Teaching notes and ideas EAL Nexus

Name of resource: Winnie the Witch

Age group(s) Subject(s)

0 to 4, 5 to 7 English

Topic Language Level

Winnie the Witch by Valerie Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced

Thomas and Korky Paul

Description of resource
 Wilbur flashcards (on PowerPoint)
 Wilbur body parts and colours dice (on PowerPoint)
 Matching exercises and substitution tables (on PowerPoint)
 Speaking or writing frames (Word)
 DARTs activities about Wilbur

Preparation needed
You will need:
 one photocopy of Wilbur per learner playing the game.
 colouring equipment: red, yellow, pink, purple, green, blue. If pens are big
enough, these can be labelled with names of colours as well
 two dice for each group
 photocopies of any of the reading and writing follow-on activities you want to
use.
You will need to:
 photocopy the outline of Wilbur on the first slide of the Flashcards PowerPoint 1
per learner (A4 or A3)
 print out the Dice PowerPoint onto A4 thin card. Cut out and stick the two dice
for the game. Older learners may be able to do this themselves
 photocopy Word documents as required. The sequencing exercise should be
printed onto card and/or laminated for reuse and cut into strips
 print out matching exercises and substitution tables from PowerPoint onto A4
as required
 make flashcards by printing out the required slides from the Flashcards
PowerPoint as two-to-one or six-to-a-page handouts depending on size
preferred. These should be printed onto card and/or laminated for reuse and cut
up to form flashcards.
Curriculum objectives
 To understand and engage with the story of Winnie the Witch
 To practise the names of colours and body parts
 To begin to copy/write simple sentences accurately with help/independently

This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals © British Council 2015
 EAL Nexus

Language/Literacy objectives

Functions Structures

Describing (present Simple present: Wilbur’s _____ is __________.

tense) Wilbur’s __________ are ____________.
Wilbur has got a … (singular noun).
Wilbur has got … (plural noun).
Possessive: My Wilbur’s …

Describing (past tense) Wilbur’s __________ went ______________.

Predicting My Wilbur’s whiskers are going to be red.

I’m going to throw a blue.

Vocabulary

 Body parts: head, tail, body, front legs, back legs, whiskers, eyes
 Colours: red, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple

This resource could be used:

 whole class
 as differentiation within class
 one to one or small group
 parts of it can also be used for independent learning.

Ideas for using the resource

What to do
The main activity is a game played with dice where learners throw dice to decide
which colours to colour Wilbur in and make him multicoloured, in a similar way to
Winnie the Witch’s spell in the story.
 The game can be played with 3–5 players. Groups should include EAL learners
and others who can provide good models of English.
 Each player has a photocopy of the outline drawing of Wilbur. As Wilbur’s eyes
remain green in the story, each learner can colour in Wilbur’s eyes green
before starting the game.

This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals © British Council 2015
 EAL Nexus

 Each player throws both dice. As usual, the upper face of each dice is what is
read; in this case one dice gives a body part and the other gives a colour.
 The learner selects the correct colour and colours the correct body part of their
photocopy of Wilbur; for example, if they throw ‘purple’ and ‘tail’ then they
colour in their photocopy accordingly.
The game generates a lot of oral commentary from the pupils and teacher as
they note how everybody’s cats are progressing. The teacher can encourage
the pupils to say out loud what their dice show, thereby modelling language,
e.g. ‘My Wilbur’s legs are going to be red’.
 If a player throws a colour they have already used or body part already
coloured then they must skip a turn.
 The winner is the first to complete colouring in their Wilbur, but the game
continues until every learner has completed colouring their Wilbur.
 To wind up the game, each pupil can hold up their Wilbur and recount to the
other pupils in the group, ‘My Wilbur has a red tail, a blue head’ etc.
 This could be followed up in some written work using the DARTs activities,
substitution tables and model sentences provided. Learners at early stages of
reading and writing could ‘read’ back their work to the lead professional, which
may be based partially on memory and partially on reading skills.

Other ideas for making the best use of this resource

 The flashcards can be used in a simple matching task – to be carried out in pairs
or groups so it becomes a collaborative activity. This could be matching words to
pictures or words and pictures to pictures depending on the level of the learners.
 The flashcards can also be used to play pairs games (also known as
Pelmanism). This is where the cards are placed face downwards on a table and
players turn over two cards at a time to try and find matching pairs. If they find a
pair they keep it and get another turn. The winner is the player who has acquired
the most pairs at the end of the game.
 Pairs game 1: matching words to pictures of Wilbur’s body parts
 Pairs game 2: matching colour words to colours
 A range of suggestions for follow-up writing activities is included, including cloze
sentences, model sentences, sequencing and joining the body part and colour by
drawing a line from one to the other. Any of these can be done in pairs as
collaborative activities, giving an opportunity for exploratory talk.
 If you have EAL learners who share a first language the Wilbur colouring game
can also be played in that language. Alternatively EAL learners could take the
dice and a blank picture of Wilbur home to do the activity in their first language
with a parent/carer.

This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals © British Council 2015
 EAL Nexus

Possible extension activities

 Learners could write a booklet with their own version of the story and their own
choice of colours. Some of the DARTs activities can be used as scaffolding for
this activity for those learners needing this additional support.

This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals © British Council 2015