Family By: Laura Weisbrod

Class Description School- “Assif” School for children with Cerebral Palsy It is located in Assaf Harofe, Cholon. Grade 2 8 students (4 girls and 4 boys) Low to average mental abilities All students are physically disabled to some degree -Three students are in wheelchairs. -Most students lack complete motor abilities in their hands and arms. These students have difficulty using writing tools.

The students

The students

The students

English Program “Hi Dizzy” Program by Emma Reisman published by Eric Cohen Books Foundation level for Early Learners oral-aural approach based around a young friendly witch named Dizzy, who takes the children on their first “journey” of English uses flashcards, songs, chants, listening activities, role-play, stories, and workbook activities Content of My lessons I used the main outline of the program and included my own variations to it. Students enjoy the program and I was instructed to continue using it. Each lesson begins with a “hello song” and ends with a “goodbye song”. I incorporated the programs chants for different activities. They are familiar to the students and the repetition and music help them better focus on the body of the lesson. This way they feel more confident and less intimidated of new material. emphasis on teaching simple instructions main content of the lessons- a combination of my own ideas, incorporated into the activities used in the program.

Class Objectives The student will learn vocabulary related to the topic of family and feelings. The student will practice English using visual, aural, tactile, and verbal skills. The student will practice English through repetitive chants/songs and other workbook and creative activities. The student will pronounce English comprehensibly.

Opening and Closing of each lesson Greeting each other- Vocabulary used: Hello, teacher, Good Morning, Who is missing? Ex: Amir is missing, Dizzy is missing, Find Dizzy, hot, cold. Hello song- Children sing along with Dizzy puppets. Closing: Goodbye song- Children sing along and do motions with Dizzy puppets. “Goodbye Everybody!” / “Goodbye teacher Laura!”

Lesson # 1 Review: grandma, wolf and cat Use of puppets: Teacher says, “Point to ____,” Teacher shows a puppet and says, “Who is this?” (Repeat with each word.) Body: Use of flashcards for new vocabulary: (mummy, daddy, and happy) Teacher says word and then, “Everybody 1, 2, 3”. Children repeat each word after teacher in unison and individually. Teacher sticks picture on board and asks students individually, “Show me ___”. Teacher then shows a picture and asks, “Who/ what is this?” (Every student is asked.) Sing chant for new vocabulary.

Learn new song: Teacher plays song for the class and tells the class to listen. Teacher sings a line and student repeats. Teacher explains and so on. Teacher plays song again. Students sing along as much as they can. Teacher plays the first verse for a third time and tells the students to point to their mouth (old vocabulary) and smile (new word- not taught in depth) when they hear the word happy. *Throughout lesson, teacher tries to say as much English as possible and repeats in Hebrew as well. Teacher uses common phrases like, look at me, raise your hand, listen with your ears, sit down, come here, now… *Lesson is frontal with a lot of class participation.

Lesson # 2 Review: Grandma, wolf , cat, mummy, daddy, happy. Use of puppets and flashcards: Students say hello to puppets of Dizzy, Grandma, wolf, cat. Students say hello to mummy and then to daddy. Teacher holds up flashcard of mummy and says happy, while smiling. Every time teacher says happy she smiles. Teacher shows mummy and asks, “Is mummy happy”? (Repeat with daddy.) Body: Use of flashcards for new vocabulary: (sad) Teacher uses flashcards of two smiley faces. One is a happy face and the other is a sad face. Teacher shows the happy flashcard and says happy while smiling.

Then teacher shows the sad flashcard and says sad while frowning. Teacher says word and then, “Everybody 1, 2, 3”. Students repeat. Short game: (Chant for game) Teacher puts both cards behind her back then pops one up in front of students and they must say what it is and back and forth till students can say happy and sad on their own. Review happy song: Teacher plays song for the class and tells the class to sing along and smile or act happy when the music says happy. Teacher gets one volunteer to act out daddy, one to act out mummy, and one to act out himself. Workbook activity: (chant for book time activity) Teacher says, “Open your books” and tells them the page. Teacher gives instructions and asks questions relating to the page. (Point to Dizzy, Is Dizzy happy? What colour is Dizzy? Hold up a red crayon, Show me Dizzy’s balloon. Repeat with mummy and daddy.) After each balloon is coloured, teacher asks, “Who finished?” Students are encouraged to say, “I finished” and slap the teacher’s hand.

Lesson # 3 Review: grandma, wolf , cat, mummy, daddy, and happy Use of puppets and flashcards: Hello to puppets of Dizzy, Grandma, wolf, cat, mummy and daddy Teacher asks each student if they are happy or sad today. Teacher reviews happy and sad. Teacher tells the students, “Close your eyes” (while they do that, teacher chooses to smile or frown) and then says, Now look at me. Am I happy or sad?”) Body: Using flashcards: (new colour vocabulary - pink and brown) Teacher shows the picture of Dizzy and asks, “What colour is Dizzy?” (Repeat with mummy and daddy.) Teacher teaches two colours, pink and brown. Teacher says word and then, “Everybody 1, 2, 3”. Children repeat. Chant for new vocabulary

Short game: (Chant for game- appendix) Teacher sticks flashcards of mummy, daddy, Dizzy and smiley faces on the board. Teacher says a colour (blue, red, green, yellow, brown, or pink) and invites individuals to the board to show a picture that has that colour in it. Workbook activity: (chant for book time activity) Teacher says, “Open your books”. Teacher gives instructions and asks questions relating to the page. (Ex: Show me a brown crayon, Point to mummy, Is mummy happy or sad? Draw a sad mouth on Mummy in brown). Teacher asks, “Who is finished?”

Lesson # 4 Review: vocabulary- happy, sad, mummy, daddy, Dizzy, and grandma Teacher asks each student if they are happy or sad today. Student answers either I’m happy or I’m sad. Game: (chant) “Witch’s hat” Teacher has a witch’s hat with game cards. Teacher goes to each student and says, “Close your eyes”. Student chooses a card while closing his/her eyes. The child shows the card to the class and the student must say which family member is in the picture and their feeling. (Ex: Mommy’s sad) 2nd part After each student picked a card, teacher asks who has each card. (Ex: “Who has ‘grandma’s happy’?” ) The student who has the card comes to the front of the class and places it under the happy or sad flashcard.

Body: Use of flashcards for new vocabulary: (brother, sister, baby) Teacher says each word on its own while showing the flashcard. Students repeat each word after teacher in unison and individually. Role-play Activity: Children dress up as Mummy, Daddy, Grandma, sister, brother, and baby. The students who are dressed up stand in front of the class. Teacher plays “happy song”. Teacher tells the student when the music stops she will say a name of a person from the family and that person has to clap their hands.

Some Following Activities New vocabulary word- mad Song- “If you’re happy and you know it” Worksheet- Match family members to the correct feeling.  Plasticine- Shaping plasticine into a smile, frown or mad face according to the vocabulary word said by the teacher. Music was incorporated. Witch’s hat game- New cards were added to the family/feelings card game. The word family and grandfather (easy for them) were taught. Dizzy’s family tree- Each student received pictures of each member in Dizzy’s family and a green and brown cut out tree. Students were told to find each family member and glue it to the correct coloured circle on the tree. My family tree- Each student created his own family tree with real or drawn pictures. Students follow instructions of teacher (Ex: “Put grandmother on the red happy face”).  

Upcoming activities Story with Puppets- “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”. After learning three new toys (bear, ball, and car) students will be taught the story with review of Mummy, Daddy, baby, hot, cold, small, big, happy, sad, mad, chair, and bed). Worksheet- Matching size of object (chair, bed) to the correct family member (Mummy, Daddy, and baby bear).

Reflections It takes a very long time to complete a Unit: Only meet once a week for 45 min. (really only 30 min). This is the only time they are exposed to English. Students need a lot of repetition in order to absorb new material. Students need constant review and assessment of old vocabulary. Barely anywhere to hang anything. students come late to class. There are many interruptions during the lesson and it is very difficult to regain their attention.

The End