Here are the steps to follow:
1. Completely erase the entire white board. You will want the
space.
2. Number the entire board from 1 to 35. Place holiday appropriate
symbols, like pumpkins, around each number.
3. Put a large assortment of dry erase pens at the front of the
room. The more color variety the better.
4. After school, the day before the holiday vacation, have
each student in your most advanced class go to the board and draw a culturally
appropriate picture next to a number. If your class is smaller than 35, they
will need to draw more than one. Be sure to explain to the class the night
before they need to come up with three or four ideas for their drawings. Most
students are eager, although the shy need some encouragement. After this has
become a tradition in your classes, you will overhear students commenting they
look forward to being in the class that gets to draw the pictures. Never let an
underclassman participate in putting the pictures on the board.
5. Check each picture as they finish drawing. A few may need a
little help so their drawings are clear, and some can be too obscure. You may need
to edit, as students can be a bit gross at time. One Thanksgiving students drew
a very vivid picture of a turkey being beheaded. I erased that one. Remember,
all day students are going to see these pictures. You want to understand them,
so you can give hints if necessary. My favorite was The Twilight Zone Marathon.
It became a tradition in my program which was passed down each year from class
to class.
6. Before the first class arrives the next morning, place a stack
of German (French, Spanish, Chinese)/English dictionaries on the first desk of
each row. I always had enough dictionaries that students could work in groups
of two. Three does not work. Working alone is tough.
7. Students should look up what they see on the board, and write
the German (French, etc.) on their own papers. Don’t let them put two student
names on one paper. This never works. Trust me on this. One paper is
turned in by each student in class.
8. They must write the definite article and the noun. If there is
an adjective, like in a drawing of black cat, they must include the adjective,
with the correct ending. This allows you to preview grammar not yet taught.
Students are very receptive to this, and ask for help. It’s a contest. They
want to win.
9. Buy a small bag of individually wrapped candy (or
stickers) and give a piece to each member of the first team finished. Be sure
to check their work. Sometimes they make errors, of course. Don’t be too picky.
Perfection is not the goal.
10. After the first group finishes, and as each group
finishes, they will help their classmates. You’ll find they don’t give them the
answers, but give them hints instead, especially in grammar.
11. Collect work as students finish and the rest of the papers at
the end of the period. Grading is subjective. First year classes typically have
a few students who finish by the end of the class period. Most, however, finish
about half of the pictures. Second year will complete more. The majority
complete about two-thirds of the pictures. Most third year students finish them
all, as do AP/IB/fourth year students.
12. There are several goals in this lesson. Students learn the
correct way to use the dictionary. They learn the symbols and abbreviations. It
removes the mind-numbing boredom a dictionary lesson creates, and replaces it
with fun.
Students learn vocabulary that’s both meaningful, and is usually
more advanced than where they are in the curriculum. This they do without
complaint. You are able to foreshadow grammar, so when it arrives later in the
school year, you’re able to point back to what they discovered at Thanksgiving.
Finally, it keeps students focused, doing an academic lesson
without arguing at a time where students are going nuts in other classes. I had
four decades of happy “day befores” while colleagues were losing their minds.
If you don’t teach a foreign language class, adapt this lesson to
your curriculum. Remember to keep it fun and entertaining, but academic.
Photo credit: Google Images
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What a wonderful lesson plan! I am sure that many teachers will find it helpful!
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