Topic: Create a learning activity to teach someone else something you have learned in your language; outline this activity in your learning journal; teach someone using this activity; reflect upon the effectiveness of the activity.
I created a learning activity to teach someone the Hindi vocabulary for health and body parts. When I was studying Punjabi this summer, an activity that really helped me was when two or three people would learn Punjabi vocabulary through active learning – like passing a ball back and forth, and when one person would throw the ball, they would ask a question (“What is the Hindi word for ‘nose’”?). The person who would catch the ball would then answer the question (The meaning of "nose" is 'nahk' -- or “Nose का मतलब “नाक” है”) verbally and would also write out the word on the board. If the person could not answer the question, the first person would draw a picture of the word’s meaning (nose, etc) on the board and then the first letter as well. I really enjoyed this learning activity this summer, so I implemented it in my learning activity for teaching my sister (who is 16) Hindi vocabulary for body parts and health over a weekend when I went home. These are the words I utilized in this learning activity:
1. Head - सिर
2. Hair - बाल
3. Eye - आंख
4. Ear - कान
5. Mouth - मुंह
6. Tooth (teeth) --दांत
7. Arm -बांह
8. Hand - हाथ
9. Elbow -कोहनी
10. Fingers - उंगलियों
11. Belly - पेट
12. Back -पीठ
13. Leg - टांग
14. Foot - पैर
I would ask my sister a Hindi vocabulary question, like “What is the meaning of (eye) in Hindi?” (If I were speaking to someone who knew more Hindi, I would naturally ask this in Hindi). I would then throw her the ball. If she knew the answer, she would say the word in Hindi and she would write it out on a small dry erase board we have at my house. When she didn’t know the word, I would draw a picture of it on the board and I would also write the first letter, so it was also helpful for me in reviewing sounds AND the alphabet visually as well.
This activity was quite effective for both my sister and me. For me, I was able to review key health/body part vocabulary in both an auditory and visual sense, and I was also able to review the alphabet as well. For my sister, she definitely was able to remember the words after the second time we went through the list – I believe because of the combination of visuals (my drawings + alphabet), auditory (saying the word aloud), and the interactivity of throwing the ball.
Hopefully this activity will serve as helpful for other language learners of Hindi! :)
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