Below you can watch my video of Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes! Here is a transcript incase you want to follow along:
When I was student teaching Spanish, there were many activities that I
just assumed would really work well. However, when teaching a second language,
you can’t always pass out a worksheet with words on it and expect your students
to automatically remember everything. You have to provide visuals, engagement
and activities that they will retain in order for successful student learning.
Unfortunately, when teaching high school freshman Spanish 1, it was a little
difficult to always do fun things because maintaining good behavior was not
something they could always do. With that being said, I always used more
traditional methods in that class. After teaching vocabulary on some parts of
the body I had students complete a worksheet where they would need to label a
person’s body with a partner. After going over the worksheet, which was also
review for their quiz, I was very disappointed with what I saw. Students didn’t
know the body parts and they didn’t care. At that moment I told the clas
“levantense” which means stand up. I put together a quick powerpoint using some
images and I asked the class “Qué son la cabeza, los hombros, las rodillas y
los pies?” or in English “Head shoulders knees and toes,” while point to each
body part. I repeated myself several times loud and clear. This is where
observational learning took place.
Attention: I started by modeling “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” I had
my students watch me do it a few times while repeating the vocabulary terms
along with me.
Retention: After, I asked the students to do it along with me. I did it
with them a few times but then had them do it on their own once they memorized
the verse.
Production: After practicing a few times together, I had students get
together with a partner to practice it a few times again slowly. I told them
that I was only going to give them 5 more minutes to practice and then we would
play a game.
Motivation: After practicing the motions and vocabulary words, I turned
on music for students to follow along with. I told them we would do one
practice round and then play a game. We would play 3 rounds, students do mess
up the motions, would need to sit down. Whoever was left after the third round,
would get two bonus points on their quiz.
This was honestly a lot of fun. Not just for my students but for me as
well. I felt that they were engaged and were motivated by the music and those
bonus points. The best part was during their quiz, a lot of students were doing
the motions to help remember the words. This made me very happy because that
was my intention, to create a memorable activity that would help them on their
quiz. I am glad I did this. ¡Gracias para ver mi presentación, adiós!
