Witches, wizards, ghouls, and ghosts

          Three weeks into teaching, I'm getting into the swing of things. I developed a little routine. I start each class with "Good morning" and "What day is it?". We then do a tongue twister. My first tongue twister was "Red leather, yellow leather" because many students have difficulty with the "r's". At teh end of the year, I've told them we'll work our way to "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". As the students learn more basic phrases, like "How are you?", we'll add these into the routine, too.
          Then we progress into the lesson for the day. Typically the teachers and I agree upon a very broad topic. Last week, it was San Francisco. This week, it's Halloween. Here's a sample lesson plan (please excuse the grammatical errors in French!).

       
           I've experimented a bit with what activities and games work. Simon Says is excellent for review of what we learned last week, especially when the kids take turns being Simon. We pass batons or balls to one another in small groups to practice the difference between questions and answers. I use Charades to instill vocabulary and Find Your Partner to review short dialogues. I find myself speaking almost exclusively in French, but the students really don't understand English. I give all simple directions in English, from "sit down" to "raise your hand", along with loads of hand gestures. I've been debating starting to speak more English. Other assistants have said they speak exclusively English but that hasn't been effective for me. Teaching is certainly a dynamic profession. I try to take time after every class to I'm trying to figure out how to avoid the hundreds of photocopies I make a week. They are really vital to the progression of the class but I feel green guilt with so many paper documents. Suggestions appreciated!