This is the second part in a three part series exploring the different themes that can be used in a TEFL classroom.
Themes are an excellent way to bring various aspects together and give a sense of unity. Through working on themes, not only is it easier for the teacher to plan across the subject areas but also enables pupils to be more engaged as they can relate to something concrete instead of abstract.
Ice Cream Theme – This theme can be linked to a food theme as well as focussing on nutrition. Colours can easily be explored with this topic and a lot of games with the cones and the balls of ice cream can be carried out – for example, matching an ice cream cone small letters with an ice cream ball capital letter / adding the correct number of balls of ice cream (these can be made from card or in the form of pom poms) to the cone numbered base / making patterns with ice cream balls etc. National Ice cream day (in the USA) is celebrated on the third Sunday in July
The icecream game by Twinkl
Jungle Animals Theme – A variety of aspects can be included within the theme – not only the jungle animal vocabulary but also their young, their covering (fur/ scales etc.), the way they move around the jungle and the things that they eat.
Kindness Theme – World Kindness Day is an international observance on 13 November. This theme can be as large or as small as you like, ranging from simply singing kindness songs such as Barneys “I love you, you love me… “or “Hello, Friend” by Dr. Jean, to playing various games to demonstrate how we should behave towards others.
Leaves Theme – Leaves offer up a range of focusses from investigating colour and size, to sorting and matching. They can also be part of a topic about life cycles and pupils can grow their own plants and make their own leaf diary through daily measurement and comparison.
Mindfulness Theme –Mindfulness Day is an emerging annual event and is celebrated on September 12th. Mindfulness is all about paying full attention to something and learning how to be relaxed and calm. Young pupils have a range of emotions and it is important to start teaching them from an early age how to work through their emotions rather than simply react. You can address this theme through a range of particular activities as well as introducing the concept of brain breaks.
Monsters Theme – Everyone likes monsters and they do not have to be scary! The theme of monsters enables you to explore colours, shapes and textures as well as sizes in a fun and practical manner. Special events of pupils dressing up can also be part of this theme with August 14 being National Monster Day in the USA.
Making monster by toilet paper cores
Music Theme – Songs are a vital part of a TEFL classroom. Through songs, pupils lose their inhibitions and are able to remember words and phrases that are forgotten with everyday speech. Super simple songs on YouTube consistently has a wide range of catchy songs that are clearly pronounced and are an appropriate child friendly length. Many of the songs on this site are supplemented with accompanying worksheets so that the lesson can be developed. International music day is celebrated on October 1st so you could complete this theme with your very own concert.
Nature Theme – This theme is nicely broad, enabling you to focus on whatever aspect the pupils are most interested in and the type of vocabulary that they need practise in. It could encompass plants and growing things or animals in the environment. Pupils could go on a nature work around your centre or simply go on an online nature walk in different parts of the world. World Nature Conservation Day is observed annually on 28 July.
Nocturnal Animals Theme – When working on a basic animal theme, it is easy to overlook nocturnal animals thus it is felt that they deserve a theme all of their own. Many fascinating creatures are nocturnal such as bats, owls, cats and hedgehogs and this could be developed further to explore day and night, working on what normally happens during the day and night and exploring what else happens at night ( e.g. nocturnal street cleaning etc. )
TEFL Theme Compilation 2
Numbers Theme – Although numbers will be a part of your daily circle time and covered in maths lessons ( if you have them ) it is nice to focus on numbers in general, exploring not only counting but also numbers in the environment – such as house numbers, phone numbers etc. March 14th is the International Day of Mathematics
Nursery Rhymes Theme – Nursery Rhymes are a vital part of learning about rhyming words and rhythm in sentences. They can be studied in detail with the key part of the rhyme forming the basis of the topic e.g. twinkle, twinkle little star would have a space aspect, Hey diddle diddle would explore animals as well as musical instruments etc. World Nursery Rhyme Week promotes the importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood development and education and takes place from 15th-19th November. During this time, there are a lot of ready-made learning packs available for free online
. Nutrition Theme – Within this theme, healthy foods can be investigated, with pupils carrying out practical activities such as putting greasy food on paper to see the amount of oil, experimenting to see what happens to an egg in coca cola etc. In addition, healthy habits such as brushing teeth can also be explored. May 28th is World Nutrition Day.
Ocean Theme – Within an ocean theme you can develop from investigating water in general (and the fact that eggs behave differently in salt and plain water) to exploring the wide variety of wildlife. If desired, you can also include different types of transportation that is found at the ocean from boats and yachts to submarines and hovercrafts. World Ocean Day is an international day that takes place annually on 8th June.
TEFL Theme Compilation 2
Olympics Theme – Especially in a year when the Olympics is taking place this can be a fascinating theme as it encompasses both geography as well as sports This theme is useful for a variety of verbs as well as sports clothes and sports equipment. The conclusion to a theme on the Olympics could be to have your own mini Olympics with pupils in the class getting homemade participation medals.
Opposites Theme – Opposites are an extremely important concept for Kindergarten aged pupils. There is a huge range of opposite areas of focus including:
- Happy and sad
- Up and down
- high and low
- hot and cold
- loud and quiet
- in and out
- slow and past
- Full and empty etc.
Don’t forget to check out part 1 as well as part 3 of this series so that you can have the whole range of themes to make your programme with.
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