I have always wanted to work on feelings with my youngest students , in a more creative way!
It was last year, the day I attended Maria Papadimitriou ‘s inspiring talk, in one of our local English Teachers’ Association seminar days, when I finally decided ,to do so! Maria, is a passionate state primary school English teacher, working in a village school , in central Greece.
Maria, presented her teachings tips and ideas in detail and gave us examples about how to work on feelings with the students, successfully!
I decided to try most of her suggestions with my afternoon classes and found out that they really worked !! This is why I am here today, to share them with all of you, too! Because,they worked!!
Day 1
Step 1: Students learn and sing any feelings song-s . The songs I used with my students, can be found in: http://www.preschoolers.com/music-station09/feelings-songs-april.shtml
Lesson Plan
What we need: a puppet,a soft ball,a CD player,paper plates,straws, a stappler, feelings flashcards, a “feelings” dice or spinner, a feelings check- in board or a poster
Language :happy, sad, hungry, thirsty, tired,angry,scared, how are you feeling, today?, Are you…? , Yes, I am, No, I am not
Lesson 1
Warm up-5 min
The puppet role plays a small dialogue and presents the feelings vocabulary to the students!
Task 1
The feelings check-in board
The puppet asks each student, how he/she is feeling.Then, the puppet calls out students’ names it gives each of them a clothes pin with their name on and asks them to tag it on the picture which is their feeling at the moment, on the feelings check-in board or poster.
Task 2- 10 min
Students listen to “Hello, how are you” song or any other similar one .The song I used with my students, can be found here: rcel.enl.uoa.gr/peap/b-taksi/kyklos/how-are-you-feeling-today
Task 3
Students make different feelings puppets using paper plates and straws.
End of the lesson-5 min
The puppet asks students “How are you feeling NOW”? Students, spot the changes in their mood.
The students, imitate their feeling and then , change the position of the clothes pin on the feelings poster, if their feelings have changed ! They may use, more than one clothes pins.
Day 2
Lesson 2
Warm-up -2 min
The teacher uses flashcards, to revise happy, sad, tired, hungry, thirsty and to add angry, scared, hot, cold!
Task 1-10 min
A soft ball game
The teacher, throws the ball to students and asks: ” How are you feeling, today”?Students, reply.
Task 2- 10 min
The teacher uses a feelings dice or spinner ( I used the beautiful spinner , my partner and friend in Taiwan Annie Tsai had sent me ) and asks the students to play a miming game . Students mime the feeling on the dice/spinner and their classmates try to guess.
Task 3-10 min
Story reading: ” Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”
As students listen to the story, they are asked to raise their paper plate masks to indentify their feelings in each different stage.
End of the lesson- 10 min
Students play the ” How are you feeling Mr Wolf” playground game.
Each time the players ask Mr Wolf this question, he answers with a feeling word. All the players , have to immitate his feeling!
Finally, the Wolf says, ” I am Hungry”! When he does, all students rush away and run all over the playground, trying not to get caught by the Wolf! Whoever gets caught first, becomes the Wolf in the new round.
Useful sites to visit
http://www.mce.gr ( Emotions museum of Childhood in Athens)
http://www.eslflashcards.com/preview.php?id=14
ELT inspired 