500 Activities for the Primary Classroom

C. Read
Macmillan Education 2007, 320 pp., £16.95
ISBN 978 1 4050 9907 3

A week or so before the 2007 Annual I ATE F L

Conference in Aberdeen, I received the Spring issue of
the IAT EFL Young Learners Special Interest Group
publication, C ATs, and on the back cover I saw
a bright red advert for a new book by Carol Read. My
next trip to the UK was to Aberdeen and sure enough,
the book was given a high profile: difficult to miss,
with a bright red cover featuring an inset photo of
multi-coloured balloons, it caught everyone’s
attention. I spent most of my flight back home and
subsequent days reading what I now fondly call ‘the
red book’. I read it from cover to cover and thoroughly
enjoyed it.
Publications related to the teaching of young
learners have been trickling in since the
millennium: Cameron (2001), Brewster, Ellis, and
Girard (2002), Linse (2005), and Pinter (2006). All
these titles cover the ‘how’ of teaching young
learners; all refer to an age from 5 to 11–14 years old; all
take a theoretical approach that is related to and
supported by descriptions of practice to one degree
or another.
Read’s book belongs, without a doubt, alongside
these titles, but it differs quite substantially. It is
a book about ‘how’ to teach young learners; it is for
teachers who work with children from 4–12 years old;
it covers theory, but the main difference is that it is
essentially a book that shares practice.
In her introduction, Read writes: ‘The main approach
of the book is to provide immediate, workable ideas

320 Reviews
and solutions to the perennial question of what on
earth am I going to do with my class tomorrow?’ (p. 5)
But that is not all, and thank goodness, for a book
which just gives us ideas for Monday morning would
be a waste. Read describes a second approach, one
that runs parallel, one that ‘emphasizes developing
an awareness of the complex factors involved in
working effectively with classes of children and laying
a solid foundation in primary language teaching
skills’ (p. 5).
The book is divided into two parts: the ‘General
introduction’ and sections. The former includes
the practical side to using the book, and about
eight pages of theory called ‘Working with children’
(pp. 7–16). When I first flicked through this part I
was disappointed, immediately recognizing rewrites
of articles and presentations. But after reading it all,
I was glad she had brought all her thoughts
together: Read has written very beautifully about
working with children and it is all here in one safe
place. My all time favourite is her ‘‘‘C’’ Wheel’, which
I quote regularly, and it can be easily found now on
pages 7–11.
The latter sections are hailed as reflecting ‘10 key
areas in primary language teaching’ (p. 5). ‘Listening
and speaking’, ‘Reading and writing’, ‘Vocabulary and
grammar’, ‘Storytelling and drama’, ‘Games’,
‘Rhymes, chants and songs’, ‘Art and craft’, ‘Content-
based learning’, ‘ICT and multi-media’, and ‘Learning
to learn’. The last three are welcome additions to the
usual areas. Read has written an introduction to each
section, which not only enables us to understand
a little better the ‘why’ and ‘how’ but also encourages
us to reflect, analyse, and evaluate the teaching and
learning that takes place while using the described
activities. It’s these so called ‘Reflect times’, which I
think make this title so very special. By asking the
reader simple questions, Read successfully makes us
think about our practice. In Section 1, ‘Listening and
speaking’, she asks questions pertaining to
motivation, purpose, preparation, learning support,
personalization, and timing. Each and every question
jabbed me, making me rethink how I had planned and
given my recent lessons with listening and speaking
in mind. I have lots of teaching experience and it was
a really useful activity!
What I particularly like about these ‘Reflect time’
sections is that each one has different reflection
prompts. In Section 2, ‘Reading and writing’, Read’s
prompts include reflection on meaning, modelling
strategies, and feedback and correction. In Section 3,
‘Vocabulary and grammar’, they include reflections
on noticing/awareness raising and thinking skills.
Section 4, ‘Storytelling and drama’, includes
Reviews
reflections on creative thinking, kinaesthetic learning,
and collaboration. Section 5, ‘Games’, includes
reflections on competition versus cooperation and
classroom management. A pattern is forming and
one which makes absolute sense. Each and every
section focuses on different areas of the children’s
learning and our teaching, and Read successfully
teases these out by using just the right questions.
I am not sure all teachers will notice the ‘Reflect
time’, but it is one of the most useful inclusions in
the book.
The title, 500 Activities, could in fact be a little
misleading, for though there are descriptions of 500
activities, Read has given us far more than 500.
She has skillfully given us an insight into the very best
kind of teaching practice. We are led carefully through
the ‘why’ and ‘how’ before being exposed to the
activities. But is it possible to provide us with 500 new
activities? Activities usually come in the form of
resource books or copy collections, for example, the
Resource Books for Teachers series (OUP) or the
Cambridge Copy Collection (CUP), and tend to focus
on particular areas like storytelling (Wright 2001),
assessment (Iannou-Georgiou and Pavlou 2003),
writing (Reilly and Reilly 2005), or reading (Nixon and
Tomlinson 2005). These types of books come with
short theoretical introductions and about 100
activities, some with photocopy support, some not.
Read’s book aims at covering an average of 50
activities per area.
There are not in fact 50 named activities per section,
but many activities have variations and so these add
up too! Each activity is described clearly marking
level, age, and how to organize the children, whether
it is group, whole class, or individual. The levels are
given in relation to the Council of Europe’s Common
European Framework bands, A, B, and C. Naturally, as
we are dealing with young learners, most activities fall
into the A band, A1/A2, though there is the occasional
B1/B2 activity.
The information continues clearly with a description
of language focus, materials, and a step-by-step
procedure. This is followed by a comments and
suggestions section, which explains a little about the
reasons for doing this particular activity and/or
variations and extension activities.
I particularly like the comments, which are user-
friendly and jog our memories or help us see the
importance of certain strategies for young
learners. An example is Activity 10.5: ‘Label the
picture’ (p. 293). An activity we all do with our
young learners. But how many of us get the children
to compare their pictures and labels and test each
321
other? Read’s comment for this activity is ‘By Nixon, C. and M. Tomlinson. 2005. Primary
drawing, colouring and labeling pictures at the end Reading Box: Reading Activities and Puzzles for
of units of work children build up a personalized Younger Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University
visual record of their vocabulary learning’ (p. 293). Press.
This is common sense, but it is worth reminding us Pinter, A. 2006. Teaching Young Language Learners.
all of the reason, it is not just because children Oxford: Oxford University Press.
enjoy colouring and labelling! Read goes on to Reilly, J. and V. Reilly. 2005. Writing with Children.
encourage us to put these pictures into a ‘my picture Oxford: Oxford University Press.
dictionary’ and alerts us to the restraints of the Wright, A. 2001. Storytelling with Children. Oxford:
younger age group. This is not rocket science, but it Oxford University Press.
appears in Section 10, ‘Learning to learn’. It is indeed
a self-assessment activity, and many of us need
The reviewer
reminding of this.
Sandie Mourão is a freelance teacher, teacher trainer,
There are some lacunae; nothing is perfect. I was and author based in Portugal. She has been working
disappointed not to find a chapter on assessment. with young learners for the past 15 years and is
There are activities describing self-assessment, but it especially interested in storytelling, assessment, and
is not enough. Sections on special needs and even very young learners. Sandie is the I AT EF L Special
parental involvement could have been Interest Group representative, http://www.iatefl.org
included—they are all areas which are rapidly and is the coordinator of the Portuguese English
becoming part of the E FL world. Teacher’s Association Pre-school and Primary
It is however a great book. A little family anecdote is Interest Group, A P P I nep http://appinep.appi.pt/
worth sharing here. On returning from Aberdeen, I Email: nettlehouse@mail.telepac.pt
shared my enjoyment of ‘the red book’ with my doi:10.1093/elt/ccn032
husband, a Portuguese primary school teacher. A
couple of days later I couldn’t find it and asked my
husband if he’d seen it. ‘Why yes’, he replied, ‘it’s
upstairs by my bed’. Sure enough, it had become his
bedside reading, and to my surprise he’d filled it with
little pink markers. ‘É um grande livro’ (It’s a great
book), he said, ‘I like the section on listening and
speaking’. He’s gone on to use several activities in
Portuguese with his children, and though he has not
bothered about the ‘Reflect time’ I like so much, he
says they’ve worked!
Read’s dedication reads, ‘For every teacher who tries
to bring out the best in every child’ (p. 3). I think ‘the
red book’ is truly a book for every teacher, the new and
the old, the specialist and the generalist, and the
trained and the in-training. We are very lucky that
Read has put all her experience into one book and
shared it with us. I urge you all to make sure it is on
your bookshelf.

References
Brewster, J., G. Ellis, and D. Girard. 2002. The Primary
English Teacher’s Guide Second Edition. Harlow, UK:
Longman Second Edition.
Cameron, L. 2001. Teaching Languages to Young
Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Iannou-Georgiou, S. and P. Pavlou. 2003. Assessing
Young Learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Linse, C. 2005. Young Learners. New York: McGraw
Hill.

322 Reviews
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.