Eno Chance is a Reception teacher and Year Group Leader at Moss Hall Infant School in London. Between herself and the Year Reception teaching team (Maggie O’Keefe, Miki Kanai and Tonique Kerr) they have been Espresso users for over 10 years. They explain why the platform appeals to young learners and share how Espresso’s growing diverse content helps children to see themselves reflected.
A RICH RESOURCE
Discovery Education Espresso is rich in resources and covers all areas of learning. We like the videos which can be used to introduce topics and the interactive games which we use to assess learning. Espresso appeals to young children, because the images and videos make it accessible. It’s easy to combine Espresso’s digital content with books, and we often use the two in tandem.
EASY TO SEARCH
The search engine in Espresso is very effective. It allows us to find the resources quickly. It covers different strands, so we can search for a particular topic and it gives us different but related content. The search bar is easy to navigate and the filter is good too. Keywords can be typed into the search bar, and it sorts the results clearly. It’s actually very easy to use and this simplifies my planning.
TOPIC TEACHING
Recently our Reception class topic was People in Our Community. We were learning about the police and teaching the children about how they help us in our day-to-day lives. It was easy to find relevant videos within Espresso to bring this to life. This term we’ve also been learning about the seasons, and Espresso has lots of great content to support this too. The children particularly enjoyed the seasons sorting game. We used the game to see how much they had learned and it was very effective.
DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES
As teachers, we try to give children a range of ways to access the curriculum and to appeal to different learning styles. Our children are keen visual learners. Being able to see and hear what they are being taught is important. Repetition is important too. Espresso is ideal for supporting visual learning and for scaffolding. We can revisit the videos, ask questions, or use them as a comprehension tool.
EYFS FRAMEWORK
The Espresso platform provides resources that can support us with meeting the EYFS Framework expectation. The content is current. As well as giving the children accurate information it also supports the recall aspect of learning. Because the resources are always there, we can refer back to Espresso at any time to support the children. Having Espresso as a ready-to-use tool is so helpful.
THE WORLD AROUND US
It’s so important that we teach children about the world around them, and Espresso is great for this. It provides lots of accurate information, particularly when it comes to topics such as religion, festivals and celebrations. As teachers, we might not be completely knowledgeable about all religious practices. So having Espresso as a resource has helped us hugely. During the Autumn, when our topic was celebration, we looked at Diwali, Hannukah and Christmas and found some good digital content that we could use as teaching tools.
DIFFERENCE AND DIVERSITY
Espresso has continued to grow in providing resources to meet diverse needs. For us this is key. As a school we are very diverse. We have pupils from across Europe, Asia and Africa and a significant number of EAL learners too. It’s so important that these children can see themselves reflected, for their wellbeing and sense of self-confidence. The platform is becoming more and more diverse and is constantly being updated.
RELEVANT FOR TODAY
In summary, I would definitely recommend Espresso to other EYFS teachers. It’s a current resource which reflects the learning needs of children today. The platform even has its own news service and content linked to current events, such as the situation in Ukraine. Information is communicated in a way that children can understand at the appropriate level. We even use Espresso to support home learning.
