Hangman

Materials: Whiteboard and dry erase marker

What I love about this game is that it gets your students to practice English at the same time! They are specifically practicing using the alphabet, but for 6th grade this is really important since part of the PET exam will include spelling! While in theory they should all know the alphabet, many do not or only know with confidence the letters to their name. Plus, you can teach them some silly phrases like "School is cool" and they can practice coming up with phrases themselves!

Heads Up, 7 Up

Materials: Nothing!

This is my classes' favorite game! Choose 7 children to come to the front of the room. Say "Heads down, thumbs up". You should have the other children put their heads down on their desk and put 1 thumb up. The 7 chosen children walk around the room and tap ONE classmate's thumb. If someone gets their thumb tapped, they put their thumb down. Once all 7 people have tapped someone's thumb, you say "Heads Up, 7 Up". The people who were chosen stand up and guess who tapped them. If they guess correctly, they switch spots. If not, they sit back down.

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*Tip. You can do this with less than 7 children at the front. Usually I do 4 children at the front of the classroom

I Have Never

Materials: Nothing!

Your students also get to practice English while doing this activity ("I have never" -- have vs. has is something many students will struggle with). First, every child holds their hands up with all 10 fingers (8 fingers + 2 thumbs) up. Every person gets to go around and say something they have NEVER done. If someone HAS done that thing, they put down a finger. The person who puts down all of their fingers first loses.

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*Tip: Make sure you give them examples ("I have NEVER been to Africa) and emphasis that they do NOT get to lie in this game (we are not teaching them how to lie!) 

Short Class Activities

Activities for transition periods, the last 5-10 minutes of class, or just to keep the class from going wild!

Whole Class Activities

Activities that will take up a whole class period (or more!)

Haunted House

Halloween

Create a Haunted House (or a room)! My school gets really into Halloween every year, and has the Auxiliares set up the Haunted House! Take the initiative and create a Haunted House at your school! The children love seeing you all dressed up and covered in gory make-up (my attempt above). Have children help by having them design and cut our skeletons and spiders to put around the Haunted House. But don't let them see the Haunted House! It has to be a surprise!

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*Pro tip: put on spooky music in the background.

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Materials (not limited to, but rather suggestions): thin rope, black cloth to drape over rope to create the haunted house maze, speakers for spooky music, other halloween decorations (ie: spiders, spider webs, creepy masks)

Door Decorating

Any Holiday (I did Halloween)

They may just seem like doors, but decorating them really gets everyone in the mood for the holidays! Plus, your kids will love seeing them and helping! My kids helped make small skeletons for one door, and they helped me trace and cut out bigger skeletons. Halloween isn't a traditionally Spanish holiday, but students have a lot of fun with it! Even though it seems like a fast activity, be prepared to spend hours on these doors.

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Materials: big colorful paper, glue sticks or tape, scissors

Luminaries

Winter Solstice

This is a fun and easy activity for any age group. What I love about making luminaries as a pre-winter break is that it is an activity that is not associated with religion. Spain is a Catholic country, and many people will tell you that everyone celebrates Christmas here (winter break is even referred to as Christmas break, or Christmas holidays). That however, is really not true - I had a handful of students who did not celebrate Christmas. 

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This project was personal to me because it was one I did as a child in elementary school, and it's one that is very fun to share! In short, Luminaries are a great project that center around the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. You can tell the children about the Solstice, and that the purpose of making Luminaries is to bring light into their homes.

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Materials: Glass jars without the label (we had each kid bring their own jar), colored tissue paper, liquid glue, bowls to mix the glue and a little water, paintbrushes (to apply the glue), scissors

Debate

Anytime -- the end of a unit is probably best

You should center this around the topics that your children are learning. There are quite a few ways to have a debate, this is just one of them. 

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Two Teams: you give the children a topic and split them into two groups. Have one side argue "for" and the other side argue "against" the topic. Spend 5 - 10 minutes going over how to have a debate. Then, give them 5 minutes to discuss, 5 minutes to write down ideas and 5 minutes to practice. Make sure each person has a role so that no one is slacking (ie: someone takes notes, someone is the group leader, someone makes sure to look at the opposite side, someone looks for evidence). Have 2 representatives come to the front of the classroom from each side after the time is up to present their cases. Each side will get to talk twice (in order to rebuke what the other side has said). In between the first and second speech, allow students to go back to their group and discuss what to say next.

Other Activities

There will be times for Non-Pet activities in the classroom. Auxilares are also cultural ambassadors of their countries! Here are some activities I did with my students, as well as games that I played with them when there was only 5-10 minutes of class left.