Teaching online

Crumbs #23 OR 5 ways of using video in class

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These are not all the activities that you can do with a video, these might not be the best activities for your groups. These are just some approaches that we like. Maybe you will find them useful.

Prediction

Procedure: The teacher introduces the topic of the video and gives the students a set of key words that appear in the video. The students discuss why these words might appear in the video and why they might be important. After a whole class feedback, the class watch the video to check whether they predictions were correct. As a follow-up, the students discuss the most (or the least) surprising / unusual / weird facts they have found out about.

Example: We used this video to accompany a reading on extreme adventures and survival in which making a snow cave helped the people survive. We watched a real tutorial on making a snow cave and the key words we started with were: a candle, the letter T, the stick, a saw, the flat ceiling.

Back to the board

Procedure: The teacher divides the group into pairs, one student in each pair sits facing the TV, the other one sits with their back to the screen. the teacher plays the video, students work in pairs and they retell each other what is happening on the screen. Depending on the video, the students can watch the video with the sound on or with the sound muted. After a while, the students change seats and continue watching. Finally, they talk together and answer some questions related to the video. Usually it is a mix of questions, some of which check comprehension and some which help the students see the big picture or express opinion.

Example: We did this kind of an activity while discussing sports and unusual sports. The students watched the muted video on extreme extreme ironing, in two halves, about 60 seconds each and afterwards answered the following questions: What do you think is the name of this sport? How do you think Phil Shaw came up with the idea? What can be easy and difficult about this sport? Would you like to try? Which was the strangest place in which this sport was done? In the end, we watched it together, with the sound on and we compared ideas.

Pause and talk

Procedure: This is a great activity for the videos that consist of short blocks or include a set of examples of a certain item. The teacher writes the key question on the board, usually only one, and plays the video. The students watch a short clip. The teacher pauses the video and students discuss what they have just seen by answering the question. The biggest advantage of this approach is that the teacher is in charge as regards the duration, the activity can be stopped after only three items or the video can be played until the very end. As a follow-up, the students choose their favourite / their least favourite item and justify their choices. As in all of the other activities, there is also an option of the students changing partners and sharing their ideas with someone else in the group.

Example: While discussing food, we watched the video about school lunches around the world, we watched it bit by bit (after each item) and the students had to answer the following question ‘Would you like to try it? Why?’. Actually, this particular lesson included the video because we followed up with a video on American kids trying Russian food and we paused right after the food was introduced and we try to predict if the kids are going to like it or not.

Read my lips

Procedure: It is used with the video with a very clear narrative that can be interpreted without the audio version as the students watch it muted. The teacher can start with the title of the film and ask the students to predict what they think it is about. Afterwards, the students watch the film and try to figure out what is happening, who the characters are, how they are feeling. The teacher can ask them to take notes while they are watching. Afterwards, students compare their notes in pairs or in groups of three. The teacher can also ask them about the main events or to try to connect the clip to the title of the film. Afterwards, the students watch the video again and as a group discuss their guesses. The teacher clarifies the main points, without going into too many details. The final activity is predicting what happens next.

Example: One of my top ten for this kind of an approach is a video like this excerpt from Big Fish, or actually a set of clips from the same film, for example this one here or this one here. In this one case, we did not really talk about the title of the film. After watching the film, the students were discussing what they saw but I also asked them to think about the following questions: Who was the big man? Why did he look scruffy? Why did the boy throw a stone at him? Why did the boy reach out a hand and closed the eyes? Why did they shake hands in the end?

After we finished watching and discussing, we also looked at the quote from the clip ‘You are a big man. You should be in a big city.’ and we talked about what it might mean and whether it is true.

Categorise

Procedure: The students are given a list of all the items that are shown in the video ie some extreme sports, some unusual holiday destinations, exotic animals etc. The students watch the video and they take notes about all the items, ie putting (+) and (-) next to those that they like or grading them from 1 – 5, depending on how interesting they are. After watching the video, they make their own list, organising all the items from the most to the least interesting one or dividing them into categories (like – don’t like, useful – not useful, interesting – boring) and so on. They work in pairs or small teams and compare and explain their decisions.

Example: This video was used in a lesson on technology as it presents the list of 10 Coolest Gadges. Some of the gadgets in the video have unusual names so we started with looking at these, trying to figure out what these might be. We actually divided the video into two and we discussed the first five gadgets and then, after the second half, the other five and then all ten, to round up. The students were choosing the most interesting gadgets that they might want to buy and those that they would not really even consider. In the end, we choose the most and the least popular gadget as a group.

None of the videos I use as examples were graded or created with the EFL /ESL learners so they can be considered authentic materials. I found all of them on youtube while looking for videos that would match the topic we were working on. I did not introduce any vocabulary, focusing rather on listening (or watching) for gist and general understanding, rather than on any specific details. Unless, of course, the students had any questions.

If you want to find out more about using authentic materials, have a look at some of the many resources online such as these post here: how to choose and adapt them, here from the Britsh Council, and here.

I have also found out a few posts on using video in class. If you are interested, you can find them here and here and this one here, although it has a wider scope and does not really focus on videos in the EFL/ESL classroom.

Happy teaching!

Don’t Box Me In! Teachers Who ‘Bent’ the Zoom Square…

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Just a lesson…

…is the name of the series of great posts collected by Naomi Epstein in her blog. Naomi asked a great bunch of people about their Teaching During the Pandemic Experience and I had the pleasure of being one of these teachers. You can find my post here.

Don’t forget to check out her other posts, too! Highly recommended!

Crumbs #4 Sheppard Software

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Are you thinking what I am thinking?

Does the name in the title look to you like the most uninspiring name and something that in no way could be related to teaching English to children or to children in general? Yes, same here.

Sheppard Software is a perfect example of how a random name can be a perfect cover up for a treasure chest, full of amazing tools that will make a VYL and a YL teacher happy.

www.sheppardsoftware.com

Instructions

Go to https://www.sheppardsoftware.com/ but first make sure that you have at least an hour to kill. There is so much there that even an adult (who is definitely NOT a fan of computer games) gets glued to the screen and wants to try out and play and play and play. Now that you have been warned, you are ready.

The VYL teachers: start with the preschool section https://www.sheppardsoftware.com/preschool/preschool.htm and start discovering. You can find here some games to practice colours, numbers, alphabet, shapes and animals.

The primary EFL teachers: you can start anywhere. It will all depend on what topic you are planning to teach. The website has a lot to offer to anyone who is teaching CLIL, for example Maths, Science, Art, Geography, Chemistry, Seasons, History… If you don’t have any specific idea in mind, you may as well start where I started at the Food Chain Game https://www.sheppardsoftware.com/science/animals/games/food-chain/ and think of all its potential while having fun playing. Then, slowly, bit by bit start browsing through the other gems

All the teachers: do yourself a favour and start with the sound off. It is great that practically everything on the page has got the audio added on, instructions, noises for animals and so but I can tell you that even a tiny little movement of the mouse/ cursor on the screen can lead to a lot maddening noise, so beware and tread lightly.

We loved it because

  • It it is beautiful
  • It has a lot of potential for speaking activities.
  • It can be used to teach a great range of CLIL topics but it can also be used to supplement any vocabulary / structure lessons with primary and pre-primary, online and offline.
  • the games can be shared with parents after the lesson and the students can play all of them at home again (and again and again)

The Unthinkable or About choosing to stay online with VYLs.

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To online or not to online, that is the question?

No, not really. That, for sure was never a question!

Not for me, that is. I am a dinosaur teacher and I had always been against teaching pre-schoolers online. Or, actually, teaching online in general. If, before the 15th of March 2020, you had asked me what I thought about it, my answer would have been as short as it would have been decisive. No.

No. No. No.

I love my beautiful classroom, all the puppets, the flashcards…My rucksack that makes me look and feel like a proper Mary Poppins, the box with all the precious junk. How we sit in a circle to read a story and how we make stuff or play with a Magic Bag…

But, then, hey-ho, the pandemic happened and I and we just moved online. Just like that. Just to prove that the EFL teachers are the most amazing species. Just to see whether one can, in fact, develop professionally, at a head-spinning pace, learning about new approaches, techqniues, platforms, games, tools, tricks, websites, solutions…and about their effective use in the online EFL lesson.

Yes, indeed, one can. In March many of us (including myself) had very little or no idea about the online classes but look at us now. Superheroes!

But guess what? The Universe had other surprises in store for us (I mean, of course, it is 2020, the year of surprises), like this idea, here…

‘Can we just stay online?’

I don’t know about you but I have spent the last 100+ days dreaming and daydreaming of going back offline. But while I was doing this, the other stakeholders had their own ideas and this is how we (the parents, the admin and the Mary Poppins here) found ourselves discussing the options and, actually, willingly, considering choosing to stay online with the youngest children, regardless of the situation in the city.

Well, that was a bit unexpected, to put it mildly. However, once I got past the stage of the initial shock, I was able to look at it all in a more objective way (as in: not blinded by my own old age and stubbornness:-) and actually see some of the benefits, for all of us.

So here goes, in no particular order

Pre-primary online is better because…

  • We can do it! A good quality online classes for pre-schoolers are not a marketing spin. Impossible is nothing! We learn, we are engaged, we have fun, we produce, we develop, we bond. We are loving it and we are looking forward to the next one. You only need to want to make it work and just like with the regular classes, everyone needs time to get used to each other, the routine and the rules of the game.

  • It’s virus-free. Covid 19 aside, little children get ill more frequently. That’s just the way it is. It does happen that they might not be entirely healthy when they come to their afternoon English lesson or that, being ill, they miss a lesson here and a lesson there and they do not make as much progress as they could have. The online classroom is a perfect solution here: we can all participate, even if we sneeze and cough and the school and the teacher do not lose money over the classes that would have to be cancelled.

  • It lowers the affective filter. There were a few students in my groups this year who definitely benefitted from moving online. In the classroom, they were amazing and a pleasure to teach. They participated but at the same time struggled, now and again, with being separated from mum. They simply flourished in the online classroom. I can see how much more confident and at ease they are, sitting in their own chairs, in their bedrooms, with cats, toys and, most importantly, with Mum at an arm’s reach. What’s not to like here?

  • It is less stressful for the teacher. It is a little know fact that VYL teachers, in the course of their career, develop a set of eyes around their heads and can produce a pair of additional arms, on request. They are ready for everything that is happening, for everything that is to happen and for everything that might potentially happen, too. Why? Because acting in loco parentis is a huge responsibility. And a lot of stress, even for those experienced teachers. The online classroom comes with an army of the best teaching assistants there are: mums, dads, grandmas, sisters, brothers and nannies. The kids are safe, every single one of them.

  • Parents like being in the classroom. So far, the classroom has been this galaxy far-away which the parents had no or very little access to. Of course, teachers talk to parents, they explain the homework, they give feedback. They share songs and send out the invitations to the open lesson, twice a year. Now, however, the whole course is one big open lesson and the parents are a part of it. More even, they are having fun. Not because they want to interrupt or tell the teacher off, not to take over and not because they do not trust the teacher and would rather keep an eye on things. It’s because they can finally see how their children operate in the world of the foreign language, how they become more independent and how they are learning new things and making progress.

  • Parents can get properly involved now. The parents are there, they learn our songs, they play our games and they see exactly what we practise and how. If there is time and willingness, they can easily extend the English lesson time, take it ‘out of the classroom’, this way contributing to their children’s progress. During the lesson time, they can be involved in too, helping the teacher model the activity but also helping their child understand that, yes, you can sometimes speak to your mum in English, too.

  • Flexibility and frequency. 45 minutes in the real classroom is just enough for the little people. 45 minutes in front of the computer screen might be a challenge, especially if they audience is only 3 or 4 years old. For that reason, we decided to experiment and chop the lesson time into smaller bites. Now we meet for thirty or even fifteen minutes at a time but more often. The students are involved throughout and stay focused, the financial expenses or profits are the same, and such lessons are very easy to plan. The most important thing, however, for me as a teacher, are the benefits for the learning process. When you are 5, you learn quickly but you also forget quickly, so by increasing the frequency of the lessons, we create better conditions for learning and can expect better results. It is already happening!

  • The lesson time = the speaking time. The ‘time constraints’ mentioned above as well as the online format had an impact on the lesson structure and routines. The students have the coursebooks but it is used only at home, for revision and for homework. When we meet in our online classroom, it is to learn new things, to listen, to sing and to speak and speak and speak. And I really like that way.

Much to my amazement, I am a happy online teacher but that doesn’t mean that I have stopped dreaming about the offline world or that any decisions have been made. It’s too early, anyway, so I am still on the fence, just ‘sitting, waiting, wishing’, like in a song.

What about you? Has this been your experience, too? Have you noticed any other benefits of the pre-primary EFL online classes? I would love to hear from you.

Happy teaching (online or off:-)

Early literacy online: when technology is on your side. Part 1: Reading

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Switching to the online and making it your place could be, in my case, described as flying colours or one step forward two steps back, on different days. Nothing wrong with that, a new reality, transitioning is a part of the game.

But, surprise surprise, I love teaching literacy online!
1. It is easier to get the kids focused.

2. It is easier to keep the whole group on the task.

3. Adapting activities to the requirements of the online classroom is not that difficult.

4. I have been forced to get interested in many apps, online games and programmes that I have, stubbornly, avoided so far.

5. We are improving and are better at reading.

The wonders of the Miro board, any level of literacy skills.

My Big (online) Book of Words: first letter level

It has been our tradition with all the pre-primary groups to start our class Big Book of Words where we collect all the words we know, gluing new cards (word+image) at the end of the unit and choosing a letter to read in every lesson as a part of our class routine. Since we’ve moved online, this little tradition had to be updated, too, but it was quite easy because on the miro board you can pick any image and quickly, too. Whatever word your students bring up, you’ve got it!

Noughts and crosses online: the first letter/sound level

It is one of my favourite games and so no wonder that there must have been a way to adapt it to the needs of early literacy and, then, to the needs of early literacy online.

The advantages are obvious: the older kids are familiar with the game and its rules and it tasks only a moment to prepare, online or off and you can easily focus on the chosen letters or phonics. With the older students in groups we play in teams, the kids choose the box and give a word that starts with that sound/letter. Some of them still struggle, that’s why each box contains not only a letter but also a number. This is what we use to choose.

With the younger kids, we keep the competitive element out, we use a bigger grid and we simply colour it in.

Phonics stories: sentence level

Before the kids get to read for real, they need to practice on simple phonics stories. They are inlcuded in every coursebook, some of them are more interesting, some are less but there is always a way of getting a little bit more of them. After a few rounds of listening and reading the story from the coursebook (‘Mum jumps in the mud with the ducks’) and then words in different order, the teacher does a sort of a ‘substitution drill’, revealing more and more sentences with one different word to really encourage them to read. The key words can be underlined, too.

This activity can be followed up by the students creating their own similar sentences and the teacher typing them up on the whiteboard.

Quizlet quiz: sentence level

Instead of putting single words and images or single words and translations, we use definitions. Students read them together and try to guess what it is. Then we check! To make it more challenging and to turn it into a real quiz, you can ask the kids to write the words and check at the very end, award points.Or not.

True or false: sentence level

It only takes an illustration, one of the pictures in the coursebooks or in the Cambrige YLE Wordlist Picturebook or anything else available online and a set of sentences that the teacher prepares beforehand.

They can be written on post-it notes or have them covered by shapes to be removed, one by one and ask the kids to react to the text. If the sentence is true – they clap their hands, if the sentences is false – they raise a hand.

The activity can be extended into a writing a activity, too. If nothing else, they can type them up into the chat box for the rest of the group to read and react.

Shared reading: text level

Shared reading was one of our favourite activities this year, until we had to move online. Doing it online is a bit challenging since not many storybooks are available online.

Online phonics stories like those from the youtube channel English Singsing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C1qj06xduo&t=104s might be a solution but I have also started to use Barefoot Books, also on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrd0TiER_J0. We use them with the sound switched off and at the lower speed. This and the bouncing ball really helps the kids to focus and to follow the text with ease.

Useful websites

  1. Phonics Bloom https://www.phonicsbloom.com/
  2. Oxford Owl https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page
  3. Starfall https://www.starfall.com/h/ltr-classic/
  4. Reading A – Z https://www.readinga-z.com/phonics/decodable-books/
  5. Kidz Phonics https://www.kizphonics.com/materials/

I want my flashcards please!

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Kids in the online classroom: how to survive the transition.

Dear teacher!

The world sucks at the moment, oh yes, it does. Let’s just face it.

If, like me, you have always considered yourself a dinosaur teacher, who adores paper, flashcards, realia, toys, little cards, magic wands, running around, crayons, craft and storytelling and if, like me, you have done your best to stay away from technology in your classroom (well, apart from youtube, perhaps), you are not in the best of moods now.

However, here is some good news. First and foremost, you are a teacher and, I bet you, you are a great teacher. A resourceful teacher, a creative teacher, a dedicated teacher. A teacher who works hard to develop and get better and better and better. A teacher who is greeted with smiles and cheers by the students.

Dear teacher, you are going to be just fine and you are going to rock your lessons even in the virtual world. This is just the beginning of this journey and as we proceed, from week to week and from lesson to lesson, we are going to be getting better and everything that is not perfect (yet) should be considered hiccups and hiccups only. Not the end of the world.

I am not a great expert at teaching online. Not yet. Never wanted to be, either. But I will turn this horrible year into an opportunity to take the bull by the horns and to raise and shine.

Then, eventually, I will be back in my real classroom because this is where I belong. The sooner the better. In the meantime, however, I am just going to share with you some of the things that can be done in our online young learners lessons. Today: flashcards.

Scenario A: you have your own flashcards (from the bookshop, handmade, printed and/or printed and coloured-in from one of the websites).

Yes, yes, we are going to be developing technologically and we will be doing anyway but does it mean that we have to give up on the real flashcards? No, absolutely not. You can still use them while online.

Guessing game: it will have to be you versus the student or the whole class. When you are leading the game, hold the flashcards, as usual, and describe or mime the word. When it is the students’ turn, chose the flashcard without looking and bring it closer to the camera for the students to describe for you. For a more dramatic effect you can also close your eyes😊

Guessing game B: revise all the cards, repeat the more challenging words, too. Put the cards in a box or on the table, without looking at it. Encourage the kids to guess what it is, try guessing yourself, too. After a few seconds, say ‘Let’s check’ and uncover the card. Congratulate the students who guessed it.

Slow reveal: You can still use the funky envelope but your camera is your best friend here. What’s hidden – stays hidden but what slowly emerges from the left of right or top or bottom…is a lot of fun.

Left and right: works in the classroom, works online. Get a flashcard in your left hand, get another one in your right hand. When the hand is up, the students have to say the word.

Topsy-turvy: works in the classroom, works online. Put two flashcards back to back, turn them over in your hands a few times. When the students see the card, they say the word.

I can’t read: get a set of flashcards and a set of word cards (even easier to home-make these). Show the kids the flashcard and put a word card on it. Ask the kids to read the words and tell you if these match. To make it even more challenging and more fun you can create double-sided word cards (a regular word and a scrambled-up word). Put up the flashcard, add the scrambled-up word, ask the kids to read it, write it unscrambled in their notebooks and check immediately.

Scenario B: Your students can print their own flashcards at home

That is the optimal solution because then you can basically play any of the games that you have used so far in the classroom.

My bus is green: everyone colours their own cards and the variety can be used in different games a) to compare the buses  b) to play a guessing game (My secret bus is green)   c) to play a memory game after a few lessons, with the teacher taking notes secretly and then creating a worksheet or just making sentences ‘This bus is green’ ‘It is Max’s bus’

My favourite colours: ask the kids to choose one, two or three favourite colours, foods or words. First teacher, then students in turns, show one of their cards and say ‘I like pizza’. The other students who have chosen the same card, respond ‘Me, too’. Then, the students take turns to make their own sentences. It can also be played with three least favourite words.

Scenario C: The kids don’t have a printer at home

Draw your own: In a typical unit we usually get 8 – 10 words. Setting it all as homework will be a lot of drawing but after the first lesson, the kids can choose three favourite words to draw and during the homework check they will say what they have prepared and describe the words. During the second lesson, they can be asked to create three more words and then three more. This way you will not only guarantee a fun and varied homework and homework check but after the three lessons, each child will have a set of beautiful, personalized cards to play with in class and at home (which at this point in the game is the same place😊

Wordcards: same procedure but much easier to prepare but still, all the games can be played nonetheless. If your students are pre-primary and cannot write yet, you can make letter cards, instead of wordcards and in all the games you can focus on the first letter/sound.

Scenario D: The teacher wants to go high-tech

That solution is actually quite tempting and there are a few ways of going about that.

  • Use a pdf version of cards available from British Council https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/flashcards or www.esl-kids
  • Make your own pdf with images from clip art
  • Make your own animated powerpoint, words appearing and disappearing
  • Use quizlet.com. Whatever you create for your classes you can later share with kids and have them practise lots and lots at home
  • Use the videos available on youtube to introduce and practice vocabulary, for example English Singsing, Fun Kids English, WOW English TV, Dream English Kids, Maple Leaf Learning
  • Use Starters/Movers/Flyers Picture Wordlists. These are beautiful and can be downloaded for free.
  • Use the whiteboard and all its options on zoom.us (this will be a separate post, when I either master that option or ask my Teach Tech Guru to write a post).

PS Do take it easy and don’t try to become an online expert overnight. Start with whatever is less complicated, for you and for your students and then raise the level of challenge when everyone is ready for it.

Remember that variety is our favourite word anyway so mix and match! And have fun!

P.S. Everything is going to be alright. Eventually. Tudo vai dar certo. Wszystko będzie dobrze. Все будет хорошо.

Teaching children online: the basic tools

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Without any lengthy introduction, here are some things that you might want to get ready to help you create magic and to make sure that your EFL Kingdom is as amazing online as it is in the real world.

You will need…

….a way of managing the group, starting and finishing an activity

It is not quite about a rewards chart. First of all, not everyone is a fan of these (but that is a topic for another conversation). Second of all, you might not even need it with some groups. My kids have, for example, have grown out of it. They know what is expected of them and I can proudly say that this kind of external motivation is no longer necessary in their case. And, in case you still need it, Class Dojo will come to the rescue here.

….a way of rewarding your students.

What I was thinking about, however, was a way of showing my appreciation for their efforts, hard work and creativity. I can still smile, I can still clap my hands, I can show thumbs up or give a virtual high five.

But, to make it more fun, you can also use a sound machine, with different sound effects and if you don’t have one, you can download your favourite sounds, free of charge, from one of the sound libraries, for example, zapsplat.com and use the sound of the cheering crowd to praise them or the sound of a crocodile growling to express your lack of approval in a fun way.

Some of the off-line tricks will still work here, 123 eyes on me or clapping your hands (to get their attention). As a virtual teacher you will also have the power of muting your students’ microphones to ensure that no one else is speaking but you (or, rather, that they can hear nothing else but you) but it still would be good to reinforce that with some visuals, too.

For that reason, I have prepared some road signs that we are going to use in our virtual class. They are pretty much universal around the world; the kids know them very well and you may have used them in the real classroom already. It’s best to start with a few basic ones, for example: Stop and Go, adding more with more specific symbols.

…a class puppet

If you have used one in the real classroom, it will be good to invite it into the virtual world, too, even if the kids will not be able to hug it or to play with it. Even if you won’t be able to throw it and catch it in the Q&A session, like we do with our Flying Cow. It is good to have it because it will help you preserve the continuity and, especially in case of the younger children, it can be very useful with getting their attention or giving instructions (‘Let’s listen to Teddy’)

Saying hello and goodbye to your puppet will also give the lesson a nice frame. Not to mention that this can also be a perfect opportunity to involve the kids. They are at home, so bringing their favourite toy to class is not going to be a problem and, once they get used to it, they can start taking turns in leading the hellos / goodbyes with their puppets.

So if you haven’t been using a puppet yet, get one asap!

…a set of flashcards.

In the classroom it ss super easy. The set simple comes with the coursebook and you can just use it, adding a few extras that the coursebooks authors have not thought of.

You can share the cards with your students’ parents, to print, colour and cut up and this way, each student will have a set during the lesson. Learn Kids from British Council has the basic sets if you don’t want to make your own set.

https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/flashcards

However, that option might not be valid for all the parents as they simply might not have the printer at home.

Another option is to make your own set with Quizlet and the advantages are that first you will be able to use it in class to present and practise the language but you can also share it with your students and they can play with it, later.

If you use Super Simple Songs with your students, don’t forget to check out their flashcards, too. They have a set of beautiful cards for every song! You can download and print them, of course, but you can also use the pdf version during the lesson in your virtual classroom. https://supersimple.com/content-type/flashcards/

Last but not least, if you can, have a set of real flashcards, too. They can come in very handy, too!

…some ideas to get the kids out of their seats.

Whether they are at school already or only at kindergarten, our students are children and will need a mixture of settlers and stirrers that will help them remain focused and involved throughout the lesson.

You can play:

Abracadabra! In the classroom we do it with a magic wand but the good thing is that any (yes, any) pencil can easily become a magic wand! Abracadabra, 1..2..3..You are…a cat, a happy cat, a hungry monster, sleeping, flying… You don’t even need to get up for that!

Go to the Gym. Ask the kids to stand up, move the chair away and pretend that you are working out at the gym. Raise your arms… Wave your arms… Touch your knees… Touch your toes… Turn around…

Show me something green! Ask the kids to stand up and bring something green, yellow, pink, yellow and pink and show it to everyone else. You can ask ‘What colour is it?’ for all the kids to chorally answer ‘It’s green’

Touch your nose. A very easy game, if the students know body parts. It can be later extended by adding other verbs such as move, shake, clap, dance and freeze. In the real classroom we play it with the dice where 1 means clap, 2 means touch and so on. The kids can roll the dice and make a command for everyone to follow ie touch your nose, eyes, legs, clap your hands, feet etc.

Online, it is best to start with one verb and keep adding more, for the students to grow comfortable with them and not to overload them. Or the teacher can provide the verbs for each student. In the era of coronavirus it might also be better to replace touch with point, too.

Jump three times. This one is a more active game and it might be better to introduce it later when the kids get used familiar to the routine and the online reality.

Ask the kids to stand up and ask them to jump three times. Ask the students for suggestions: jump three times, five times, ten times…You can also introduce other verbs like skip, hop, sit down, walk on your toes etc.

Happy teaching!