EWAS Programs
Bobby English in the Land of the Bears
Bobby English and the Bears is a program designed to teach pupils to understand and speak English. The program is an oral-aural, prereading course for young learners aged 5-7. The program targets young children who have completed In the Land of the Bears, and children in kindergarten and first and second grades. It is the second course in the English With A Smile series. The course builds and expands upon what was taught in In the Land of the Bears.
Synopsis of Bobby English in the Land of the Bears
Bobby English in the Land of the Bears tells the story of a special day in the life of Brother Bear and Sister Bear. It is the day that Bobby English, a unique character, shows up at the Bear Family home and then spends the day with the children at their school.
In the Bobby English in the Land of the Bears picture storybook, Brother and Sister Bear are a year or two older than they were in In the Land of the Bears.
The first chapter of the core story introduces Bobby English and "commands". The pupils learn to respond to the following commands: Stand up! Sit down! Listen! Look! Quiet! Point!
In the second chapter, Bobby English meets Brother and Sister Bear and the other members of the Bear Family, including Mother, Father, Grandmother, Grandfather and the dog and the cat. At the end of the chapter, Brother Bear and Sister Bear leave for school. Mother and Father go to work. Grandmother, Grandfather and the dog and the cat stay at home.
The third chapter begins with Brother and Sister arriving at school where Bobby English greets them and the other bear pupils. This is the beginning of a school day in which Bobby takes on several different roles and appears in a variety of costumes.
In the ensuing chapters (four through ten), we see Bobby as the classroom teacher wearing the traditional academic cap and gown, as the art teacher in his artist's smock and beret, as the science teacher in a white lab coat, as the physical education coach in a sweat suit and sneakers with a whistle around his neck, as the counterman wearing an apron and a chef's hat in the school lunchroom, and finally as the drama coach seated in a director's chair, giving instructions to his pupils through a bullhorn.
The final chapter of the picture storybook shows Bobby and Brother and Sister Bear on their way home. Mother and Father Bear also return home. The family meets in the kitchen for an afterschool/afterwork snack. And then Bobby and the children say goodbye.
As in the In the Land of the Bears story, in Bobby English in the Land of the Bears, we see the bear children in settings and situations familiar to young children: at home with their family and at school in the company of their classmates. Pupils identify with Brother Bear, Sister Bear and their friends and enjoy the bear children's adventures throughout the picture storybook.
For his part, Bobby English is a very special character who adds spice and humor and just plain fun to the story. He sings and plays with the bear children, juggles cans of soft drinks and a bottle of water, balances a book on his head, shoots crumpled up pieces of paper into the wastebasket, balances a chair, a wastebasket, a clock, a book, and a pencil on the palm of his hand (and then drops them all on the floor, kerplunk!), and teaches his pupils by example how to act happy, sad, angry, afraid, tired and ill.
The children—both the ones in the story and the pupils in our EWAS classes—find Bobby to be interesting, amusing and entertaining.
All 11 chapters of the picture storybook include original EWAS songs that repeat words, phrases and sentences reflecting the language items featured in the chapters.
Topics
Greetings, commands, family, places connected to family life, numbers, simple arithmetic, colors, body parts, actions, getting dressed, clothing, eating at school, food, drinks, school, classroom objects, telling time, feelings.
Language & Grammar
NOTE: We do not teach grammar descriptively. We teach and practice the grammar of everyday speech, including informal speech patterns common among native speakers. Among the grammar points practiced in our lessons are present simple, present progressive, questions and statements; simple “wh” questions, simple yes/no questions; singular and plural form of words; the plural form in sentences; contractions; possessive, negative, definite and indefinite articles; simple sentences, string sentences, sentences with compound subjects, sentences with compound predicates; identification and formation of lower- and upper-case letters of the alphabet. sentences with compound predicates, prepositions of position.
