Page 144 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Inside the Language Classroom

Table 9.1 A Lesson Structure Based on Routines
Beginning Greeting Good morning, class! – Good morning, teacher.
of the lesson How are you today? – I’m fine, thank you. (Hello! song)
Date What is the date today? – Today’s date is 19 November 2014.
Day/time What’s the time? – It’s 10 past nine.
What dayisit? –It’sThursday.
Weather What’s the weather like today? – It’s rainy and windy.
Main part Attention getters 1–2–3 eyes on me! – 1–2 eyes on you!
Classroom man- Be quiet!, Pay attention!, Who’s absent today?, Make groups
agement of four., Find a partner.
Encouragement Well done! Excellent job! Try again! Almost there! You’ve im-
and feedback proved a lot.
End of the Brain break Clap, snap, twist, repeat
lesson Exit ticket The teacher has an exit routine (a hand slap, a sticker, a pass-
word, etc.)
Farewell Class, you were wonderful, you were great. See you next class
and don’t be late! – See you, teacher.
Notes Adapted from Shin and Crandall (2014).

lessons around a variety of routines, forming a routine-based lesson struc-
ture such as the one presented in Table 9.1. The different routines are usu-
ally associated with some typical communication patterns, such as the greet-
ing pattern (‘Good morning, children.’ – ‘Good morning, teacher.’) or various
question-answer patterns (e.g. ‘What day is it today?’ – ‘It’s Monday.’). In the
YLs’ classroom, pupils are usually exposed to these patterns through songs,
such as the Hello Song in which the communication pattern ‘Hello, how are
you?’ – ‘I’m great/fine/sleepy/tired/hungry.’ is first scaffolded through the
song but can later evolve into standard everyday communication between
teacher and learner without the support of the song.
A numberofsongsandchantsaretodayavailablewhich areusedbyteach-
ers as scaffolds to develop some elementary communication patterns and at
the same time promote classroom interaction in L2. They are commonly set
to the tune of well-known songs and nursery rhymes, such as ‘Oh My Darling
Clementine’ or ‘The Macarena,’ and use the familiar tune as a scaffold. Some
ofthesesongsareexplicitlyaimedat developingaparticularcommunication
pattern (‘The Weather Song’), while others are focused on learning vocabu-
lary and correct pronunciation (‘Months of the Year’). Chants and songs can
also be exploited for scaffolding classroom management and giving instruc-
tions.A goodexampleisthechant ‘MakeaCircle,’sungto thetuneof‘London

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