindergartners can watch the action while singing.
Label as many items as possible in the classroom. Each item should have the English name stuck on it. Include items such as the ceiling, floor, desks, chairs and crayons. The kids will get used to seeing them on a daily basis. Each day, choose an item of the day and have the children repeat the name of the item. If the item has a function, such as a broom, demonstrate it. Select a student to demonstrate it and say the name. Students will look forward to their turn to participate.
Keep the lessons as visual as possible. When the kindergartners are learning about colors, have a child hold a sign that says yellow if he is wearing a yellow item of clothing. Do this for each color until they are all represented by students. Bring in pieces of clothing on hangers when teaching clothing names. Hang up a shirt and have students say, “Shirt.” Do this for each piece of clothing. Using a hands-on, visual approach keeps the students’ attention and helps them correlate words with the meaning.