OBJECTIVES:
To inform children about the importance of using soap.
To encourage our pupils to wash their hands.
To present a poem to help timing hand washing.
STUDENT LINGUISTIC LEVEL: A1
TIMING: 15-20 minutes
STEPS:
Background information for teachers.
October 15 this year is the 8th Global Hand Washing Day. This day is to stress the importance of washing our hands with soap to help protect us from bad germs and diseases. The slogan is “Clean Hands Save Lives”. Do you know that is takes 20 seconds of rubbing your hands with soap to kill nearly all of the bad bacteria on them? To make counting 20 seconds easy for children, it is the time it takes to say ‘ Twinkle, twinkle little star’ out loud in a normal voice, or you can sing it if you know the tune. The poem is written for you below. Millions of children from 5 different continents take part in the programme; why not your pupils too?
For lessons with our pupils
Steps
In lower level classes – bring in soap. Show the children what it is and tell them it is a bad germ killer, more commonly known as ‘SOAP’.
1) Take a piece of blank paper.
2) Trace around one of your hands.
3) Cut around the outline
4) Draw bad bacteria and germs all over one side.
5) On the other side draw some soap and signs to show your hand is clean.
Steps
In higher level classes.
1) Introduce Global Hand Washing Day by asking them how often the wash their hands every day and when do they wash them.
2) Ask for a demonstration of hand washing techniques. Use the poster below to help you.
3) Ask your pupils why we wash our hands. (answer: to kill germs and bacteria – to clean our hands of these invisible (though we can see them through a microscope) disease-carrying creatures that live on our hands.
4) How can we remove, get rid of, kill germs and bacteria? SOAP! Soap is incredibly strong and can kill all the nasty organisms that live on our hands that can cause us harm.
5) explain that to be sure that our hands are truly clean, we must rub and scrub them for 20 seconds; the same amount of time it takes to say a poem carefully – not quickly and not slowly. The poem is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. (see “Sing a Song – 8 Traditional Songs in English” published by ELi srl 2015 with a CDROM 9788885148390)
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.
EXTRAS
Here is a poster taken from the Henry the Hand website that you can use with your pupils and possibly make together. Click on the poster to download the pdf version.
Go to Henry the Hand’s website to see the original template and click here to download many free posters http://www.henrythehand.com/download-posters/