Chinese Jump Rope Lesson Plan (with materials)

Lesson Aims:

1. Students will be able to play Chinese jump rope using actions learned in today’s class (left, right, inside, outside, on).
2. Students will be able to sing the “England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales…” jump rope song while playing.

Level: Grade 3 / 4 / 5

Class size: 15 – 20+/- (40 minutes / can be extended)

Theme: Old Playground Games

Topic: Chinese jump rope

Materials/aids:

Class should be divided into playing teams of 3-4 students. Missing one student? Use a chair.

Thick elastic string (1 per every 3 students); lesson ppt; flash cards; Chinese jump rope ESL worksheet/gap fill instructions

All resources were made by me and are free for you to download, but if you like what you see please support me by ‘following’ this blog. I promise to keep uploading awesome content made with care. 🙂

Lesson plan:

1. WARMER ACTIVITY: Open the class with a greeting to gadge student fluency and energy levels. Next tell them that you will be giving them 3 clues and that they should use the clues to guess what today’s camp topic will be.

Behind each number is a clue. Choose to revel them before or having having students guess today’s topic. (Slide a part of the Chinese jumprope ppt above)

 2. ACTIVITY: Guess today’s topic: Hang man game Write “C _ _ _ _ _ _ J _ _ _ R _ _ _” or simply “_ _ _ _ _ _ _    _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _” (depending on level) and have students play a quick hang man game to open the class.

Depending on age and level of students, you might first want to show them the picture clues on the slide above and then have them guess, or only show the picture once the correct word has been found.

TIPS: This activity is not meant to last long, it is only meant to get the students to start thinking in English. If you haven’t yet revealed the clue and guessing starts taking longer than it should, show them the picture to hurry things along. I also tend not to draw a hang man line for every incorrect guess, but rather every 2-3 letters so as not to discourage any students.

3. INTRODUCE LESSON: After the students have guessed the topic for today, you can introduce it in more detail. Chances are that some student will be familiar with a variation of this game, and even have another name for it. Take this opportunity to explain how variations of this game is played all over the world and that there are many different steps.

This slide illustrates only a few of the different steps you can do in Chinese jump rope. Tell your students that they will start with an easy one, but they’ll able to do the ‘dragonfly’ by the end of class. They wont believe you, but will be pleasantly surprised by themselves when they can.

This particular step and song that I teach in this lesson is the one I played as a kid growing up in South Africa. I’m not sure whether the same step/song is played/sang in other countries as well (perhaps the UK?).

4. LANGUAGE FOCUS: Next you should introduce the target language for today, demonstrating each as you do so. You can demonstate either by putting the band on the floor and using your feet, or using magnets to put the band up against the board to demonstate the moves with your fingers (better for a bigger class to ensure everyone can see). Next put the flash cards for the first sequence on the board, having the students read them as you do (If you have any creative suggestions for this part, please let me know).

5. CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Now the students should practice the sequence. First have them do it at normal pace, using there hand to practice feet actions as they sing. Next do it at “super slow” speed and then again at “super fast” speed. Lastly, upon asking the student whether they remember it, ask them to close their eyes and sing/do the movents with their hands. Declare them ready for the game. NOTE: If you have decided to teach them the England, Ireland song, you should introduce it at this point, and have them practice it in much the same way. 6. JUMP ROPE GAME: Divide the students into groups of 3/4. Explain how the game works:

• Each member of the team should have a turn being jumper.
• If the jumper makes a mistake during the sequence, it becomes the next person’s turn.
• If the jumper completes the level, they should level up!
  • Level 1: Rope around ankles, feet hip distance apart.
  • Level 2: Rope around ankles, feet spread wide apart.
  • Level 3: Rope around knees, feet hip distance apart.
  • Level 4: Crazy level! Students, with ropes around their ankles can jump around causing the rope to move around while the jumper jumps.
  • Level 5: rope around the ankle of ONLY ONE FOOT.

Demonstate these levels using two student volunteers. TIP: Remember to encourage students to sing the song while doing the actions! If they get the word of the action wrong, they end their turn and the next player starts theirs!

7. WRAP UP

Hand out worksheets with instructions and difficult step. Demonstate the difficult step and have a few volunteer students do it while others read out the instructions. If they can get it right they can get a candy! A printable lesson plan can be downloaded here.

NOTE: The downloadable lesson plan is a variation of the one I have described above because I adapted it in the classroom as I went along. Feel free to make your own adaptions to either plan, and to contact me if you have any other suggestions!