VIPKID | EXTENSION : 15 Questions to use for Extension

How do you extend in the lesson?

You will hear a lot about extension when you are hired at VIPKID. The purpose of extension within a lesson is for the student to recall previous knowledge and spark cognitive thinking in order to apply it to the new material at hand. It is important for the child to repeat information they've already learned and explore new concepts.

Now you are probably saying that this sounds great and all but how do I extend? One way to do this is to introduce props that tie into the lesson. I have a whole blog post on what props you should have on deck here. If you are talking about geography, Britain, for example you can bring up facts about Britain in relation to the topic. You can also compare and contrast Britain to China for reference. You can determine what the student has already learned in order to properly prepare for the lesson and extension by visiting the Library and viewing the level specific overviews.

Another way to apply extension is to ask level appropriate questions like the ones below:

1. How do you spend your time at home?

2. What do you see?

3. If you could do xyz would you?

4. Why do you feel that way?

5. What if you saw xyz, what would you do?

6. When you do xyz, how do you feel?

7. What do you mean by that?

8. What is your favorite xyz?

9. Why do you say that?

10. Where have you traveled with your family? How was it?

11. Would you ever visit America? Why or why not?

12. Do you have a pet?

13. Where do you live? House or Apartment

14. Who do you live with?

15. What do you want to be when you grow up?

You have the option to use pictures to further convey the message and ask the student what their favorite part of the picture is. You can use a timeline when speaking about the picture and ask what do they think happened first, second, third and last. You can also ask what do they believe the person is thinking in the picture and how does the person feel doing xyz. When using extension consider your students current ability and push them 1 level further. It is wise to extend on the reading and listening slides. The game maps are also a great way to ask more questions and engage in further conversation. You may even ask the student to create questions to ask YOU about the material so they can play the role of the teacher and think outside the box.

Overall, extension is a great tool to use especially when the student is advanced, the lesson has ended at around 15 minutes and you still have 10 more minutes of teaching time. I can't tell you how many times that has happened to me and it can be challenging no matter if you have a 5 year old learning about how to click the mouse or a 11 year old learning about The Queen of England. Don't let there be dead silence in the classroom, get them talking even if they are shy and don't really enjoy conversation due to lack of skill or confidence. The more they practice the better they will be. "If you're in your comfort zone you are not learning."

Happy Teaching! 🍎