This article
is a practical account of:
b) Inexpensive puppets your students can
create for themselves
c) How to introduce your students to using
puppets
d) Classroom procedure for two activities
using puppets
For the purposes
of this article I will refer to the teacher as “she” and students and puppets
as “he”. I will also assume that the teacher holds the puppet in her right
hand, a minor but important detail for those of you who wish to visualise the
teacher/student, puppet, prop interchange.
a)
Why Use Puppets in the Primary Classroom?
- Two fluent English speakers in class
are better than just one
Puppets introduce another proficient English speaker into the classroom for
the teacher to speak to. This is important,
as one natural language learning strategy adopted by children is that of
observing and then imitating conversations conducted by the people around them.
Small children can often be heard rehearsing dialogues with their toys. The
puppet allows this 3 dimensional dialogue modelling to take place in the
classroom. For example, imagine that the
teacher wishes to demonstrate how to ask for a coloured pencil in English. She
places a red pencil and a blue pencil to the right of the puppet ( Out of reach
of her left hand to neccessitate the
pencil being passed to her by the puppet) , then turns to him and has the
following dialogue:
Teacher “Homer, can I have a pencil please?
Puppet “Yes,
what colour?”
Teacher “Red
please”
Puppet (Handing “Here you are”
over pencil)
Teacher “Thank
you”
The pencils are then placed on the far left of the teacher and the roles
are reversed. Homer asks for the pencil and the teacher passes it to him. After modelling the dialogue again the
teacher invites a child to come to the front and take one of the roles, whilst
the teacher speaks for the puppet.
In my experience, young children are very keen to do this. They rarely
experience performance anxiety and any embarrassment they do have is greatly
reduced by the fact that they view the puppet as a being half way between the
teacher and themselves.
- Puppets help create a genuine
information gap
A key tennet of the communicative approach to language teaching is that genuine communication involves a
purpose such as giving someone information or getting them to do something.
Real communication centres on an information gap for when we genuinely communicate we usually
do not know everything that the speaker is going to say. We may be able to
predict a percentage of what they will say, but there will always be
attitudinal information that is new to us. This “genuine information gap” is
difficult to create in a classroom of elementary learners who have worked
together for a period of time because
a) the students have discovered a lot about
each other through observation and through conversations in their mother tongue
b) the
students have a limited number of patterns and lexical sets at their disposal
restricitng topic variety.
Therefore, an alternative to asking for and giving persoanl information
about classroom members is to get the students to exchange information about their puppets as the
puppets can come from anywhere in the world, have any name their creator wishes
and have a whole gambit of likes, dislikes and hobbies.
- Hands on is minds on
Children learn experiencially through getting visually, aurally and
kinaesthetically involved in a subject. Puppets are bright and colourful,
tactile and moving. They engage the child as a whole person bringing in several
of Gardener’s multiple intelligences( Modern English Teacher Vol 10/1 January
2001: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Mustafa Zülküf Atlan )especially
emotioanl, spatial,interpersonal and intrapersonal. This increases the
childrens’ interest in the lesson and leads to deeper learning.
- Children can feel more confident when
talking through the puppet.
Some children feel hesitant to speak
in English because they are unsure of the pronunciation of certain words or of
exactly how to express themselves. In such cases puppets can act as a psychological
support for a child. When a child speaks through the puppet , it is not the
child who is perceived as making errors
but the puppet and children find this liberating. Hence, puppets can
encourage your students to experiment more with the language and “have a go”
when they may have otherwise remained silent.
- Plastic plate puppets and cardboard
triangle puppets
Children draw or stick a face on the top half of the plate or
triangle and clothes on the bottom half. Make a stick from a rolled up
newspaper or a strip of cardboard folded in half lengthways to provide extra
support. Attach the stick to the back of the plate or triangle.
- Tube puppets
Cut a two centimetre slit in either side of a toilet roll tube and from a
separate piece of card cut a circle at least 7 cms in diameter. Children draw
the puppet’s face on the flat circle and its body on the toilet roll tube.
Finally, children slot the face onto the body using the two slits cut
previously.
- Card strip hanging puppets
Photocopy a character from a book, cut a character from a colouring in book
or draw a character. Stick the paper on card for support if the paper is thin.
Cut a strip of card approximately 20 cms in length and 2 cms in width. Stick
the bottom of the card strip onto the back of the puppet, at the top. Children
hold the top of the card strip so that the puppets hang down in the same fashion
as string puppets do.
C. How to introduce your students to using puppets
Children need to
be gradually prepared to use puppets in class in much the same way as they need
to be warmed up for writing or roleplay. I have learned through experience that
it is not enough to simply give each child a puppet and say “ have a
conversation.” Here is a gradual process
through which the child- puppet relationship can be established and
strengthened over several weeks.
3 steps in introducing children
to puppets
Step1. work in the private sphere
Step2. work in the public
sphere using fixed roles
i
Step3. work in the public sphere using original roles
1a. Aim: to encourage the child to
view the puppet as a special friend who he can talk to in English
We all know that a teacher should never ask students to do what she will
not do herself. Therefore, have your own puppet as a special friend. Introduce
yourself to the puppet in front of the class. For example, I would say “ Hello,
my name’s Denise. I am a teacher. I have
two children called Melisa and Tamara. I live in Istanbul and I love
gardening. Next, have the children introduce themselves to their puppets from the privacy of their own seats.
No one will be listening to them as everyone is talking to their own puppets at
the same time. It should be regarded as a fluency activity, with no need for
teacher correction. With real beginner students this stage can even be carried
out in L1.
1b. Aim: to help the child give the
puppet a unique identity.
Have your puppet tell you about himself in front of the class. My puppet
usually says “Hello, my name is Lucy. I come from Brasil. I am seven years old.
I have a brother called Carlos and a puppy called spot. I love going to the
beach.” As with step 1a, allow all of
the puppets to speak to their own puppeteer simultaneously.
Step 2. work in the public sphere
using fixed roles
Aim: to instill confidence in the children when using puppets in front of a group
Choose a well known action song such as”10 green bottles hanging on the
wall” or “head shoulders knees and toes”. Have the children make their puppets
dance and do the actions as the class sing.For example, when singing “ ten
green bottles hanging on a wall” I have ten children stand up and hold their
puppets up high. As we sing the line “and if one green bottle should accidently
fall” the child I point to lets his puppet fall down.
Step3.Working in the public sphere using original roles.
Aim: to use puppets for communicative
language work.
Tell the children that they are taking their puppets to an international
holiday camp At the camp they will meet
puppets from all over the world. Brainstorm the language of giving and asking
for personal information e.g. “what’s your name?”, “where are you from?”, “how
old are you?” etc. Give the class planning time so that each child can recall
or invent the necessary personal information about his puppet. Finally, the children
walk around the classroom introducing their puppets to other puppets and
collecting as much personal information about them as possible. If your
children need more practise producing the language patterns they need to carry
out this fluency based mingle activity, extend the planning stage by getting
the children to copy down the personal information questions you brainstormed
earlier. The children then answer the questions using the “I” form , as if they
were their puppet.
D. Classroom procedure for two activities using puppets
In this section, I would like to present 2 activities using puppets which
you may like to try out in class.
Activity One. I’m
Hungry (Adapted from Pebbles By .Penny Hancock & Gail Ellis Longman)
Materials required. A card strip hanging puppet as the main character
A strip of card approximately 20 cm long and 2
cms wide per child
A square
of paper per child
Coloured pencils per child
Language aim: To practise “have got” + food vocabulary
Teacher holds the puppet up and mimes that it is very hungry.
Teacher elicits that the puppet is hungry and asks what it likes to eat.
Children offer suggestions e.g hamburgers, apples, pizza
Teacher asks children to draw a picture of something the puppet can eat on
the square of paper. Literate children can also lable their picture.
Children attach the strip of card to the top of their picture in order to
make a card strip hanging puppet/prop.
Teacher calls children out to the front saying “ Ali, what have you got for (puppet’s name) to eat?
Child hangs his food puppet in front of the teacher’s puppet and replies “
I’ve got a ..........”
Teacher repeats the process with the other children.
Alternative suggestions:
The above technique can be used in exactly the same way for the following
scenarios and language items
v
The
birthday party: language aim: “Here’s a + toy lexis.”
It
is a puppet’s birthday. The children make
gift props which they give
to the puppet saying for example
“Here’s a car”.
v
I’m
bored: language item “You can play with + toy lexis”
The puppet is bored. The children make a toy prop which they give to the
puppet saying for example, “You can play with my doll”
v
Where’s
my teddy bear: Language aim: “Is it + prepositions of place. The puppet is in a lounge . He can not find his favourite
teddy bear. Children make props of places the teddy bear might be e.g under the table, behind a cushion.
Children approach the puppet asking “Is it in the cupboard?.” The answer is
always no as the teddy bear is stuck on the back of the puppet. Eventually. the
puppet turns around with his back to the children .On seeing the teddy bear
children shout out “It’s behind you”
Activity Two: Little House using tube puppets.
(See section B b above on how to make tube
puppets.)
Materials required:
An open topped cardboard box,
decorated to look like a house.
Tube puppets for the following characters: Mr Mouse, Mr Frog, Mrs Fox, Mr
Rabbit and Mr Bear.
(The little house is in the middle
of the stage)
Mr Mouse (Looking at the house) What a lovely little house!. Little house,
little house, who lives in little house? ( Mr Mouse jumps into the house)
Mr Frog: (Looking at the house) What a lovely little house!. Little house,
Little House, who lives in Little House?
Mr Mouse: I’m Mr Mouse. I Live in Little House. Who are You?
Mr Frog: I’m Mr Frog.
Mr Mouse: Come in. ( Mr Frog jumps into the house)
Mrs Fox: (Looking at the house) What a lovely little house!. Little House,
Little House, who lives in Little House?
Mr Mouse: I’m Mr Mouse
Mr Frog: I’m Mr Frog.
Mr Mouse & Mr Frog: We live in Little House. Who are You?
Mrs Fox: I’m Mrs Fox.
Mr Mouse & Mr Frog: Come in. ( Mrs
Fox jumps into the house)
Mr Rabbit : (Looking at the house) What a lovely little house!. Little
House, Little House, who lives in Little House?
Mr Mouse: I’m Mr Mouse
Mr Frog: I’m Mr Frog.
Mrs Fox: I’m Mrs Fox
Mr Mouse , Mr Frog & Mrs Fox: We live in Little House. Who are You?
Mr Rabbit: I’m Mr Rabbit.
Mr Mouse, Mr Frog & Mrs Fox: Come in.
Mr Squash You All Flat Bear: (Stomps up to the house) Who lives here?
Mr Mouse: I’m Mr Mouse
Mr Frog: I’m Mr Frog.
Mrs Fox: I’m Mrs Fox
Mr Rabbit: I’m Mr Rabbit.
Mr Mouse, Mr Frog, Mrs Fox, Mr Rabbit: We live in Little House. Who are
you?
Mr Squash You All Flat Bear: I’m Mr Squash You All Flat Bear.
Other animals: Oh no. Run away! ( Animals jump out of the house. The bear
turns the box over and and stomps on top of it as if trying to break it up.
After bear leaves all the other animals return to the house.)
Mr Mouse, Mr Frog, Mrs Fox, Mr Rabbit: Poor little house. We can rebuild
Little House. (Re-right the box and put the animals back into it.)
Mr Mouse: I’m Mr Mouse
Mr Frog: I’m Mr Frog.
Mrs Fox: I’m Mrs Fox
Mr Rabbit: I’m Mr Rabbit.
Mr Mouse, Mr Frog, Mrs Fox, Mr Rabbit: We live in Little House.
The End.
