Inner outer circle activity is successful again

I have new students and am teacher the same thing I taught in trimester 1.  Spanish 1 is just beginning and getting into phrases you would use when meeting someone for the first time.  I took my classes down to a large open area near the auditorium and had them form 2 circles, one inside the other.  They conversed on assigned topics and rotated in order to switch partners each time we did a different piece of the conversation.  They did a fantastic job and ALL were actively participating.  It was also nice to leave the room and learn in a new setting.  Today, I had a student ask if we could do that activity again and she said, "I learned so well when we did that activity."  She actually called it a game, meaning she had fun doing it. 

This continues to prove to me that movement is a great tool one can use in the classroom.  The kids are full of energy and it is an effective avenue to allow them to utilize their energy for learning.  At the same time, too much of it could hamper their interest of those types of activities, so I think using a variety of activities is important.

What's new?

This was the final week of the trimester for my school, so I will have a number of new students next week.  This week, Spanish 1 was learning about food.  One activity the students engaged in was an interactive questionaire about foods.  They had a list of quesetions in Spanish like, ¿Te gusta el pescado? (Do you like fish?)  They had to find someone in the room that would answer "yes" to that question.  They had a list of questions, so it was their job to gather signatures speaking Spanish and using the new vocabluary.  I monitored their participation.  Their participation was excellent; a very high percentage if not 100% engaged and participated in the activity, but not everyone used Spanish the entire time.  I think they enjoyed it and learned from it.

As I get new students next week, it will be interesting to see how they react to all the activities we do involving movement.  I saw great results with the students I had first trimester, so we will see if the data continues to say what it has said up to this point.