Hello! Hello!This is a warm up activity to teach phrases and expressions through rhythm, story and gestures. A key part of Hello! Hello! is that there is no music or chant beat. This means you are free to make up any gestures and actions you like, and you can also start off with a short version and add to it gradually. Also, if you are like me and you are not a confident singer, this is a great way to avoid those off-key notes!
The benefits of 'Hello, Hello' and some guidelines for its implementation and development are outlined below. Finally, if you have any ideas, improvements, adaptations or questions, please feel free to contact me so I can share them with others. Stages of Implementing1. Do over half the phrases on the first day.
Teachers (and parents) will be surprised by how much English the students can produce on their first day! I call this front-loading. This is the concept of teaching a lot from the beginning, and repeating it many times so that the chances for the students' retention can be increased. This approach conflicts with many textbooks which typically teach a chunk, then another chunk with little or no repetition. 2. Repeat it every lesson. Surprisingly, the students don't get bored, as long as you are also introducing some new phrases each time and making it fun. 3. Gradually just do the gestures and don't say anything. Be like a conductor of your class, so that while doing the gestures your students will say the associated phrases, and voila! You have evidence that the target phrases have been internalized. 4. A student leads it. 5. Students do it in pairs: One student gestures and the other says the target phrases. Then they swap roles. 6. Add modals and sentence starters to the phrases: e.g. I can - ; May I - ; I want to - ; I have to -; I want to ___ but I have to ____ ; Do you want to - etc... BenefitsRhythm: The students can follow along easily as the rhythm is mostly the same.
Phrases: I learnt a lot of my spoken Japanese through learning phrases and substituting words in later. Hello! Hello! gives the students simple verb/noun phrases they can readily use and adapt. Expressions: It introduces a variety of common expressions associated with the actions. Story: There is a lot of research out there (See Narrative Research) that suggests we learn and retain lots of our information through stories. Telling a story organizes and sequences the phrases into a whole; in this case, a day at school. Other possible story lines could be: going camping, going shopping, or a day on Mars with each of these story-lines throwing up a plethora of target language possibilities. Meaning: The gestures convey the meaning of the word and make comprehension easier. Humour: It is entertaining and fun. The students always respond well to the humour of the gestures and situations within the stories. |