Class Report: Body Parts

Just before summer vacation, I had one last class with my fifth graders.  This one was a bit different though.  My JTE didn't want to start the next chapter of the book right before vacation and risk the kids forgetting everything, so we did a mini lesson about body parts instead.  This is a fairly common topic for English lessons and can really go either way depending on how much the kids know and if they can understand somewhat difficult directions.

First, we taught the kids the song "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" which most of them already knew.  We sang the song a few times, first with the CD, and then on their own so we could go a little faster.  We had the kids pair up and play rock paper scissors, with the winners forming one circle and the losers forming a larger one around it, just like we did for the introductions lesson.  This time, I would play the song and stop it at random, shouting out a body part.  The kids had to find their partner in the opposite circle and touch the body part I had called out.  The kids really enjoyed this game so we played quite a few times.

The last game, and definitely the hardest to explain, was Simon Says.  It is truly frustrating how difficult it can be to explain this game to kids and teachers who have never heard of it.  Fortunately, my homeroom teacher knew how to play and was able to translate so that the kids understood.  I think a few kids were still unsure about how to play, but once we started it didn't take long for them to catch on.  This is the other difficult thing about this game; kids get good at it really fast.  Playing the normal way with touching the body part you call out works well for about two or three games, then you have to get creative.

About the third game in, I told the kids that they had to listen to what I said and not what I did.  So if I touched my head and said "Simon says touch your knees" those who just mimicked me were going to be out.  Some ofthe kids were quite surprised by this new challenge, but everyone seemed willing to try.  Changing the rules this way also helps reinforce the English, I feel, because kids have to actually thing about what you say, rather than just listening for the "Simon says" and mirroring you.  I could actually see some of the kids thinking really hard at first about what part to touch, but after a few games they seemed to have an easier time with it.

Lastly, I invited my homeroom teacher to lead the class in a few games.  This was mostly so I could get a few pictures of the kids, but all in all I think it was good practice for her too.  She seemed really nervous to try and it was really nice of her to put herself out there like that.  She had to start slow at first, but soon she was calling out body parts just as quickly as I did.  We played one final game where we both alternated calling out body parts. I think it was the longest I have ever played the game, probably eight or nine rounds total, but it was great fun.  I think the kids really enjoyed it too.

With the start of school only a week away, I'm getting really excited about going back to teaching the elementary kids.  I worry about how much they've retained over summer break, but I imagine that is something all the teachers think about.  We've only covered a few chapters, so I will be happy if they remember how to start class in English.  The rest can be easily enforced by doing things like asking how many people they talked to or how many papers they need for a row of students.