With the help of your body language, try to understand something about the meaning of the story, which will be connected, in some way, to a scene from a previous video.
The purposes of this activity are: to familiarize the students with yoga practices and meditation in English; make the students conscious of time and place and aware of how they can use their bodies.
With the help of your body language, try to understand something about the meaning of the story, which will be connected, in some way, to a scene from a previous video.
The purposes of this activity are: to familiarize the students with yoga practices and meditation in English; make the students conscious of time and place and aware of how they can use their bodies.
With the help of your body language, try to understand something about the meaning of the story, which will be connected, in some way, to a scene from a previous video.
The purposes of this activity are: to familiarize the students with yoga practices and meditation in English; make the students conscious of time and place and aware of how they can use their bodies.
Just like in previous cycles, the Starting Song is the moment for preparation of the Vivadí class. There are different proposals to carry out this activity to strengthen the pedagogic use of the use.
To “clean the house”: the objective is to go through the main articulations of the body and renew those joints with some simple exercises that will refresh the energy.
To ask your students about the video experiences (jornadas), ask them how they did them, if they are liking them so far, which were their favorites, etc.
Remember
1. STARTING SONG
Starting Song - Vivadí
00:00
As usual, we will begin the class with the starting song.
We suggest you let the kids start this activity by themselves, even with a bit more autonomy than in previous cycles. Once you see they’ve started singing and dancing, you can join the fun.
If the kids are concentrated, we propose a few activities that will help you manage the energy of the group.
MIRROR DANCING
Ask the children to get in pairs.
One of them will be the dancer and the other will be the mirror.
The idea is that the dancer moves freely to the rhythm of the starting song and the mirror has to imitate the dancer’s moves.
You can tell the children to switch roles halfway through the song so that they all get to act as dancers and as mirrors.
EUPHORIC MODE
If the kids are euphoric, we propose a few activities that will help you manage the energy of the group.
ADJUSTING VOLUME
Open your hand and raise it as high as you can. While your hand is up and the starting song is playing, sing the lyrics in a loud volume and encourage the kids to do the same.
Then, as your hand goes down, slowly lower the volume making them understand they should lower the volume too. Once they understood the game, play with the volume of the kids singing of the starting song with the use of your hand.
*you can use this resource anytime to adjust the volume of the class by raising or lowering your hand.
CHANGING PLACES
Choose a few of the words that are repeated during the starting song, for example “room” “English” and “Vivadí”.
When the children listen to these words they should switch places with another student or just move to another place in the classroom.
This activity will require an active listening of the song, which will help with the general concentration of the group.
ORCHESTRA
Tell the children to sit in four separate groups. During the starting song, you will be an orchestra director. This means that you decide which group has to sing in different parts of the song.
So, you will point at the group that has to sing and the others will have to remain silent until they are pointed at.
After the starting song you will choose one of the following breathing exercises to do with your students or one of the following videos below.
These exercises will help the children gain awareness of their body and concentrate in the present moment.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Divide the students into groups of four and tell them to form small circles. They should remain standing throughout the exercise
To set the mood, begin with this guided meditation with the following video playing in the background. Let the video play until the Harmony phase is finished.
*It is important that you focus on the gestures you use so that the children can follow the exercise and repeat it themselves.
GUIDE:
“Breathe. Breath again, and again. And while you do so, gently put one hand on your chest and the other hand on your belly. Feel how they move when you breathe. Focus on your respiration.”
After 4 or 5 respirations of this exercicse, continue with the blooming flower exercise:
BLOOMING FLOWER
FIRST STAGE: Individual breathing
1
Guide:
“Pay attention to the rhythm of your breath.
When you inhale, open your arms very slowly and bring them up along the side of your body, like a blooming flower. Imagine that you are a beautiful flower that is growing, expanding and becoming more and more beautiful.
When you exhale, bring your arms to your chest like a flower that is closing. When you finish exhaling, your forearms should be crossed in front of your chest and your hands on your shoulders.”
You will first tell the children to focus on their own respiration and do the blooming flower exercise. Show them how the movement is done as you guide them through it.
*We suggest you watch this video before the class to be able to explain the exercise more clearly to the students. The kids should breathe 5 to 10 times and repeat this movement in every respiration.
SECOND STAGE: Group breathing
2
Now, the children should do the same exercise but trying to maintain a breathing rhythm in their groups of 4. The idea is that all four students do the inhaling and exhaling movements at the same time.
THIRD STAGE:
Whole class breathing
3
Finally, you will do the blooming exercise trying to maintain the same rythm with the rest of the class. This means that every student should try and inhale and exhale at the same time.
Benefits of the activity
The rhythmic movements and the synchronization favors a calm atmosphere of the group.
This exercise clears the mind and sharpens thinking by increasing the flow of oxygen throughout the body, particularly the brain.
Interpersonal relationship is favored when paying attention to the group’s breathing and seeking a single rhythm.
Tip: even if you have audio-visual support, your body language is key to make children understand the meaning of the story and also make it significant to them.
You can choose between these options with no particular order, but remember how important repetition is. So, if you choose to repeat one story more than once, don’t worry if another story is never told.
Reading 1
Pre Reading: Everything can be scary. A shadow can become a monster; a noise can become very terrifying. When it happens they run to their mom. Ask your students:
Are you afraid of something?
What do you do when you are afraid?
Do you think everybody is afraid of something?
Do you think lions are afraid of something?
What can we do when we feel afraid?
Reading 1: Lions are always brave (PDF)
Lions are always brave (Video)
Post Reading:
What did the lion say he is?
Is the lion strong or weak?
Is the lion fast or slow?
Is the lion stretchy or stiff?
What scared the lion?
Is the lion brave?
Are you afraid of the storm?
Activity: Let's pretend to be a lion
How: Ask your students to pretend to be a lion. Move as if you were...
Strong- show your arm’s muscles;
Run very fast- run around with the students;
Stretchy- challenge them to make moves showing their elasticity.
Activity: Guess what animal it is
How: After practicing the lion’s characteristics, randomly pick the characteristics from a hat. After choosing 3 or 4 characteristics, suggest them to think of an animal that matches. Make a beautiful drawing and share with the rest of the class.
Activity: Characteristics game
How: After practicing the lion’s characteristics and its opposites, let’s make a miming game using all of them. Choose one of the students, tell the characteristics in its ear, they must make their best impression of it, and the rest of the class must guess which characteristic it is.
Reading 2
Pre Reading: Usually we are afraid of things bigger and more powerful than us. A little mouse being scared of a big lion. Ask your students:
Who do you think is more powerful? The lion or the mouse? Why?
What animals do you think might help a mouse in that situation?
What animals do you think might help a lion in that situation?
Reading 1: The lion and the mouse
Post Reading:
Let's try to remember the story:
What happened first? What was the lion doing?
What did the mouse do when the lion woke up?
How did the mouse help the lion?
What did you learn from the story?
Activity: Organizing game
How: Pick an animal habitat (ocean, forest, city, lagoon…) and choose the animals from there and create an organizing game with them. From the smaller to the biggest, the most colorful to the least colorful, the cooler to the not so cool.. let their imagination fly.
Reading 3
Pre Reading: Sometimes we can’t do certain things by ourselves. When that happens, we need to ask for help, from our friends and our family.
When do you need help, who do you call?
What are the things you usually ask help for
What are the things you already can do on your own?
Did anyone ask for your help to do something?
Reading: Mama Antelopes' House
What did mom antelope need help for?
What animals did the mama antelope call to help her?
Who was inside the house?
At the end of the story were the animals happy or sad? How do you know that?
Activity: Miming Game
How: After practicing the name of the animals, do a miming game! Call the students one by one, ask them to pick one animal from the story. They must do an impression of the animal, and the rest of the students must find you which animal that is.
Activity: Which animal are we doing?
How: Ask one of the students to be outside of the classroom. The others inside will pick an animal from the story. The outside student must knock on the door and ask “open the door please!”. When the door is open, all the students inside are miming the same animal. The one outside must find out.
Activity: Which is it?
How: Place one student inside a circle, and he must close his eyes. Ask one student from the circle to impressionate an animal from the story. The kid in the circle must find out the animal and the classmate who's doing it.
4. GAME
4. GAME
Game: Simon Says
How: In this game, the kids must follow the teacher’s commands, only if it starts with “Simon Says”. Example: “Simon says jump!” and all the kids must jump. If the teacher only says “jump!”, the kids can’t follow the command. This game allows a lot of possibilities, since the commands can be varied. Online: This activity works the same way online!
Game: Freeze
How: Pick songs from this playlist. Ask the students to stand up and play a song. Play and pause at certain moments (whenever you think is best) and the students have to freeze. Whoever moves, has to sit down. Online: This activity works the same way online!
Game: Rhyme Time
How: Teach students the following rhyme: I'm hungry, I'm hungry! What could I eat? I can eat a/an... (That shows the students a flashcard of one of the foods in the history to complete the sentence) ...to get full and happy. Do this with various foods until the students memorize the rhyme.
Game: Went to the market
How: Sit your students in a circle, and start the sentence “I went to the market and bought…” and let them complete the sentence. The second kid must say the first kid’s and his own food, and so on.
Game: Craft Time
How: Choose one of the following videos for your students to do!
How: I Spy is a great game to keep students attended and concentrated. You have to secretly select an object they are going to spy on. Provide simple clues about an object ("I spy something that makes a lot of noise") and have to continue to give clues until one of the other students correctly guesses the object.
5. HARMONY 2.0
5. HARMONY
CLEANING THE HOUSE PART I
This exercise consists of making different movements with your feet and hands. Use this harmony phase to get the attention of the kids back to themselves by doing the short movement exercises.
FEET MOVES
ROTATION
This means moving your feet 5 times clockwise, and 5 times counterclockwise. To help the children imagine the movement, tell them to draw circles in the air with their feet.
FLEXION AND EXTENSION
This exercise consists of extending your feet to the floor and then flexing it back pointing towards your body. Repeat this movement 5 times with each foot. You can tell the kids to press the floor downwards with their toes and then raise their toes to the sky.
HAND MOVES
PASSIN THE BALL
Alternatively, open your hands and then close them back again. Tell your students that they have to pass an imaginary ball from hand to hand.
ROTATION
Make five clockwise rotations with your wrists and five rotations counterclockwise.
BOUNCING THE BALL
Extend your arms forward with your palms facing down, and then raise and lower your hands 5 times as if you were bouncing a ball against the floor.
TIPS:
You can count out loud to guide the students with the movements and those who want to count aloud with you can do it too.
These exercises are simple and do not require a prior training. The hands and feet are important nerve centers in the body. Therefore, these exercises that appear to be insignificant have a balancing effect.
6. POPCORN TIME
6. POPCORN TIME
In this section, students will watch the animated version of a story, so choose the video that you think your students will like best.
This exercise, just like the previous harmony exercise, consists of making different movements with specific parts of your body only, that this time you will move your shoulders, your arms and your head.
ARMS AND SHOULDERS MOVES
SHOULDER ROTATION
With your fingers fixed on your shoulders, make five circles with your elbows in one direction and five in the opposite direction. Try to synchronize your respiration with the rotations
FLEXION AND EXTENSION OF THE FOREARM ELBOW
While you slowly inhale, extend your arms so that they are parallel to the floor and with your palms facing up.
While you slowly exhale, bend your elbows by bringing your hands toward your shoulders.
HEAD
MOVES
HEAD TO THE SIDE
Drop your head to your right side first, and hold it with your right arm. Then do the same but to the left side.
HEAD ROTATIONS
Slowly make five head rotations to one side and then five rotations to the opposite side.
Repeat these movements five times.
They favor the development of the thoracic cage and a good ventilation of the lungs, which in turn, increases the flow of oxygen to the brain and improve your overall muscle tone.
These exercises should be done with caution. Make sure that the cervical vertebrae are aligned with the dorsal axis. It is very important that the spine remains erect. Also, remember not to stretch your head too far forward or backwards.
They relieve tension from your head and neck. They have a calming effect, especially if you manage to synchronize the movements with your respiration. Also, they are an excellent way of bringing back the attention when you feel your students are restless and disperse.
8. MOVE YOUR
HIPS!
8. MOVE YOUR HIPS
In this section, students have the opportunity to move and dance. The students will follow the tutorials of the videos so that they can learn and try dancing the videos! You should try it as well!
Finally, as always, you will sing our well-known Ending Song.
Make sure everyone sings it out loud together. Encourage, especially those kids that don't participate much in class, to see if they can repeat the song phonetically.
Do not forget to put the class back in order while you sing.
