Holiday writing

Encourage your child to write a letter/email to Santa, write thank you notes for presents they receive and make cards for family and friends. Make a wish list for gifts they would like. Make gift vouchers like- I will help with washing or drying the dishes for 2 nights, feeding your pet for a week, tidy my toys each day …

Alphabet

It is important that students know not only the names of the letters in the alphabet, but the sounds each letter makes. It is also very useful to know the order of each letter in the alphabet so they can look up words in a dictionary. Sean put letters in alphabetical order.

Prepositions

Prepositions are where an object is in a place or time. Aurora worked on this concept after we read ‘Rosie’s Walk’. The book shows Rosie the chicken going for a walk and introduces different position words to describe where she is. e.g around the pond, under the beehives and over the haystack.

Hearing the way you speak

Having a tool to hear the way you speak is enlightening for students. Voice recorders are one way for students to hear for themselves the way they speak, so they can improve their pronunciation and clarity. I used a simple device made of plumbing pipe that works very effectively. Ellie enjoyed hearing herself and I used it to get her …

Grammar-Tense

Tense is a very difficult concept to master, so it is useful to use interesting, hands-on ways to practise these to reinforce the learning. Aurora was fully engaged using this method. She was comparing which word you would use for something happening today and what you would say if it happened yesterday. e.g. I am jumping(today/now) and I jumped(yesterday/the past).

Ella joins Equal Learning

Hi Ella Welcome to you and your very supportive family! It is great to see your positive attitude and your wonderful creative writing. Keep up the good work!

Fractions

Ellie has had fun working with fractions. She learnt that the bottom number is the denominator and the top number is the numerator. Ellie also found that the smaller the denominator the bigger the piece e.g. 1/2 means you can share a pizza between 2 people so you have a large piece, but if you get a 1/10th you have …

Candice joins big sister Emily

It was so lovely to welcome Candice to Equal Learning in January, to join her big sister, Emily. It is great to see you learning and having fun. You have big smiles when you beat the clock and meet your challenges.

Welcome to Aurora and Emily!

Welcome to Aurora and Emily who have joined Equal Learning this term. They come from Fendalton School and I am enjoying working with these two lovely girls. Aurora, it is great to see you gaining confidence as you learn English as a second language. Emily is an enthusiastic learner and I am enjoying extending her learning. Thanks to you both …

Farewell Michael (Jaeyoung) and June (Jooyong)!

I said good bye on the 16th August to brothers- Michael and June. They have been visiting New Zealand and staying with a homestay family while they studied English. It has been lovely to work with you both as you continued to learn. I hope you have enjoyed your stay in  New Zealand and have lots of happy memories to …