Fly High 1

Introduction

Fly High is a motivating and charismatic four-level course for young learners aged between 6 and 10. It is intended for children who are being taught at a faster pace, and aims to give them a sound base in English and to maximize their potential by providing the appropriate level of support and challenge.

While progressing through the Fly High course, young learners will build up a solid bank of useful vocabulary and the ability to apply grammatical structures appropriately. They will also develop and refine their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.

Fly High is based on the principle that children learn best when they are using engaging materials that appeal to their imagination and build their confidence. The course provides a set of lovable characters, humourous stories and an element of fun. The wide variety of activities caters for children with different learning styles: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, musical and interpersonal.

Aims of Fly High 1

Fly High 1 is for children learning English at the start of the school system. At this early stage of learning, it is especially important that the English language classroom is enjoyable and non-threatening. A key aim of Fly High 1 is to develop a positive attitude to English through the use of motivating activities, including games, TPR activities, songs and chants, and plenty of personalisation.

Units 1-6 of Fly High 1 focus on listening and speaking skills. The children are not expected to read actively. Thus, they are not hampered by having to cope with the sounds as well as the written code of the new language simultaneously for at least a term. The alphabet is introduced after Unit 6, along with basic word recognition and an introduction to reading and literacy skills. The Activity Book provides activities to practise motor skills, handwriting, word and phrase recognition, tracing and finally, some simple copying and writing tasks.

Methodology

Fly High 1 contains 14 four-page units, each focusing on a topic. Each unit has a clear communicative aim: the children learn words and structures and then put them to use in games and personalisation activities.

In Lesson 1 of the unit, 4-5 new words are presented through simple pictures. The new words are recorded so that children can hear and repeat them. The new words and the target structures are then contextualised in a humourous, self-contained cartoon story featuring the Fly High 7 characters. The main characters are three friends, Trumpet, a young elephant, Cabu, a lion cub and Paco, a parrot. The stories are all set in the jungle, but in contexts that reflect the children's own world. Trumpet, Cabu and Paco play in the jungle, go to the jungle school, introduce their families, learn numbers, learn about pets, eat in the jungle restaurant and in general lead the kind of life that young children can easily relate to.

Through the stories, the children get to know and identify with the characters, and share their adventures. The children can act out the stories before moving on to practice activities. This helps to reinforce the new language in a fun and non-threatening way.

Lesson 2 of the unit normally begins with a song, which consolidates the language of Lesson 1. The tunes are easy to learn and sing. Songs are one of the best ways for children of this age to learn and remember language. Singing songs helps to build confidence in the language through repetition, and promotes musical skills and development of rhythm.

Many songs in Fly High 1 have accompanying actions, which also supports kinaesthetic learners.

The new language is practised through a variety of activities, including some pencil-to-paper tasks, e.g Draw and colour. Then say.

Every unit ends with a game or personalisation activity. Most units have two games. Games provide motivating and meaningful ways of practising the new language in a genuinely communicative context, and are very popular with children.

The Activity Book provides pencil-to-paper practice activities to consolidate the new language. These may be allocated for homework, but can often also provide the opportunity for quiet time in the classroom. The teacher's notes offer suggestions for when an activity may be used in class.

Review and evaluation

There are three Jungle Fun sections in Fly High 1. These revise the language which the children have learnt, in a different context. Jungle Fun 1 for example is a simple board game. These sections can be used at the end of a term. At the end of each Jungle Fun section in the Activity Book, there is a My English feature. This gives the teacher the opportunity to encourage the children to evaluate their own progress. The children can then decide if their work has been Very good. / Good. / OK and circle the appropriate picture.

Course components

Pupil's Book

The 96-page Pupil's Book presents, practises and revises the target language of the course. It comprises:

• a 'Hello' lesson introducing the characters to the children

• 14 topic-based, four-page units

• 9 'My Alphabet' spreads

• 3 Jungle Fun revision spreads

• a 'Goodbye' lesson

• two Festival lessons: Christmas and Easter

• a Picture Dictionary illustrating all the key words

• full colour stickers for use with the sticker listening tasks

Pupil's Audio CD

The Pupil's audio CD is packaged with the Pupil's Book and contains all the cartoon presentations and songs for children to listen to at home with their parents.

Activity Book

The Activity Book provides further practice and consolidation of the language presented in the Pupil's Book.

• For Units 1-6, there are two pages of follow-up practice in the Activity Book: comprising a language consolidation activity and an activity to develop motor skills, e.g. tracing shapes, following a maze, etc.

• For Units 7-14, there are four pages of follow-up practice including word recognition and reading development exercises, and tracing and writing development exercises.

• For each 'My Alphabet' section, handwriting practice is provided

• Further consolidation for the Jungle Fun lessons is also provided.

The lesson notes in this Teacher's Guide give guidance on how to use the Activity Book exercises. Answer keys are included where relevant. At the back of the Activity Book, there are a number of cutouts, including character masks for Cabu, Trumpet and Cabu, and cutouts for the Christmas and Easter lessons. Suggestions on how to use these cutouts are given in the relevant lessons.

Teachers Guide

The Teacher's Guide contains:

• this Introduction, which includes a list of additional ideas for games (see page v) and a list of flashcards (see page vi)

• detailed lesson-by-Iesson teaching notes for the Pupil's Book and Activity Book

• photocopiable word cards (see page 91-98)

The lesson-by-Iesson notes are presented together with a reduced black and white facsimile of the Pupil's Book spread, for easy reference. Lesson objectives, target language, recycled language and a list of materials required for the lesson are given at the beginning of each lesson spread.

The photocopiable word cards are provided for use in activities to develop word recognition. Detailed suggestions are given in the lesson notes from Unit 7 onwards.

Class Audio CDs

The Class audio CDs contain all the audio material in the Pupil's Book, including the cartoon stories, listening tasks and songs. Complete audioscripts for the recordings which are not included on the pages of the Pupil's Book can be found in the lesson notes.

Flashcards

There are 72 vocabulary flashcards for the key items presented in the Pupil's Book. A complete list of the flashcards is provided on page vi of this Introduction. The flashcards reproduce the vocabulary pictures from each unit of the Pupil's Book. For teachers who want to practise word recognition, there are 72 photocopiable word cards at the back of this Teacher's Guide. A separate pack of Alphabet flashcards is also available.

Active Teach CD-ROM for Interactive Whiteboard

Fly High Active Teach is designed for use with any Interactive Whiteboard (IWB). It can also be used with a computer and projector. It contains all the Pupil's Book lesson pages in digital form, together with the class audio material. In addition, it provides:

• an additional interactive activity for each of Units 1-14 and Jungle Fun 1-3

• interactive flashcards-for all the vocabulary in the Pupil's Book, accessible by topic or in alphabetical order

• printable/photocopiable Teacher's Resources

Teaching with Fly High 1

Unit and lesson structure

Each of the 14 units of the course consists of two spreads. Each spread is treated as a lesson. However, in teaching situations with fewer hours available, it is possible to extend the unit over four teaching periods. The Activity Book provides additional material that can be used in class for quiet time in the classroom.

The first spread (Lesson 1) presents new language through the cartoon story. The children act out the story and then further listening and speaking practice is provided. The second spread (Lesson 2) normally starts with a song. It consolidates the language from the first lesson in a new context, and as the book progresses it recycles more of the language taught in earlier lessons. Occasionally a new communicative structure is introduced. The second lesson always ends with a game and/or a personalisation activity allowing the children to activate the language and relate it to themselves.

Warm-up - getting started

It is a good idea to signal the beginning of the lesson clearly and start with a warm-up activity that is enjoyable and involves the whole class. The step-by-step teaching notes suggest a variety of warm-up activities.

Procedure for presenting vocabulary

The new words for each lesson are always presented in Picture Dictionary style at the top of the Pupil's Book page, and recorded on the audio CD.

• Use flashcards or classroom objects to present the new words and their meaning. (Relating the new words to tangible objects in t e classroom also helps to make the words more memorable for the children.)

• Tell the children to open their books and look at the pictures. Play the CD; the children point, listen and repeat.

• Hold up the flashcards again in random order and elicit the words.

You can also present the vocabulary on a Whiteboard, using the Flashcards on the Active Teach CD-ROM.

Procedure for cartoon stories

• Invite the children to look at the pictures. Use L1 to ask questions about the pictures and prompt discussion.

• Play the CD; the children listen and point to each character as they are speaking. Ask simple questions in L1/English to check understanding.

• Play the CD again, pausing after each line for the children to repeat.

• Divide the class into groups, and give each group the role of a character. Play the CD again; the children repeat their parts. Encourage them to copy the characters' voice and intonation and to mime some of the actions.

• Let the children practise in groups. Invite a group or groups to perform for the class.

Practice

The practice stage of the lesson involves a variety of different activities, including further listening activities, speaking activities and games. Simple heads-down, pen-to-paper activities are also included, such as drawing and colouring. There is an additional interactive practice activity on the Active Teach CD-ROM.

Procedure for games / role plays

• Ask the children to look at the photo in their Pupil's Book and describe in L 1 what is happening. Elicit what they think the children are saying.

• Demonstrate the game with a child or group, until everyone knows what to do.

• Let the children play the game in groups or pairs, if they are able to do so. If you feel that they are not ready for pair work, play the game as a team game, or with pairs/ groups in front of the class.

Procedure for teaching songs

• Invite the children to look at the picture(s) and talk about what they can see, saying who the characters are and what they are doing.

• Play the CD. The children listen and follow in their books. They can also clap the rhythm.

• Recite the lines of the song rhythmically like a chant Say each line and ask the children to repeat. Demonstrate the movements if the song lends itself to action.

• Play the CD. Ask the children to Sing along and make the movements.

• Some songs involve sticker activities. The stickers can be found at the end of the Pupil's Book. Help the children to find the stickers. Pause the CD to give them time to place their stickers in the right position on the picture.

• For some of the songs, you can divide the class into groups and give them a part to sing.

• Use the Unit flashcards and hold them up as the words are heard in the song.

Ending the lesson

Always end the lesson on a positive and cheerful note. The step-by-step teaching notes suggest a variety of round-up activities.

Procedure for 'My Alphabet' lessons

Each Alphabet spread presents three letters in initial position in three words, e.g. apple, ball. car. Before the children open their Pupil's Books, follow these stages to present the alphabet words and letters for the lesson.

• Word presentation. Use the Alphabet flashcards, picture side up, to present the alphabet words for the lesson.

• Letters and sounds presentation. Introduce the letters and their names and sounds using the board.

• Word recognition. Use the Alphabet flashcards, word side up, to practice whole word recognition.

Demonstrate each activity in the Pupil's Book using the board as necessary, until the children are used to the activity types. At the end of each lesson, the children sing the alphabet chant until finally they can chant the entire alphabet.

The corresponding spread in the Activity Book provides practice in forming lower-case and capital letters and developing handwriting skills. Again, demonstrate each activity first until children understand what they have to do.