New Routes

Module Parts of the Face – Paulo Torres

Teaching English to children at a public school in Vitória/ES

If you have read my June post, you may recall that it was about how I designed the syllabus and created the modules I work on with my 6-to-10-year-old students at a public school in Vitória/ES. This month, you are going to have the chance to see the complete structure of one these modules. The module I have selected is part of the syllabus of my third graders who are usually 8 years old. Below you will find what skills I work on in this grade in Table 1 and Table 2 exemplifies Table 1.

Class 1 (50 minutes)
Target Vocabulary
Parts of the face (hair, eyes, nose, ears, mouth), colors (six colors were taught in the first grade. These six colors were recycled in the second grade. Four more colors were taught in the third grade prior to this module) and size (‘big’ and ‘small’ were taught in the first grade and recycled in the second grade).

Aim
Introduce parts of the face, position of adjectives and ‘I have’.

Preparation
You will need three copies of the hair, four copies of the eyes, two copies of the nose, two copies of the ears and two copies of the mouth. Make sure you enlarge them so that students are able to see them better. For the nose, ears and mouth, you will need a smaller copy as well in order to work on ‘big’ and ‘small’. After the copies have been made, color each copy of the hair a different color. I teach black hair, brown hair and blond hair. Follow the same procedure with the eyes. I teach black eyes, brown eyes, blue eyes and green eyes. After that, cut them out and glue them to cardstock paper. You will also need crepe masking tape.
Procedure

In order to introduce the parts of the face, use your face to do so. Touch each part at a time, say its name and have students touch the same part on their face and say it after you. Make sure you touch your face parts in this order (hair, eyes, nose, ears, mouth). Repeat the procedure. Next, touch each part at a time once again but without saying the parts of the face. Instead, have students touch and say it after you.
Use the copies. Show the black hair and say ‘black hair’. Have students repeat. Follow the same procedure again. Stick the copy to the board. Use crepe masking tape so that it does not peel the board. Do the same thing with all the other copies always following this order (hair, eyes, nose, ears, mouth). For nose, ears and mouth, use the big one(s) first. After you have finished, the board should look like this.

Following the order shown on the board, (black hair, brown hair, blond hair, black eyes, brown eyes and so on), point at each picture at a time, say it and have students repeat. Repeat the procedure. Point at each picture once again but without saying the parts of the face. Instead, have students say the face parts.
Describe your face pointing at the pictures and saying it. Use the structure below. However, do not write it on the board. Say the sentence twice.

I have ______ hair, ______ eyes, a ______ nose, ______ ears and a ______ mouth.

Have students repeat ‘I have’ three times after you. Then, ask each student to describe their face using the same structure. In case a student cannot remember how to do it, ask their peers to help. After everyone has described their face, write the structure above on the board and have them copy it completing with their information. Students should use their notebook to do so.

Class 2 (50 minutes)
Target Vocabulary
Parts of the face (hair, eyes, nose, ears, mouth), colors (six colors were taught in the first grade. These six colors were recycled in the second grade. Four more colors were taught in the third grade prior to this module), size (‘big’ and ‘small’ were taught in the first grade and recycled in the second grade) and numbers (numbers from 0 – 10 were taught in the first grade and recycled in the second grade).

Aim
Review and practice parts of the face, position of adjectives, numbers and ‘I have’.

Preparation
You will need a doll, the copies you used in Class 1 and crepe masking tape.

Procedure

So that you review the parts of the face, use a doll to do so. Touch each part at a time, say its name and have students touch the same part on their face and say it after you. Make sure you touch the doll’s face parts in this order (hair, eyes, nose, ears, mouth). Repeat the procedure. Touch each part at a time once again but without saying the parts of the face. Instead, have students touch and say it after you.
Follow the same procedure described above. However, this time, change the order of the parts of the face.
Use the copies. Show the black hair and have students say ‘black hair’. Follow the same procedure again. Stick the copy to the board. Use crepe masking tape so that it does not peel the board. Do the same thing with all the other copies always following this order (hair, eyes, nose, ears, mouth). For nose, ears and mouth, use the big one(s) first. After you have finished, the board should look like this.

Following the order shown on the board, (black hair, brown hair, blond hair, black eyes, brown eyes and so on), point at each picture at a time and have students say it. Repeat the procedure. Point at each picture once again randomly this time and have students say the face parts.
Describe your face pointing at the pictures and saying it. Use the structure below. However, do not write it on the board. Say the sentence twice.

I have ______ hair, ______ eyes, a ______ nose, ______ ears and a ______ mouth.

Have students repeat ‘I have’ three times after you. Then, ask three students to describe their face using the same structure. In case a student cannot remember how to do it, ask their peers to help. After that, have students work in pairs and describe their face. If you have an odd number of students, three of them will have to work together. While they are describing their face, walk around and offer help if necessary.

Stick the worksheet below to the board and explain the first exercise. Have students do it. While students work on exercise 1, walk around and offer help if necessary. Check it by saying each number at a time, touching the corresponding part on your face and writing it on the board.

7. Explain the second exercise. Have students do it. While students work on exercise 2, walk around and offer help if necessary. Check it by saying the number and the sentence and have students say if it is A or B. Write the answers on the board. After you have finished correcting both exercises, the board should look like this.