Learning-english-with-parents
Category : Blog
It’s really great if parents have a good command of English and are capable of helping or checking their child’s homework. What if it’s not the case? Unfortunately, not all the parents can afford a tutor. The primary school is a very responsible stage and it’s a matter of high importance to arrange the whole learning process in an interesting and comprehensible way.
Having an extensive experience working with kids I am absolutely convinced that playing based techniques help to facilitate the understanding of the constructions which not every adult manages to master let along a child.
So, how does it work? Let’s now see into the construction there is/are.
Kids will be excited if you suggest setting off for the trip to the jungle, for instance. Ask them to close their eyes for a second and fancy what they can see there. There is a funny monkey in the palm tree or There are three fat hippos in the lake or There are two zebras under the tree etc. Allow thechildren to dream it up, hear them out very attentively and ask to remember their examples as they will be able to say the same sentences in English at the end of the lesson.
Commence your explanations with definitions of the “subject” and the “location”. The “subject” is something we are talking about (who? what?) and the “location” is where our subject is situated. For example, in the sentence There is a funny monkey in the palm tree the “subject” is a funny monkey (what?) and the “location” is – in the palm tree (where?).
Then offer them to have a ride on a train and every carriage will include a special word like that:
There + is/are + “subject” + “location” (see Fairy English Grammar р. 24)
It’s very important to clarify that the first carriage transports the word There (let’s call the word there “a secret agent” as it is not translated into the Ukrainian language, it just silently rides in the first carriage and begins the sentence). In the second carriage there appear two words is/are. Don’t forget to revise that the form is we use for singular and the form are is used for plural nouns.
On the third place we put the “subject” (in our case it’s a funny monkey and in the last carriage we state the “location” (where?) in the palm tree.
And now place the words in the following order: There + is + a funny monkey + in the palm tree.
Practice this construction with different sentences, ask children to say in English their Ukrainian sentences which they made up at the beginning of the lesson. Praise the children as they have learnt so much and now they can use this construction properly in real life situations.