Idioma que se enseña: Inglés.

Nombre (s) y apellido(s) docentes involucrados en la actividad: Romina Estalles.

Grado: 1er. ciclo.

Nivel lingüístico para el que fue diseñada: Elemental.

Descripción de los materiales requeridos para la realización: Literature to trigger off discussion: a book dealing with "Peace" or classroom rules (I used The Peace Book by Todd PArr, which is not available in Argentina but can be bought in its e-version online at ripple readers.)

To make a poster:Cardboard colour pencils/markers glue.

Acceso a los materiales requeridos para la realización: No.

 

Tiempo requerido: 2 or 3 classes to produce the poster, several weeks for the follow-up.

 

Foco de la actividad: Educación para la paz. Reglas del aula.

 

Objetivos: 

As part of an annual project to promote a healthy self-esteem in children, I wanted to make them aware of the importance of creating a peaceful/friendly environment of tolerance and respect.

 

Destrezas que se emplean: Habla (unidireccional), Interacción (bi-/multi-direccional), Escucha, Escritura.

 

Procedimiento:

I will share with you an activity which I’m finding really useful to deal with classrroom rules with a really “naughty” second grade. They started English in April, so their production is quite limited yet and they have a 40-minute class twice a week.

First class: Using “The Peace Book” by Todd Parr as a trigger for discussion, the children came up with ideas about PEACE in the classroom…


Eg: Peace is…sharing your things…

Peace is “no shouting”, etc...

The ideas were:

Yes

Sharing

Speaking in a friendly way

Tidying the classroom

Helping friends

Raising your hand to speak

No

Fighting

Shouting

Running in the classroom

Spitting

Cursing or insulting

Playing in class

Taking things without permission

Breaking things

 

Second class: I brought pictures, which represented the ideas they had provided and we went over these “rules” for peace in the classroom: saying “Yes” or “No” to the pictures I showed (and showing thumbs up or down.). Then I asked them who was willing to color and who was willing to write. In pairs, the ones who wanted to colour, colored the pictures, and those who felt like writing  copied the “rules” from the board on a slip of paper I provided. Finally, we matched pictures and rules and made a really colourful poster to stick where everyone could see.

Third class: Follow-up: The Peace Challenge was introduced! We voted for the two most important rules to make the classroom a peaceful environment: They were “No fighting” and “Sharing”. And we agreed that this was going to be “no fighting week and sharing week”. I cut out small cardboard stars, 2 sets of different colours and I explained that those who, by the end of the week, had respected the “No fighting” rule, were going to take home a red star, and those whose who had shared their stuff were going to take a green star. Some students, of course could take 2 stars if they had won the 2 challenges.

Note: I talk a lot with the teacher in charge of the group and the children know that she is aware of our “competition” so they make a real effort to respect the rules the whole week. At the end of each week we evaluate together who has passed the challenges and they take the stars as a reward. Every week we pick one or two rules and we set a new challenge for everyone. Two weeks have passed now and the children are really motivated and, slowly, attitudes are beginning to change.

Resultado esperado:

Los alumnos reflexionarán acerca del significado de la PAZ y cómo contribuir a la PAZ desde su lugar.

Los alumnos acordarán reglas para hacer del aula un ambiente de PAZ.

En trabajo colaborativo producirán un poster o afiche, como producto final.

Opciones de adaptación:

Los alumnos pueden dibujar ellos mismos las reglas.

La actividad puede terminar en la confección del poster y dejar de lado "los desafíos".