There are many ways to use headbands in the ESL classroom. They can be used to help students learn new vocabulary, practice grammar, or even just have fun. Headbands are a great way to get students engaged and excited about learning. So go ahead and try out some of these ideas in your next class!
1. Call children to get in line or go to different areas in the room by the color/ shape / number/ letter / word they have in their headband. “If your color is green sit on the rug.”
2. Pair up children. Each child will name the color/ shape / number/ letter / word they have in their headband. They will describe it, for instance if it is a shape "It is a 2D (or 3D shape) it has 4 sides, and 4 vertices."
3. Call children to get in line or go to different areas in the room by the color/ shape / number/ letter / word they have on their headbands. “All circles get in line.” “All vowels go to your seat.”
4. The teacher can start a pattern with the children and the color/ shape / number/ letter / word they have in their headband. Invite your kids to sit down in a circle. The teacher will then ask a shape/ color / letter / number / word to come to the front. Continue until the pattern is complete.
5. Using different headbands have your kids sort themselves by color/ shape / number/ letter / word. Have them sort by number of letters, number of syllables, number of sides (if shapes).
6. Children wearing headbands would find corresponding alphabet cards to hold, and wait their turn. When the teacher calls a word, the children would like up in order of the letters in the word. They could each show the sign for the letter, say the letter and sound, and show the class how to spell the word. The waiting children are the checkers to see if the word is spelled correctly. Once the ASL alphabet is learned, it is becomes a great QUIET routine. The teacher begins with "A" and the class has to join in without speaking. By "Z" everyone should be quiet. It works to walk the class down the hall while using the ASL Alphabet, as children have to participate and this helps them stay quiet.
7. Make enough headbands for each child to be able to wear his or her birth month. Then, when singing the months of the year song, children may quickly jump up when the month word is sung. They have to be ready and quick, jump, then sit down again. The class will enjoy learning the months with this activity.
At the beginning of each month, the entire class could wear the headband for that month. They will learn to associate the symbols on the headbands with the months, and this will also help them learn to spell the months.
Some possible clues:
*it begins with...
*it has 4 letters
*it has 2 vowels
* it ends with...
* it has 2 syllables
*it rhymes with..
*it is a fruit
* it is red
* it can...
9. Go on a headband hunt. Look for a specific color / shape / number / letter in your friends' headbands.
Ask them to name the words they remember.
If you are working with older kids ask them to look for
a compound word.
a word that has…letters.
a word that sounds like …
rhyming words.
the plural of …
words that begin/end with (specify a letter).
words that end with (specify a letter).
10. Use the word in the heaband to write sentences / a poem / a story/ a chant and illustrate them.
It seems that there are many ways to use headbands in the ESL classroom. I would encourage you to experiment with different ways to see what works best for you and your students. I think that the most important thing is to have fun with it and to make sure that your students are learning.
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