Some More Brain Breaks Again

Here are some more no-prep brain breaks which can be done in the target language:

1. Odd/Even
1. Tell students to stand up.
2. Using an online dice roller, such as Random Dice, ask students to predict if they think that the roll of the die will be odds or even. If students think it will be odd, they place their hands on their heads. If they think that it will be even, they put their arms straight out.
3. Roll the die.
4. If students are correct, they remain standing. If they are incorrect, they are to sit down.
5. Repeat steps #1-4 for as long as you wish.
2. Red/Black
1. You will need a deck of cards for this.
2. Tell students to stand up.
3. Ask students to predict if they think that the card which you pull from the deck is red or black. If students think it will be red, they place their hands on their heads. If they think that it will be black, they put their arms straight out.
4. If students are correct, they remain standing. If they are incorrect, they are to sit down.
5. Repeat steps #1-4 for as long as you wish.
3. Odd/Even with a Deck of Cards
1. Do Odd/Even brain break but with a deck of cards. Students will predict if the card is odd or even. This may require that you remove face cards and aces.

Stand Up/Sit Down Brain Break

Here is a quick 5-minute activity/brain break which I learned from Alina Filipescu at NTPRS in 2015. It is a simple listening activity which involves movement (standing up/sitting down). This is an activity which I have used in the past with great success but had completely forgotten about in the past 3-4 years until this past week when I was preparing my presentation on Spoken Latin for the ACL Summer Institute.

The basis for the activity is very much patterned after "Never Have I Ever" but in a much more POSITIVE and STUDENT-APPROPRIATE fashion and is quite simple.

Directions

1. Make a list of statements (around 10-15) in the first person in the target language which could be true about your students. Examples: I am wearing sandals, I have a dog, I drank coffee this morning, etc.
2. Have all of your students seated.
3. Explain to students that this activity involves either standing up or sitting down.
4. Explain to them that you are going to read a statement. If that statement is true about them, then they are to stand up.
5. Read the first statement. Any student for whom the statement is true should stand up.
6. Now explain to students that you are going to read a statement. If that statement is true about them, they are to do the OPPOSITE activity of what they are doing now, i.e., if they are standing, they are to sit down; if they are sitting down, they are to stand up. BUT if the statement is false about them, they are not to do anything.
7. Read the next statement.
8. Continue to read the statements. Students will be standing up, sitting down, or not moving depending on the statements.

Observations

1. This is a great way to focus on a particular structure, such as "I have," "I am wearing," or "I like," since those tend to introduce personal statements. You can get in a lot of repetitions of these phrases since you will be saying them over and over again. As students become more familiar with these phrases, it becomes less necessary to focus on just one, and you can to mix them up in your statements.
2. It can be rather confusing in the beginning, so I usually will demonstrate it in English first so that students understand what action they are supposed to do.
3. Keep the statements simple. For some students, too much is going on in having to hear the statement, to understand it, to determine if it is true of them, and to respond with the correct action. 
4. It is a great brain break in the target language!

Latin examples of statements:

1. Habeo animal domesticum (I have a pet)
2. Habeo fratrem (I have a brother)
3. Habeo crines longos (I have long hair)
4. Habeo canem (I have a dog)
5. Habeo sororem (I have a sister)
6. Habeo duas aures (I have two ears)

1. mihi placet legere Harry Potter (I like to read Harry Potter)
2. mihi placet comedere Takis (I like to eat Takis)
3. mihi placet bibere caffeam (I like to drink coffee)
4. mihi placet dormire (I like to sleep)

Brain Break - Do Nothing for 2 Minutes

Here is a brain break which I learned from my colleague John Foulk. It is one now which my students request ALL the time - it is called "Do Nothing for Two Minutes." Like the title implies, students do NOTHING for two minutes. It is an actual website, which count downs from two minutes, and the point is simply to do nothing during that time. 

I have been doing this particular brain break once a week for the past couple weeks, and it is not as easy as it sounds. Doing nothing for two minutes can be very difficult, because:

1. students are unaware of how long two minutes can be.
2. students are not accustomed to doing nothing for a certain amount of time.

When we do this brain break, I will project the Do Nothing for 2 Minutes website on the screen and tell students that they are to do nothing for two minutes. This means no phones, no doing other work, no moving, no talking, no laughing, no listening to music, no non-verbal communication with anyone in the classroom, i.e., doing nothing. I have a deskless classroom, so students can lie down on the floor if they wish. They can sit in their chairs and close their eyes. However, if during those two minutes, a student does "something," then the time is up, and we go back to work.

Observations

1. I am not one into mindful, focused brain breaks, since I am more of an active "brain breaker". However, I can see the benefits of doing them.
2. The website plays wave sounds during the two minutes - very calming and soothing.
3. In the beginning, it does take some "training" for students to realize that doing nothing means doing nothing. The first couple times, students will last around 30-45 seconds, because they will start looking around the room, make eye contact with someone, and start laughing or communicating non-verbally. Once I call out students for that and announce that time is up and time to get back to work, they learn quickly.
4. Students really do like this one, because it gives them a chance to "rest up" during class. I always get students asking "Can we do nothing for TEN minutes?"

Give this one a try, and do nothing for two minutes!

More Brain Breaks - True/False, Heads/Tails, & Life or Death

Here are some more quick, fun brain breaks which can be done in the target language.

1. True/False

1. Have students stand up.
2. Explain to students that you are going to read a statement. 
3. If students think that the statement is true, they are put their hands on their heads.
4. If students think that the statement is false, they are to stretch their hands to their sides (like a T).
5. Reveal if the statement is true or false.
6. If students get the answer incorrect, they are to sit down.
7. Do another true/false statement, repeating steps 3-6.
8. See who is left standing, and do a 3rd statement if desired.

Some statements:

• There are more trees on earth than in the Milky Way (TRUE - there are 3.04 trillion trees

vs. 400 billion stars)

• It takes seven years for your body to digest gum (FALSE - it is digested like normal food)
• Mickey Mouse’s full name is Michael Theodore Mouse (TRUE)
• The most popular sold item at Walmart is shampoo (FALSE - it is bananas)
• Dogs are banned on Antarctica (TRUE)
• Mickey Mouse was originally supposed to be a rabbit (TRUE)
• Sunsets on Mars are blue (TRUE)
• In Alaska, it is illegal to shove a moose into a movie theater (FALSE)
• You can actually charge your smartphone using static electricity from your hair (FALSE)
• No two tongue prints are the same (TRUE)
• Hello Kitty’s real name is Tammy Sue (FALSE)

2. Heads/Tails

1. Have students stand up
2. Take out a coin, and tell students that they need to predict if the coin will land heads or tails. 
3. If they think that it will be heads, they will put their hands on their heads. 
4. If students think that they it will be tails, they will put their hands on their bottoms.
5. Flip a coin.
6. Depending on the coin toss, whatever students who incorrectly predicted will sit down.
7. Repeat again three more times.

3. Life or Death (I got this one from Miriam Patrick, who in turn got this from Andrew Snider)

1. Make a statement, and ask students if this is a life or death situation.
2. Continue adding details to the statement, and ask students if this changes the situation to life or death.

Some statements

1. Rhoda is in the kitchen.
2. There are lions in the kitchen with Rhoda.
3. The lions are starving.
4. The lions are sleeping.
5. Rhoda runs out of the kitchen.
6. Rhoda steps on the lions' tails.
7. The lions do not wake up.
8. An asteroid then hits Rhoda.

Observations

1. I like doing these brain breaks in the target language, because it requires students to listen. Depending on the level of your students, it may be necessary to do True/False in English.
2. I have found that students get very competitive with the True/False and Heads/Tails brain breaks.
3. An administrator came to observe me when I was doing a True/False brain break, and I made her participate. She was so impressed that she now wants the Special Education teachers to observe our Latin department, because she wants them to start using brain breaks in their lessons.

Brain Breaks

A brain break is exactly what the name implies: a break for your brain and a chance for it to reset. Years ago, I had heard of the concept but actually wrote it off as some trendy "touchy feely" kind of activity which had no merit. It was not until IFLT 2016 that I saw brain breaks in action as something which needs to be incorporated into one's classroom. At that particular IFLT, I had the opportunity to observe Annabelle Allen (whom I did not know at that time but now absolutely love) teach Spanish to elementary school-aged students and was absolutely blown away by her and what she does in her classroom. In addition to Annabelle's absolutely phenomenal teaching and her connection with her students, I saw how often she did brain breaks. This is where I finally understood the need for them in a classroom, especially since she was teaching elementary school-aged students. 

Some things I have learned about brain breaks:

1. They do not have to be long - they can be less than a minute or as long as 3-4 minutes.
2. They can be any type of activity (see list below).
3. Brain breaks need to be done every minute for the average age of your class, e.g., my classes this year are mostly sophomores and juniors, so the average age is 15-17, meaning my students need a brain break every 15-17 minutes. 
4. For classes later in the day, students need brain breaks more often, so I will do it every 12-14 minutes for my afternoon classes.
5. According to science, the best brain breaks are those: 
1. where one crosses the middle of one's body.
2. which involve the use of one's non-dominant side, 
3. or which involve trying to do two different actions simultaneously.
6. They can be done in the target language. I will usually do them in English, because my brain needs a break too from speaking Latin in class.

There are a ton of resources out there regarding brain breaks, but here are some links of interest:

My list of brain breaks
Annabelle Allen's blog - search "brain breaks" - in my opinion, Annabelle is the queen of brain breaks
Annabelle Allen Teacher Pay Teachers Brain Breaks - this is a FREE resource about Brain Breaks on TPT - this was a professional development which Annabelle gave on Brain Breaks. It does require that you sign up for a free account before you can download the resource.
Cynthia Hitz's blog - search "brain breaks" - you can find lots of really good brain breaks here
Martina Bex - Brain Breaks for the Language Classroom
Martina Bex - Best Brain Breaks
Justin Slocum Bailey' - Image Imitation
Bryce Hedstrom - list of brain breaks
Mindful Brain Breaks

Observations

1. Although students may not realize the importance of brain breaks, they really do need them. As the teacher, I can definitely notice a change in students following a brain break.
2. Brain breaks are important for you too as the teacher!
3. When I do brain breaks every 16-17 minutes in a 52-minute period, it really helps break up a class into short chunks of time. I am always amazed at how quickly a period goes by when I do 2-3 brain breaks in a class.
4. It is important to be consistent with brain breaks. Consider assigning student job who will serve as the brain break countdown timer or who will shout out "We need a brain break!"
5. Like anything, when it comes to brain breaks, the brain craves novelty (in the immortal words of Carol Gaab), so it is important to do different kinds of brain break activities.