接続詞の使い方

いつもお世話になっております。
私はロンドンの小学校でボランティアをしているのですが、先日ちょっと恥ずかしい思いをしました。
小学校の２年（日本で言う年長の後半から小１の前半）の子供たちの英語の問題が分かりませんでした。
接続詞のSO,AND,THEM　の違いが分からなかったのです。たとえば、SOの後は結果を示しますが、そらはANDでもできます（と思います）。「次に」という意味なら、AND でも　THEM　でも　示せます（と思います）。
この３つは、どう使い方が違うのでしょうか。
ご存知の方よろしくお願いいたします。

No.2 回答者： zak33697 回答日時： 2011/02/12 09:23

so: reason だから

and: parallelism　と
then: time sequence　次に

です。

No.1 回答者： jpintexas 回答日時： 2011/02/12 07:56

>この３つは、どう使い方が違うのでしょうか。

I think it's better for you to see the difference between them from the sample sentences, since they function similarly.

See the sentences below:

MARGARET WARNER: When he started to speak, at first, people couldn't hear him, but then they crowded around. The loudspeakers went up. And people were pretty quiet. And then, suddenly, you could see the deflation and then the anger.

MARGARET WARNER: And I was talking to certain people who said, no, no, he's really not stepping down. You had that new head of the party, the NDP, say, oh, I think he should step down. I mean, the old days, with the way Egypt was run, if the head of the party said that, you could take it to the bank.

MARGARET WARNER:S o it just showed also this kind of total confusion in the ruling -- in the ruling elite. But -- and the final reason I would say is that, as it's explained to me, the revolution has moved outside Tahrir Square. It's one -- I'm sure you have already reported this, that you've had labor strikes and -- and you've got demonstrations in other cities.

Source: PBS News Hour "Protesters Look to Step Up Pressure on Mubarak as Concerns of Violence Resurface"(10, Feb 2011)

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june11/ …