December with Teacher Daniella

Bones Review!

At the end of December, we reviewed the bones in the body (which we learned earlier on in the term!).

The best way to review content with year two is always a game! So, I picked two students at a time to stand back to back and listen to the countdown '3...2...1...0!'. When I got to zero, they turned around to face each other and I would say a bone that they needed to touch on their body.

The students love watching and playing this game and it really helped them to remember the bones in the body in English.

The next step up in the lesson was for the other students to do the countdown and say a bone for the competing students to touch. This was great as the students could practise their communicative English skills as well as observe the game when not playing it themself.

To get everyone involved the game was very quick and the slowest competitor would switch places with another student. This meant the stakes were high if you wanted to play more than once... I don't think I have seen the students so motivated!

At the end of the lesson we watched a Youtube video about bones where we could all sing and dance to help remember the bones better. This was great for kinesthetic learners who could use their body to remember the bones in their body!

Christmas

We also looked at Christmas in the UK so that they could think about how different cultures celebrate differently!

We looked at some pictures of food and games played in the UK over the Christmas period. I also asked them what they do at Christmas so they could practise conversing in English about what they do and love at Christmas time.

November

Traditions and Festivals in the UK and Spain

In November, we talked about traditions and festivals in Spain and the UK.

To start off with a communicative activity, I asked the students about 'traditional' food in Spain and what they thought of it. Then, we looked at some traditional British foods. This was a great chance to bring in some British culture as part of my role as a foreign language assistant.

This is a classic 'Afternoon Tea' in the UK, with scones, jam and clotted cream alongside black tea with milk. Teacher Maria and I drew some links between the Afternoon Tea we have in the UK and
'La Merienda' in Spain. We asked the students what they thought of the British foods and if they would like to try them one day.

I showed the class pictures of some traditions, festivals and activities in the UK and my childhood village.

They watched a video about this activity, 'May Pole Dancing', where children dance with one another using ribbons and a central pole. 

Then the class worked in their science books to identify different festivals and traditions in Spain. This was a fantastic chance to introduce them to another culture's traditions and festivals, to expand their knowledge of the Anglo world and get them to think outside of their Spanish customs and norms.