Let’s face it, students really struggle with this concept of using the face to communicate. No matter how much we emphasize it and cause our own faces to have permanent wrinkles, students just don’t incorporate expressions into their communication.
This phenomenon may be because they are nervous or that they are concentrating so hard to remember words and what to say they just don’t express themselves appropriately. In American Sign Language this causes problems. Communication gets misinterpreted or convoluted. As receivers of the information, we have to make inferences and guess what is being said. We think, “Are they happy about this?” “Maybe they are mad”…we don’t really know because the expressions are missing. We all know facial expressions and body language are vital to clear communication.
Use this packet to help students practice expressions.
Barriers to Expressions
As teachers, we can model these expressions, show a million videos with accurate expressions, and grade students down for not using these expressions on tests and projects, but that still does not seem to help. Students feel silly using their faces and bodies to communicate. For many students, it becomes a cultural barrier to overcome. Maybe they can’t make eye contact with elders in their culture or they have been taught to be docile.
In the classroom, we need to provide an atmosphere where students feel comfortable communicating in a second language but also feel at ease making what they consider “funny expressions.” Invest some time in creating activities for this to take place.
Here are some ideas to try.
Facial Expression Telephone
Just like the game telephone, students will line up in teams. The teacher will provide a facial expression either using pictures, videos, or themselves as the model. Student teams will pass the facial expression to the end of the line to see if they can get it accurate. This makes the atmosphere more fun and students don’t feel alone in making faces. Give a reward like candy or a free homework pass for the winning team.
Mimic the Expression
Take several images of facial expressions from the internet and make them into a deck of cards or get this already made set from Amazon. Laminate them for longer use. Students will work in groups. The student will draw a card. The student will show the card to the group. All the students will make the same face as the picture. You can expand this idea by having them give the word for what is being expressed through the expression (happy, sad, lie, etc.).
Blank Face
The blank face is always a great idea for artistic kids and those who are not so talented at drawing. Art just seems to be calming. Give students a blank face image (or a bunch) and have them draw an expression on the image. This can be used for grammatical features like WH and Yes/No question expressions or emotions or facial adverbs. This will help reinforce the idea of the importance of expressions. The visual can also be helpful for students who are on the spectrum and struggle with this concept of emotions on the face.
Take a Picture
Have students take pictures using their facial expressions and put them in a document to turn in. Hopefully grading them on only expressions will encourage students to really think about them, practice, and get comfortable with using just the face and not having to produce a sign at the same time and making an expression. This is a great activity at any level. Students always need practice.
Emojis
At any age, students love emojis. They are a word of communicating on their own. We use them in texts, emails, and social media to convey what we are feeling. Use emojis to practice expressions by creating a set of flashcards. Again, students can practice signs with the emotion vocabulary as well.
These activities will make great station tasks too. How do you practice facial expressions in the classroom? I hope some of these ideas spark interest in your classroom.
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