Olga from Russia has this great game idea that she emailed me. She was kind enough to let me share it with all of you:

Here is one more game for the kids of age 2 and up. Sometimes even kids of the age of 6 like to play with us
We play this game outside, but I am sure it can be played indoors. I call it DAY and NIGHT .
On the ground I draw two big circles enough for all kids who play to get in them, the distance between circles can be different depending on the age. I draw a sun in one circle and the moon and stars in another, and bind both circles with a crooked line or straight line, depends on the mood. Then I say: day and all kids go or run to the day circle, and start to spin there or jump or sing, whatever they wish. Then I say : night! and they all run on the line or path to the night circle and sit down there and pretend that they are sleeping. Then I say day and they all run back to the day circle. There can be many variations

Thanks, Olga! This is nice. I can think of variations where you can say instead of day, morning. Then ask the students to go to the morning circle and ask them, ” what do you do in the morning?” and they would answer, ” I wake up!”  Hmm… reminds me of a song…

I am happy to present The Teach Kids English Show #6: My Favorite Dream English Songs for Teaching 2 to 4 year olds. As I say in the show, this could really apply to 0-7 year olds.  I want to thank everyone who has been watching the show, and I appreciate your feedback. So without further ado:

Hi! I am really excited to present to you this new video.  The song in the video is a bonus song from  the Touch and Say Phonics Download pack. Enjoy!

The Touch and Say Phonics program has become a pretty popular part of the Dream English website.  The free worksheets, songs, and audio lessons are a great addition to a young learners classroom.  I have been using Touch and Say Phonics for almost a year now, and it is a really effective program.

New Bonus Download Pack

In order to get an even better experience out of Touch and Say Phonics, I recommend this Bonus Pack. It has all of the great worksheets, flash cards, songs, and listening exercises you can get for free and more! We have added review sheets, a phonics poster, and 2 new Bonus songs, only available in the Download Pack.

The nice thing about the download pack is that all of the worksheets come in one pdf file. That means you can access just one file to print, or print out from A to Z all at once! This year I am going to bind the A-Z worksheets and review sheets all in one book for the kids. This will make it much easier to keep track of where we are, and what to do next.

The Bonus songs are really cool to practice the phonics sounds, with the bonus poster. Here is what you get in the Touch and Say Phonics Download Pack:

I am happy to present episode # 5 of the Teach Kids English Show. Today I begin talking about teaching young children from the ages of 1-4. I go over some basic points that I think are essential when teaching this age group.  If you would like to read more check out my Teaching 2 to 4 year olds page on this site.

Next time I will talk about my favorite songs and games for teaching this age group. See you then!

In today’s episode I talk about how to get your classes started.  I offer a few main ideas that I use to get my classes started in a fun, and productive way.  How do you start your classes?

Here are the links to the songs and game cards I mention in the video:

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Song
Simple Warm Up Songs

Animal Game Cards

If you have any great ideas for starting your classes, please leave a comment!

In today’s episode I talk about my concept of discipline. I’m not an expert on discipline, but in the video I talk about some ideas that help me. What are your ideas?

This is my second installment of  the Teach Kids English Show. In this episode I talk about the importance of being relaxed while teaching young learners.  I also show a short clip of a concert to illustrate the point. What do you think? Is it important to stay relaxed while teaching, or is there a different way that you feel works better? Let us know in the comments!

Hi Everyone! I am starting a new Vlog (video log) right here and now. Here is the first installment, I hope you like it!

Mark and I recently recorded an ESL Teacher Talk Podcast about teaching holidays. We run through several ideas of how you can spice up your classes with holidays games and activities. You can listen to the podcast here.

Valentine’s Day

I only plan on spending a little  bit of time this year on Valentine’s Day with my students, but I will definitely be using the MES English flash cards (seen here) and the free download Skidamarink song with my students.  On MES English you can also find a bunch of cool crossword puzzles and more to make your classes great!