YOUNG LEARNERS
Bringing movement
to the classroom
Phil Keegan and Aysu Şimşek show how to allow some useful physical activity in lessons.
A nyone who has worked in a
classroom of young and teenage
learners knows how fidgety they can be
and they will also know how pointless
it is to tell people to sit still when they
start to fidget. They can’t, and there is no
reason why they should be able to sit still.
Humans did not evolve sitting down.
In Brain Rules, John Medina (2014)
describes how early homo sapiens
moved around constantly, eventually
spreading all over the world. It is
thought that the average distance
covered was around 20 km a day.
Medina quotes research findings that
show clear links between low physical
activity and reduced cognitive skills.
In other words, exercise is good for the
brain. And this applies to people of all
ages, young to very old.
For classroom teachers, this information is
gold. Not only will students learn more if
they move more, there will also be fewer
classroom management issues. Medina
(2014) quotes Dr Antronette Yancey: ‘Kids
are less likely to be disruptive in terms of
28 www.modernenglishteacher.com n Volume 25
their classroom behaviour when they’re
active. Kids feel better about themselves,
have higher self-esteem, less depression,
less anxiety. All of these things can impair
academic performance and attentiveness.’
Exercise, as we know, gets blood to the
brain and keeps it working well.
In a couple of recent blogposts, Angela
Hanscom, a paediatric occupational
therapist, argues along the same lines:
‘In order for children to learn, they need
to be able to pay attention. In order to
pay attention, we need to let them move.’
With all this in mind, we recommend
the following ways of getting more
movement into your lessons. The
amount of times will vary according
to the lesson focus and type, but if an
average lesson is around 40–50 minutes,
we suggest that anywhere from four to
six movements is a good benchmark.
The first five can be done whenever
the teacher sees the need to simply re-
energise the class for whatever reason.
They can also be done to celebrate when
an exercise or test is finished: the first two
are especially good in this regard.
The Sid Shuffle
The Sid Shuffle comes from the
film Ice Age.
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=uMuJxd2Gpxo
The teacher can show the video and let
the students imitate and learn it (if they
don’t already know it). Then at any time
in subsequent lessons, the teacher can
shout ‘Sid Shuffle’ and the students jump
up and do the shuffle for a minute or so.
Mexican Wave
The Mexican wave is an activity
whereby spectators at a sports or other
event stand up and raise both arms row
by row, creating a curious visual effect
as if the crowd is moving like a sea
wave. There is a video here:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=H0K2dvB-7WY
After teaching the students how the
Mexican wave works, the teacher can
shout ‘Mexican Wave’ at any time and
point to the student who should begin,
perhaps at the front or back of the
room, and the students follow one by
one and/or row by row depending on
the seating arrangements. A few rounds
should do the trick.
Grow a Tree
The teacher asks the students to stand
up and then crouch down. When the
teacher gives the command ‘Grow a
n Issue 3
 YOUNG LEARNERS

tree’, the students have to slowly raise
themselves up and extend their arms
above their heads as if they were a tree
growing slowly.
Music Mime
The Teacher plays a piece of
instrumental music (any kind is OK)
and the students have to mime playing
one of the instruments they can hear in
the piece of music. Jazz and classical
music are particularly good for this
activity, but anything will work.
The Code Word
compare their answers with three or four
other students and make a note of how
many students have the same answer
and how many have different answers.
In the meantime, the teacher opens an
online countdown tool (for example
http://www.online-stopwatch.com/
bomb-countdown/).
While this is going on, the teacher can
stick the correct answers on the walls
around the room and tell the students
to go check them with a partner before
conducting a whole class round up,
dealing with any problems as necessary.
quiet them down and refocus them on
the lesson. One trick to get the students
refocused is to use a squeaky toy to
get the students’ attention. Squeezing
it a couple of times will usually get
the students attention, at which point
the teacher can tell the students to sit
down, take a deep breath, maybe close
eyes for five seconds or so, and then
the lesson can resume.
Further reading
Medina J (2014) Brain Rules: 12
Principles for Surviving and Thriving
at Work, Home and School. Seattle,
WA: Pear Press.

The teacher explains that there is a secret
code word for the lesson, for example
‘butterfly’. Whenever they hear that word
during the class, they should stand up
and jump or do the Sid Shuffle or some
other physical movement specified
by the teacher. The teacher chooses a
different word each lesson and he/she
can check the lesson material in advance
to ensure it comes up. Alternatively, the
teacher can simply look out the window
and find a way of getting the code word
into a sentence once or twice during
the lesson (‘Oh look, a beautiful butterfly
just flew past!’).
Whole Body Answering
While giving answers to a True/False
or multiple-choice exercise or test,
the teacher sets some actions for all
possible answers. For example, if the
students think the answer is True or
‘A’, they put both hands up and lean
to the right. If they think it is False or
‘B’, they put both hands up and lean
to the left. If there are more possible
answers, they can stand up and shake
their bodies or stand up and twirl
around twice and so on.
A variation is to designate the corners of
the room as A, B, C, D and the students
have to go to corner A if they think A is
the correct answer and so on. With True/
False answers, the teacher can designate
a side of the room as True or False.
Walking Peer Check
After finishing an exercise, the teacher
tells the students to walk around and
Blogposts by Angela Hanscom can
Moving Drill be found here:
It is a good idea to drill the https://www.childrenandnature.org/
author/angelahanscom/
pronunciation of new words by asking
the whole class to chorally repeat the More information about Dr
teacher’s pronunciation. When doing Antronette Yancey can be found
this with more than one word, the here: http://www.toniyancey.com/
teacher can ask the students to repeat home.html
the first word while sitting, then stand for
drilling of the next word or two, then sit
again and so on.
Walking Pair Work
When the students have a pair work
speaking task, the kind that starts with
‘Talk to your partner about …’, the
teacher can tell the students to stand
Phil Keegan lives in Istanbul and
up and walk around the classroom works for Oxford University Press as a
while they do it. A variation can be that Teacher Trainer. He previously worked
the teacher claps her hands at random in Germany, Austria, The UK, The USA,
intervals and the students have to find a France, Malaysia and Slovenia. His book,
In My Opinion, a photocopiable collection
new partner and continue the activity. of opinion gap activities, is published by
Prolingua Associates.
Hunt The Answers
The teacher sticks the answers to an
exercise on the wall in the corridor
outside the classroom. After a pair or
group work exercise, the students take
turns to run to the answer sheet outside
and memorise as many answers as
they can and then run back and tell
the answers to the group/partner. The
teacher sets a time limit. A countdown
tool can be used for this (see above). Aysu Şimşek is an English Language
Teacher at a private school in Istanbul.
She is particularly interested in creative
approaches to teaching and writes
Conclusion a regular ELT blog: http://aysusim.
blogspot.com.tr
A possible downside to using these
activities is that the students can get
overexcited and it can be difficult to

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