Happy F-R-I-D-A-Y! 

Today I was surfing the web and was reminded of a great memory… the Friday Cheer! During my very first years in the classroom, I can remember hearing John Buckman’s business class yelling “F-R-I-D-A-Y, FRIDAY!” from across the hallway. I loved this tradition! When I transferred to a new school, I started doing the cheer, but in Spanish. Now it’s been shared in other languages. This warms my heart! So today I want to share that post again and give a few other Friday routines. (I hope this makes you smile!)

I put the letters to spell “viernes” (Friday in Spanish) on separate cards. On the back, I wrote the phrase “Give me a…” in the target language plus how to say that letter. Example for “V”: “Dame una bay.” I laminated them because we used them so much. Tip: Ask a student to make them.

Each Friday I pass out the letters for the cheer at the door. The students line up in order in the front of class, for the audience.

The first student yells: ¡Dame una V! (Give me a V)

The class repeats: V

The second student yells: ¡Dame una I! (Give me an I)

The class repeats: I

Then after we go through all the letters, I yell: ¿Qué día es hoy? (What day is today?)

They all yell: ¡Viernes! (Friday!)

It’s a fun way to start a Friday class, they learn how to spell out this word and they never forget the word for Friday.

OTHER IDEAS for FRIDAYS

CHECKING THEIR PROGRESS

Go through the objectives they worked on during the week and see if they can do them. Sometimes I would cut up the “Stamp Sheets” and they would pull them out of a bucket. Then I would give a quick rating/feedback as needed. Once they were familiar with proficiency levels, they could do this without me.

REFLECTING AND SHOUTOUTS

Ask them to reflect on the learning for the week. What activities helped them to learn? What is something new they learned this week? Who helped you this week? Keep it positive so they leave feeling like they accomplished something. They could put on them on a board or just say aloud. This also helped me to reflect on my teaching for the week.

EXPLORING THE COMMUNITY

I would remind them about the “Experiences/Homework” (aka “Real World Homework“) options so they can think about making some plans to complete them. A few quick google searches would bring up events that were happening or places to check out that they might want to use.

What are your favorite Friday routines?

CHALLENGE: Send us a video of your FRIDAY CHEER!