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Humanising Language Teaching
Year 4; Issue 6; November 02
HANDS
Dominique Byl, Dutch teacher, I.E.P.S.C.F. - Uccle, Belgium E-mail: eldobyl@hotmail.com
Level : intermediate-advanced
Time : 60 minutes (+20 minutes the next day)
Language functions: - describing usual everyday actions
- telling about oneself
- group dynamics
Procedure:
a) PREPARATION:
- cut out pairs of hands from paper (one paper hand/student) and, on each hand, draw something (animal, object, geometrical figure...). Each drawing is made twice (left hand/right hand)
- Gather pictures of people doing something with their hands - a lot of material can be found in advertisements and children books –
- Write down a list of words according to the pictures you have selected: e.g. to stroke, to pick up…
b) IN THE CLASSROOM:
1. Warm up:
- (a) Ask the students to walk around in the classroom and to put both of their hands on 10 different places.
(b) Everybody stands in a circle and shows his hands; each student says something about how his hands are "feeling" at that moment: "my hands are beautiful / dusty /... “ you can see that I did some gardening yesterday" "my hands are like butterflies" "I see a scar”.
They can start with "I'm Sally and my hands feel sweet"
(c) Invite them to say "Hello!" to each student by putting their thumbs and little fingers against each other.
2. Pair the students:
(a) Give everybody a "paper hand" (see preparation 1) and ask them to find their partners - someone who has the same drawing on "his hand"- and check out whether all the pairs are OK (“we both have a flower" etc.)
(b) Then, propose them to tell each other the STORY of their hands: “When I was a little boy, I fell down and broke my thumb" or what their hands CAN DO, are good at: "my hands can play the guitar”
3. Put two pairs together:
What can my hands learn from yours? Let them experience gestures and step-by-step procedures: (e.g.: this is the way I polish my nails) (variation: find as many actions as your hands can do)
4. "What are those hands doing?"
Give each group pictures (see preparation 2) and ask them to name the actions: "he is throwing something away"
If necessary, help them by giving them the list of words (see preparation)
5. To end up
Everybody stands in a circle again and mimes anything he has done in the previous steps. The others observe and comment (e.g.: “he's picking up an apple")
Follow-ups:
1. The next day: propose the students to draw a big hand on a sheet of paper and to write words they relate to hands. They compare their lists (creativity/imagination, words connections and semantic enrichment)
e.g.: ”the big hairy hand of King Kong holding a tiny girl”
Display the drawings on the walls.
2. Later on (advanced levels): organize a word session: who can find more “hand-word/idioms” in song lyrics, in newspapers, in a film they see in the classroom.
Write them all on a giant hand.