Will there be any flash cards about 'expressing time' in the future?

I hope to get up some clock faces with different times before the end of the year. Maybe as clip art for teachers to make their own flashcards. Although that hasn't gone over very well in the past.

In my experience, if some of the younger students can't read a clock face very well, a lot of it seems lost on them.

I use digital time to teach time, except when teaching a quarter past, half past and a quarter to... then I use the clock face to explain that we are talking about a quarter of an hour and use the visual of the clock like a pie chart fraction. The easiest is digital time.

On a similar note, I don't teach time to younger students (under10) because it's not part of their normal language. Younger children don't really worry or care about time so much.

Ahhh... the good old days

interesting! I teach only the hours to the younger kids

ie 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock etc

I have never had any real problems with it. I often give them small clocks to make the time, they seem to like this and we sing the Genki English Song "What time is it Mr Wolf?"
http://genkienglish.net/mrwolfsong.htm

I like teaching time because it puts numbers in everyday life (a good reason to use 1 to 12)

I've taught time in hours as well because I felt it was something they should know, but now I think that's an adult misconception of what students "should" learn.

I couldn't find any real way to get them to use it, other than when I'm teaching it.

I'm not condemning it or telling anyone what to do. Also, if you look at most ESL/EFL curriculums you'll see that I'm in the minority.

hhhmmm interesting



but kids don't really about much at all do they?
.... they don't worry about food (well, most don't?) but we teach I like apples etc

anyway just my 2c worth

i think teaching time is just like any other topic in english to be honest, we teach them foods, how to order food, we teach them verbs,,i mean lets face it, these kids arent gonna use this english whether it be telling time or ordering food unless they go to an english speaking country, so really it doesnt matter whether kids are bothered about time or not, i mean how many kids have been in a situation where they had no choice but to speak english? probably never apart from the english class they attend. so i think the topic "time" is just as important or unimportant as any other topic, it gets them used to numbers no doubt, and they may or may not remember it when they become adult. OF course my opinion is different for adult students, because they may be planning a trip abroad, or they simply just want to talk english to their foreign friends, but kids???? they probably wont use any of the english we teach until their older and go abroad. I guess our job is to, get the kids interested in english, show them it can be fun, cos no doubt the parents are hoping that their kids will go abroad later in life so,,,,every topic is important in that sense.

I tend to base my curriculum on what kids ask me in their native language, and time questions often come up in school. They're usually asking what time they can play soccer till or what time their English class is.

I guess they'd use it more in daytime school where they do have to manage their time.

I usually keep it till 2nd grade as it's easy to slip in when they are studying telling the time in maths or social science lessons. First I do the hours then a separate lesson doing 1:05 etc. I usually don't bother with the "half pasts" and "quarter pasts".

Just my 2 cents!

Be genki,

Richard

i need some type of game for time as well.

Yes, it would be a great help!

I agree a bit with what caz had too say.

I didn't use to teach any of the fantasy stuff/super powers from mesenglish, because I thought that it wasn't that practical or important for real communication. However, I have changed my mind on this matter.

Sure, they probably aren't goig to be talking to anyone in English about unicorns or turning invisible, but that stuff is cool and it's in some of the Korean books my kids read, so I have started to cover some of that material just for fun.

In addition, while the vocabulary may not come up often, we are reviewing/imtroducing grammar and so on.

As for games with time you could use the chores, daliy activities/routines, school subjects in the following ways.

First write various times on the board or on a sheet of paper. Give the students a list of the activities/subjects/etc. and have the students write down the times that they do different things.

Next either one on one or in groups have the kids ask their partner or the other team if they do something at a certain time. If they guess correctly they get a point.

Example. Student A: "Do you have math at 3:00? Student B: No, I don't.
Then it is student B's turn.

You can either do it for a set time or until one student/team has correctly guessed when the other does or has the various things.

I like to do it as teams, because then the members of the asking team have to listen to the question and the asnwer so they don't ask the same question.

If you do it as teams you can either have one sheet for the whole team or a different sheet for each member. With the second option they really have to listen well. (Not that it really happens that often.)

The 2ND option is for you to make up sheets with the activities/subects and times.

Make enough for each student and have sheets that match. (There should be at least 2 matching sets for each schedule.)

The students have to go around asking when people do/have stuff. With this game they are trying to find people who have the same schedue as them.

The first 2 students (or more if you like) who find the people with the same schedule win.

I just thought of this second game as I was replying to this text, so I haven't tried it yet, but it should work. (Except for those of you who teach middle school and older students who don't like to move around.

You can either have all the schedules very similar for a long game or vastly different for a short game.

* My kids like to cheat to win or get the activity over quickly. I can already picture some of them just showing each other thier schedules, so I might have one student stand up and ask someone else a question.

Again this can be good because it will encourage others to listen so they can learn if either the student asking or answering has the same schedule as them This would also work for the kids that don't like to move around.