"The Story of Four Candels" ESL version

 

Once, there were four candles.
They were shining in a quiet room.

The first candle said,
“I am Peace. People don’t keep me burning.”
And Peace went out.

The second candle said,
“I am Faith. People don’t believe.”
And Faith went out.

The third candle said,
“I am Love. People forget to love.”
And Love went out.

Then a little child came in.
The room was dark.
“Why are you not shining?” the child asked.

The fourth candle said,
“Don’t cry. I am Hope.
If I shine, we can light the others again.”

The child took Hope’s flame.
The child lit Peace, Faith, and Love.
The room was bright again.

Hope said softly,
“Never let me go out.
If Hope shines, everything shines.”

Every Christmas, people tell this story:
✨ Never lose Hope.

ESL ACTIVITY PLAN – Emotions

Age: 4–6 years

Duration: 30–40 minutes
Level: Beginner (A1)
Goal: introduce and understand basic vocabulary for expressing emotions

Useful tip: You can adjust the emotions as needed — for example, instead of 'loved' and 'special,' use 'angry' and 'scared,' or add them in the following lesson.

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1. Warm-up – Movement and facial expressions (5–10 min)

Objective: Recognize and name emotions through mimicry and movement.
Materials: flashcards (happy, sad, loved, special), mirrors or pictures.

 
Activities:
The teacher shows a flashcard and expresses the emotion with their face and body.
 “Happy!”  — big smile, arms up.
“Sad!”  — sad face, shoulders down.
 “Loved!” — hugging gesture.

 “Special!” — pointing to oneself with a smile.
Children imitate the expression and say the word out loud.

“Show me…” game — the teacher says the word, pointing to the flashcard, and children express the emotion.

📌 Language: “Show me happy.” “Are you sad?” “Good job!”

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2. Flashcard game "What's missing?"

Objective: Reinforce vocabulary recognition and support sentence building through play.

Materials: Flashcards with emotions (sad, happy, loved, special) a

Activities:
The teacher places the flashcards on the board or floor, says each word clearly, and models the sentence structure (“Pumpky is happy.”). Asks students to repeat. Then removes one flashcard while students close their eyes and asks: “What’s missing?” Encourages full-sentence answers.

📌Language (target words): happy, sad, loved, special.

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3. Art activity – My face (10–15 min)

Objective: Express emotions through drawing and speaking.
Materials: paper with blank face outlines, crayons, and markers.

Activities:
Each child chooses an emotion and draws a face showing it.
Each child says:
“I am happy.”
“I feel loved.”

📌 Language: “I am happy/sad/loved/special.”

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4. Movement game – Emotion corners (5–10 min)

Objective: Understand and react quickly to vocabulary.
Materials: four corners labeled happy, sad, loved, special.

Activities:
The teacher says an emotion.
Children quickly move to the correct corner and act out the feeling.
Variation: The teacher shows a flashcard instead of saying the word.

📌 Language: “Run to happy!” “Show sad!” “Good!”

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5. Closing circle – My feelings (5 min)

Objective: Personal connection with the vocabulary.
Materials: flashcards, soft ball or plush toy.

Activities:
Children sit in a circle.
Pass the ball around.
When a child gets the ball, they say:
👉 “I feel happy.” or pick the correct card.

📌 Language: “I feel happy/sad/loved/special.”

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Learning objectives:

• Recognize and name 4 basic emotions in English.
• Develop non-verbal expression and speaking skills.
• Connect emotions to personal experiences.
• Learn through movement, play, and art.

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Recommended materials:

• Flashcards with emotions 
• Crayons, paper, mirrors
• Small ball / plush toy
• Corner labels or stickers for the classroom setup.

Here you can download FREE EMOTION FLASHCARS.

Additional ideas for introducing and practicing new vocabulary can be found here: Simple ideas for introducing and reviewing language using flashcards, ESL

Pumpkin Lava Experiment

Goal:

• Observe what happens when baking soda is mixed with vinegar.
• Notice the chemical reaction that creates bubbles and foam (lava effect).
• Connect a science experiment with an autumn theme (pumpkin).

 
Materials:

• Small hollowed-out pumpkin
• Baking soda
• Vinegar (preferably clear, white vinegar)
• Food coloring (optional – orange, red, or yellow)
• Small cup or container
• Spoon

Procedure:

Hollow out the inside of the pumpkin and place it on a tray.
Put a small cup or container inside the pumpkin.
Add 2–3 tablespoons of baking soda to the cup.
Add a few drops of food coloring.
Slowly pour vinegar into the cup.
Observe what happens when the vinegar and baking soda mix.

Observations:

When the two substances combine, foam and bubbles begin to form.

The foam flows out of the pumpkin, looking like lava flowing from a volcano.
Children can observe, describe, and comment on the changes.

 

Explanation:

• Baking soda (a base) and vinegar (an acid) react to create carbon dioxide (CO₂).
• The gas forms bubbles and causes the foam to overflow — just like a lava eruption.

Expected Learning Outcomes:

• Children observe and recognize changes in matter (formation of bubbles and foam).
• Children develop curiosity and interest in science experiments.
• Children can describe what they saw in simple sentences.
• Children connect the experiment with natural phenomena (e.g., volcanic eruption).

Discover more inspiring experiments and activities — click HERE.

ESL TEACHING: "Let's learn the body parts"

Let’s learn body parts in a fun and easy way! This activity is perfect for preschoolers and young learners. With simple words, colorful pictures, and songs, children can learn and remember body parts while playing. Learning English can be fun!

There are lots of ideas on the web for teaching children about the human body. I chose some of them that I found appropriate also for ESL students. 

We started learning by introducing the parts of the body: head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Depending on the age or level of the students you are teaching, start with three or four words per class.

Ideas for flashcard games while teaching the parts of the body:

Simon Says

When you say "Simon says touch your head" students need to touch their head. But when you say "Touch your head", without "Simon", they must not touch their head. If they do they are out of the game. Repeat the game with all the body parts you have introduced. 

What’s Missing?

Place four familiar cards face up in a row. Ask your children to close their eyes. Now, they can open their eyes and guess which one is missing. Turn that card face up again and add one more card to the pile. Ask your students to close their eyes again and turn two cards over.  Gradually add few cards more, depending on how many you have introduced at the time, and turn more cards for students to guess what's missing.

Touch the Ball

You will need one ball per pair of students sitting on the floor and facing each other. The ball is on the floor between them. You give them instruction to touch a certain part of the body e.g. "Touch your head/knees/head...." After some time, you will tell them to touch the ball. The student who picks the ball first is the winner. Now, only the winners play the game. Divide them into pairs again and repeat the game as instructed. Play the game until there is just one pair of students left. The winner is the last student picking the ball first.

Pass The Card

The students and the teacher sit in a circle. The teacher starts by passing a picture card to the student on his right, saying, “This is a cat.” The student takes the card and passes it to the next student, saying, “This is a cat.” The card is passed around the circle. When the card returns to the teacher, the teacher puts that card aside and introduces a new picture card in the same manner. When the students have learned a few picture cards, the teacher has a few options:
 a) wait until a card has reached the halfway mark, then introduce a second card going in the same direction;
b) introduce cards at the same time going in opposite directions,
c) send 3-4 cards around the circle in the same directions with little pause between each. Tip: four cards is probably the maximum number of cards to work with at one time.

For more flashcard games check  Simple ideas for introducing language using flashcards.

For the "Follow up" activity you can ask children to draw their body or their face using this template

Or you can use this  idea for the activity "The Teeth in My Mouth" with styrofoam and color paper 

Instead of using styrofoam, you can also use white beans.

Sing  the "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" song

While the song plays you do all the action and encourage your students to do the same. Repeat the song singing it a little bit faster, then faster, and faster. Until you can not sing it faster. Students will love it and ask you to sing it more.

If you have already sung "Head, Sholders Knees and Toes" you can sing the "Open Close" song

 

Sing  the "Hockey Pockey" song for level 2 (more body parts)

"All about me" chant

This is a great chant for ESL students to learn. It's very easy to learn when you add appropriate TPR (e.g. ten little fingers - wiggle with your fingers; ten little toes - wiggle or touch your toes, etc.).

 All about me

Ten little fingers

Ten little toes,

two little ears

and one little nose.

Two little eyes,

shining so bright.

Two little lips,

to kiss you good night!

We also did some "Skeleton" crafts after introducing words: skull, skeleton, bone, brain, lungs, and exploring human skeleton through different media.

I created the "Human digestion" labyrinth to help my students understand how food travels through the body.

Looking for more creative ESL teaching ideas? Check this out and get inspired! ESL TEACHING IDEAS

Eggy the Easter Egg ESL story (ESL level 1)

This is Eggy. He is very sad. He doesn't know what color to choose.

Eggy starts to paint himself.

He takes some green

and some yellow too.

He takes some red, orange, and blue.

Eggy is happy now.

You might wanna read this too:

Jumping colors flashcard game

Ideas for teaching The Rainbow Colors Song

Ideas for teaching Spring Song: How is a rainbow formed

ESL Teaching ideas

Eggy the Easter Egg ESL story (LEVEL 2)

Eggy the Easter Egg (ESL story)

 

Easter is coming. And, what do we do just before Easter?

Yes! We dye Easter eggs.

Do you know the story of the Easter egg called Eggy?

Well, once there was an egg called Eggy. He was very sad. He didn’t know what color to choose.

“I like green,” he said.

“And yellow too.”

“I like red, orange, and blue. What shall I do?” wondered Eggy.

So, he took a paintbrush and made some green dots … and some red dots too. Then he took some yellow, orange, and blue.

Finally, Eggy was finished.

“I am so beautiful”, Eggy said happily.

Indeed, he was the most beautiful Easter egg of all.

You might wanna read this too:

Jumping Colors Flashcard Game
Ideas for teaching The Rainbow Colors Song
Ideas for teaching Spring Song: The Rainbow Song
ESL Teaching Ideas

Jumping colors/Flashcard game idea for ESL teaching

A fun and active ESL flashcard game to teach colors! “Jumping Colors” gets kids moving, learning, and laughing while practicing vocabulary.

This game will boost color memorizing in a fun way while teaching "Colors" to the ESL students. You can also use it as an intro lesson when teaching "The Rainbow Colors Song".

 Arrange two sets of plasticized flashcards "Colors" on the floor in the shape of two squares or circles, making sure to leave enough space in the middle where the students will stand. 

If it's only one child will play this game then you need to form just one circle. When you say the color, the child's task is to jump to the matching color/flashcard on the floor as quickly as possible.

When it comes to a larger group of students, playing in pairs is faster and more interesting, and can also work as a competitive game. In that case, divide the students into two groups/teams. One child from each group takes turns. When you say a certain color,  students need to jump to the appropriate flashcard as quickly as possible. The child who first jumps to the matching color gets one point for his team or two points but loses one point if jumping on the wrong color. You should adopt the rules of the game depending on students' age and level.

       

RELATED ESL TEACHING IDEAS:

SPRING SONG (HOW IS A RAINBOW FORMED"  ESL TEACHING IDEAS

THE RAINBOW COLORS SONG ESL TEACHING IDEAS

ACTIVITY IDEAS ON THE "THE RAINBOW FISH" STORY

Activity ideas for ESL teaching: Spring song "The Rainbow Colors"

Spring song: How is a rainbow formed

This is a good song for teaching ESL students. It's easy, catchy, and educational. You can use it for the "How Is A Rainbow Formed" project. You can teach it before or after teaching "The Rainbow Colors".

Before teaching a new song, it is always required to pre-teach the targeted vocabulary. For this song, that would be sun, rain, rainbow, and flowers. Prepare the flashcards and introduce them to your students. You can use some of these FLASHCARDS GAMES IDEAS. 

Depending on the English level your students are at,  you can also add warmth, sound, sight, or whatever you like. It is always a great idea to use TPR as well.

After introducing the targeted vocabulary, ask students what will appear in the sky when the sun is shining and it is raining at the same time. They will probably know the answer: the rainbow. 

After the conversation, sing the song using TPR. The second time, ask the students to do the TPR as well. 

To boost learning, you can make for example several cards of each word you have introduced and give them to your students. Ask them to stand up each time when they hear their word. Or, you can make prompts sun, rain, rainbow, flowers, like we did, and "dramatize" the song as if it were a story. Well, it kind of is.

For the follow-up activity, ask your children to draw "How Is A Rainbow formed?".

This might interest you:

THE RAINBOW COLORS SONG 

ESL TEACHING IDEAS
COLORS FLASHCARD GAME IDEA: JUMPING COLORS

Ideas for teaching The Rainbow Colors Song ESL

The Rainbow Colors Song

Music is a great tool to use for teaching children the English language. When teaching children a new song, all activities should be carefully planned and managed for children to be motivated for learning.

Before introducing to children a new song, you may want to “pre-teach” some of the words. For example, if you are going to sing "The rainbow song", you should first teach children colors or revise them through playing a game for example. As always, playing is one of the best ways for learning. In that way, you will warm up children and create good group dynamics.

You may want to read Simple ideas for introducing language using flashcards.

The Rainbow Colors Song

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, "clap" (clap with your hands).

(clap with your hands and/or say "yes").

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, (clap with your hands).

It's a rainbow, it’s a rainbow.  (clap with your hands)

A beautiful rainbow in the sky. (draw an arch with your hands pointing to the sky)

After revising colors, give children rainbow colors (flashcards/blocks) for each child one color. Use color flashcards lined up as they go in the song: red. orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. Start singing the song first slowly. When children hear the color they have, they need to stand up. After warming-up, start singing the song faster, and faster - this part is the most interesting to the children.
After singing, reinforce overall development in other parts of your lesson such as in art activity, a worksheet or other games e.g. "bingo game". 

The Rainbow Colors
Watercolor and crayons combination

This might interest you:

COLORS FLASHCARD GAME IDEA: JUMPING COLORS

SPRING SONG: HOW IS A RAINBOW FORMED

Simple ideas for introducing and reviewing language using flashcards ESL

Magic/Mystery Box

One of the simplest ways to engage students’ interest is to introduce new items with a Mystery Box. You can give hints about what’s inside and have students guess. You can make one out of a shoebox. Just decorate it as you wish, and your magic box is ready to use.

Snap game

Choose cards you like and place them on the floor. Invite two children to sit in front of the cards facing each other. When the teacher says a word (name of the card), children must as fast as they can slap the matching card. The winner is a child who first slaps the card. You can use flycatchers for slapping the cards.

Eraser Races

 Go through the picture cards that you are planning to introduce in your class. Identify the cards you think students are most likely to be familiar with. Place two of these cards on the floor at the front of the classroom. Divide the class into two teams and have them line up. Give the two students at the front of the line one eraser each. When the teacher calls out one of the cards, the two students race to put their erasers on the correct card. The first student to do so wins a point for his team. Repeat several times, and then add a third card. Play with three cards for several turns, and then add a fourth card, a fifth card, and then a sixth card, and so on. When you begin with cards that the students are a little familiar with, it allows you to slowly introduce some of the more challenging vocabulary. If you are introducing vocabulary that no students in the class know, give hints with your voice. For example, if you have a ghost card and a ballerina card, say “ghost” in a spooky voice, so the students will have an idea of which card it is.

Pass The Card 

The students and the teacher sit in a circle. The teacher starts by passing a picture card to the student on his right, saying, “This is a cat.” The student takes the card and passes it to the next student, saying, “This is a cat.” The card is passed around the circle. When the card returns to the teacher, the teacher puts that card aside and introduces a new picture card in the same manner. When the students have learned a few picture cards, the teacher has a few options:

a) wait until a card has reached the halfway mark, then introduce a second card going in the same direction;
b) introduce cards at the same time going in opposite directions,
c) send 3-4 cards around the circle in the same direction with a little pause between each. Tip: four cards are probably the maximum number of cards to work with at one time.


Musical cards 

The students and the teacher sit in a circle. While the music is playing, the teacher starts passing a picture card to the student on his right who passes the card to another student sitting in his right, and so on. The teacher is passing as many cards as he/she wants while students pass the picture cards in a circle. When the teacher stops the music, children holding the cards at that moment need to say the name of their card.

Roll The Dice

Choose six picture cards you would like to introduce and place them on the whiteboard with magnets. Give each card a number from 1 to 6, writing the numbers above the cards with your whiteboard marker. Divide the class into two teams. Give one student, any student, a big dice to roll. The whole class watches to see what number comes up. The first student to say the name of the vocabulary card with the same number as the dice wins a point for her team. If nobody knows the vocabulary card, introduce it and have the students repeat it. They’ll try hard to remember so they can answer it correctly the next time. Play until one team reaches a set amount of points. If it becomes easy, begin replacing the cards on the board with new cards.

Guess The Picture 

Take two sheets of paper the same size as the picture cards. Cut several small holes randomly spaced in one sheet. In the second sheet, cut larger holes in the same spots, so that the holes from both sheets of paper line up. Cover a flashcard with the large-holed sheet, and then place the small-holed sheet on top of that. When you look at the picture, you will only be able to see small parts where the holes are. Ask the children if they can guess what's in the picture, then slowly remove the large-holed sheet, revealing the picture bit by bit.

What’s Missing

Teacher? Place three familiar cards face up in a row. Turn around and ask the students to turn one card over. You return and try to name the missing card. Turn the card face up again, and let the students add a card to the pile. Turn around again, and the students turn one card over. Return and name the card. Gradually add more cards to the mix. Tip: Have the students turn over only one card at a time.

Kim's game?

Place four or more familiar cards face up in a row. Ask your children to close their eyes. Now, they can open their eyes and guess which one is missing. Turn that card face up again and add one more card to the pile. Ask your students to close their eyes again and turn two cards over. Gradually add a few more cards, depending on how many you have introduced at the time, and turn over more cards for students to guess what's missing.

Jumping Cards 

Choose 8-10 picture cards and hang them in a row on the board. Have students stand. Everyone stamps their feet left, right, left, right, left, right in a comfortable beat. Start chanting the names of the cards. After two or three rounds, turn one card over. Repeat the chant, but when you reach the card that has been turned over, everybody jumps. Turn over another card and start the chant again. You will jump twice now. Continue turning over cards until all but one of the cards have been turned over. Increase the pace or the number of cards if the students want a bigger challenge!

Intro Lesson: Get to Know Each Other!

Starting a new ESL class can be exciting and a little bit challenging. A good intro lesson helps students feel welcome and comfortable. 

It is always a good idea to start the first lesson by introducing the children to the key stages and routines you can use every day/class.

For that, you will need:

• name tags for all children (if you don't know children's names)
• "Hello song“, download the version you like. I like this one:

• A microphone or a softball
• „Magic box “for keeping the puppet, flashcards and other materials you are going to use. You can easily make it out of a shoebox just wrapping it with decorative paper
•  „What's your name“ song

• flashcards „The circle time rules“, try this one Good Sitting Cards by Twinkl
• Colored crayons or pencils

Circle time activities (children are sitting on chairs or cushions) 

Warm-up activities

Greet the children and invite them to make a circle (to sit down). Play the song „Hello, Hello“and make the gestures. Encourage the children to repeat them too.

Introduce yourself: „My name is teacher ……What's your name?“. Use a microphone or a softball. Say your name and pass it to your nearest student. Have each student say their name as they pass the ball/microphone to each other.

While activities

Introduce the glove puppet that you have put in a magic box before the class. Bring out the magic box, open it enough to see in and say "Hello!“ The puppet jumps out of the magic box saying „Hello“! Finally, get all the students together to shout "Hello! Then model the role play with the puppet:

Teacher: "Hello, what's your name?" Puppet: "My name is...“

Now go to the nearest student and say "What's your name? “. Encourage the students to say their names.

After all the children have said their names, play the song „What's you name“making the gestures using your glove puppet as your pair. Play it again but before, divide the children into pairs and encourage them to sing and do the gestures as well. You will be surprised how fast the children will learn the song.

Finally, go around saying "Goodbye" and "See you" before putting the puppet back into the magic box.

Wrap up activities

Open the magic box again to see if there’s something else. „Maybe the „name of the puppet“has left something for us….“. Bring out the „Circle time“flashcards and introduce them one by one to the children. Ask the children what do they see and encourage them to explain what it means. After you have introduced all the flashcards (all the circle rules you want the children to follow) practice them for repeating today's lesson. For example, ask the children „What's your name“and encourage them to raise their hands in order to answer and wait for you to call them and etc.

Finally, get each student to draw her/himself and, if the children are old enough, write their names on their drawings.

Heartwarming Christmas Story: "The Story of Four Candels"

Once, there were four candles in the temple of God.
The Four Candles burned softly, their warm light filling the room with peace.

The first candle was called Peace.
“I am Peace,” whispered the candle gently. “But these days, no one wants to keep me burning.”
And with a quiet sigh, Peace’s flame slowly faded away.

The second candle heard this and said,
“I am Faith. But these days, people believe they no longer need me.”
Its light flickered, grew weaker, and then Faith went out too.

The third candle spoke with sadness,
“I am Love, and I no longer have the strength to stay lit.
People push me aside and forget how important I am. They even forget to love those closest to them.”
And Love’s flame also disappeared.

Then, a little child entered the temple and saw that three candles were no longer burning.
Tears filled the child’s eyes.
“Why aren’t you shining?” the child cried. “You’re supposed to stay lit until the very end!”

At that moment, the fourth candle spoke softly, its flame warm and steady.
“Don’t be afraid,” it said kindly. “I am Hope, and as long as I am still burning, we can bring the others back to life.”

The child gently took the Candle of Hope and used its flame to relight Peace, Faith, and Love.
The room once again filled with light and warmth.

Then Hope whispered,
“Shine brightly and never lose me. No matter how dark things may seem, as long as Hope burns in your heart, the other lights can always return.”

The child shared this story with everyone, and to this very day, it is told whenever Christmas draws near—
a gentle reminder to keep the flame of Hope alive.

Check HERE for the shorter version suitable for younger children or ESL learners.

Sports

The aim of this lesson is to talk about the various sports that children are familiar with. As always, when planning an ESL class methodology, it is necessary to determine the target words, and I have chosen the following ones: football, handball, tennis, hockey, volleyball, athletics.

Cilj aktivnosti je razgovor o različitim sportovima koji su djeci uglavnom poznati. Kao i uvijek , prilikom planiranja metodičkog sata engleskog jezika, potrebno je odrediti ciljane riječi, a ja sam odabrala slijedeće: football, basketball, tennis, hockey, volleyball, athletics.

Za zagrijavanje i uvod u aktivnosti otpjevali smo pjesmicu s pokretima "Walking, walking“ te odigrali pokrenu igru u kojoj djeca rade pokrete prema uputama npr. jump, run, touch your toes i sl. Naravno, tu sam upotrebljavala action verbs koje su već djeca usvojila u ranijim aktivnostima.

For warming up and introduction to activities, we sang the song "Walking, walking" and played a game in which children did the moves according to instructions such as jump, run, touch toes etc. Of course, I used the action verbs that children have already learned in earlier activities.

Budući da se djeca prvi put susreću sa nazivima navedenih sportova, uvela sam djecu u ciljani vokabular koristeći flashcards. S obzirom da u grupi imam i mlađu djecu, prvo sam djeci pokazala flashcards te ih uputila da imenuju sportove koje prepoznaju te imenovala one koje nisu prepoznala.

Since children had learned the names of these sports for the first time, I introduced the kids to the target vocabulary using flashcards. Given that I have younger children in the group, I first showed the kids flashcards and asked them to name the sport they recognized and named those they did not recognize in Croatian language.

Uvela sam djecu u ciljani vokabular pokazujući i imenujući sportove prvi put, a zatim sam uputila djecu da ponove riječ - svaki sport tri puta. Nakon upoznavanja sa vokabularom, odigrali smo „What's missing“ game.

I introduced the children to the targeted vocabulary by pointing and naming the sport for the first time and then I asked the children to repeat the word - every sport three times. After getting to know the vocabulary, we played "What's missing" game.

„Mime the word“

When children adopt vocabulary sports, arrange TPR or you show them movements for each sport. Invite a child and whisper a word (sport) to a child; he or she then mimes the sport for other children to guess.

Kada djeca usvoje vokabular sportova, dogovorite TPR ili im vi pokažite pokrete za svaki sport. Pozovite dijete te mu šapnite ili pokažite sport koji ono ostaloj djeci pokazuje pokretom te ona pogađaju o kojem je sportu riječ.


„Shoot the sport“

For this activity, you will need: a large die, big flash cards, and a ball. Place large flashcards on the floor or hang them on a board or wall and mark the shooting point on the floor with. It can be played in several variants.  Divide the children into two or three groups and compete for who will have more hits. You say the sport and the children shoot the flashcard.


Za ovu aktivnost potrebno je: velika kartonska kocka, velike flashcards i lopta. Velike flashcards posložite na pod ili objesite na ploču ili zid te označite mjesto gađanja na podu pik trakom. Igrati se može u nekoliko varijanti. Npr. djeca mogu pojedinačno gađati sport prema uputi ili ekipno da se podijele u dvije-tri grupe pa se natječu tko će imati više pogodaka. 

„Snap“

Divide the kids into several teams. For each team in each round plays one child. Big flashcards are hanging on the board or smaller flashcards placed on the floor. Say the sport or do a TPR  (if you have children introduced into TPR's targeted sports). Who says  "Snap" and cover the sport with his/her hand first, gets one point.

Podijelite djecu u nekoliko timova. Iz svakog tima u svakom krugu igra po jedno dijete. Velike flashcars obješena se u na ploču ili manje flashcard posložene na pod. Recite na glas jedan sport ili ga pokažite TPR ako ste djecu uveli u TPR ciljanih sportova. Tko prvi kaže „Snap“ i rukom poklopi zadani sport dobije jedan bod.

 „What sport do you play“ -  „I play …..“

Show the kids flashcards and emphasize for each sport "I play ... .tennis / handball" or "I do not play ...". Then ask the kids "What sport do you play" and direct them to answer "I play ...". You can end this activity so that kids can draw the sport they know to play or they want to learn.

Pokažite djeci flashcards te naglasite za svaki sport „I play ….tennis/handball“ ili „I don't play….“. Zatim pitajte djecu „What sport do you play“ i tražite da vam odgovore sa „I play…“ . Ovu aktivnost možete završiti tako da djeca nacrtaju sport koji znaju igrati ili bi željeli naučiti.
Za kraj sata predlažem slijedeće :

Volleyball with a baloon

In the middle of the carpet/floor spread the rope to improvise the volleyball net. Organize a small tournament and divide the kids into several smaller teams or allow them to choose their own team.  Arrange the rules, give the children the baloon and the tournament can start.

Na sredini tepiha/poda zalijepite pik traku ili raširite uže kako bi improvizirali mrežu za odbojku. Organizirajte mali turnir te podijelite djecu u nekoliko manjih timova ili im dozvolite da si sami biraju suigraće – brojalicom odredite kapetane timova koji naizmjence biraju svoje suigraće. Umjesto lopte napušite balon dogovorite pravila i turnir može počet.


Learn how to sing the song "What do you like," 
To learn this song you first need to teach children the names and TPR of the sports that are mentioned in the song.

Naučite pjevati pjesmicu „What do you like“, ali za učenje ove pjesmice prvo ćete djecu naučiti nazive i TPR sportova koji se spominju u pjesmicu.

Na internetu možete nači različite radne listove kojima možete završiti sat te ponoviti i utvrditi naučeno.

For the end, you can find a variety of worksheets on the net that you can finish the lesson with. 

I naravno, pobjednici sportaši nagrađuju se medaljama, peharima i ostalim nagradama. A u  našem slučaju sva djeca koja su sudjelovala u aktivnostima su pobjednici. Stoga podijelite djeci medalje napravljene od tanjeg kartona koje mogu ukrasiti/dizajnirati po vlastitoj želji.

Uglavnom, ovu su samo neke od aktivnosti koje možete iskoristiti za učenje naziva sportova i planiranih fraza vezanih za ovu temu. Nadam se da će vam predložene aktivnosti  korititi, a vi slobodno nama podijelite i svoje.

Bye do slijedećeg posta!

Getting ready for Halloween: Halloween Activities to Boost ESL Learning

Halloween, also known as All Hallows’ Eve, is the night before All Saints’ Day, and it is celebrated in the evening on October 31st.
This night is marked in a unique and festive way — with events and parties involving almost the entire community where it is celebrated. It is primarily observed in countries such as Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Australia, and New Zealand.

One of the explanations for why Halloween is celebrated comes from the ancient Celts, who believed that on the night of October 31st to November 1st, the dead would rise from their graves and return to the places where they once lived. The living, frightened of meeting the spirits, would make loud noises to scare them away.

The Romans later adopted and adapted these traditions. They saw this night as the transition into winter, the dark season of the year. They believed that the dead returned to this world, so they would place hollowed-out vegetables in front of their doors to ward off spirits. Over time, this tradition evolved, and pumpkins became the most common symbol of Halloween — a custom that much of the world adopted from Americans.

In recent years, pumpkin lanterns and decorations have become more common on balconies and in windows in our region as well. Although many people here are still hesitant about Halloween, quite a few enjoy the fun customs and traditions associated with it.

Since one of the goals of English language programs is to introduce children to Anglo-Saxon customs, our group also celebrates this day. However, our activities leading up to Halloween are focused on helping children overcome feelings of fear.

A child’s fear can be triggered by things like separation from parents, thunder, or the dark. By spending quality time together—through play or simple conversations—we help build the child’s self-confidence so they can understand that even the strongest fear is just a feeling that will eventually pass.

Here are some activity ideas you can do with kids in preparation for Halloween:                         

• pre-teach new English vocabulary related to emotions and feelings: happy, sad, sleepy, grumpy, scared, crying, smiling, and pounding using flashcards
• discuss things that scare us and why, and explore ways to help ourselves when we feel afraid.

Preteach vocabulary and sing songs like “Go away…”, which can be a great tool to use with children at bedtime to chase away their fears:

♫ Go away, scary monster, go away. [Push your hands away from your body. Monster gesture. Push your hands away from your body.]
GO AWAY!
Go away, scary monster, go away.
GO AWAY!
Go away, scary monster.
Go away, scary monster.
Go away, scary monster, go away.

Or  „One Little Pumpkin" and  „If You're Happy “.

You can also do some art and craft activity ideas, such as:

• Painting and drawing pumpkins 
• Making pumpkins out of paper
• Creating pumpkin faces from paper plates using collage techniques.

And of course, on Halloween, carve a pumpkin, make a pumpkin lantern, dress up in costumes, have fun, and enjoy some sweet treats.
And most importantly — don't be afraid of anything!

Trick or treat!

Old MacDonald

Novi!!!