One of my favourite classroom activities is to work on mini-projects with my youngest students (3rd Class). The situation is usually provided by the lessons in their coursebooks, or some special days or events we have to celebrate. As a result of the unit called "Lady Decay", we decided to work on the subject of dental health and routines related to hygiene. The outcomes of the survey on their dental health routines were rather disappointing though! We had to decide whether their snacks would make
"Happy Teeth" or
"Sad Teeth" and I was amazed to see that for 3 days that they presented their snacks, the food they brought from home was really unhealthy for them. It composed of ready-made sandwiches or crisps, chocolate, biscuits, etc., foods rather high in fats and cholesterol. Another sad conclusion is, that they do not brush their teeth as often as they should, and it is certainly not part of their daily routine. I think that it is imperative for all teachers to draw attention to the subject and advise their students, and a nice way would be the following :
We sang the song
"Brush your teeth" (tune "Row your Boat") and acted out they way we should brush the teeth, the movements of the toothbrush and kept time using a
stopwatch to realise for how long we should keep brushing! The students were enthusiastic and I surely hope it improves their dental care............
