There are many books for young learners about teaching English.

Art
and Crafts with Children written by Andrew Wright is considered to be the
better one in the market for English teachers. The book was published by
Oxford University Press with its first publication in 2001.
The author, Andrew Wright, is a teacher who has been teaching for
almost 15 years as Principal Lecturer in Art and Design at the Metropolitan
University of Manchester. Furthermore, he is the author of many teacher's
resource books and has worked in 30 different countries with over 40,000
children; that experience has helped Andrew Wright in writing his books.
The Art and Crafts with Children includes many different activities for
children that were divided into separate topics. There are 8 different chapters
presented as follows:
1. Three-dimensional activities
2. Puppets, masks and manikins
3. Printing
4. Drawing by looking
5. Drawing by imagination
6. Colors
7. The design
8. Technology
At the end of the book we can also find an appendix with materials and
techniques which help to do the activities. There is also basic information about
art and craft included so that every child and its teacher does not have further
problem with activities.

In the foreword Wright mentions that craft activities help children to

understand the world, to recognize shapes and colors of the whole world. Not
only do they learn the language itself, but they also gain proper knowledge
about themselves by combining art and language techniques used in learning
process. The author decided to present craft and activities as additional help to
learn language (...)because children love such activities and creative
thinking(...) he argues. Moreover, according to some studies, Wright is
completely right as children love playing, having fun, cutting, sticking, creating
''something'' while learning and remembering come as additional benefit.
There is also some advice in the introduction of the book stating that with
art and craft children listen and read instructions on how to do something more
carefully. They can describe and express their feelings and ideas, what is more,
improve their language skills. And we, teachers or parents, cannot forget about
the value of art. The thing that children write becomes worthier for them and
easier to remember. It is not only important to teach children names of colors,
but also build their awareness of the vast varieties of colors, shapes which
they can perceive later on. In other words, this is not just about teaching, but
also using different activities that develop their skills to solve problems and
lead to become more aware of their senses. The book includes some theory,
but most definitely focuses on practice.
This book is mainly for teachers. Activities shown are addressed to
children between 4 and 12 years old. There are different activities for younger
learners and older ones. Every child is an individual and has different skills; like
for example using a pair of scissors can be problematic for one, but easy for
other, however all activities in the book are presented so as everybody can do

them quite well. This book is also addressed to those who want to teach English
in an enjoyable way and as the author often emphasizes (...)the teachers do
not have to have artistic skills to use this book(...).
Art and design are a physical manifestation of thinking and feeling. When
children draw an animal or object, they use different shapes like circles,
rectangles, triangles which they start to remember in English. Consequently,
children learn how to draw as well as learn. The author also mentions some
cues for teachers e.g. if a child is drawing something, her/his teacher should
avoid question such as what is this?, instead, he or she has to encourage the
learner by asking questions such as tell me about your picture, are the
colors and shapes happy or unhappy?, what is this picture for?.
In my opinion, that is a brilliant technique for encouraging children to speak up
and ask a lot of questions. The teachers should also avoid labelling children,
for example a good artist or a bad artist.
As was mentioned earlier, the book consists of 8 chapters, each with different
activities. There are 49 activities, which I consider quite a lot of, and everyone
can find something interesting, I suppose. Every activity has a precise
description, including preparation and also a list necessary materials.
What is more, the author describes a sample dialog that teacher could perform
with children and detailed, step by step description . We are informed, by the
author, what is worth writing on the blackboard. In the first part, activities with
making cars, telescopes, animals, mobile phone are presented and fully
described. Children may have many memories from such lessons and thanks to
them they can remember the subject thoroughly.
Personally, I enjoyed the part in which puppets lead the main role. In my

opinion, a conversation in English that involves puppets is a brilliant idea.

Puppets make it easier for teachers to talk with children about everything. The
topic can be optional. Consequently, we are given the combination of art and
language. Regarding language, picture symbols and flash cards help in learning
colors, animals, names of furniture. What is more, we also have Present Simple
and Present Continuous questions, answers and verbs of activity.
The activities presented in this book last at least 30 minutes, most of
them take 60-80 minutes or even 90. The standard lesson in Polish schools (712 years old learners) takes 45 minutes so that it is barely possible to do the
whole activity during one lesson. However, the teacher can divide the activity
into two parts. Nevertheless, children tend to distract fast, some of them are
absentminded. For example, bringing the puppets for the next class may be
problematic due to young learners' forgetfulness. For that reason, I consider
the time needed to run such activities as the first disadvantage of this book. In
addition, the second disadvantage is strongly associated with the amounts of
tools needed for every activity. Exercises as such demand a lot of materials
like: clay, glue, scissors, heavy wallpaper, craft knife etc. It may be difficult to
organize that because of some school are poorly-equipped or work on tight
budget.
All in all, this book is fruitable for every teacher of English. Each activity is
convincing with its combination of practical advice, linguist is awareness and
just fun. I think that this book can be a great asset for those who want to join
learning with fun and creativity. Personally, I do agree with the words of my
mother, who is an art teacher, that a good teacher is the creative one