¿En serio?

A recent Edutopia article shared research about how important it is to include movement during lessons, and offered several ways to do so, including linking movement or gestures to vocabulary structures during language lessons.

The idea of including movement in language classes would not be new to PNA Spanish students, some of whom are acting out the phrase ¿En serio? or “Seriously?” for the class in the photo above. Linking a gesture to sound helps the brain skip the translation step that is otherwise so common for students who are trying to remember and bring up vocabulary. In fact, when my students are talking to me, and I have an idea of what they want to say, I will sometimes make the sign that the class had used for that phrase or word. Many times, the word then pops out of students’ mouths. They learn to use gestures to help themselves both recall meanings and to be able to express their thoughts in their new language.

One side benefit of gesturing vocabulary is that students realize that they can often answer questions without even saying a word. If what the teacher wants is to find out what students have comprehended, an answer that is a gesture is just fine. Gestures can take the stress out of language class.

Another side benefit of working out gestures together as a class is that these “projects” build community. The group feels a double shared language because they know what others are expressing.

Those adults who have experienced the Total Physical Response method in language classes will realize that gesturing for phrases like “Seriously?” is just like following directions, such as “Put your hands on your head!” or “Stand on your left foot.” When students follow the directions and move their bodies, they are listening, moving, thinking … and acquiring language in what seems like no time at all.

Language acquisition should tick all the boxes: it should seem relatively effortless, it should build students’ vocabulary, it should build community, and it should give them different ways to think. Language acquisition should also seem like a small miracle every time we can understand something new.