English Budget and Supplies Ideas

[EPSK]

Dr. Seuss books! I had to have them special ordered for my English camp. I love them and kids do too.

[epinephrine9]

Oh, what I would do with a little extra budget here....

The thing that I think would be most useful are an appropriate number of smaller dry-erase boards. Makes writing games/activities a lot more accessible, and they are so versatile that you don't have to really even think about the investment.

[klorptar]

I think it would be great to have several copies of the same books. Extensive reading is supposedly really good for language learners, and it would be great if we could do guided reading in smaller classes. Like the BFG by Roald Dahl or A Wrinkle in Time. Do you think those would be too advanced for middle school students?

[teacher_del]

It depends on your students' overall level.  At my husband's school, Frog and Toad books (ranked about a 2 on the Early Readers charts) are quite challenging for most of his students.  He taught Stargirl in his winter camp, but by having the kids read the Korean translation and then do book-based activities in English, not by giving them the original English YA text.  If I remember right, Wrinkle is about a Grade 5 level book and BFG is about a grade 3.  Does that sound accurate?

Extensive reading is supposedly really good for language learners,

If Extensive Reading is your goal, keep the following in mind (from RobWaring.org's Compass Day presentation):

****
When reading extensively, students should READ.
Read something quickly and
Enjoyably with
Adequate comprehension so they
Don't need a dictionary

If they need a dictionary, it’s too hard and they will read slowly, get tired and stop.
Their aim is fluency and speed, not learning new language.
It is CRUCIAL that learners read at the RIGHT level.
******

For your kids, does Roald Dahl meet these criteria?

[klorptar]

Those levels are about right. I don't have a copy to actually look at, so I'm just going from memory and kids' novels lists. I don't know what the actually budget is, so I think I'm just going to throw a bunch of stuff into a list and pray for the best. So far, I have a couple of subscriptions to ESL journals, kids' novels, some props, and the entire David Attenborough "Life" series, which is really more for me than the students. Fingers Crossed. Any other suggestions are still more than welcome.

[teacher_del]

Here's a bunch of books I like, although I don't know how well they'd fit with your school.  Maybe they'll shake a couple of ideas loose.  :)

[The.it.girl]

Hey guys I was just told that I have 600 000won to buy teaching supplies and other necessities with, I'm not sure what to get and where things are available~
Any advice would be appreciated, Thanks

[mteacher]

Ask your school if they have an "I-scream catalog. Its a thick thick book with all kinds of stuff from stationary to handpuppets and educational games :)

[Janitor]

Get them to buy a "presenter" it is basically a remote that you can control your computer with. I just got my school to get one. It will free you from your desk and allow you to roam around the room more.

[icafitz]

So my coteacher has asked if I have any input on books, CDs and materials for the brand new English classroom that is being built over the winter break.  What has worked best for some of you Middle school teachers, or if you could add to your collection what would you add?

[mlcarn]

Apples to Apples Junior. I just requested that for winter camp.

[mteacher]

Scrabble and a few sets of Jenga (there's a game on waygook somewhere where you put letters on the jenga blocks and make a word game from it).

Lots of stationary stuff like enough scissors, pencils, coloring pens and glue.

Maybe some things for board games like dice.  You could easily make boardgames and laminate them, so then you have the die to use with it.   

Also you could decide on a way to "keep score" in class - so students (or classes) have to work etc in order to obtain points.  and at the end of the year the best class gets a party.  so you could get stuff for making nice scoreboards etc.

Flashcards?  Although it depends on the topic I guess..

Some stuff for role playing :)

[andrucer]

some small whiteboards would be useful.

[hankmcmasters]

a pile of board markers

dice

i have a wireless microphone, maybe batteries for this.  or a wireless microphone!~

i couldnt live without my enormous monitor, though the touchscreen feature isnt that helpful

maybe a usb infrared remote for powerpoint

[simplypanda]

some small whiteboards would be useful.

Agreed. I have them and I use them all the time for games and various other activities. I have one for every group.

[red]

some small whiteboards would be useful.

Agreed. I have them and I use them all the time for games and various other activities. I have one for every group.

Very much agree too..
My co teacher bought Reading Rods..a kind of teaching material where students connect words to form a sentence(looks like a rod,,from its name  )
GO fish game..

[katrine]

Any movie that's more than 5 years old the kids either haven't seen, or don't remember watching. We bought "The Santa Clause" for our Christmas this year; none of the students had seen it and it was a BIG hit. "Casper" was a hit at Halloween, too.

For books, we bought a set of "Fantastic Mr. Fox" for my advanced after school students. I wouldn't say it was a big hit, but they were really proud of themselves in the end for reading an entire English book.

I also like having a big store of craft supplies handy. Enough paper, glue, scissors and tape for everyone. We made Christmas snowflakes. The kids are really creative, and any chance to use their creativity is loved.

[hwana]

When I arrived in September I wasn't told that we had a budget for English materials and only found out when I asked if it was possible to get a few different books for the after school classes - apparently we have 1million a year to spend on books and teaching materials! So anyway this thread, along with a few trips to Bandi & Lundi's to scout books, helped me place a pretty big order in January. Was hoping to get the materials before the new semester started but of course that was never gonna happen - received the package this morning though and BAM! It's like Christmas in the English zone. Excited to start using some of this stuff... !!

[EPSK]

I bought 7 sets of Jenga and regular playing cards. Good for changing up games (and passing time when you get bored). I also ordered some phonics learning tools for lower-level students. We even ordered an extra white board because the only ones we had were the inset ones in the wall in front of the TV. It became really limiting as to what we could write down.

[bork]

I have just been told I'm getting a W500,000 materials budget, which I never had before. What would you guys suggest buying? We're in the middle of building an English zone but I'm not sure if I'll have my own classroom or not yet.