Teaching with puppets

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Young children are extremely imaginative and fantasy is very much a part of their world. Use
this to your advantage by introducing an English-only puppet into your classroom. Many
teachers of young learners have been using an English-only puppet in their classes for a long
time.

To begin, the teacher introduces the puppet to the class and tells them that it only speaks
English. Having 'someone' in the class that only communicates in English can provide a need
for the children to speak in the L2, which is especially useful in classes where students know
their teacher speaks their mother tongue.

Your English-only puppet can be any character. You can use any cuddly toy, i.e. a teddy.

1. Before introducing the puppet

Send a postcard/letter from the puppet to the children to raise their curiosity.

2. Introducing the English-only puppet to the children

Hello. Bye, bye.
Show the children the puppet and say Hello, getting the children to copy you. Walk around
the class letting the children stroke the puppet and encouraging them to say Hello to the
puppet. Make the puppet disappear behind your back and say Bye, bye. To practise and elicit
the different greetings, make the puppet appear and disappear by hiding him under the desk,
in your bag, in a child's bag/desk.

1. Let them choose a name for him. (From now on we'll call the puppet Cookie.)
2. Show the children where Cookie is from using a map of England/the States/Australia
or another English-speaking country.
3. Decide when his birthday is. Have a birthday party for him. Make cards and let the
children write them in English.
4. When you go somewhere, take Cookie with you. Take a photograph and send a card to
school from him.
5. Use him to get the children quiet. Say Cookie doesn't like noise. He's frightened.

Children who have been particularly well-behaved or have tried hard to speak in English can
take Cookie home. The next day they can tell the class in their L1 what Cookie had for dinner,
what time he went to bed, if he was well-behaved, etc.

In Class

3. Warm-up
Cookie can be used for a general warm up. At first he can just ask their names but you can
start to integrate more complicated language as the children learn more – What's your
favourite colour/number?, Do you like...?, Can I have a...? etc.
4. Giving instructions
The puppet can do the actions for most classroom instructions: Stand up. Sit down. Colour.
Cut. Draw. It is a good idea for the puppet to model the instructions using classroom objects
at first so the children can see exactly what they need to do.

5. Puppet day
On one occasion, you could ask the children to bring a puppet or any other soft toy from home
to the next class. In the class they introduce their toy: My name is...

N.B. If you plan this for later in the course, the children could practise more language by
giving further information about their puppet, i.e. I like bananas and pizza. My favourite
colour is...

Games

6. What is Cookie thinking about?

Place some flashcards of words you want to practise on the blackboard. Using the puppet, tell
the children that he is thinking about one of the words and that they must guess which one.
The puppet goes round eliciting the answers and shaking/nodding its head depending on
whether the answer is right or not. If a child guesses correctly, give him/her the flashcard to
hold.

7. Pass Cookie
Tell the children that you are going to play some music and they must pass Cookie from one
child to the next, round the class until the music stops. When the music stops, the child
holding Cookie puts him on his/her hand. They can say anything in English or ask a question
in English to Cookie or whoever they like in the class. Start the music again to continue the
activity.

8. Cookie says...
Play 'Simon says' but insert the name of your puppet instead so that it is giving the
instructions for the children to follow.

Where's Cookie?

9. Yes/No
Show Cookie to the class. Choose a child who has to turn his/her back. Hide the puppet
somewhere in the class. Tell the child to turn back round and ask him/her Where's Cookie?
The other children direct him/her to the puppet saying No until the child is close, when they
say Yes. Alternatively you could repeat the above activity, only the children use hot/cold, to
guide the child to the puppet. Cold = they aren't close, hot = they are very close.

10. Traffic lights

Repeat the above procedure only using the traffic light colours to direct the child. Explain to
the children that Green = Go! Yellow = Slow down! and Red = Stop! The child starts walking
round the class. Say Green until the child is close to the puppet. Then say Yellow so that the
child slows down.
When the child is right next to the puppet say Red, so that the child stops and looks for the
puppet. The game continues with another child. The children can give the instructions and
even hide the puppet.