Teaching Mandarin

Free Resources and Teaching Tips

Everyone can teach Chinese! All you need to do is give it a go!

You may worry about mispronouncing the words and teaching them incorrectly but pronunciation can be corrected at a later date. Building confidence in speaking, understanding and reading a new language is key in language acquisition.

Below you will find a list of website which will demonstrate pronunciation but Google Translate is a fantastic source when learning new words. I have also included Pronunciation Guides in the Mandarin for Beginners book.

There are a lot of resources online for learning Mandarin Chine

se. One of my favourite language programs is Poisson Rouge.

I have made a few resources, lesson plan and exercise book for children to use when learning Mandarin Chinese. 

Gruffalo Lesson Plan: Rhyming

Going a Bit Gruffalo

As promised, a Gruffalo lesson plan. It’s not my best lesson plan and not my most ‘wow’ starter.

The children do enjoy reading the Gruffalo. If the focus of this story was different, if we were looking at retelling the story rather than rhyming, I would start this story outside in a forest area where the children could act out the story in the forest where the story is set.

Rhyming Lesson Plan based on The Gruffalo book Hopefully this will help anyone looking for a Gruffalo rhyming lesson. Like I say, it’s not got my best wow starter but it does cover all the literacy areas (speaking and listening, reading and writing) uses ICT and has the option of working outside. Download the lesson plan here.

Don’t forget to buy your copy of the Gruffalo! Normal paperback is available here. Big book of the Gruffalo available here.

It’s All Gone a Bit Gruffalo

I am Gruffalo Mad!

I’ve been a huge fan of the Gruffalo from the first time I read the story. It’s different and unique and sparks the children’s imagination. There are thousands of lesson plans you can use from the Gruffalo, and I’ve gone a little bit Gruffalo Mad!

My husband will say I don’t need an excuse to spend money, but with a Gruffalo lesson week coming up, I couldn’t resist!

I am teaching a rhyming lesson, but I didn’t want the children to only be involved in rhyming, I wanted them to have a rounded experience of the Gruffalo so the resources I have are:

• Gruffalo role play
• Gruffalo story sequencing
• Gruffalo large pairs matching
• Gruffalo small pairs matching
• Matching the written description to the picture (that’s to challenge my highers)
• Matching rhyming pairs, so ‘snake’ would be paired with ‘lake’ for example
• Making a Gruffalo’s child puppet
• Writing the roasted fox, owl icecream, scrambled snake and Gruffalo crumble recipes
• A maze (for fine motor skills)
• Story writing frames if the children would like to write their own Gruffalo story
• And a Gruffalo puppet
  
  
• I also have in my classroom a matching rhymes game that isn’t Gruffalo related

Newspapers pt 2

The Second Lesson

To find the resources for this lesson and the first part of the lesson click here.

Resources

• Digital cameras
• Interviewer notes
• Reporter notes
• Press badges

Introduction

Suggested Time Table

Just a Suggestion

Different schools have different ways of working. I would never suggest that everyone should follow the same time table or routine in their classroom.

As Early Years practitioners we should always work to our children’s levels.

The time table below is a suggested time table for those schools who teach Literacy and Numeracy as discrete subjects. It could also be applied to schools which work on a thematic structure, incorporating literacy and numeracy into topic headings.

This is more of an Autumn time table, but it could be suitable for schools where children are working below the national average. The longer sessions in the morning give children the opportunities to really get stuck into what they’re doing without having to change to a different subject or activity.