Last year I came across a great tool called “Wheel Decide” which is a wonderful online tool to create wheels to pick games, songs, volunteers, you name it! I was able to create fun games in class such as “El espejo” (see my post from my presentationat TFLA to learn more about this game), but I always wished I could use pictures instead of words in the Wheel Decide tool.
I didn’t give up and finally found a tool that was mentioned in a blog called“The Techie Teacher”written by Julie Smith. In her blog, she has a simple and easy-to-follow tutorial for using this tool. I think that if you want to understand how the tool works, it’s better to head to her blog and read all about it, rather than me writing something that is already well explained.
If you have explored my blog, you have probably already noticed that I have different posts making reference to mental or brain breaks, yoga poses, and breathing exercises. I always felt that it would be fun to add a wheel to help decide on the different mental breaks to do with my students.
I made this “Wheel of Yoga Poses” graphic as a resource to compliment my yoga story. I hope you can use it in your classes and enjoy the poses – from mono, to perro, to rana and beyond. Click HERE to get the link for the Wheel of Yoga Poses.
Movement Cards are a life saver in my classes. I like to use them as quick brain breaks with my younger students. Now that we have moved to teaching online due to the current health situation, I find that giving our students some time to move after staring at the screen computer or iPad for a while is extremely important. I have shared Movement Cards for different seasons and celebrations before, so adding a set with animals is a must!
Luis Pescetti is an Argentinian musician, writer, actor, and storyteller. He is also known for for his great group activities that are fun and encourage movement (which is why they are called ‘dinámicas’ in Spanish). Some of his group games work great in the Spanish classroom and can be used as energizers or brain breaks for you and your students.
For this game I would suggest you ask your students to be in groups of five or less to keep it safe.
¿Por qué me sube la bilirubina? No sé porque.
¿Por qué me sube la bilirubina? No sé porque.
A moler café, a moler café, a moler a moler a moler café.
A moler café, a moler café, a moler a moler a moler café.
This is simple but a bit challenging for second graders. I mostly use it for third graders and up. A lot of fun!
Palo, palo, palo, palo bonito, palo eh,
eh, eh, eh, palo bonito, palo eh.
This is one of the group activities my first graders love. The first time they saw the video they were scared, but we couldn’t stop laughing afterwards. It’s great to use during Halloween!
Se hace de noche,
se ve un castillo,
se abre una puerta,
sale un vampiro,
saca un cuchillo y …
unta pan con mantequilla,
unta pan con mantequilla,
unta pan con mantequilla.
This activity works great in a circle. This one gets everyone quiet and focused on the movement. My students were a little frustrated at first, but once we all got it, it became a fun challenge.
Bale, bale, bale, pata zum, zum, zum,
bale, zum, zum, zum,
pata zum, zum, zum.
Bale, bale, bale, pata zum, zum, zum,
bale, zum, pata zum, bale zum.
This can be done with different ages. It can be done fast or slow. A lot of fun!
A ram sam sam,
guli, guli, guli, guli, ram sam sam.
Arabi, arabi,
guli, guli, guli, guli, ram sam sam.
This video gives a little background for the song “A ram sam sam”.
I am always grateful for the teachers who come to this blog to read my posts. I share them with a lot of love and really hope I can save busy teachers out there just a little bit of time (time is such a precious commodity for teachers!). This blog was started as a way to connect with other teachers because for a while I was the only Spanish teacher in one of the schools where I taught. Having this blog made me feel connected and part of a larger community. Thank you for stopping by to read my blog!
It was so great to meet so many elementary teachers during #TFLA2019. It was exciting to share with you about Comprehensible Input in the elementary Spanish classroom, and I truly hope you were able to use some of what I shared as soon as you entered your classroom on Monday.
As I mentioned at the end of my session, if you are really interested in bringing CI into your teaching life, I recommend you start out by reading the research done byDr. Stephen Krashen. Once you have that clear, choose one or two strategies to bring to your classes as a starting point, and little by little start building your CI toolkit. The best thing about CI is the sheer variety of techniques you can choose from. You and your students will never feel bored, but remember to add your personal touch to anything you do.
During the TFLA session, we explored some CI strategies that I have successfully been able to use in my elementary classes. We peeked inside my classroom, saw a few routines in action (e.g. la frase de la semana y el saludo). We also talked about MovieTalks and Story Listening, and I was able to incorporate some brain breaks and breathing techniques throughout the session.
If you are new to CI, I highly recommend you start with this video:
I won’t share my full PowerPoint presentation here since it might be quite overwhelming if you didn’t attend the session. But I hope this is a nice refresher for the teachers who attended this session and talking points and ideas for those who couldn’t make it.
Last but not least, stop by Comprensible to learn other CI techniques, and join our Facebook group where you can freely ask or share about CI.
¡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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