Brain break or calm down activities? This is the question I have been asking myself this year after teaching my sweet first graders. I am lucky that we have a mindfulness teacher in the school where I teach. I asked him for some help, and he graciously offered to come sit and observe my students in my class. After observing my class he noticed that I have been using a lot of brain breaks that will leave my students with high energy, which doesn’t really help this group of active first graders maintain focus during the rest of the class period.
This is what he suggested I do:
Calming Scents: He mentioned to me that this age group is highly affected by their environment. He suggested that having calming scents such as lavender, lemon or peppermint might help.
Sounds: Playing relaxing music or natural sounds such as rainforest or waterfalls as they enter my classroom might help lower their energy levels.
Slow movement activities: Play slow music in the room and have them pretend to be different things in nature. Visuals will be handy for this. For example, a cloud, a slow elephant, a bird and so on (and this also gives a fun opportunity to reinforce some vocabulary or teach new words).
Breathing movements: Encourage movement activities that require students to inhale and exhale while sitting down or walking around the room.
Here are some visuals that might be helpful to have in your room.
Just ask your students to close their eyes quietly for a minute or more. Setting a timer or using a chime might help to let your students know that the time is up!
“Smell the flowers” is a good visual to encourage students to breathe deeply.
“Blow out the candles” is a great visual to practice exhaling fully. I ask my students to pretend they are holding a flower in one hand and a candle in the other, and we alternate when inhaling and exhaling.
Just play soft music or relaxing sounds in class.
Practicing some yoga poses might help your students get rid of their wiggles.
To be able to talk about the integration of culture in a Comprehensible Input class, it is first necessary to define “Comprehensible Input” and “culture.”
The “Comprehensible Input” theory is one of the theories of language acquisition proposed by the American linguist Stephen Krashen. In his hypothesis, Dr. Krashen explains that there can only be the acquisition of a language when the input, linguistic component or message is understood by the learner, but in addition to being understandable it should be of interest to the learner and that it be about an issue with which the learner can relate and connect. Visit Comprensible.com to learn more about CI.
Culture is a term that has been defined by different authors in different fields. The definition most commonly used and that challenges people in different fields is that of Clifford Geertz (cited in Ortner, 1999) who defines culture as “a system of values and beliefs that represent a group, as a network of meanings within which people live. Meanings encoded in symbolic forms (language, artifacts, etiquette, rituals, calendars, etc.)” (p.3).
Taking into account the definitions of “Comprehensible Input” and “culture,” I will explain a little the process of how I integrate these two elements in practice and offer you some advice, too.
I find it helpful to start with the goal or the objective of the topic. Why do I want to share this topic in my class? Where do I want my students to arrive with the exploration of this topic in class?
Then I think about the developmental stage and the linguistic level of the students. Is it a topic that is easily understood with the level of L2? Is the subject relevant to the students’ age?
I suggest you consider this approach:
Define the theme or cultural content that will be shared with the student. Once the theme is defined, make sure that the content that is going to be shared is true and does not fall into the perpetuation of stereotypes. If possible, check that information with someone from the culture. Another important aspect to take into account, especially at the beginner levels or early grades, is whether it is a specific issue and whether it allows generating connections and space for comparisons. The cultural theme should not be limited only to the culture of L2.
Determine the input: In this case, it is not important for the students to understand each word, but the input must be by context and the use of cognates.
Determine what type of material can be used to support the topic: Photos, videos, songs, artifacts or authentic resources, etc.
It is possible to teach culture in a world language class, but in this case, it is very important that this input is understandable so that there is a success in the fusion of culture and Comprehensible Input.
Here are some resources that might help you get started with this topic. Ready, set, go!
Ana Maria was born in Colombia and she currently lives in the United States. She is the founder of Spanish Plus Me, an initiative to promote the introduction of the Spanish language to children through the use of songs, movement, and fun.
There are many ways to incorporate Earth Day into Spanish class. As a way to review or explore new vocabulary, even to add Global Education, and raise awareness through Spanish class.
One of the biggest challenges I faced a few years ago while doing a 30-minute Spanish class for beginners was trying to find a simple and short Spanish song for Earth Day that would allow me to introduce basic vocabulary and phrases. Despite many great options out there (beautiful videos with great messages), I couldn’t find a fit for my specific needs regarding time and amount of vocabulary included in the lyrics. I decided to compose my own song to make sure I was targeting the vocabulary I needed and that the song was simple enough for my students to sing along.
Mi Tierra is the name of the song I composed, and it is now available on my album, Short + Fun Spanish Beats. I also have created some activities to get the best out of it in the classroom, and I will share some of them with you. I hope the following ideas can help you make it a memorable and fun Earth Day celebration that raises awareness for your students.
Prior to playing the song, familiarize yourself with the lyrics and the vocabulary.
Show the students an image of our planet. If there is technology available I recommend Google Earth.
Talk about color, shapes, who and what lives on Earth, and brainstorm ideas to take care of our planet: reduce, reuse, recycle
Read aloud the lyrics of the song while emphasizing the key words. Then ask the kids to listen to the song and raise their hands when they hear words they know. Play the first verse and stop.
Review the words in the second verse and repeat the exercise. For students who can read, you may project the lyrics on the board and have them point at the words they recognize.
Colors: Usually the first vocabulary kids learn in Spanish class includes colors. Finding familiar vocabulary in a song will help the kids to feel confident about being able to understand the lyrics, singing and using additional vocabulary. Singing will help your students to practice pronunciation and retain what they have learned.
Depending on the amount of time available for the class and the age of your students, you can try the following activities:
Make circle shapes attached to popsicle sticks in green and blue, or paint your students’ palms: one blue and the other one green. Then ask them to raise up each shape or painted hand whenever they hear to the word in the song
Add blue and green colors to an Earth drawing (Check out the guide to sing “Mi Tierra” on my TPT store for pre-made coloring and cutting out activities)
TPR (Total Physical Response): Representing the words with gestures and body movements is the best way to remember the vocabulary and also making it fun for the kids.
For this song you can play around with different options to use body movements. You can choose some words to use American Sign Language (example: tierra, azul, verde, recycle), or create movements to represent some of them (animals, plants, people, take care, cities, and towns).
I usually create the movements and then teach them to the kids, but I sometimes like to give them a couple of options to choose from. They are also creative and happy to help you come up with the gestures or movements to connect with the words. For example, they might like to make lion claws or roaring faces, or imitate a monkey when singing about animals.
Pop-up activities: My students love pop-up activities, and we do them with different songs on the album, and also with this one. You can divide your class in different groups, depending on the amount of students and the amount of words you think they can identify. Assign a word to each group and make tally points to count when they pop up (raise their hand or say the word aloud, whatever you prefer) as they listen to the assigned word while you play the song.
This exercise is great to help them to attune their ear to the pronunciation of the words, and to pay attention to the words in the song, as well as making it easy to identify other words.
Thank you to our guest blogger Ana for sharing your knowledge, songs and experience with all our readers. Please make sure to stop by her website to learn all about her and Spanish Plus Me.
“Color colorcito” is a simple tag game that my kindergarten students love! In fact, they ask for it almost every class! I am still trying to understand why they love it so much, as it is just so simple. I have also used it as a brain break with my 4th and 5th grade students, and they have had the same exciting reaction. I don’t play as often with the older grade levels because we play it indoors in my classroom, where littler bodies have more space.
Before playing the game, it is important to state the rules clearly. If playing it indoors, you might want to ask your students just to walk fast instead of running. I like playing in my classroom because I have so many colorful things in the room, and it makes it exciting for them to have so many options for the colors. I also need to remind them that they need to be careful with the posters, and any art I have in the room and our classroom library. Once the game is over, I ask everyone to check the room and help to make sure everything is how it was before playing the game.
I am lucky that I see my kindergarten students in groups of 8 which makes it easier to keep things under control. That being said, I have also played with my 18 fourth graders and 21 fifth graders and so far we haven’t had any collisions yet. Fingers crossed!
How to Play The Game
There is not really that much preparation, but I like to project slides on the board with the names of the different colors in Spanish, just in case any of the students forget how to say a color.
Pick one student to be “it.” That student will have to say “Color colorcito” followed by a color in Spanish. Students walk fast around the room looking for that color to touch to be safe. The “it” student will try to tag a student who is not touching the color. Then this student becomes the new “it” and the game starts all over again.
I typically play this game for no more than 3 or 4 minutes. It’s a good, quick brain break where everyone gets to participate and move a lot!
Are you ready to try it in your classes? Let me know in the comments how it goes!
You might like this resource on Teachers Pay Teachers:
MovieTalk is a Comprehensible Input tool created by Dr. Ashley Hastings. Students get engaged listening to comprehensible language in a short video or clip. These videos are usually not longer than five minutes and are compelling to the learners. In my experience using videos with lower elementary students, videos that are not longer than 3 minutes work great.
Every time I start a MovieTalk I remind my students that I will be talking and pausing the video. As recommended by others, this video will be played silently. And once we are done with our MovieTalk their prize will be to watch the video entirely without me pausing it.
In preparation for the MovieTalk, I choose a short video, look at it, and prepare in a script in my head that I will be using with my students. I always make sure the videos provide space for repetition. I identify structures that I know I can TPR with my young students before doing the MovieTalk.
Here is an example of a video I have used with first graders. It’s called “Feliz San Valentín con Pocoyo”.
Some words that I can TPR with my students before presenting the video: mira, camina, feliz, baila, escucha, vuela, se ríe, le tira and busca.
Most of the time I write a script of what I want to say in the video – download the script for this MovieTalk HERE. (After clicking on the link, it will prompt you to make a copy). Having a script helps me identify structures and repetitions in the video, as well as some questions to PQA (Personalize Questions & Answers) while talking about the video.
I take screenshots of the movie and also use the pictures to talk about them when done with the MovieTalk. I also like putting the story together and read it later to class. Since this is meant to be used with kinder and first graders, I don’t ask for a lot of output. However I do hear some phrases and words my students produce after we listen to the MovieTalk and talk about the pictures. Click here to download the story to read to your students.
¡Hola! I am Carolina, a Colombian elementary Spanish teacher based in Boston, MA. Fun for Spanish Teachers is the result of my passion for teaching Spanish to children and my desire to inspire collaboration and creativity in a vibrant teaching and learning community. It’s the perfect stop if you are looking for songs, games, teaching tips, stories, and fun for your classes.
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