Oh No! Poor Snow!

Don't hate me! Maybe it is because we don't celebrate Thanksgiving down here, or the start of the red cups at Starbucks, but I am in the winter spirit! As an early gift to everyone here's a PowerPoint of a winter adaptation of one of my favorite activities for little ones!
The activity is usually called, "Poor Joe" but in this case I changed it to "Poor Snow!" we use the exact same chant except we practice on a snowman.

I encourage you to make your own snowman using body parts and clothing you want to review with your students, but this gives you an idea.

If you are planning on practicing winter clothing here's another activity you may like to try.
Happy Holidays!

Get MOVING in EFL (aka YAY for TPR)

Throughout this blog I discuss different ways to use TPR in the your English class. Essentially TPR (Total physical response) is a technique which is often used with EFL students. Students are taught to associate an action with a word or phrase.

Asher's book

HISTORY 1965 James Asher basically said, "Hey! I am sure that we can get students to actually move around and have less stress in class." What he came up with was having students move to show comprehension. You can check out more TPR World or language impact for more background information.


Even though the basis for TPR in EFL started over 30 years ago there is still a bounty of current research being done to support using actions with language teaching. One of my favorites to direct people to is an article published by New Scientist in January of 2012 which discusses a study where 20 students enrolled in a 6 day course to learn a fake language. Half of the content was taught using traditional (spoken and written) techniques and the other half was taught with each word having a body movement. The students did better at learning the information that was taught with motions! Keep in mind that this worked for all words, not just words with a clear motion. That is to say, this technique worked as well for actions like run as it did for words like however or rather. The study goes onto cite functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans as well which seem to show that the actions help by creating a more "complex representation of the word that makes it more easily retrieved." You can read the actual study via the onine library if that interests you.


Now that you know a bit of what it is, let's check out how to use it:

Poor Joe, he has no....

Games

• Simon Says- Usually body parts and actions but you could get specific with adjectives. "Simon says jump up and down quickly."
• Charades- Usually this is done when a student is given a word and they have to act it out. Great with verbs, but don't be afraid to do this with nouns or adjectives. You can make it more complicated by giving them an entire sentence!
• Oh No Poor Joe- If you play with students covering the part that's missing this is great TPR for body parts.

Make a fortune teller!

Activities

• Make a box with your students! Directions (Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Middle), Actions (Kick, Throw, Fold, Unfold, Meet) Nouns (Invitation, Door) Adjectives (Locked, Unlocked)
• Make a fortune teller. Locations (Center, Corner, Left, Right) Actions (Cur, Flip, Fold, Unfold) 
• Tell a story while they draw or act it out Draw and Tell story.

Songs
Find a song (or make one for your EFL class)

• Traditional Kids Somgs (Great for younger EFL students)

• Teddy Bear Teddy Bear- Directions (Turn Around) Actions (Touch, Jump) 
• Hokey Pokey- Body Parts (All!) Actions (Put your)
• Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes- Body Parts (Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes, Eyes, Ears, Mouth, Nose)
• Songs I've adjusted to use with my EFL students:
• Sweet Little Bunny For Animals, Body Parts, and Adjectives
• Open them Shut them For Opposites, or Verbs- 
• Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes with Clothes! Clothing (Hat, Jacket, Trousers, Shoes, Glasses, Ear Muffs, Scarf, Glove)
• Macerena I change this to teach prepositions (Above, Above, Below, Below,  Across, Across, Atop, Atop, Beside, Beside, Down, Down, Around, Around)
• Songs which I use, "as is" to practice the words they use.

The video has 15 songs you can use (but probably not at once)! 

• Bounce, Rock, Roll, Skate- Actions (Bounce, Rock, Roll, Skate)
• Cha Cha Slide Directions (Left, Right, Back, On, Low, Top), Verbs (Turn, Slide, Criss-Cross, Clap, Stomp, Reverse, Freeze, Hop), Numbers (One, Two, Five), Body Parts (Hands, Knees, Foot), Adverbs (Again)
• Cupid Shuffle Directions (Right, Left) Verbs (Kick)
• Da Dip- Actions (Dip) Possessive Pronoun (My, Your)
• Dancing in Heaven- Adjectives (Slow, Quick)
• Do the BartMan- Actions (Move, Shake, Sitting) Directions (Front to back, To the side) Body Parts (Hips) 
• Harlem Shake- Actions (Move) Directions (Left, Right) Adjectives (Fast)
• Hoedown Throwdown- Actions (Glide, Jump, Pop, Lean, Lock, Shake, Shuffle, Stick )  Adjectives (Polka Dot, Zig zag) Nouns (Hawk, Sky) Body Parts (Hands, Head, Hips, One Footed, Toe) Directions (180 twist, Diagonal, In, Left, On, Side to side)
• Locomotion Directions (Up, Back), Body Parts (Hips), Actions (Swing, Jump)
• Mambo #5-Actions (Jump, Move, Put, Clap) Body Parts (Hands)
• Men in Black- Actions (Bounce, Freeze, Slide, Walk) Body Parts (Neck)
• Peppermint Twist Directions: (Round, Up, Down) Actions (Jump, Kick)
• Stanky Leg- Actions (Bounce,Drop, Lean, Shake, Show, Slide, Snap, Stick, Stop, Switch, Wipe) Body Parts (Feet, Fingers, Leg, Shoulders) Adjectives (Low,  Right ) Clothing (Socks)
• The Bunny Hop Directions (Left, Right, Forward, Out) Body Parts (Foot), Actions (Put, Hop) I add a "Backwards and a forwards hop hop hop" to get a bit more vocab. 
• The Time Warp  Directions (Left, Right), Body Parts (Hands, Hips, Knees, Pelvis), Verbs- (Jump, Step, Thrust)
• The Superman Tons of verbs / commands (Sleep, Wave, Hitch a ride, Sneeze, Walk, Swim, Ski, Spray, Blow your Horn, Ring the Bell, Kiss, Comb your Hair, Give a wave, Bend your Knees, Faster, Louder)
• Usher's UTurn Directions (Put your hands up, Circle) Verbs (Bend, Bounce, Get down) Body Parts (Hands, Knees) 
• YMCA- Letters (Y, M, C, A)

FingerPlays 

• A family of pumpkins- Family Members (Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, Baby) 
• Five Easter Eggs - Emotions (Angry, Happy, Sad, Scared, Sleepy)
• Itsy Bitsy Spider - Animals (Spider), Prepositions (Up, Down, Out), Actions (Went, Washed, Dried), Weather (Sun, Rain)
•  Open them Shut them (for this and that)- Great for almost any category: Adjectives, Verbs, etc.

This list already seems a bit long so for now I am stopping, but if you have any other songs, games, or activities you think embrace the spirit of TPR be sure to leave it in the comments!

House (Learning the rooms)

Sample House

OK, last post for a while about these boxes I PROMISE, but this is by far my FAVORITE way to use them in class and the one all my teacher friends always LOVE.

I did in this Korea with my 3rd and 4th grade EFL students, and in Spain with my EFL students (preschool and first grade loved it). Of course, I have adapted the activity a bit each time to best suit the students but the basic steps are the same.

Step 1: Hand out a piece of paper that looks like the picture below. The four middle squares should be different from one another to assure students can easily see the differences (with higher level classes you could probably just give them a blank piece of paper)..

A basic Template for the House

Step 2: Follow the steps from http://eslcarissa.blogspot.com/2013/06/opposites-origami-added-pictures.html or http://eslcarissa.blogspot.mx/2012/06/organized-opposites-orgami.html and have your students make their own box.

Step 3: Have them unfold the box and show them your sample "house." They usually get pretty excited at this point (or at least the younger ones do).

Step 4: Let them draw their own additions to make each room its own. I teach: Bedroom, Bathroom, Kitchen, Living Room.

Step 4: (Alternative) If your students shy away from drawing give them a page of household idtems and let them cut and paste those objects into whatever room they like. I don't suggest using catalogs for this as they will probably have items that are too big. This free download includes a sheet of objects they can cut and paste which I've made sure are the right size..

Step 4: (Alternative) Make this a listening activity. "Put a refrigerator in the room with squares on the floor," "Put a cupboard next to the refrigerator," etc.

Step 5: Give them small toys (like Lego people) and let them play. They are little; they like to play! Let them use their English. Every few minutes shout, "FREEZE" and call on a student to say where his friend's toy is, "In the kitchen."

Step 5: (Alternative) You can also do another listening activity (with prepositions too if you like!) "Put your finger in the kitchen," "Put your finger on the toilet" and listen to them shout, "Ewwwwwwww."

FAST ALTERNATIVE

Complete House Template

If you want to get straight into the games and not bother with the making it, give them a "complete" house that you photocopied. Then they just need to fold and star having fun!

All of these templates and the house items (adjusted from http://openclipart.org/ are available for free download here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Make-a-House-and-practice-Rooms-and-Prepositions-719846) but my art is really not that great, so you can probably make something better on your own :-)
If you have an alternative that you use when teaching about the house or try this with your class I'd love to know! Drop me a comment below!

Cootie Catchers and Fortune Tellers- Listening Activity (A step by step guide on how-to make a cootie catcher)

1. Any piece of paper

2. Even recycled paper

Making a cootie catcher or a fortune teller can be a fun activity for an EFL class to practice many grammar points and vocabulary.

This is also a great activity because it can use recycled paper (and who doesn't have tons of old worksheets, lesson plans and memos that are begging to be recycled?)!

You may remember making these when you were younger. Since students may already know how to do this to make this a really effective listening activity don't tell them what you are going to do, just walk them through the steps.

2. Fold a triangle

3. Cut off the extra paper

 1. You'll need a piece of paper. It can be any size, but your standard 8.5 by 11 seems to be fine. If it is too big or too small it becomes a bit cumbersome to make and play with. If you are giving them a square piece of paper then you can go straight to step 4 skipping steps 2 and 3.

2. To make a perfect (or almost perfect) square instruct your students to "Take the bottom right corner and fold it to the upper left. Make sure that the sides are ever. This means the corner won't match the other corner. That's OK" A perfect square makes things easier, but "nearly perfect" squares will be fine.

4. Unfold the paper

5. Fold another triangle.

3. "Take your scissors and cut off the extra paper that is not covered by your triangle"

4."Unfold the paper" This should now be a perfect square with a crease going from the bottom left to the upper right. I marked the crease with pink so you can see it more easily.

5.  "Now take the bottom left corner and fold it to meet the upper right corner." If your students did steps 2-4 correctly the corners should match perfectly, if not that's OK. Some students who are perfectionists may want to re-cut and fold their paper now. If you have time allow it, otherwise insist it will be fine and move to step 6.

6. Unfold the paper.

7. Fold a corner to the center

6. "Unfold the paper." Now your creases should have made a big X on the paper. The second crease has been highlighted in orange to make it clearer.

7. "Now we can see where the lines meet in the middle. Take the bottom right corner and fold it to the middle." With younger students I go around and put a big dot in the middle so they can find it without a problem.

8.  "Now take the bottom left corner and fold it to the middle." By now your students get it and steps 9 and 10 are a snap.

8. Fold a 2nd corner

9. Fold a 3rd corner

9. "Take another corner and fold it to the center." If you want to be specific walk them through the corners "upper right, upper left, etc." again, but at this point it usually isn't needed.

10. "Take the last corner and fold it to the center." In a perfect world if you have done everything right then all of the triangles should meet in the center without overlapping or seeing the lower layer. That's the ideal to be aiming for. However, if that doesn't happen it will be fine.

11. "Now we have a square so flip it over and do the same thing."

10. All the corners!

11. Flip it over.

12. "Take the bottom right corner and fold it to the center."

13- 15.  "Fold all of the corners to the middle." This is a little harder that the last few steps since the paper is thicker now and a bit more difficult to fold. Be sure to get them to fold it well. Creases make it easier later.

16. "Fold the paper in half vertically so that all of the triangles are on the inside and you can see squares"

12. Fold to the center.

13. Fold to the center

17. "Unfold and fold it in half again this time horizontally"


18. This part takes a little finesse. At this point the best you can do is try to explain and then help the students that are struggling. "Put your fingers inside the squares" Some people do this differently. I've always had each finger get its own compartment except for the pinky which shares with the ring finger. It's easier to do this with their dominant hand.

19. "Now, spread your fingers out and get the paper to open a bit" This part can be tricky, but once students see others doing it they can usually find a method that works for them. If not, assign helpers.

14. Fold to the center.

15. Fold to the center.

20. "Enjoy making the paper move" Especially with younger students making the paper open and close is a tough motor skill. Have them practice and enjoy their handmade toy.

So there you go how to make a cootie catcher in 20 easy-ish steps! I have done this project with students as young as 5 years old. They struggled a bit with nice creases and I had to re-do some of them, but overall they did pretty well. My high school students realized what we were doing right away and whipped through this in about 10 minutes.

16. Fold in half

17. Fold in half again

I advise that you fold along with the students so they have an example.

I also suggest that you go around as they are folding to be sure everyone is on task. It is easy to rescue one mishap, but if you miss it when it happened it can be hard to figure out where they went wrong.

As you can see this activity can be adjusted to use more ordinal numbers, transition words, etc. I kept it simple by mainly using directions (left, right center) and shape words they should know.

18. Put your fingers inside

19. Pop the squares!

 What to do now? If you want to go straight into another activity, check out the Cootie Catcher Speaking activity for several variations appropriate for ever English level.

If you only had enough time for this activity today tell your students to put their names on it and save it for later.

This is one of the items I can be found making at banks when there are rowdy children. After, we use them as puppets. You could do this too in your class and decorate the "face" to tell a story.

Optional: My creature!

20. Practice moving

If you are studying body parts tell them to add, "12 eyes, 3 ears and 2 noses" to their creature and see what they end up creating. To the right you can see my 6 eyed, two tongued, purple haired creature (with a green nose of course).

Below you can see a few more professional options. If you'd like a creature prettier than my creature on the right, check out the Fortune Wookiee! If your students are still into story time read them Arthur and the Cootie catcher. This is a great story about not believing everything they hear (and then they can make their own), or (just to prove I am not crazy) there's a book designed to teach vocabulary using cootie catchers!

The possibilities are endless and I'd love to know how you use them in class!

10+ Classroom Management Techniques

For those who prefer to see and listen rather than read check out the video above, but be sure to turn up your volume. Be sure to read the end of the blog though as there are 3 additional tips!

Technique #1 Keep students involved

Make sure you are changing activities enough to keep students' attention. Have activities that are level appropriate. Students usually act out when the lesson is too easy or difficult for them so differentiate the lesson so each students is working at a comfortable pace.

If technique number one fails try one of the following techniques. Though they are all great it is usually best if you pick one or two and use them consistently with your class.

Technique #2 Use the Magic Word!

I am not talking about please! The magic word in this case is anything you want it to me. My 3^rd grade teacher’s word was, “MAGIC.” At the start of the year she told us that she had a magical word that would make the entire class silent. Whenever we started to get to rowdy she’d turn and begin writing a HUGE capital M on the blackboard, then a capital A, then a capital G, we never actually saw her write the whole word because by the time she got to I we were usually all quiet. Part of the reason this works is the timing; don’t write it too quickly! You need the students to notice what you are doing and have time to react.

Technique # 3 Eyes on me

This one is a favorite of mine with elementary students and SOMETIMES with certain groups I have used it in high school.The teacher says something like, “One two three eyes on me” and the students respond back with, “One two eyes on you” By having to stop what they are doing to respond to you usually the class will be snapped out of what they are doing and go back to concentrating on you

Technique #4 Feel the rhythm

Many of the primary school homeroom teachers would have a clap or snap combination they would use to get students attention. Essentially they would snap and clap a certain beat and the students would have a certain response. Similar to technique number one and two this works by snapping students out of what they are doing to pay attention to you out of habit. This was NOT effective for me in Korea because I didn’t see the students enough to have them hear my beat and instinctually respond. However, if you have students you see all the time this should work well.

Technique #5 Monkey See Monkey Do

No, I am not suggesting you act like a monkey. With younger students if you are quiet and start making big actions (touch your nose, then your shoulders, then your ears, then mouth, then head, etc.) you’ll find they start copying you. Once you have the whole class copying you clap and get back into the lesson

Technique # 6 Dance

This is actually a specific version of Monkey See Monkey Do. Essentially you’ll use a TPR song that your students are familiar with (Opposite, Sweet Little Bunny, Head Shoulder Knees and Toes with clothes, etc.) Without singing the song, just act it out. If you like you can mouth the words, but normally just the actions will suffice. Once all of your students are doing the actions with you sing one line (as a reward) and then continue with class.

Technique #7 Whistle while you work

I have a whistle my mother gave me to stay safe in the street. It has a flashing light, and a whistle! So often I use these in conjunction. I first put the flashing light on as a visual warning, but if they need the auditory sense I’ll quickly blow the whistle. This is preferred to yelling because it shows less emotion and anger. It makes you appear as if you are still in control which is key with older students.

Technique #8 Lights out!

Another great way to get students to settle down is to flash the lights on and off. This works well because you aren’t yelling (what they expect) and trying to beat their noise Instead you are letting them know visually that they need to pay attention to you. Some teachers find turning the lights off completely works, but I prefer the flashing lights technique. An alternative is to have a flashing light you can turn on and use that in class.

Technique #9 Final Countdown

I use http://www.online-stopwatch.com/ a lot. I project it to the whiteboard or the TV screen and let students know how much time they have left. At the start of class I give out Quick Quizzes. Pretty easy 5 question quizzes which take 5 minutes and are graded like homework. The intention is to see what students understood from the last lesson and make sure they show up on time. If they show up after a quick quiz is given they may NOT make it up. Often the hardest time to get students to settle is when class begins. I pass the quiz out to any row sitting quietly and then I put the stopwatch on the board for five minutes. Once students realize they are wasting their quiz time they quickly quiet down so I will give them a quiz and they can get started.

Technique #10 Participation Points

I’ve talked about one way to “grade” students’ participation (by giving participation points). You can use them to help in situations like this (and reward quieter students). Essentially when you have a rowdy class make note of the students who are acting appropriately and pass out the points to them. Once the other students see what they are missing out they’ll usually slowly settle down. With younger students you do not even need to use points just orally praise the students behaving, “I like how Jessica is sitting down and coloring. It is so nice to see Stephen quietly helping John. Johnny is doing very well reading.” Most students do want to be told they are doing well and others will seek this by mimicking them.

BONUS

These are three techniques NOT mentioned in the video for the sake of time.

1 action. Instead of having students copy numerous actions, as most of the previous techniques do, this one just has one motion. For example the teacher puts her pointer finger to her closed lips. Students are expected to follow suit. Eventually you should have the whole class quietly sitting with a finger over their mouth. This can be any action. I’ve seen putting your hands on your head, touching your nose, putting both hands on your desk. As long as you are consistent it should work well.

2. Stop Teaching This is not my favorite and is used as a last resort. I sit down in a desk at the front of class, take out homework and start grading. The shock value of seeing that I am no longer trying to control them often snaps them out of whatever they were doing.

3. Let them leave Treat them like adults. “Hey guys I know you have a lot of exams this week so if you would rather leave and study for other classes please leave now. I won’t mark you absent. But this review is really important for your exam on Wednesday so if you are going to stay in the class I need you to be speaking English and staying on topic so as not to distract those who need to review.” I often make this announcement during finals week when classes are filled with stressed students.  Occasionally I have a student leave, but usually they all stay and their behavior is much better knowing that they elected to stay. Clearly this only works when it follows school rules and the students are old enough, but if possible it is an amazing solution for certain times.

What other ways do you have to keep your classes in control? Please let me know in the comments!

I have seen ClassDojo (I even signed up), but I am not sure it would work with older students. If anyone uses or has used it with high school or University students please let me know in the comments!