[rkittle1]

I am a first grade middle school teacher in Korea. When I teach, I only see each class once a week. So, what I do is divide my lessons into 2 weeks. For the first week that I see the students, I go over vocabulary and things like that. For the second week, I play a game that deals with the vocabulary from the previous week. So, I have decided to post my "Body Parts" lesson for anyone that needs it.

Of course, most students know the main body parts, such as arm, leg, mouth, etc... So, I teach them new words, like thigh, calf, elbow, stomach, etc... For the first week, i show a powerpoint presentation of the body parts with funny, animated clip-art pictures (I get most of them off the internet). Then, I have them get into pairs and pass out a crossword puzzle of body parts. Then, whichever team finishes the crossword first, I will give a prize to (such as small candy or stickers).

Then, the next week, i let them decide between two different games to choose from. We have "Simon Says" (which to my suprise, they actually liked! I thought that they would think that they were too old for that game), and the other game is "Body Spelling".

In The 'body spelling' game, i divide the students into 6 different groups, with 6 students in each group. Then, I pass out some index cards with a different body part on each card. The cards are bound together by a ring for each group, that way the cards don't get lost. (I had to make the cards myself, but it took about 30 minutes because I handwrote everything.)

So, i pass to each group a stack of index cards. There are 15 cards for each group. The groups should then try to spell the words using their whole bodies. And every member should participate. So, if there are 6 members in the group, but only 4 letters in a word, then 2 members of the group should help to make one letter. When a group has made a word, they should raise there hands, and Me (or the co-teacher) will go to them and try to guess what it spells without looking at their cards. I write down which groups did which words (that way they dont do the same word twice). I actually made a graph on the computer with rows and columns to keep it organized. Then, the first group to complete all of the words, or the group with the most words completed by the time the bell rings, is the winner. It usually lasts almost the whole class period, but I try to stop about 10 minutes prior to the bell so they can have a "cool-down" time. Then I give them an easy word search puzzle to help them quiet down.

Example: (6 students/ group) The vocabulary word is "Eyes". So, 2 students make the first "E" together, one students makes a "Y", 2 students make the second "E", and one student makes an "S". So all of the members participated.

And, actually, I did not have any trouble with students not participating. Most seemed to enjoy this. We did this in a regular size class, so it is possible, but I would suggest to do it in a bigger space if at all possible.

One warning....It may get loud. It just depends on the class. Half of mine were loud, and the other half kept normal tones, so it just depends.

I've uploaded the graph that I use to help keep track of the students/body parts.

[English-coach]

Thanks for that. Seems like a great idea!

[po3try]

Some really useful ideas, thanks!