With that in mind, first of all, I let them know about the particular scenario and I teach them some basic phrases that fit in it. Next, I encourage the students to form couples and practice with each other. Later on, every couple presents their dialogue in front of the classroom and they are encouraged to continue practicing at home with family.

I believe that this strategy helps the students in collecting information, working effectively and respectfully in couples, taking another person's point of view, building confidence, and learning new words and phrases. Finally, this strategy encourages the students to involve their family members in their learning journey, which I consider particularly helpful and fulfilling.

Maria Anagnopoulou

Example: Lesson about animals vocabulary

PHYSICAL

In that age they develop their gross motor skills, such walking, jumping, hopping, and their fine, such as drawing. So they can play the game ''Simon's says''. The instruction can be crawl like a dog, gallop like a horse etc. For the fine motors they can draw and color their favorite animal.

CONGNITION

They are able of sorting objects. They can sort out toys- animals into categories according to their size or other characteristics. Because in their age they can learn to recognize the letters they can shorted according to their first letter with teacher support.

Example: A: Άλογο, Αγελάδα. Β: Βόας exc

COMMUNICATION

They can use descriptive language (5-7 words sentences). So during the activities they will be encourage to describe the animals and ask questions about them. Because they love literacy, to listen and retell stories , it is important to read to them something interesting such as an Aesop's fable. That gives many opportunities for them to speak. Also they might have heard the story somewhere else and make connections.

EMOTIONAL

In that age they develop their self-esteem and they need to feel that their effort are successful and recognized. So by showing admiration to what they achieve in the activities they are encourage to participate more. Set them for success is important, that is why activities should be according to their development stage and their personality. I create centers that they can choose what activity they can do and prefer. Examples about animal topic : Station 1: Dance- songs about animals, Station 2. Color animals, Station 3 play dough with animals.

SOCIAL

In their age they start making friends and develop conflict solving skills and strategies. In that activity they will have to share. Before they will be offered to play with animal toys, it is important to understand the rules of sharing, how they can ask for animal and wait for their turn. It is a great opportunity to regulate their emotion , and practice their vocabulary. If they want the same toy they have to find the solution, by using their words and the new vocabulary.

Maria Tsolia

One of my strategies is to trying to make the lesson enjoyable and to participate all.. as example splitting in two teams and every team has to work with their group to find words starting from the letter A as many words they find it counts on score, next part of the gaming is to say a word (egg) and they have to paint. At the end the most important is check how many words they can remember so every time you can add something more..

Also, examples helps for understanding and to the memory is a tactic for the listening too (fruits .. when is 1 apple // 2 apples , is the same in Greek language too when we are talking for 2 and more the word at the end changes etc)

I love giving my students the opportunity to brainstorm and find their own answers and solutions before i give them the "right" answers.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT.

Creating a safe and positive social and emotional environment.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT.

Provide opportunities to develop responsibility, resiliency, build confidence and competence.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT.

Allowing students to generate alternative solutions and explanations.

Fostering metacognitive awareness and reflection.

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

Encouraging growth mindset.

Provide learning experiences.

Often they get into misunderstandings with their classmates and i noticed that they get upset because they do not understand the reasoning behind some things.

They become angry and easily triggered, especially through other kids reactions, so i like to give them a chance to explain what upset them and communicate their feelings with each other.

One of the children didn't want to share a toy, so another one came and told me. Instead of telling them what to do instantly, i asked :

"I'm sorry that your friend isn't sharing right now. Did you maybe ask why?"

once the other kid was asked "why do you not want to share with me?" the answer was "i don't know", with a slight shoulder shrug, and then that was all, they just started playing!

Same day, someone "took" someone's seat and almost the entire class said "our teacher will help us decide" and i did! I asked the class "what do you thin is the issue here?" and the pointed out what happened. i then asked them to recommend solutions, and they did! they all agreed the seat needs to be returned and that was it!

Even though it has been a short amount of time with me, they already know they can come to me for anything they may need and are aware that they are supported and encouraged to provide solutions to whatever issue comes up.

Alexia

Putting on a small skit can be a lot of work with the students but it is also a great teaching strategy to use with language learners. Not only can they create their own lines or use the ones the teacher has provided for them but they are able to work with other class mates to put on a play which is fun way to make friends and practice language skills in a safe environment. The topic of the play should be about something that is important to them for example: getting a new puppy or a funny event at school etc. There's also lots of opportunities for the quieter kids to participate in preparing props and costumes or act out smaller roles while the more confident students could be able to deliver the lines and act out the play. The play could be a whole class production or it could be in smaller groups as well. Everyone has an important role in the play and everyone is working together using the language knowledge they have (while learning new language skills too) and at the same time they are developing social skills to interact with their peers.

I always try to make my course interesting and enjoyable for the students. I try to combine knowledge with games, videos and songs. For example, learning the alphabet can be combined with videos called one letter-one story. The students watch the video for a specific letter with specific words. For the letter β, there is a story for an animal that starts with β. Then I ask them to describe what they watched by using greek words.

Moreover, teamwork is a good way of getting to know each other. Students in groups prepare something including making a poster for winter and describing what they made by using words in Greek such as winter, snow etc.

Another strategy that I use during my course is games. One of the games that students love is pantomime. Based on the vocabulary of the course, one of the students is being asked to do sth, like riding a bike, and the rest have to guess what this student is doing. Of course, only answers in Greek are accepted.

Maria Lentza

For example:

_Simon says game (or my version 'Theophany says' - in Greek). This game has a physical component of movement, cognitive component of listening (including memory and self regulation), emotional element with the children learning to regulate emotion and social component by participating in a group activity.

As I have adolescents as my students (ages 12 and 13), I understand that they don't want to be treated as small children, but almost as adults. We are talking about their hobbies and interests, we are watching modern greek songs with lyrics on youtube, I am grouping them to play games that don't get them being bored. Generally, I am trying to make a routine starting with the hard work- correction of our homework, reading, new grammar and dictation phenomena-, then break with some youtube songs and documentaries about Greece and at the last hour, we are going through a new text, discussing and explaining its vocabulary.

Thus I am always talking into account their emotional, physical, cognitive and their social development in a healthy and pleasant environment.

the hard work (text in greek, discussing, explaining vocabulary)

For example, after listening to the lecture and working on their exercises, we learn about the same topic through games, discussions, and expressing opinions and personal experiences, through in collaboration within small (2 people) or large groups (the class divided into 2 groups), through a song or an art creation.

 A child maybe can better understand by writing what we are learning, another child gets excited only with games and learns by participating in them, another functions better by creating a painting, a construction, etc., and another enjoys discussing in groups and showcasing their personality, and so on.

In each child, I see that there is a way that works best for them to develop their cognitive abilities. In any case, by going through these different methods, they also develop their emotional, physical, and social skills.

Physical Development : Provided opportunities for physical activity and social interaction. During free time in the classroom and then when going to Greek Dance Class. Social Development : Tapped into students interests background and values. That includes reading, writing and speaking in the Greek Language.

Cognitive Development: Allowed students to generate alternative solutions and explanations. Brainstorming ideas to support the children's in the development learning environment.

Emotional Development: Provide opportunities to self- regulate. Sometime need to take an step back to reflect, refocus and understand for any point of view. It's all right to put yourself first by using problem solving skills.

Physical:

Depending on the grade of the class I have (I usually do this from Grades K-6) - every morning I play a song which is a Greek song wishing a happy day, good morning and speaking about the weather! I find that this isn't only a mood booster, isn't only good for the learning of the Greek language but also gets them off their feet singing and dancing!

Cognitive:

When I teach anything to my students, whether it is a lesson, grammar, spelling, oral, songs, poems, etc.. I always write the it on the board, read it to the whole class, give them a piece of paper with the lesson on it (if it is not in in their workbook) and I see which teaching method works best for each student and then I ask the students to tell me what works best for them.

Emotional:

I personally always make sure every student is comfortable with each lesson I teach, each group I assign them to during an activity, I make sure the whole class agrees on what to perform (song, poem, dance) at a school concert and in general create a comfortable and positive environment where we as a class agrees and my students can come to me for anything without feeling embarrassed and or shameful - I think this is really important. Something I do is at the start of each class, we all go around and express how we are feeling, how we slept, etc.. (e.g. Today, I am very tired because I slept late but I am happy today).

Social:

Creating groups for students during activities, group lessons where tables/boards/pictures are drawn on our Whiteboard or Chalkboard as an exercise where every student takes turns and feel comfortable to ask their classmates for help. This usually helps when certain students are not as social and or open to making new friends other than 1-2, exercises like this generally makes them more open-minded in result to work on in class group work together, homework for the next lesson, ask them for assistance and spend lunch with them/play during recess. This is also good for their physical development.