Brain Breaks Part 7: Partes del Cuerpo
I have talked about this Brain Break in some of my recent Webinars and Presentations but I thought I would write a short blog describing it too.
I really love Brain Breaks that I can teach and model IN THE TARGET LANGUAGE. This is one of them.
Get your students up, and tell them to stand in two lines. Indicate with your arms where you want those two lines to be. This will be messy the first time. I always tell them to do it “quickly quickly quickly” Then I pair them by touching their shoulders (the students across from each other) saying “uno, dos” “uno, dos” until everyone has a partner. If there is an extra student, I work with that student, if there isn’t, I pretend I am the last student in the row, I introduce myself, then I tell the students (in the TL) “I am going to say a word, when I say the word, you touch that body part together with your partner” Then I model immediately with the student across from me by saying “hand, finger, foot, other foot, knee, other knee, shoulder, etc.” Then I confirm that students understand by doing a quick comprehension check, “do you understand? yes, or no?” They answer and then I jump into calling out the words.
Here is an example:
The reason I LOVE this is it is a great way to teach body part vocabulary without giving kids those silly lists to remember.
It is also really quick!
What do you do if you have two students paired together that MAYBE don’t always get along so well?!? Easy! You yell “CHANGE!!!” (in the TL) and one row, which ever you choose switches. The person on the end of the row runs to the opposite end of their line and everyone in that line moves up one place. If you ever see a pairing that should change quickly just yell that word. The students will never know you are doing it on purpose either!
Here is another example:
Yay!
Until next time,
HAPPY TEACHING!
Love,
La Maestra Loca
I really wanted to do a WHOLE MS version of this Brain Break during our recent tornado warnings… but we had to be silent… so that was a bummer… But look at how perfect it would’ve been!!!!!
Hi! I tried this today with my 9th class and went terrific. They are usually not too keen on these activities since sometimes they think they are too cool for school and they find these kind of activities childish. However, this time they loved it! They were giggling and having so much fun. Gracias Anabelle! Tus ideas siempre tan fantásticas!
YAY! BEST NEWS EVER!!!! Yes, I find that my older kids aren’t bothered by it (especially since I make it go really fast) they just laugh and laugh… That is what brain breaks are all about after all!!!!
Hola! I did this on my first day with 6th graders today- they LOVED it!! And that is too bad you had to be silent during the drill LOL that would have been an epic game of cambia! And quite the workout to get from one end to the other 🙂
WAHOOOOO! Awesome news! Yes, it would have been epic…. perhaps I can just arrange it for the future! lol
I always have to hold back from starting a song or one of our dances during a fire drill when the whole school is outside. Would be so awesome gahhhh!