Interactive Game: Roblox game is in the description of the video, in the link above.
This song is called “Left, Right dance”. Like all of my songs, the title is purposefully descriptive.
Thematic vocabulary: Left and Right
The song contains functional language related to Left and Right. We turn sideways, so that we are all facing the same directions and step/dance/strut to the left and to the right, together, from one side of the class to the other, and back.
There is also secondary vocabulary, such as step and clap (we model those while we dance). We clap three times, as after mastering the previously learned song “1-2-3-4-5”, we have learned the number 3. It’s the one that comes after 2, but before 4…B4-4…wasn’t that a Canadian boy band? Were they named after the number 3? (…Googles B4-4)…they were indeed 3 members. It’s all coming together.
Anyway back to the secondary vocabulary…there is the familiar “look” (point to your eyes) and “around” (spin your finger around), “touch the ground” (where we touch the ground…so intuitive), “you” (point to someone)
I had always found that it was difficult to teach left and right because you are facing me, and I’m facing you, and my left is your right, and your right is my left! It’s so confusing! That’s why I developed my “teaching it from the side” dance method. We both see the side from the same perspective. There’s something deep there. Can we all not learn to stop only looking at things from our own perspectives, but both start looking at things “from the side”? I don’t know…maybe yes, maybe no, maybe maybe.
The kids love doing the Left, Right dance. We strut from one side of the class to the other, and back. Let me know if you love left/right dancing as much as we do!
Thematic vocabulary: Vocabulary related to getting dressed
Like all of my songs, the title is purposefully descriptive. The song contains a variety of vocabulary related to clothing. The dance is very easy. You point to the clothing you are wearing (pants, shirt, etc), as well as the clothing you could be wearing by miming a “hat” or “jacket”, etc. Everything is very intuitive.
The kids’ favourite part is the “sunglasses” part. I have a pair of sunglasses with me, and I choose one student, usually the person who chose the song, but it’s important to mix it up to give everyone a chance, and I put the sunglasses on them for that part. I say “Jimmy looks like a million bucks!” (assuming Jimmy is wearing the sunglasses; it’d be weird if I said that and it was Frank wearing them).
The kids really seem to like this song; they like its groovy bass.
The story is about how when my daughter was a toddler, she was sick with gastro, and after having recovered, she wanted to take care of us. Well, we were too “well”, so she instead decided to take care of one of her stuffed animals, as he had a bad case of gastro.
Thematic vocabulary: Vocabulary related to the parts of the body.
Like all of my songs, the title is purposefully descriptive, well at least the part in parentheses (checks plural and parenthesis…yup that’s it…and why do they have a singular form, does anyone ever use just one parenthesis?). The song contains a variety of vocabulary related to the parts of the body. The dance is very easy. You point to the parts of the body. You’ll notice this from the lack of lyrics on the worksheet and the lack of dance moves in the video. Everything is very intutive. I never had to think “Hmmmm, how can I think of a dance for nose? If only I had a flashcard….oh wait, I have a nose! And a finger to point to the nose!”.
The only other words are “What” (our dance where we raise our arms in a questioning motion”, and “hurts” (We make a cross like the red cross with our arms), we also see old favourites like “you” (point to someone), “Better” (thumbs up), “Tell” (speak with your hands), etc.
The kids really seem to like this song; they like its rocking vibe, and doing the arms crossing move.
Periodically, I will evaluate C2 (speaking) with my Cycle 1 students. This level is not yet conversational, but moreso production of the vocabulary, in the context of the interaction. Each one of my songs is thematic in that it teaches the thematic target vocabulary. This term, I evaluated the first 4 songs: Yes, No, Good Morning, Stop/Go, Thank You.
You can either choose to evaluate all 20 students, one on one, in one period by putting on a movie for them or something else to occupy them, or do it a few students at a time, over a few periods. I find that the only way to truly judge a student’s ability is one on one. Some will really surprise you with their proficiency, and they may be much more advanced than you thought.
The timing of this evaluation is actually such that it falls at around Halloween. The end of the term is mid-November, and this gives us a few weeks to compile the speaking marks. I actually, and this is a secret, tell the students that they have accumulated enough points through our classroom management system, so that they can have a special Halloween party, where I put on a special Halloween movie for 30 minutes for them. Wow! What a gamified reward! That truly unlocks extrisic motivation, through this initial goal…and leads eventually to intrinsic motivation, as they slowly look forward to coming to class in general, and we develop a positive classroom culture! Wow!.
So anyway…the Halloween movie party is all a big trick (or treat…haha)! I use the 30 minutes of Scooby Doo to talk with 15 students one on one, to evaluate their speaking. Sometimes, it will be more, sometimes less. It depends on how many native English speakers we have. I don’t have to evaluate Henry Thomas Jefferson the Third…that guy already speaks English better than me. But for the rest of the class, this is what I do…
Before evaluating the students, I make sure we have practiced the songs I will evaluate that day and go over the vocabulary and comprehension dance moves/gestures.
1-Yes/No: I evaluate if they can say and mime Yes, No, Maybe, I don’t know 2-Good morning: I evaluate if they can mime Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, Good Night. (for Yes/No, and Good morning, I will also mime “Tell” “Me” and “You”) 3-Stop, Go: I evaluate if they can say and mime Stop, Go, High, Low, Fast, Slow. If they say “up” for “high”, or “down” for “low”, that’s fine too. They are also in the song, and have the same mimed gestures 4-Thank You: They say and mime Thank You, Sing (or singing), Dance (or dancing), Watch (or watching), Play (or playing)
I judge the students on a 1-5 scale 5: Student greatly surpassed expectations (all vocabulary done without help) 4: Student is at ease with vocabulary production. Can do almost all of the vocabulary, with minimal help (example: I start it with them) 3: Student satisfies expectations (can do most of the vocabulary) 2: Student can produce the target vocabulary with scaffolding 1: Student cannot produce vocabulary even with scaffolding
Accompanying stories: The Adventures of life Pt 10: Family Movie Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL1lHRSKkbM The story is about shapes, in a roundabout way. We often have family movie night on the weekend. Everyone gets a turn to chose the movie. My 3 year old son, having just discovered that you can talk into the remote and summon what you want to watch, chose one of those annoying shapes videos for kids. Students can relate to the story because they often have younger siblings that watch these same grating toddler videos.
Thematic vocabulary: Vocabulary related to shapes and numbers.
Like all of my songs, the title is purposefully descriptive. The song contains a variety of vocabulary related to shapes and numbers. Each shape is associated with its number of sides. The dance moves are easy. Trace the shape and show the number of sides on your fingers.
Like all of my songs, I add differentiation. “Hey bilingual student, sure you’ve heard of rectangles, but have you heard of hexagons? What? You have? Then, have you heard of heptagons….I just learned that one last week, so I doubt you’ve learned it”.
I expect that the students will learn square, rectangle, triangle, circle, and the number of sides for each, and moon, heart, diamond, star. Everything else is just a bonus…a differentiated bonus.
The kids really seem to like this song; they like its dance glam-metal vibe. It’s new to them because they weren’t around in the 80s.
Thematic vocabulary: Vocabulary related to the seasons, the weather and things we can do during each season
Now that we have learned how to say the date, and describe the weather, we can talk about the seasons.
Like all of my songs, the title is purposefully descriptive. The song contains a variety of vocabulary related to the seasons, the weather and things we can do for each season. Each season is represented by a number (1 for winter, 4 for fall).
As usual, we always try to reuse the same dance moves: shivering white “snow”, “world” is a big circular arm motion, “hot” is fanning your face with your hand. “watch” is pointing to your eyes like “see” or “look”, “you” is pointing to someone, “know” is pointing to your head.
There is also vocabulary such as “tree”, “grow”, “breeze”, “show”. They are pretty self-explanatory.
The song is also a chance to talk about each season and what they each mean to us. Obviously summer is the best and fall is the worst…just kidding….not really, but my subjective opinion is subjectively correct. I love summer, but I can only ski in winter. I love Halloween, so even the worst season has a super fun holiday. Spring means that we are getting close to summer, as the snow melts, and we all feel that good times are ahead! What’s your favourite season, and why is it summer? It’s fall? What? Right…your birthday is in November. That’s generally who chooses fall as their favourite season.
Roblox Game: See link in description of the Youtube video.
Thematic vocabulary: Vocabulary related to colors, and things that are of those aforementioned colors
Like all of my songs, the title is purposefully descriptive. The song contains a variety of vocabulary related to colors. Each color is accompanied by something of that color. We try to reuse the same dance moves: The sun is “yellow”, with easy dances that we’ve seen before like to mimic a big sun with your hands/arms; “grey” rain clouds with your fingers; shivering white “snow”; the night (sleepy hand dance) is black, etc.
There are also other dance moves for other color-related vocabulary. We will reuse those words in future songs. These include “world” with a spherical/circular arm motion, “look” which is the same as see.
There is other vocabulary too, but the main focus is colors. During the revision portion of the class, I like to point out colors that the students are wearing…of course, a student will often ask how I missed the small purple star on the bottom of his shoe when I mentioned purple, but I digress…
Classroom management is the unicorn we are all looking for. And just like unicorns, it doesn’t exist. But it does….kind of. By “it doesn’t exist”, I mean to say, that nothing works 100% of the time, for 100% of our students. But there are things that work 10%-20% of the time, and by combining them, we can perhaps glue a horn on a white horse, take a photo and call it a “unicorn”, to make our kids happy. But what does this ridiculous analogy mean?
I’ll try to elaborate, and give you an example of how I create a dynamic learning environment, taloured to our grade 1 and 2 students’ needs; one that encourages engagement and active participation, and discourages negative behaviours. An engaged student will likely not disrupt. There are obviously exceptions, circumstances, and subjectivities, but by focusing on what we can do for the vast majority of our students, we can create a winning classroom management strategy.
Buckle up, this might be a long (but interesting) one.
Before we begin. What do these students need?
1-They need to move…most of them at least.
2-They need short, varied activities.
3-They need to be able to manage the transitions between these activities.
4-They need activities that will calm them down when needed.
5-They need a sense of autonomy. They need to feel fulfilled.
6-They need to feel appreciated.
7-They need to feel a sense of community within their group, to feel a sense of communal responsibilty towards one another.
8-They need to be entertained.
9-They need…other things…I’ll see if I can think of anything else….or you can leave it in the comments….
What can we do to address these needs?
1-They need to move…most of them at least.
Luckily for us, the Quebec Education Plan for grade 1 and 2 includes lots of time for singing and dancing. It’s literally the program. The problem, is…what are we singing and dancing? It it doesn’t get them moving, then they aren’t moving. If they are sitting there glaring at you because you’re forcing them to “row, row, row” their boat, then they’re not expelling any of that built-up energy.
2-They need short, varied activities.
When I compose a song, I keep it 1 minute long and get straight to the chorus. If we want to see a dozen vocabulary themes in a weekly lesson, we have to be efficient. I also get right to the good stuff. Kids these days have often been conditioned to have a one-minute TikTok-video-long attention span. By singing 12 one-minute-long songs during a lesson, we have seen and practiced a wide variety of vocabulary.
When the time for singing is done, when Kenny Rogers has gone home, we will do a synthesis revision of the vocabulary, on the Smartboard, with the projected activity sheet, and accompanying images.
When the time for revising is done, we will learn a new song.
When the time for learning a new song is done, we will watch a video about the theme, play a smartboard game about the theme, do a page from the activity book about the theme, etc.
When all that is done, we might watch a story video to cooldown.
We continue the cooldown and transition into looking at the points and giving prizes to students who have reached “a new level” (25 more points in my points system).
We will finish cooldown by waiting a minute for the homeroom teacher, or go outside. I will remind them that we’ll get our 2 points left on the timer, if we can do this in a suitable manner.
My lesson has routine and structure, and the routine of the structure. There are many different segments (greeting, singing, revision, story, game, page, etc.) and there are sub-segments of those segments (song, transition, choosing the student animators, letting them choose their partners, the song, evaluation of our performance and whether we earned a class point, repeat).
But it is a performance. Filmed with a series of quick cuts. One minute at a time. 60 minutes. 60 quick cuts. Time is up. Tune in next week to see which song we add, what games we’ll play, what fabulous prizes we’ll win. End scene.
3-They need to be able to manage the transitions between these activities.
Quick cuts means many transitions. We need to be able to transition in an efficient manner. Students need to have the tools to do so, and be motivated to do so.
Mindfulness and meditation are natural tools for this. Intrinsically, breathing techniques are calming in nature, and feel good. We are conditioned to do things that feel good. I combine that with extrinsic motivation, by gamifying my “hourglass timer”. As I have explained before, my two-minute timer has “2 points” on it. Should we use it, but not abuse it, we receive the whole 2 points at the end of the class. Should we use 1 minute of it, we’ll get 1 point. You would be surprised how long ten seconds of breathing exercises is. Well, technically, it’s 10 seconds….but I mean figuratively. It feels long. And we can do that 5-6 times and still get the whole 2 points each.
But it doesn’t have to get to that point. We can learn and practice the routine of knowing we have 5 seconds to get back to our places and sit down after each song. I will say “Stop”, or “Applause” (if it is clear that we got the class point), before counting down, out loud, 5-4-3-2-1-silence. We learn the routine. We do it. We do what we always do. Routine becomes behaviour.
4-They need activities that will calm them down when needed.
Sometimes the activity is overtly calming, like the spa music timer. Sometimes, it’s a matter of choosing a slower, calmer song to settle them down. Sometimes it’s a matter of stringing together a few slower songs. Sometimes it’s a matter of showing a story video. Sometimes it’s a matter of doing a page from the activity book. Sometimes it’s a cooldown at the end of class. We are like orchestra conductors, we have to calm them down when the piece calls for it. It’s like a symphony, with many different parts, some calmer, slower, some more lively.
5-They need a sense of autonomy. They need to feel fulfilled.
As I have mentioned before, a 6-7 year old has no autonomy. They can’t go see a concert, comedy show, game show. If we bring them the opportunity to attend those things in proxy, then they feel like they have a sense of autonomy. It’s a bit like they’re going out to a show.
Autonomy is also being able to go out and buy things that you want. How does that relate to my thoughts on classroom management? These days, I often hear that, in terms of classroom management, we should be mindful of the power dynamic that we wield as adults over kids, as our rationale should be more than just “because I said so, because I’m the adult”. Part of that for me, is paying someone for a job well done. If we are supposed to treat them with respect, and more like adults, not just boss them around on the basis of the adult/child power dynamic, then don’t they need some sort of payment? Would you do your job, if you were no longer paid? Would intrinsic motivation be enough to get you to come back everyday, even if they weren’t paying you? Payment, letting them get a small prize that they choose, is something to them. I frame every small reward as “FABULOUS PRIZES!!!”, because, to them it is. When they get 25 points in the classroom management system, they don’t just get 25 points, they “reach level 1”. They receive their first prize. And every 25 points after that means a new level, and another prize. It could be another picture of a unicorn that I print up for them, a Mr Andrew card, a hockey card, a sticker. FABULOUS PRIZES!! Fabulous prizes are fulfilling, reaching a new level is fulfilling. Extrinsic motivation becomes intrinsic.
6-They need to feel appreciated.
Thank you. Thank you for reading, for getting this far. Thank you for trying out my ESL program. Everyone needs to be seen. Everyone needs to feel appreciated. Thank you for singing with me, for dancing, for laughing, for playing. I couldn’t do it without you.
7-They need to feel a sense of community within their group, to feel a sense of communal responsibilty towards one another.
A class is a community. Often, when it comes to English class, we can throw everything out the window that we know about the class culture they have with their homeroom teacher. We’ll always have those groups that are amazing, but sometimes we need to do more to get them to that point. How can we expect the classes to have the same dynamic with us that they have with their homeroom teacher, when they don’t understand a word we’re saying, and we only see them an hour a week. But we can build that micro-community in our ESL class within their class. And when we feel a sense of community, we feel a sense of responsibility to the members of that community. Our ESL community is based around the shared experience of sharing positive experiences together. We all want to sing and dance these songs. We all want to laugh together. We all want to play together. We are all pulling in the same direction. We are all singing the same song. We are a choir. We are a band. We are an act. If a student doesn’t want to participate, they may not. But they subconsciouly know that if they are disruptive, they are hurting the whole community, as the rest of the community wants to engage in these positive experiences. By being disruptive, they will not receive any of the positive stimulation they crave, that they might otherwise receive should the community not want to sing the songs, because they’re not worth singing. Make the songs good, and there will be peer pressure to not prevent the community from experiencing these positive experiences. They may feel a sense to the community to not take that away from them. They may just not feel emboldened enough to go up against the vast majority of the class that enjoys the class. I always joke about needing 76%. The number is funny, because on the surface, it seems comically specific, even moreso when we explain it to 6 year olds. But it means we have more than 3/4 of the class. Have more than 3/4 of the class, and there is not enough left to derail our train. There is not enough to gather a rebellious faction. A rebellion needs support, and if it isnt’t there, it will fizzle out. If you have 76% of them, you figuratively have all of them.
8-They need to be entertained.
Make it entertaining, and all of the aforementioned needs become easier to fulfill. Make the songs better, catchier, they’ll sing them. If you make stories funnier, with funny graphics, they’ll watch and listen to them, and they might be more motivated to understand them. Make the games funner (more fun? What am I, an English teacher? What? I am? Right…well, as my Grammar Professor told us, “the English language is dynamic, ever-changing, existing not in a vacuum”, so sure, “funner” is a word) and they’ll play them. Let them spin a wheel on a smartboard and click on a match game activity.
9-They need…other things…I’ll see if I can think of anything else….or you can leave it in the comments….
You tell me….
Here is a scenario of how I might do all of this during a lesson.
For the singing part of the lesson, I’ll call up two students at a time and they can choose one friend each to dance. These students will receive a class point. The students I chose feel a sense of autonomy by ensuring their partner wins a point.
The rest of the class can dance at their place and everyone will be called for one of the next songs if they are doing a good job. They can’t wander around though. If they do a good job, as a class (76% participation rate) they all get a point. If, individually, they display disruptive/dangerous behaviour, then I’ll name the behaviour and take away a point. If they lose three points, then they’ll get a message naming the behaviours that caused the loss of points. I’ll remind them about winning points, getting small (yet FABULOUS) prizes like stickers and cards, and group prizes like watching a movie. I’ll remind them that if enough kids are dancing properly, we win a class point for everyone.
It’s winning the small battles so that we can minimize the amount of disruptors. We put on a spa music timer, with 2 points. If we don’t use it all, we get the 2 points, or if we use half of it, one point, or the whole thing? Then nothing, but it’s just a point, no big deal, try again next week.
There is no miracle cure, but this seems to work for me. Reward good behaviour overtly and encourage it. Model it. Name bad behaviour and respond to it when needed. We foster a fun atmosphere, like a variety show or a game show. We can “go crazy”, to a certain extent, but then we sit back down in our seats and wait for the next song.
Anyway! Maybe it’s easier said than done, but you have to create a culture where misbehaving isn’t seen as cool by the rest of the class. There will be subconscious pressure for the child not to stand on a table or punch someone, because it isn’t cool or funny, it is detrimental to the class’ goal of getting enough point to win individual and or group rewards. Ok…I’m done…thanks for listening to my Ted Talk…I mean Gary Talk…
Accompanying stories: The Adventures of life Pt 12: The weather is so unpredictable. The story, based on a true story, but exaggerated for comedic purposes, talks about going on a picnic when the weather is iffy. It rained and we went home, and then it was nice again and we went back….or, in this parallel universe, the weather took a few crazy turns….There are lots of cognates for ease of comprehension, and lots of cool imagery.
Thematic vocabulary: Vocabulary related to weather, and also positive and negative adjectives like: good, bad, better, worse, etc.
Like all of my songs, the title is purposefully descriptive. The song contains a variety of vocabulary related to the weather (rain, sun, snow), with easy dances that mimic a big sun with your hands/arms, rain with your fingers, shivering cold for snow, and a combination of the last two for “freezing rain”. There is also some comprehension vocabulary for “wetter” (same as rain), and dry (with an image of desert in the activity book, and a “hot” hand-waving motion). There is some fun word play with “whether the weather”, and “worse/better, dry/wetter”. Secondary vocabulary includes reinforcement of “I don’t know”..and the concept of “don’t know”, with the same questioning arm gestures we use in other songs. Secondary vocabulary also teaches adjectives like “good, better”, “bad, worse”, and “so-so” with thumbs up, down, and the same “so-so” hand gestures we see with “maybe” in previous songs “hand shaking/pivoting”
After we have already learned the days of the week, month, numbers, we can now start to talk about the day in greater detail, now that we are learning about the weather. During the revision section of the class, we will say “Today is Tuesday, November 11th, 2023. It is sunny and cold” (assuming that is the day and that is the weather…we wouldn’t say that on a hot May morning).
I also take the time to talk about additional vocabulary, such as “hot, cold, cloudy, etc”.
Mr Andrew ESL 