Droplets by Richmond - Pre-Primary American English Course

Droplets by Richmond is based on current theories of language acquisition and ongoing research in early childhood learning and development: immersion – learners are fully engaged in an English-speaking environment; the Natural Approach – words are learned through meaningful contexts and interaction, not in isolation; Total Physical Response (TPR) – nonverbal language (gestures and movements) is used to convey meaning. Although Droplets focuses primarily on teaching English through vocabulary, it also nurtures essential skills for students’ whole development through a balanced program of carefully planned activities. The breadth of Droplets’ resources gives you and your young learners multiple ways of introducing, modeling and reviewing new vocabulary and language structures in different contexts.

Student’s Book - The course is structured around eight themed units. Each lesson page teaches children language and vocabulary while developing essential age-appropriate skills like sticking, gluing, tracing, coloring, matching, classifying, counting and creating patterns. The third lesson in every unit inspires children’s imagination, with a story or chant connected to the topic! Learners reinforce the unit vocabulary and language with a final Review page, then learn about and develop important values through a theme-related Values page for each unit. Children can also celebrate with six pages of fun holiday activities during the year.

Activity Book - An Activity Book page corresponds to each Student’s Book lesson, with hands-on activities for the classroom or at home to practice key readiness skills like drawing, finger-painting and assembling. Instructions in Spanish on the back of each page mean children and parents can do the activities together! And pages are detachable – so you or the parents can mount them on construction paper and include them in the unit Scrapbook! The Activity Book for level 1 includes pop-out activities.

Resource Book - Young learners will find plenty to delight them in this children’s treasure chest of Stickers, Mini-flashcards, Finger Puppets and Story Cards! These flexible learning tools can accompany different activities in each unit, and children can use them in a myriad of ways. The Story Cards have their own audio on the Student’s Audio, available on the website, so children can share the story at home with their family.

The Teacher’s Guide - The introduction explains the methodology behind young learner language acquisition, as well as tips for classroom management and handy all-weather activities. The main body of the Teacher’s Guide describes the procedure for the Student’s Book pages step by step: a quick reference of the early learning goals, vocabulary, materials and preparation for each lesson, then detailed before, during and after the class activities. The notes also indicate when to use the other components. Another page details extension activities, with instructions for the corresponding Activity Book page, a Fast Finishers task, and an optional hands-on Early Learning Activity focusing on the Areas of Learning.

With Droplets students will:

- be fully immersed in an English-speaking environment.
- develop the six essential Areas of Learning (Personal, Social and Emotional Development; Communication, Language and Literacy; Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy; Knowledge and Understanding of the World; Artistic Development; and Physical Development) during every lesson.
- share stories, activities and their learning process with their families!
- open their minds to an awareness of more than one way of expressing ideas and viewing the world.
- finish the school year with a Scrapbook of samples of their work and individual progress!