With the help of your body language, try to understand something about the meaning of the story, which will be connected, in some way, to a scene from a previous video.
The purposes of this activity are: to familiarize the students with yoga practices and meditation in English; make the students conscious of time and place and aware of how they can use their bodies.
With the help of your body language, try to understand something about the meaning of the story, which will be connected, in some way, to a scene from a previous video.
The purposes of this activity are: to familiarize the students with yoga practices and meditation in English; make the students conscious of time and place and aware of how they can use their bodies.
With the help of your body language, try to understand something about the meaning of the story, which will be connected, in some way, to a scene from a previous video.
The purposes of this activity are: to familiarize the students with yoga practices and meditation in English; make the students conscious of time and place and aware of how they can use their bodies.
Just like in previous cycles, the Starting Song is the moment for preparation of the Vivadí class. There are different proposals to carry out this activity to strengthen the pedagogic use of the use.
To “clean the house”: the objective is to go through the main articulations of the body and renew those joints with some simple exercises that will refresh the energy.
To ask your students about the video experiences (jornadas), ask them how they did them, if they are liking them so far, which were their favorites, etc.
Remember
1. STARTING SONG
Starting Song - Vivadí
00:00
As usual, we will begin the class with the starting song.
We suggest you let the kids start this activity by themselves, even with abit more autonomy than in previous cycles. Once you see they’ve started singing and dancing, you can join the fun.
If the kids are concentrated, we propose a few activities that will help you manage the energy of the group.
MIRROR DANCING
Ask the children to get in pairs.
One of them will be the dancer and the other will be the mirror.
The idea is that the dancer moves freely to the rhythm of the starting song and the mirror has to imitate the dancer’s moves.
You can tell the children to switch roles halfway through the song so that they all get to act as dancers and as mirrors.
FOUR WORDS EACH
In a circle, start the song by singing the first four words.
The student sitting by your side should sing the following four words, and the next student the four words after that, and so on.
The idea is that the kids listen and pay attention to the words they have to sing out loud.
They win the game if they manage to sing the whole song in this manner!
EUPHORIC MODE
If the kids are euphoric, we propose a few activities that will help you manage the energy of the group.
ADJUSTING VOLUME
Open your hand and raise it as high as you can. While your hand is up and the starting song is playing, sing the lyrics in a loud volume and encourage the kids to do the same.
Then, as your hand goes down, slowly lower the volume making them understand they should lower the volume too. Once they understood the game, play with the volume of the kids singing of the starting song with the use of your hand.
*you can use this resource anytime to adjust the volume of the class by raising or lowering your hand.
CHANGING PLACES
Choose a few of the words that are repeated during the starting song, for example “room” “English” and “Vivadí”.
When the children listen to these words they should switch places with another student or just move to another place in the classroom.
This activity will require an active listening of the song, which will help with the general concentration of the group.
ORCHESTRA
Tell the children to sit in four separate groups. During the starting song, you will be an orchestra director. This means that you decide which group has to sing in different parts of the song.
So, you will point at the group that has to sing and the others will have to remain silent until they are pointed at.
After the starting song you will guide a brief harmony exercise based on breathing movements.
This exercise will help the children gain awareness of their body and concentrate in the present moment.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Divide the students into groups of four and tell them to form small circles. They should remain standing throughout the exercise
To set the mood, begin with this guided meditation with the following video playing in the background. Let the video play until the Harmony phase is finished.
*It is important that you focus on the gestures you use so that the children can follow the exercise and repeat it themselves.
GUIDE:
“Breathe. Breath again, and again. And while you do so, gently put one hand on your chest and the other hand on your belly. Feel how they move when you breathe. Focus on your respiration.”
After 4 or 5 respirations of this exercicse, continue with the blooming flower exercise:
BLOOMING FLOWER
Guide:
“Pay attention to the rhythm of your breath.
When you inhale, open your arms very slowly and bring them up along the side of your body, like a blooming flower. Imagine that you are a beautiful flower that is growing, expanding and becoming more and more beautiful.
When you exhale, bring your arms to your chest like a flower that is closing. When you finish exhaling, your forearms should be crossed in front of your chest and your hands on your shoulders.”
FIRST STAGE:
Individual breathing
1
You will first tell the children to focus on their own breathing and do the blooming flower exercise. Show them how the movement is done as you guide them through it.
*We suggest you watch this video before the class to be able to explain the exercise more clearly to the students. The kids should breathe 5 to 10 times and repeat this movement in every respiration.
SECOND STAGE:
Group breathing
2
Now, the children should do the same exercise but trying to maintain a breathing rhythm in their groups of 4. The idea is that all four students do the inhaling and exhaling movements at the same time.
THIRD STAGE:
Whole class breathing
3
Finally, you will do the blooming exercise trying to maintain the same rythm with the rest of the class. This means that every student should try and inhale and exhale at the same time.
Benefits of the activity
The rhythmic movements and the synchronization favors a calm atmosphere of the group.
This exercise clears the mind and sharpens thinking by increasing the flow of oxygen throughout the body, particularly the brain.
Interpersonal relationship is favored when paying attention to the group’s breathing and seeking a single rhythm.
3. STORYTELLING
3. STORYTELLING
In Oak Tree, students will learn about different countries that have English as their official language. For this group the countries are: India and Singapore.
In this section, your students will read a story from one of the countries. In each class you will read one story from whichever country you choose. Then, have a discussion about the story you read following the discussion questions provided below. Feel free to come up with your own discussion questions!
Reading 1
Pre Reading: Birds are very good builders, they make their own houses pretty easily. They do so to protect their cubs with care and love. Birds use lots of different materials to make their nest. Ask your students:
What birds do you know?
Where do you usually see birds' nests?
What can birds use to make a nest?
Talk about the vocabulary in the story before you start the reading:
Which different materials did the bird use in their nest?
Why did the bird move to a new place for the first time? And the second time?
How did the bird solve his problem?
What are other resolution options for the bird?
Where would you place a nest so it can be safe?
What is your house made of?
Activity: What would you have in your nest?
How: After practicing with the kids the names of the objects used to make a nest, ask them which objects they would use to make theirs. Ask them to draw how the nest would look like.
Reading 2
Pre Reading: When it’s rainy we need an umbrella to prevent us from getting wet.
How: 3D crafts are so much fun than the usual ones, right? The pleated paper makes a great umbrella and the little girl with the googly eyes is so cute! All you need is a folded white paper sheet, some other colored paper, drawing material and your imagination.
Activity: Rain Drop Name
How: In this activity, you’ll need two different color tones of blue paper, white paper and some string (the kids can also connect the cloud with the rain drops just by drawing it). Ask the kids to write their names down into a big cloud. Separate the letters one by one, and create a beautiful raining name! They must do everything by themselves, drawing, writing, cutting and splitting their names.
Reading 3
Pre Reading: Kids love to use their imagination to create new things in their world. In their world, a pencil case can become a beautiful car or a spaceship or a million different things. Ask your students:
Do you ever use your imagination to play?
Do you use your supplies to pretend or to create a story?
Are you used to playing by yourself? What do you like to do when you are alone?
Have you ever tried to imagine a story? What would it be like?
How: As Chiu cannot see very well, at the end of the story she asks for help to learn some geometric shapes hidden in objects. Ask the students to count how many shapes they can find in each image. .
Activity: Tell a Story
How: Show students different objects and ask them to choose, one at a time. Tell them what the object looks like and what story they could tell using that object. .
4. GAME
4. GAME
In this section, choose one of the games to play with your students.
Game: Find the object
How: Children don’t even have to get out of their seats for this game, but they can! Have one student start by finding an object and saying, “I see something [fill in the blank with a color or a shape].” The first person to guess the item correctly gets to choose the next object. This can be a fun one to play on Zoom too!
Game: 3,2,1 blastoff!
How: Instruct students to stand and then squat down with their hands on the ground in front of them. All together, count down 3, 2, 1. When you get to zero, they should push up like a rocket, jumping as high as they can, letting all of their energy burst from their center.
This exercise consists of making different movements with your feet and hands. Use this harmony phase to get the attention of the kids back to themselves by doing the short movement exercises.
FEET MOVES
ROTATION
This means moving your feet 5 times clockwise, and 5 times counterclockwise. To help the children imagine the movement, tell them to draw circles in the air with their feet.
FLEXION AND EXTENSION
This exercise consists of extending your feet to the floor and then flexing it back pointing towards your body. Repeat this movement 5 times with each foot. You can tell the kids to press the floor downwards with their toes and then raise their toes to the sky.
HAND MOVES
PASSIN THE BALL
Alternatively, open your hands and then close them back again. Tell your students that they have to pass an imaginary ball from hand to hand.
ROTATION
Make five clockwise rotations with your wrists and five rotations counterclockwise.
BOUNCING THE BALL
Extend your arms forward with your palms facing down, and then raise and lower your hands 5 times as if you were bouncing a ball against the floor.
TIPS:
You can count out loud to guide the students with the movements and those who want to count aloud with you can do it too.
These exercises are simple and do not require a prior training. The hands and feet are important nerve centers in the body. Therefore, these exercises that appear to be insignificant have a balancing effect.
6. POPCORN TIME
6. POPCORN TIME
In this section, students will watch the animated version of a story! Choose one of the following videos for them to watch
This exercise, just like the previous harmony exercise, consists of making different movements with specific parts of your body only, that this time you will move your shoulders, your arms and your head.
ARMS AND SHOULDERS MOVES
SHOULDER ROTATION
With your fingers fixed on your shoulders, make five circles with your elbows in one direction and five in the opposite direction. Try to synchronize your respiration with the rotations
FLEXION AND EXTENSION OF THE FOREARM ELBOW
While you slowly inhale, extend your arms so that they are parallel to the floor and with your palms facing up.
While you slowly exhale, bend your elbows by bringing your hands toward your shoulders.
HEAD
MOVES
HEAD TO THE SIDE
Drop your head to your right side first, and hold it with your right arm. Then do the same but to the left side.
HEAD ROTATIONS
Slowly make five head rotations to one side and then five rotations to the opposite side.
Repeat these movements five times.
They favor the development of the thoracic cage and a good ventilation of the lungs, which in turn, increases the flow of oxygen to the brain and improve your overall muscle tone.
These exercises should be done with caution. Make sure that the cervical vertebrae are aligned with the dorsal axis. It is very important that the spine remains erect. Also, remember not to stretch your head too far forward or backwards.
They relieve tension from your head and neck. They have a calming effect, especially if you manage to synchronize the movements with your respiration. Also, they are an excellent way of bringing back the attention when you feel your students are restless and disperse.
In this section, students will learn about the countries through their national dances. The students will follow the tutorials of the videos so that they can learn and try dancing the videos! You should try it as well!
Finally, as always, you will sing our well-known Ending Song.
Make sure everyone sings it out loud together. Encourage, especially those kids that don't participate much in class, to see if they can repeat the song phonetically.
Do not forget to put the class back in order while you sing.
