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Note: for these gimmicks to be most effective, it is necessary to teach the desired responses and reinforce the first few times until it becomes habit.
11. Theme Songs (Noah Geisel)
a. createwhat better way to psych a Team Chunk theme songkid up for team and play it as they get readya presentation than a theme song...just like the baseball players that go up to shoot their baskets.bat!
b. www.mp3cut.net will also help you or your students create their own 10 second theme song from any mp3!
c. Noah Geisel
12. Ohhhhh! Aaaaaaaaaahhh! (Blaine Ray)
a. Remind your kids that everything you say is the most interesting thing they’ve ever heard. Request ‘oooh’s’ and ‘aaaaah’s’s when you make statements or reveal new information.

Glogster
Canvas freedom allows expression to take over: mix text, audio, video, images, graphics and more from your files, our pre-designed graphics, or around the web using the inbuilt Web picker browser, yielding high-impact content with simple elegance.
Laser pointer Coral Reading

b. have students create their own videos for assessment purposes
c. make sure you sign up for an educators membership, free 1st year, afterwards minimal fee.
18. Prezi.com Prezi.com
a. Create zooming presentations, great for making graphic organizers that are more high-tech!
b. have students use it to create assessments

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10-finger Comprehension Check*
a. After establishing meaning of new structures/new content with students, have them hold up their fingers to show you how much they know. 10 fingers = 100%, 5 fingers = 50%. Your goal is to have everyone at 80% or above. Your barometer kids are the lowest. Teach and re-teach to those students until they get it.
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Parallel Story
Parallel characters are perfect when we see the processing break down. Add a parallel character that has similar but different facts using the verb you are practicing. If lots of practice is needed then it would be good to add several parallel characters. These characters help build confidence and comprehension while personalizing. To do it, add a character that is encountering similar problems, using similar vocabulary, but using a different character, a famous person, or a student from your class.

b. One variation is to have students take a either a live ‘snapshot’ or a photograph of a moment in the novel/lecture to reference and use as a talking point later on.
c. I like to tell my students they are on a soap opera and have to over act everything. At times I’ll whisper direction in their ear, for example, ‘get down on one knee!’. For students not ready to talk on speaking roles, we lip-sync! I stand behind them and tap their shoulder, at which point they begin mouthing words while I say them from behind.
Drumroll!
Anytime is a good time for a drum roll.
I have a secret!
Is it a big secret or a little secret? Have your students get some cross-body activity while you engage them with any additional information that you whisper after saying, 'Class, I have a secret!' and they respond by stomping their right foot on the ground and bringing their right hand to their left ear as if trying to hear more clearly.

b. Assign specific gestures for students to communicate with you, for example, slow down (lower both hands to the table) or I don’t understand/know that word (make a fist and punch it into your other hand).
c. Hand puppets or small stuffed animals are great for gesturing, reinacting events, acting out processes (chemical bonding, electrons around a nucleus), etc... Particularly useful for the students who don’t want to get up and a. Pick up some small stuffed animals at garage sales or ask kids to bring in old ones they don’t want anymore.
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(Puts cologne on a classmate) (Wakes up) {100_0125.JPG} 100_0125.JPG
It’s a secret!*
a. Add melodrama to your subject matter by telling students you have a secret. They respond by stomping their right foot and putting their hands to their left ear, as if trying to hear the secret. Another great cross-brained activity! (Props to Ben Slavic)
a. “A digital storytelling tool that lets anyone easily create his or her own 3D pop-up books.”
Reader's Theatre -
use props!
a. Make a novel/text/lecture come to life by adding actors and props! Students follow along novel/text with their finger and pause to enjoy the student actors.
b. One variation is to have students take a either a live ‘snapshot’ or a photograph of a moment in the novel/lecture to reference and use as a talking point later on.
c. I like to tell my students they are on a soap opera and have to over act everything. At times I’ll whisper direction in their ear, for example, ‘get down on one knee!’. For students not ready to talk on speaking roles, we lip-sync! I stand behind them and tap their shoulder, at which point they begin mouthing words while I say them from behind.
Drumroll!
Anytime is a good time for a drum roll.

b. great opportunity to group kids, particularly LD students, by their strength area
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animoto.com
a. create short videos using text, pictures, and/or video to create interest in new material
b. have students create their own videos for assessment purposes
c. make sure you sign up for an educators membership, free 1st year, afterwards minimal fee.
18. Prezi.com
a. Create zooming presentations, great for making graphic organizers that are more high-tech!
b. have students use it to create assessments
Beginning Spanish example:
http://prezi.com/cto7kxieq2up/el-chico-que-quiere-impresionar-a-una-chica/
For more examples in all content areas visit:
www.prezi.com
More educator websites:
http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/challenges-2/free-tools-challenge/
Jobs*
a. President, vice-president, ‘bolt’, drum roll king, permanent one-word responders, license to express yourself (give students a ‘license’ to say a specific expression, when appropriate, during class)

2. Then take your right hand and put your thumb in and all your fingers in except your pinkie. So in other words, your thumb up and pinkie out.
3. Now switch the roles of your hands.
2 Finger Grab - Students stand in a circle with their hands held out. Each student needs to put their right pointer finger into their neighbors left palm. They must also hold their left palm up so that their other neighbor can place their index finger there. Start playing target language/content music, when the music stops (you choose when) each student tries to grab the index finger of their neighbor without having their neighbor on the opposite side grab their index finger. (Fabulously fun cross brained activity!)
I know it! (yo lo sé) – Students stand in a circle. They must repeat the 3 words, one right after the other, over and over. One student starts by saying ‘I’ and they can point to the person on their left, on their right, or make eye contact and point to someone across the circle. That person says, ‘know’ and indicates who the next person is with their finger. That person says, ‘it’ and points to another person who starts again with, ‘I’ and on and on. When someone messes up the order of the words they are ‘out’. In my class, students who are ‘out’ stand behind people who are still playing and whisper words over their shoulders in an attempt to get them out. We play Yo lo sé or I know it right before an exam. You can change the expression to any 3 target/content related words. (Props to Noah Geisel)
c. Sexy Dance - Find a fun, hip song in the target language-it makes it easier when the song tells you how to dance it. Pre-teach the vocabulary if necessary, practice it with stuffed animals, then do it to the music as a whole class!
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('I Know It' down to the last 2 participants)
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(2 Finger Grab before/after music stops)
8. Roundtable Discussion
a. This activity is fantastic, particularly for upper level classes. Each student gets 3 pieces of paper with their name on it (I laminate them so they are reusable). Desks are set up in a circle or semi-circle. Students present on a topic, for example, current events, articles, etc. Following their presentation is a student lead discussion. Each time a student makes a question or comment, they hand in one of the slips of paper with their name on it to the speaker. If they make 3 comments, they will have turned in all 3 slips. By keeping separate the slips of paper that were turned in and the ones that weren’t used (collect them after the activity is done) you can calculate student participation at your convenience.

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Parallel Story
Parallel characters are perfect when we see the processing break down. Add a parallel character that has similar but different facts using the verb you are practicing. If lots of practice is needed then it would be good to add several parallel characters. These characters help build confidence and comprehension while personalizing. To do it, add a character that is encountering similar problems, using similar vocabulary, but using a different character, a famous person, or a student from your class.
Story Jigsaw
a. Based on a class story, the teacher writes a subject clause with adjective, for example, An intelligent elephant, for each student of 1/2 of the class and a predicate clause for each student in the other ½ of the class, for example, dances the tango. (Example: if you have 26 students, you will write 13 different subject clauses and 13 different predicate clauses.) Students walk around holding their clause for other students to read while looking for their own lost predicate/subject clause to make complete sentences according to the class story.
b. In my class we like to get things started by yelling out “¡Estoy incompleto/a!” and when they make a match they scream out “Where have you been my whole life?!?” "Te he estado esperando toda mi vida" and hug when they find each other.
Classroom Arrangement*
a. Divide into (3) countries, regions, cities, etc… - History, World languages, English, Math (Pi Eaters, Square Roots, etc)
b. great opportunity to group kids, particularly LD students, by their strength area
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Jobs*
a. President, vice-president, ‘bolt’, drum roll king, permanent one-word responders, license to express yourself (give students a ‘license’ to say a specific expression, when appropriate, during class)
b. For LD students, make sure they know in advance what their job is.
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Use Gestures and Puppets!!*
a. Great to use with vocabulary words- write it down, translate it or define it and try to create a corresponding gesture. Continue using gestures as needed! When I can’t think of a gesture I ask the kids or investigate the sign language gesture online.
b. Assign specific gestures for students to communicate with you, for example, slow down (lower both hands to the table) or I don’t understand/know that word (make a fist and punch it into your other hand).
c. Hand puppets or small stuffed animals are great for gesturing, reinacting events, acting out processes (chemical bonding, electrons around a nucleus), etc... Particularly useful for the students who don’t want to get up and a. Pick up some small stuffed animals at garage sales or ask kids to bring in old ones they don’t want anymore.
{spanish_006.jpg} spanish_006.jpg {spanish_003.jpg} spanish_003.jpg
(Puts cologne on a classmate) (Wakes up) {100_0125.JPG} 100_0125.JPG
It’s a secret!*
a. Add melodrama to your subject matter by telling students you have a secret. They respond by stomping their right foot and putting their hands to their left ear, as if trying to hear the secret. Another great cross-brained activity! (Props to Ben Slavic)
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Props & Noisemakers*
a. Picking up a few props at garage sales or asking students for old toys can breathe life into your content. Some ideas to get you started: a flower, a hamburger, a tiara. Improvising with classroom objects in place of props can be hysterical, too (a class favorite is the stapler as a telephone)!
b. Pick up some inexpensive noisemakers at party supply stores. (Clappers, whistles, etc…) Helpful in adding some excitement while students make connections as well as get their attention-practice appropriate times to use them.
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Drum roll, please*
a. Anytime you are getting ready to say some really important detail, ask the kids for a drum roll…but don’t forget the cross-armed symbol crash! (Cross-brain activity keeps the kids fresh and ready to learn!
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epubbud.com
a. Publish, store and download children’s stories FREE!