TEACHING IDEAS

 

 

Holiday and Special Idea Links:

 

General:

*Decide on a routine for your classes, such as:

            ~Opening, new learning, review learning, closing OR

            ~Opening, ½ songs, ½ games, closing

 

*Alternate loud and/or movement activities with quiet and/or sitting activities.  Try to choose activities that will have all the children actively engaged (even if ONE student is answering, remind the other children to LISTEN “in case they need help from their friends”).

 

*Try to plan classes that have the kids seeing, hearing, moving, singing, and feeling Spanish…posters, papers, chants, songs, actions…The more ways the better!

 

*To get the children’s attention, try using a quiet voice and asking the kids to join in an “activity”, such as:

            ~If you can hear me, clap once…twice…three times…

            ~Touch your nariz, touch your cabeza, etc

            ~Chant arriba, abajo (lifting your hands up and down), finish                           with al centro (hands on tummy in the middle)

 

*If children are “out of control”, sometimes it helps to just get quiet and stop teaching, waiting for them to quiet themselves down so that you can continue.  You can remind them that you have something “special” planned for the end IF you have time…

 

*Reward Ideas (for individual or group)

~stickers (in the mini drawers on the Spanish counter)

~pennies (with some nickels and dimes mixed in)

~pencils, little “toys”, etc

~classroom teacher system (team points or tickets)

 

*If children are drawing something to show what a word is, have them chant a phrase along with it (such as, “Es rojo! Es rojo!” etc)

 

*Have children use their folders to cover their answers or hide the card they choose until YOU say to “show the answer”…they love being “sneaky”!  You can also have them put their heads down when they have an answer ready until you call for them to answer.

 

*If you have bilingual/advanced students, encourage them to be helpers for you and other students in the room.  You can give them challenge activities or have them focus on spelling of the words.

 

*Any time you are going to do an activity, consider asking kids who feel like Spanish is “easy” to team up with kids who feel like Spanish is “tough”.  You can have the students move to two sides of the room, and then YOU partner them up.  They all benefit from this, as some feel like special helpers and others are successful because of the assistance they receive.

 

*If the classroom teacher doesn’t mind, you can ask to get online and use a website activity with the kids on the overhead projector.  The classroom teacher might even let the kids do an online activity during computer lab (separate from Spanish class).

 

 *Favorite activities:

~Simon Dice:  “Toca la nariz.  Toca las orejas”, etc.

~Matamoscas (in teams, kids try to hit words on the board

with a fly swatter, their team can only help them once YOU say so)

            ~CD songs (cheesy, but the kids love them), copy words for them

to see and put in their folders

            ~Puppets (let the kids use them, too)

            ~Hangman (you draw the gallows and lines to fill in letters for

a Spanish word or phrase, kids guess the Spanish, if

they miss, you draw body parts---they “win” if they get the words before you fill in the body)

            ~Challenge Lists (call a topic and let small teams come up

with as many words as they can in that subject within a time limit, the team with the MOST unique words wins)

            ~Call out color or classroom object words and let the kids

point to the item or even touch the item---but quiet

movement is a must!!!

            ~Act out words (kids come up with motions), especially great

for things like greetings, feelings, animals, body parts, etc.  Chant the words while doing the motion!

            ~Use a timer to challenge the children to learn something. 

                        See how far they get in “___ minutes” and add time

                        as needed.

            ~Let children write or draw answers on the white board

                        (more than one can do this at a time and/or it can

be done in teams)

~Play jeopardy (kids race to answer a question and ring a

bell or shake a maraca when they finish)

            ~Ask kids “Que hora es?” throughout the class, and help

them all call out the answer “Son las ___.” or “Es la ___.”

 

*There are so many more activities in the cubbies, the files, the online grade level plans and activities, and your notebooks.  Always feel free to ask me questions, and to share ideas.  This is how we improve each year! J

BUENA SUERTE