Monday, May 26, 2008

Olas y holas

At the beginning of each class, we do a greeting activity- this not only establishes a routine the kids can expect, but provides an opportunity for them to practice simple interpersonal vocabulary and skills. Here is a simple one which plays on the homonyms, ola and hola.

The entire group recites the following:
Olas que vienen,
Olas que van,
Hola __________,
¿cómo te va?

The name of a student is put in the blank- you can choose which child will be next in a wide variety of ways:
-the child currently being greeted rolls a ball to another child, who will get the next turn
-using popsicle sticks with all of the students' names on them, the teacher randomly chooses a popsicle stick and calls out the name
-children are greeted in the order in which they are sitting- this works best when they are sitting in a circle

The child who is being greeted then answers the question- ¡Bien! works perfectly even for the littlest of students.

Next student is selected and the greeting is repeated and so on until all students have been greeted.

*It is really cute to have the students make wave motions as the poem is recited.

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