Estoy enfermo - Necesito un doctor

My first graders learned body parts earlier in the year with the video Adiós Monstruo (see the post here!) We are spiraling back to body parts and visiting the doctor.

Target vocabulary: 

¿Cómo te llamas?  Me llamo ______.
¿Cómo estás?  Estoy enfermo/a.
¿(Body part) bien o mal?
Me duele(n) (body part).
Necesito mirar en (body part).
Necesito escuchar. (to their heart)
Necesitas medicina/curita/inyección.
¡No me gustan las inyecciones!


This may look like a lot but the bolded words are phrases they have seen before. This unit was a chance for them to see/use them again but in a different context. The "necesito mirar/escuchar" is how I give them directions before we watch a video or read a book together so this was a great opportunity for them to see it used differently.

I first introduced the new vocabulary and scenario with my puppet Rafael la rana. I had individual students come up to the front and treat poor Rafael. Throughout the next couple of classes we "treated" either Rafael or another student, each time practicing chorally as a group the new phrases.

Finally, we got out ALL the doctor toys and everyone got a chance to be the doctor or patient. Each doctor got their own toy stethoscope (thanks to a stash of old toys I found on Ebay!) various tools like blood pressure cuffs, thermometers, needles, and otoscopes. They also got a patient intake form to take their history and record their prescription for either medicine, a band-aid, or a shot. My little doctors LOVED giving shots.

I got all this for $25 on Ebay!

I put these in sheet protectors and gave the kids a clipboard, a dry erase markers and a tissue.

We've played it several times now, taking turns switching who is the doctor and who is the patient. Their language production started out dicey but the more they play the better they get. And the best part is they hardly know they're learning Spanish.

You can get the patient intake form here.

How do you teach body parts or "me duele"? Share in the comments below or on Twitter using the hashtag #earlylang.