Foreign Language Hand Washing Lesson for Early Elementary
When I sit down to plan my weekly French lesson in my son’s kindergarten class, I always begin by checking in with his teacher to see what themes, concepts, and skills I can reinforce. This past week the kids have been learning ways to take care of themselves: safety, brushing teeth, visiting doctors, washing hands . . .
Aha! Stop right there. Hand washing. It’s probably the single most important thing we can do to stay healthy, yet I had never thought of making that a theme for language class. Why not? Here’s the lesson I did on Friday:
Daily warm-up: I like to begin each class with a routine using lots of movement before the kids sit and listen.
Gross-motor TPR commands (stretch, march, run, play basketball, jump high, jump low three times, touch your nose, touch your toes, etc. etc. etc.)
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Rules Rhyme: Je lève le doigt, je parle français, je regarde, j’écoute, et je m’assieds. We say the rhyme chorally as we act out raising our finger (it’s a French thing!), speaking French, watching, listening, and sitting. We end up sitting in a circle, ready to start.
Hello Song & Greetings
Presentation of New Material:
I bridged into the theme by singing a wonderful French song that the kids already know, called Mes petites mains. My little hands clap, they clap high, they clap low, they clap here, they clap there. Subsequent verses include my little hands turn, rub, and snap. Perfect segue into “Ewww! Germs on my hands!”
My son has some Neopet and Pokemon figures that, quite frankly, could pass for gigantic germs. I put them on my hands, then demonstrate that they are actually teeny, tiny and can’t be seen. We need to wash hands to get rid of them.
I introduced the word for water–de l’eau with a picture of a running faucet, I brought in a liquid soap dispenser labelled with the French word savon, and I brought in a towel. After learning nouns, we also learned verbs: rub, rinse, dry.
Since hand washing should last about 20 seconds, we practiced counting slowly in French while pretending to wash our hands. We also did the Birthday song trick, singing in French. (The birthday song lasts about the right amount of time.)
Next, I made up a song about washing your hands. You can read about it at this post.
Games and Activities
The most crucial vocabulary was in the song (I wash my hands, I rub and rub, I rinse, Goodbye germs!) so I wanted to get in a lot of repetitions. To do so, we played a version of Hot Potato. I call it “Pass the Germ!” We sat in a big circle and passed around one of my Pokemon/germ figures as music played. When the music stopped, we all sang the Hand Washing Song as the person holding the germ pretended to wash hands. I also gave that child a little sticker so that they didn’t feel bad about holding the germ. Once the germ made it around the circle we said, “Au revoir, microbe” and put it away.
Four Corners is a fun and versatile game that kids love because they get to move around. It reinforces counting, too. Put an item from the lesson in each corner of the classroom: water picture, soap dispenser, towel, germ. One child is “It” and closes his eyes, counting to 10 as the other children quietly walk to a corner. ”It” identifies a corner, and those children are out. They help to count for the next round. Continue until only one player remains.
With lots of visuals, manipulatives, and gestures, it really is easy to conduct an entire beginner lesson in the target language. I never expected the kids to enjoy the topic so much, but they did. Good thing—this is an important one!
Other Materials:
Bilingual Spanish-English “How to Wash Your Hands” Activity Sheet
“Le Lavage des Mains” French Song
Hand Washing Lesson Plans in English, Spanish and French from Glogerm.com
Here are a few interesting hand washing videos. The first is a song the Wiggles created for Unicef’s International Hand Washing Day.
Here’s the Spanish “Happy Birthday” PSA.
This PSA is from Indonesia.
Finally, learn about washing in French from the dwarves:
Image Source: By Lance Hancock at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/845716
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