Estimados colegas,
This is an icebreaker activity that I plan on using in the upper levels starting next week:
Students will draw two pictures (templates below):
1) Something that makes them special, and
2) Something of which they are afraid.
I will use their drawings for all of us to begin to know one another and build trust in the classroom. We will talk with each student and get to know them as I model proper attitudes and decorum in the classroom.
This is Oprah-style interviewing with Stephen Krashen hovering in the background: everything they say about themselves is wonderful and I occasionally throw in my opinions about how great I think they are. The aim is to produce comprehensible in put in the target language that moves past interesting to compelling: talk that is so captivating that they cannot help but pay attention, conversation that engages them to the degree that they will forget we are speaking in Spanish because they are caught up in the content.
This activity responds to common district/building requests that we differentiate strategies to reach all kids. It hits on many of the Low Prep and High Prep Classroom Strategies. It is a tiered and flexible strategy where we will explore their interests with multiple levels of questioning. I will adjust the level of my speaking to match the comprehension level of each student and each class. As I “interview” each student I will do constant comprehension checks (mainly by looking into their eyes as we speak) and adjust the complexity of my language as we chat. If it seems like a student response is a bit tough for the average class member, I will “report back” to the class using speech that is at a slightly lower level until all understand.
No one will be forced to speak or share here, but all will be given an opportunity. This activity will last as long as the energy and interest hold out—I imagine for two to three weeks, or even much longer if I am skilled enough to keep the mojo going. We will do other activities along the way, but in my mind this will be the emotional core of every class at the beginning of the year.
This activity could also work with the lower level classes with modifications. See Ben Slavic’s “Circling with Balls” activity at benslavic.com/resources for more ideas on how this might work in level I or II.
Feel free to steal this idea and/or modify it for your assignment.Here are the two templates:
Nombre
____________________________________________
Grado ___
Dibuja algo que te hace especial:
¡No has terminado todavía! Ve el otro lado, por favor.
Dibuja algo que te da mie: