Children's English, Intermediate: A Sample Class Recap

At this age, children can read whole stories, but reading is still hard work. They need to hear the sounds clearly, slow down, read aloud with feeling, and talk about what they read. So every lesson is built around a story, and after class the family gets a recap in English and in their own language, plus a practice page made for their child.

Here is a full example, for an eight-year-old. Everything on this page works: tap the 🔊 buttons, listen to the story, build words, move the slider and do the quiz.

1The class recap: what Lucas's parents receive

A few minutes after class, Lucas's parents get this by email: what we read, what Lucas did well, the new words with sound, and three small things to practise this week.

Class recap · 課後小結

Lucas's English lesson 柏宇的英文課

Lesson 12 · Wednesday 28 October · 45 minutes on Zoom第12課 · 10月28日（星期三）· Zoom 線上45分鐘

Dear Lucas's mum and dad,柏宇的爸爸媽媽好：

Today's story was about a snail who is always last, which was funny for a boy who is always first! Lucas read four pages aloud, and by the end he was reading more slowly and much more clearly. Here is what we did.今天的故事講的是一隻總是最後一名的蝸牛，對一個凡事都要搶第一的男孩來說特別有趣！柏宇大聲朗讀了四頁，到最後他讀得比較慢，也清楚多了。以下是今天的上課內容。

Today we… · 今天我們…

• 🐌Read Snail and the Slow, Slow Trail together. Lucas read the parts of the Rabbit and the Beaver in different voices.一起讀了《Snail and the Slow, Slow Trail》。柏宇用不同的聲音扮演兔子和河狸。
• 🔤Found the long A sound in the -ail family: snail, mail, tail, sail, pail, nail, trail.找出 -ail 字族裡的長母音 A：snail、mail、tail、sail、pail、nail、trail。
• 🆚Heard the difference between short a and long a: pan / pain, man / main.分辨短母音 a 和長母音 a：pan / pain、man / main。
• 🏁Compared the animals: fast, faster, the fastest; slow, slower, the slowest.比較動物：fast、faster、the fastest；slow、slower、the slowest。
• 💬Talked about the story: How did Snail feel? Why? Lucas answered in full sentences with because.討論故事：蝸牛有什麼感覺？為什麼？柏宇用 because 說出完整的句子。

Lucas's star moment · 柏宇的亮點

⭐ When I asked "Is slow bad?", Lucas thought for a moment and said, "No. Snail is slow, so she sees the mail." That is a real reader's answer.⭐ 我問「慢是不好的嗎？」柏宇想了一下說：「不是。蝸牛很慢，所以她看到了信。」這是真正會閱讀的孩子才說得出的答案。

New words · 新單字 (tap to listen · 點一下聽發音)

🥾 trail小路 ✉️ mail信件 🐦 tail尾巴 🔩 nail釘子 🌧️ alone獨自一人 🎁 a gift禮物；天賦 🏃 Hurry up!快一點！ 🦫 Good things take their time.好事需要時間。

Practise this week · 本週練習 (15 minutes a day · 每天15分鐘)

1. Listen to me read the Snail story (below), then read one page aloud slowly, like a snail.先聽我朗讀蝸牛的故事（在下方），再「慢慢地」像蝸牛一樣朗讀一頁。
2. On Lucas's practice page, build all seven -ail words and say each one long and slow.在柏宇的練習頁拼出七個 -ail 單字，每個都拉長、慢慢地唸。
3. At dinner, tell the family who is the fastest and who is the slowest at home.吃晚餐時，告訴家人家裡誰是 the fastest，誰是 the slowest。

Ross's note · 老師的話

Lucas, you are a fast thinker and now a careful reader too. Next week: a charming Fox in starry robes. Is he really a wizard? 🦊柏宇，你腦筋轉得快，現在也是個細心的讀者了。下週：一隻穿著星星長袍、很有魅力的狐狸。他真的是巫師嗎？🦊

📅 Next class: Wednesday 4 November, 6:30 p.m. Taiwan time, on Zoom.下一堂課：11月4日（星期三）晚上6點30分（台灣時間），Zoom 線上。

The recap goes to the parents by email and lives on the child's own page, so nothing gets lost.

2Story time: listen and read along

At this level the story is the lesson. Children hear it, read it, act it out and talk about it. Every story I write practises one sound that learners find hard. Snail and the Slow, Slow Trail practises the long A sound, and it carries a message many fast, clever children need: slowing down is how you notice things.

Snail and the Slow, Slow TrailThe little snail who learned that slow is a gift.Read the story → The Fox WizardNext week's story: kindness, and a friend who is not what he seems.Read the story →

3Watch at home

Short videos from my YouTube channel. Vowels Only is perfect for this lesson: it puts the short and long vowel sounds side by side.

4Lucas's practice page: try it

Every child also gets a practice page of their own, built from their lessons. Here is a small version of Lucas's. Try it.

Real practice pages grow every week: more words, more stories, more games, and a link back to the child's lesson calendar.

5For parents

• Ask "why?" and wait. Count to five in your head before helping. Thinking time is where the English grows.
• Slow is not a problem. Children who race through reading skip the ends of words. Reading slowly, with feeling, is the skill.
• Let them be the teacher. Ask your child to tell you the story. Getting the order right is excellent practice.
• Read it twice. The second reading is when children start to enjoy the words, not just decode them.

Why I teach this way: The Quiet Genius of Mister Rogers, the teacher who shaped how I speak to children.

6Six levels, one teacher

Every student gets a recap and a practice page at their own level. See what the others look like:

How to start

Book a free 30-minute "virtual handshake" on Zoom. Bring your child, say hello, and we'll find the right level together. There is no cost and no pressure.

Book a virtual handshakeClasses for children

Ross Cline 柯受恩
Canadian English teacher. Founder of iLearn.tw, the licensed English school I ran in Taiwan for fifteen years. Now teaching online from Phnom Penh. rosscline.com