Numbers are fundamental in teaching English. They are not only useful in daily life, but are also great for teaching pronunciation and spelling.

Depending on the age of the students, I choose how high I want to count. For 2-4 year olds I generally do 1-20. For the older kids I teach up to 100 and beyond. Generally I just drill the numbers and have the students repeat after me. As the students get better at saying the numbers, I start to change things up a bit. For example, I insert color flash cards into the number flashcards. As I say the number, for example “4”, and the kids see a “Blue” flash card they love saying, “ No, It’s Blue!” Another thing I do is turn a few of the flashcards upside down, and teach the students how to say “upside down.” When we get to the number of the card that is upside down, the students love to yell out, “upside down!” We have a lot of fun with these simple ideas, and it is also a great way to review. Try putting other flashcards in the middle of the numbers.

Games: There are so many games that can be played with numbers. I like to ask the students to close their eyes, and count to ten. Then I put the flash cards around the room. I ask them to pick up 2 or 3 cards depending on the number of students. Next, we put the cards together in order. I ask, “Who has 1? Who has 2?” etc.

You can also ask your students to choose how many jumps or spins, and have the whole class do it! I just recommend limiting it to 5 spins! Otherwise, you will have a really dizzy class.

Another easy game is Bingo. Depending on the class I make Bingo cards with numbers, and sometimes letters. Bingo is a really good game to get the students to focus on the numbers, since they have to look for the right one on their card.

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email: matt (at) dreamenglish.com
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