CHALLENGING CHILDREN
Imaginative Activities for English Lessons in Primary Education

Henk van Oort, Delta Books, UK 2005
Author review

In my 'Challenging Children' I have compiled the many activities I have done with my pupils at various primary schools over a period of approximately thirty years. The main part derives from the English lessons, the other part derives from other lessons given in the native tongue the format of which surprisingly lends itself to foreign language teaching as well. In all cases I started out from the child's own world which so typically differs from the adult world. In fact, some activities came up during lessons, inspired by the children themselves. I wrapped up, so to say, linguistic material, and its inevitable problems, in an attractive and playful outfit, matching the various age groups. No insurmountable thresholds are in the way. Without noticing, the children are acquiring a foreign language. Enthusiasm will lead to red cheeks and plenty of laughter. Your pupils will really feel challenged and involved in the process of learning English when doing these activities. The all inclusive fun will blend all different characters in your classroom for a while. In that respect foreign language teaching becomes a strong socialising process at the same time. Apart from being teachers, we are educators as well.

Each activity is an independent exercise.

In that way 'Challenging Children' may be looked upon as a stand-by book. It can perfectly be used beside any course book. It gives you additional material and if you don't use a course book at all you will find a wealth of energising activities. There are three sections: Listening and Speaking, Reading and Writing, Vocabulary. Three different levels are indicated by one, two or three owls. In the well laid-out list of contents you can easily search for an activity matching the level of your class. Many activities can be done more than once. They provoke such fun that children ask for them again and again. Most activities do not need any preparation, which will be music in your ears.

Just open the book, read the text and off you go!

In the introduction I have mentioned something about the importance of movement. Children want to move, must move in fact, also when learning a foreign language. I also wrote a small section on memory systems, which, although an age-old subject, is still a key issue in any learning process. Until the age of seven imitationn is an ever present drive in the young learner which the teacher can, in fact should, use. Movement, memory, imitation, are at the basis of the activities in the book.

I am convinced that the activities in this book will give you and your class as much fun as they have given to me and my pupils.