Author name: Joel Pope

It goes without saying that in teaching, we need to be flexible. We never know what might happen in our class or throughout the school day. On the one hand we need to be flexible with our classes or planned enrionments and activities. We never know how our students may respond. On another level the necessity exists with regards to unexpected events or circumstances that can arrise externally effecting what you and your students . These do happen at school, just as they do in life. It is all to easy to be thrown by them. Whether simply through time lost or a frustrated reaction, effects do have potential to be negative. As teachers, we need to remain calm even under difficult circumstances, firstly to allow us to create a productive and proactive response which is for the best of our students, and also to model such a response for them. However more than this, such circumstances can be turned into opportunities for learning on many levels. These can be embraced. My students are aged 4-5. Just yesterday, I was beginning a discussion with students by showing a short video. As we sat down, I realized that our projector screen had turned off. This put us back a minute or so in the planned slow. However, even if it meant stretching this time a little longer, I took the opportunity to ask students to help me. I said, “We need to watch the video, but we have a problem, what is it?” I was able to elicit that the screen was off, and we were able to practice the sentence, “The screen is off.”, with the potential of new words and sentences having been practiced – my students are English as second. We had had English practice as well as practice of the skills of observation and thinking. Continuing, students told me what I needed to do to solve the problem. Reflection as they were able to think back to how the screen had been turned before. We were exposed to and drilled further sentences – “Press the on button.” and “You need to turn it on.” Whenever a similar issue with resources or materials occurs, a similar approach could be used. Looking at another situation, a few weeks ago, the air conditioning in our classroom needed to be fixed just as the students were about to start their afternoon nap time. The temperature was still very hot at this time without air conditioning. While it was being fixed however, we were preparing to go for a short walk and I was able to ask students, “What is the problem?” – more practice of English understanding, thinking and expression, with more words and sentences able to be practiced as above. I elicted what we could do and the suggestion of finding somewhere colder was put forth. We found a cool place with air conditioning to sit. I then asked what we could do to solve the problem with the air conditioning. Ideas were put forward, including, “sleep in another place”, and “find someone to help”. Problem solving and discussion practice, in which we could practice listening as we listened to each other’s ideas. (In the situation, the air conditioning was fixed for us, but there had still been the opportunity to think more broadly about what we can do). Finally, on a later date, our class had to go into isolation for a day unexpectedly due to fevers. However, this immediately allowed the opportunity to first re-practice the skill of how to wash your hands properly. A natural opportunity had also arisen to have an open discussion on “How can you not get sick?” A range of ideas were shared including, “Wash your hands properly.”, “Wear a mask”, “Eat good food”, “If you are sick, go to hospital and eat at hospital.”, “Don’t go to somewhere too cold.”, “Don’t go in the swimming pool if it is too cold.” and “Drink water.” Reflection on life experience and knowledge as well as the opportunity to practice listening to and learning from each other, in the second language. I was able to see also that students as a group had a developing knowledge of how to take care of themselves. So what to remember? Embrace the unexpected or even “problems” that might arise. A range of learning can happen by reflecting on the circumstances together with students and working together with or following students on action that might need to be taken.

I have recently begun doing some introductionary phonics work for my class – 4-5 year olds with English as a second language. Whether or not this is a right time to start is a deeper topic than what I cover here. Ultimately an individual will learn to read when they are ready. There is certainly no rush to begin. My educational context and the background, cognitive development and interest of my students led to my decision. It is only for ten minutes each day. All this in mind, it is still the case that I want to make it a much broader experience in support of language and either other development. I share some experiences in this series of posts. We have so far covered around ten letters and their corresponding direct sounds, following the Jolly Phonics sequence, here, although my students do have background experience that they are able to bring in. Slowly introducing blending at the same time, I was slowly writing letters, and had “san”. We blended these three together and led by several students, we were able to read it. One students immediately pointed at the sand in a learning centre in the classroom and exclaimed, “sand”. Here, we are already practicing the skill of thinking and making connections. Other students followed to say, “sand”. Then one goal began saying both the words “san” and “sand” to her friend. emphasizing the different pronunciations. Noting this, I said that the girl had an important point to make and elicited that we should listen to here. Here now, we were practicing focused listening, and the girl had the opportunity to to stretch herself in a more daunting setting, explaining to the class. Acknowledging what she said, I wrote “sand” on the board, underneath “san” and we compared the words together. Here we were able to focus in to practice on clear pronunciation. On another occasion, after we had introduced the hard c sound from both c and k, I wrote the word “snack” for us to blend. Second language learners, this is still an everyday word, as we refer to small meals we have as “morning snack” and “afternoon snack”. Indeed, starting with words we are familiar with will prove effective in early letter and sound recognition and then reading due to their being more connections. Upon reading the word, many of us made the connection with the word we knew. We had introduced letter names and letter sounds formally, as students had previously had some familiarity with both. This was a very interesting word for differentiating. I first asked, “How many letters does it have?” Here another developmental moment as my youngest student immediately said “5”. Here was a confidence building moment. We practiced the sentence, “Snack has four letters.” We later went on to also practice, “Snack has four sounds.” We slowly counted both sounds and letters together. Practice with counting in the second langauge. We were able to deepen our understanding of the words “letter” and “sound” and practice full sentences – second language development. We have previously done the same with “This letter is big ________.” and “This letter is small _______.”, here also practicing the broader adjectives, “big” and “small”. A student commented, “snack” sounds, allowing us, from the curiosity to have focus to note that c, k and ck, although not all the same number of letters can all have the same sound, and ck is in fact only one sound. On another occasion, reading the word “mat” – another connection as we have mats in our classroom, we were able to elicit and practice the sentences, “We are sitting on the chair.” and “The chair is on the mat.” On another occasion, I wrote the word “pick” for us to blend together. Now, I hade developed a routine of leaving time for “questions” and “comments”, even during more direct instruction – “If you have any questions, or want to say anything about this word.” it is time now. This incorporates free expression and helps to develop the student centred nature of the environment, without disrupting flow when this is necessary. On this occasion, a student put up his hand and said, “I like picnics.” I was able to hone in on this, saying yes, “pick sounds a bit like picnic”. Underneath “pick”, I wrote “pic _ _ _” and noted that her we only had c for the hard c sound, not ck. Then I was able to elicit first the sounds and then the corresponding letters to slowly spell the rest of the words with students. I slowly said “picnic”, first eliciting the n sound which came after the first “c”, at which I asked, “Now what letter is that?”, to which I was able to get the answer. Following a students comment, we had found the opportunity to practice together a more difficult skill of identifying sounds to spell words, deepening our awareness. We went further here, and in a langauge practice activity, two students came up to be the teacher, asking their classmates “What do you like to eat at a picnic?” – communication practice. I was able to differentiate here also, with one asking “What do you like?” and the other, who had more experience in English, the longer question. Indeed, the first student here was still developing confidence with English and had the opportunity here to push himself out of his comfort zone off his own volunteering, another developmental experience. Now most recently today, I wrote the word, “sip” for us to read. This was a new word, and so we had the opportunity for vocabulary development, as I showed and modelled what a “sip” of water was. A student then said, “and a sip of coffee”. I allowed a short time then to practice a further new sentence with free expression – “I drink a sip of _________.” Some students then began referring to sitting down. I now highlighted in on the fact that

A kindergarten teacher here in China, I have watched Peppa Pig together with students to support English language development. I also – and I am not ashamed to admit it – watch it in Chinese, to support my own Chinese language development. (It helps!) The use of the show in supporting language development is definitely a topic to be explored in depth another time. As a thought, doing so with other additional purposes also or not, spending some time watching and familiarizing ourselves with TV shows our students watch, undoubtedly has it’s benefits. In any form of teaching, we are always looking to connect to students’ past experiences. Just as with their family and cultural background, travels, hobbies, out of school explorations, previous educational experiences and more, the TV shows they watch are part of this. They can also help influence thinking and imagination. We hence want to be aware of these elements of the backgrounds of our students. In addition, watching TV shows or engaging in activities your students do can be part of what helps you deeply relate and connect to them. It creates further shared experiences between you and them. This also is a topic that can be explored later. Going back to Peppa Pig now, yesterday I saw the Series 3 episode, ‘Numbers’ (Series 3, Episode 25). For reference, I copy the link to the YouTube video and the information about this episode on the ‘Peppa Pig Wiki’ website at the bottom of this post. Further information itself can easily be found online. I am not here to give a full analysis or review of this episode or the show. I simply want to share a reflection from this episode. In the episode, Peppa and her friends are learning about numbers in their playgroup. It begins with sit down time in front of the blackboard, in which the teacher introduces the numbers one to ten, and led by some student examples, they count together up to ten. As a first thought here, the teacher actually demonstrates how content presentation can be led and elicited from students, not only the teacher, with the teacher then guiding everyone together. This is student-centered learning. They then go outside for playtime and it is here that the deep practice and learning happens, and does so through play. The students naturally include counting as part of their activities , for example, counting numbers of jumps they can do with a jump rope and numbers of leap frogs they can do. By the end, they are counting together confidently up to ten. This is of course a fictional TV show. However, there are points to note here that connect to reality. Children really do learn and practice skills through play. Counting and numeracy as shown here are just one example. In addition, problem solving, fine motor skills, social skills and broader mathematical skills as well as creative expression of all forms, to name only some. However, a further aspect to note, and something that I have actually come to reflect on over the last year, my second as a kindergarten teacher, following a play-based approach, is related to roles of the teacher. While the practice, consolidation and deeper learning will come through play, it will sometimes be necessary and beneficial for us to more formally introduce skills or ideas first to provide foundations for the practice later. Supporting English as a second language, I have observed students using English words and sentences with me and even each other through their play. However, reflecting, I note that this is largely because I had first more formally introduced. The same is true for students naturally practicing lines of songs or even being creative with changing lines of song they know them during free time and play activities, but only after we have worked with the songs during class circle time’s first. In a recent science themed week I led for my grade level at my school’s summer camp, one of my student’s began talking to me off his own initiative regarding items being more dense being more difficult to move when he was setting up his own obstacle course during physical exercise time. He practiced his scientific thinking and contemplation here. This came after we had discussed the concept of density and possible reasons for it during a circle time earlier in the week. Much inspiration for children’s play comes from their life experience. As their teacher’s, we can help to build and develop this life experience and inspiration. Discussing counting in a more formal setting first may have been what inspired Peppa and her friends to go and practice it in authentic contexts. I can relate to many such experiences. Just before the last Mid-Autumn Festival here in China, I explored the Houyi and Chang’e story with my class. Later, one of my students made an arrow – ‘Houyi’s arrow’ he said – during self-initiated play. Following exploring the well-known ‘Do you like brocoli?” song with my students during circle times one week, many of thembegan making items from the song and it’s further versions – cakes and donuts to begin with – with clay. This led more and more creations of food and more sophisticated clay work than had been done previously and a small project on food. These are just two examples. Of course, just how big a role adults should have in play-based learning is a deep question and one I am still learning about and exploring. However, I think it is important to always think about the experiences we can provide that will provide stimulus and foundations to then be taken further during play, and also to inspire imagination and ideas. This is in addition – not explored here – to supporting students to take their thinking and curiosity further and interventions, when we can see further support might be needed, which both come later on. Peppa Pig Fandom Page on Episode: https://peppapig.fandom.com/wiki/Numbers