RULES CHANT in Primary Year 2 A

RULES CHANT

Everyday we rehearse the rules of the class as part of our English Daily Routine. Every child must follow the captain of the day when saying the rules and using the gestures which we made up.

It is said that our brains learn in five ways: by seeing, saying, hearing, doing and feeling. That’s what our students are doing when they recite our RULES CHANT: they see the signs, hear the rules, say the rules, make the gestures and have the lovely feeling of having fun, thus, be happy- (as they claim at the end)!! So there’s learning for everyone!

We’re also involving at least four out of the eight intelligences proposed by Howard Gardner in his 1983 book “Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences”, and these are: Musical-rhythmic and harmonic, Visual-spatial, Verbal-linguistic and  Bodily-kinaesthetic.

If the teacher is addressing the class and some kids are talking and not listening, there’s no need to call anyone down or say any names- the teacher just stops, holds up one finger and loudly says “Rule number One!”- every kid in the class repeats rule one energetically with gestures. This signals the violators to listen- and they do!- so the lesson can go on. (Technique taken from “Whole Brain teaching”)

Rules 

#1: Listen to the teacher and classmates

#2: Follow directions quickly

#3: Raise your hand to speak or walk

#4: Respect yourself, respect the others, respect the school

#5: Be quiet and sit down properly

#6: Speak English

#7: Keep your dear teacher and classmates happy

“Mirror” technique

Another technique adapted from “Whole Brain Teaching” are “Mirror” and “Teach”. Anytime the teacher wants the class locked in to what is being said the “Mirror” technique can be used: The teacher, the captain or the student leading the class says “mirror, please” and all the students respond “mirror, ok”, then they snap their hands into the air ready to mimic the gestures.

A variation is “mirror (and words), please” and the students repeat the words of the leader as they mimic the gestures.

Here four brain activities are involved: seeing, saying, hearing and doing.

When the piece of information with gestures has been presented to the students, they must “Teach” it to each other using mirror, and when they are told to, they switch to guarantee that every student in the class is equally involved in speaking and listening. The talkers illustrate what they are saying with gestures and the listeners, so that they stay focused,(silently) mirror the talker’s gestures.

The chunks must be short for the children to remember them easily and be eager to show off how well they are doing!!! It’s effective, just see how well can Carmen remember the sentence after a few days. Now, whenever I see a pencil case opened I just say “If I don’t close my pencil case…” and they all finish the sentence and check if theirs is closed at once!! They are Great!!