About Happy House
Who lives in Happy House?
There are two sets of characters in Happy House, and they inhabit parallel worlds within the house. These are: the world of everyday family life, which we experience via the 'real' human family - Mum, Dad, the twins (Polly and Jack), and Daisy, the baby; and the fantasy 'mouse world' featuring Spike and Ruby. Although the mice live behind the skirting and under the floors, they often venture into the rooms of the house, particularly to tease the family cat, Otto, who interacts with both sets of characters.
Teacher's Book
The Language summary at the front of the book lists the language content under three different headings and is designed to help you to discriminate easily between different types of language and language use. Key language means the essential vocabulary and structures which the children are expected to assimilate and which, in many cases, they will be able to reproduce. Additional language means the other language which comes up in the stories, songs, chants, and activities. Children will recognize and produce different amounts of this. Finally, Teacher language is the language we suggest the teacher might use in the classroom. Much of this is instructional, and children will be expected to understand it but not, as a rule, to reproduce it.The Teacher's Book contains comprehensive teaching notes for each lesson, guidelines for the use of English and the children's own language (L1) in the classroom. The Teacher tip boxes offer further suggestions and quick reminders to help with preparation and classroom management. At the beginning of each lesson there is a summary of the lesson: the learning outcomes, the language to be covered and the materials that you will need. The Teacher's Book also contains suggestions for reinforcement and extension for mixed-ability classes and for the use of the Happy House iTools Digital Classroom resources.
The Classroom games section at the back of the book provides additional material in the form of numerous ideas for non book-based activities and games using flashcards, realia, and the board. You may also encounter some of these activities in the lesson notes. However, many of these additional activities can be used to practise other vocabulary and structures, and since children enjoy playing familiar games again, the Classroom games section makes it easier for you to access them quickly.
Teacher's Resource Pack
The Teacher's Resource Pack contains additional teaching materials. The following items are provided:
Flashcards
The flashcards cover all the key vocabulary items in Happy House 7. The teaching notes often suggest the use of flashcards at the presentation stage since this provides a clear and efficient means of teaching the new vocabulary. Many of the TPR (Total Physical Response) activities and games used to practise these key words also require the flashcards. These are one-sided, making it easier to play guessing games and memory games.
Storycards and masks
The storycards and masks are a valuable classroom resource for the presentation of the first story of each unit. The storycards have A4 images on the front, and the story text, teacher's notes, and mini-reproductions of the images on the back. They provide a motivating way of presenting and extending the stories in a variety of ways.
Puppets
Puppets of Spike, Ruby, and Otto provide the ideal tools to activate language in the classroom and to model dialogues and social interaction. Intrinsically motivating and appealing, children are often more confident about speaking the target language when interacting with or animating a puppet.
Teacher's Resource Book
The Teacher's Resource Book contains a range of reinforcement and extension activities. The reinforcement activities can be used to help revise and recycle language from the units of the book, whilst the extension activities are designed to activate simple structures. These are ideal for mixed-ability classes and for teachers who require supplementary material and flexibility. The Teacher's Resource Book contains full teaching notes, story books,
and wordcards (from unit 4 onwards) for teachers who want to introduce word recognition.
Evaluation Book
The Evaluation Book provides unit and skills tests and a range of different ways of evaluating children's progress, through ongoing assessment, children's self-assessment, language portfolio suggestions, and formal testing.
Poster
The large colour poster provides an overall view of the house where all the action takes place. All the language is presented within the very clear context of a home, moving from one room to another around the house. The poster can be used at the beginning of every unit to identify the new location and talk about it. We suggest that you return to the poster regularly to review vocabulary and remind your pupils where you are going to be for the day's lesson.
