Community Greeting Activity with Music

COMMUNITY GREETINGS ARE PART OF ALMOST EVERY CLASS, providing an opportunity for us to interact with one another, building feelings of welcome & belonging. Coming up with new greeting activities, and/or twists on old ones keeps them fresh & appeals to the novelty factor many kiddos crave. Here's my newest one-a fun combination of greeting & freeze dance.

THIS GREETING HAS TWO PARTS, THE GREETING ITSELF AND THE MUSIC COMPONENT. The greeting is comprised of a FIST BUMP, FIREWORKS (that's what I call it ;) ), and the VERBAL GREETING (Hola, Bonjour, Ni hao, etc). 

NOTE: be sure to remind kids this is a GENTLE fist bump, NOT a punch 

I AM NOT SURE if this is really called fireworks but you get the idea! After the fist bump, opening the hand & drawing back. This part also includes the VERBAL GREETING as they create the fireworks.

WHILE KIDS ARE CIRCULATING and greeting one another, also have a song playing. When you stop the music, they have to freeze (like in freeze dance). Any who move have to sit out one round. TIP: I don't have them be out for the rest of the greeting, too many kids get antsy & distracted. Keep repeating as long as you like-I tend to have this greeting last about 6-7 minutes after I explain & demonstrate the greeting. 

THE VIDEO ABOVE IS THE SONG Cantando de alegría by Alex Cuba of México; the video is very little kid friendly which means I can show it without issue-and the song, of course, is lovely!

NOTE: When thinking about goals and purpose behind activities, I focus on the authentic reasons for why we engage in communication. Greetings are, at the heart of it, about acknowledging others, making them feel seen & welcome in the space, rather than the linguistic mechanics. Read more on my blog post here about world language classroom goals that go beyond language