Articles

Teaching ideas, worksheet techniques and classroom activities that work in real lessons - written for teachers and parents, free to read.

The First 100 Words Every Grade 1 to 3 Child Should Know

If you could give a young primary school child only 100 English words to carry around, which ones would they be? Ten topics of ten, with the reasoning behind each, ready to use as a teaching map for the whole year.

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How to Use Phonics Song Videos Properly, Not Just When You Need a Break

There are hundreds of "a, a, apple" videos on YouTube. Here is how to tell the ones that teach the sounds correctly from the ones that don't, a replay schedule that makes the sounds stick, and what to do the moment the screen goes off.

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Teaching English to 40 Children at Once: Survival Tactics No Small Class Teacher Ever Needs

Language teaching books are written from classes of fifteen. Thai teachers face forty. Here's what actually works at that scale: a quiet signal, a group leader system, and a way to mark the pile that doesn't swallow your evenings.

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Track a Child's English Progress With 3 Simple Tools the Teacher, the Child and the Parent Can All See

You don't have to wait for the end of term test to know how far a child has come. A light tracking system built from three tools: a vocabulary chart, a small portfolio, and a one minute read aloud.

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Games All Lesson and Nothing Sticks, Worksheets All Lesson and They Switch Off: Here Is the Balance

Games buy attention, worksheets build memory. They're not rivals, they're partners. A 50 minute lesson breakdown that plays to the strengths of both.

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Grade 3 English Exams: How to Revise in the Last Four Weeks

A revision plan that is more than drilling past papers. Four weeks split by skill group, with a clear rule for how much time to give the weak spots and how much to give the strong ones.

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How to Praise Your Child's English So They Keep Trying Instead of Playing Safe

The wrong kind of praise raises a child who only picks the easy game. The right kind raises one who reaches for the hard thing. Here is the mindset research turned into sentences you can actually say at the homework table.

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Does Your Grade 1 to 3 Child Really Need English Tuition? Check Before You Pay

Extra tuition isn't the first answer for every family. A four point checklist for telling whether your child needs a tutor or simply needs regular practice at home, plus how to choose a class if the answer really is yes.

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Two Months Off School: How to Stop a Child's English Draining Away Over the Long Holiday

The summer slide is real. A skill left unused for eight weeks visibly goes backwards. Here's a gentle plan for the long March to May break, 15 minutes a day, that holds on to what your child already knows without feeling like more school.

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