Desde 1999, Kathryn Susana Escribano imparte clases de   inglés  a niños de Infantil en el colegio Narciso Alonso Cortés de Valladolid, colegio adscrito al convenio British Council/MEC.

Al tener la suerte de no usar libro de texto, se ha dedicado a inventar un sinfín de cuentos en inglés con el objetivo no solo de enseñar su lengua materna sino de trasmitir valores y hacer que el aprendizaje del idioma sea una experiencia placentera.  Tiene publicados tres cuentos infantiles con la editorial y una veintena de libros de recursos para profesores con Cambridge University Press.  Tiene, además, un canal de YouTube (Kathryn Susana Escribano) y un blog (Kath’s Corner) para que sus alumnos puedan repasar desde casa y para que las familias conozcan su labor.

       “One of the privileges of working in a MECD/British Council school like that in which I work (CEIP Narciso Alonso Cortés, Valladolid) is that of not having to use a text book. Our focus, especially in Infants, is on communication. Having fun and encouraging creativity are two of our main goals.

We begin with songs and stories and then use a phonics programme to introduce a phoneme a week and, very soon afterwards, we begin blending and segmenting, skills that are essential for reading and writing. One of the most motivating tools is a toy blender. You can watch the blender videos on my YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8c0C6LOkzRTfW4t_D3du4A)  

   In the second term, we begin using onset and rime to help in the formation of word familiesand, once again, you can use my channel to get ideas. In the description of the activity there are often links to the liveworksheets. Liveworksheets, if you don’t already use them, are a great way of sharing worksheets.  There are thousands to choose from, but they are also very easy to design children’s choices and even reflected preferences in graphs.

   Learning to read without sufficient vocabulary is a rather futile exercise, which is why we spend so much time using songs, books and drama.  Cocomelon,The Learning Station and Super Simple songs  offer an enormous variety of songs with videos and this brings me on to two more creative and fun ideas. 

For years, I have had what I called my discman, in which I put ‘discs’, pictures which represent the songs we have heard in class.

   We are lucky enough at my school to have many hundreds of reading books which, in non-Covid times, we lend out on a weekly basis.  Additionally, like many of you, I have written stories of my own and in their final year of Infants, they use a photocopiable book of these stories which they keep at home and decorate with cuttings, photos, leaves…  The end result is fantastic

 I have also had three of my stories published with Babidi-bú, two of them in English   I Wish I Had… teaches self-esteem and animal characteristics and The Magic Triangle focuses on healthy eating.  If I win the lottery and can afford to publish, there will be more!”.