[ola] OLA meetings notes - 9/27/2012

From: Nanosh Lucas <nanoshlucas@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2012 07:24:13 -0700
Nanosh:

Students lead the first 5min or so of class with the same routine. Nanosh began 
to teach all students the routine so absolutely anyone in class could be 
responsible for leading the class. Procedures:
Leader 1:
1. Enter the class.
2. Sign the roll sheet.
3. Get in a circle.
4. Sit down.
5. Close your eyes and observe your respiration for 1-2min (depending on class 
desire)
6. Stand up.
Leader 2:
Follow leader and repeat the words he says/do the hand motions.

Nanosh had all students repeat over and over again & practice in small groups:
1. Círculo, por favor.
2. Siéntense, por favor.
3. Un minuto de silencio, por favor.
4. Levántense, por favor.

He also trained students to politely silence other students when they began 
speaking English:
1. Silencio, por favor.
2. No inglés, por favor.
3. Español, por favor.
4. Sshhhh, por favor.

Games:
1. Variation of Zip/zap/zop - One person says ZIP and points to another person 
in the circle. Another person says ZAP, pointing to a new person. The next 
person says ZOP, pointing to a new person. Recycle. If students miss the order 
or hesitate, then they are out of the circle. Nanosh modified the game for 
Spanish vowel sounds: A E I O U. He trained students for the game using a ball, 
which gives students more time to think, then he took away the ball and 
students pointed at one another, making the game very fast.
2. 5 up, 5 down - Worked well for Span 1 - needs adjustment for use in higher 
levels. Audience watches while 5 students are in the front. The first student 
steps forward and acts out a situation (accident, for example). The second 
student steps forward with a DIFFERENT situation, changing the previous 
student's situation, who also must act out the new situation. And so on until 
the fifth person. Meanwhile, the teacher can teach the rest of the class the 
vocabulary associated with the situations. After the fifth person goes, he or 
she sits down, and the same acting it out situation happens in reverse order. 
Once the students have completed, the next five get up and act it out.
3. Nanosh is thinking about assigning HW, or having a discussion during an 
English day, to have students embellish activities in order to make them more 
useful for language learning.

Saul:

Played Achi Pachi
Played Matamoscas (flyswatter game) with circumlocution

Lisa:
Played "Pelea de gallina" (Chicken fight)
Students each have a piece of tape with a vocab word on their backs. In pairs, 
they try to look at the other person's back with their hands tied behind their 
backs. Once they see the word, (if they can) they must act out the word. Then 
the student gets a new piece of tape/vocab stuck to his or her back. Notes: 
inside space is better than outside space.

Kate F-J:
Is having students specialize in a subject.
Asking for possible structures.
Asking students to think about how to bring food/other things they want to 
learn into the classroom.
How best to teach students slang and colloquialisms (Ahmunago = "I'm going to 
go" equivalents in Spanish).

Darcy:
Working on ways to get students with negative/distractive energy to use it for 
the good of the class.
Stays totally in Spanish in Span 1 with no "¿Cómo se dice?"

Franky:
CALL OUT students doing side conversations - find out what they are talking 
about and make it part of the class.
Looking for more focus activities

Caleb:
A student told a story completely in Spanish in his lower-level class

Gerardo:
Saw lesson in which a student got behind another student's back, putting his or 
her arms through the other person's arms, and manipulated the head/body of the 
person in front of him/her to act out the vocabulary. Fun idea - watch out for 
male/female inappropriate touching/smelly & unclean hands, etc.

Sorry if I missed anyone - feel free to add!

Gracias,

Nanosh
[ola] OLA meetings notes - 9/27/2012

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