When I arrived for class one gloomy morning, my class (Spanish CEFR Level B2.1) was more tired than usual. They were having trouble getting into the group activities I had planned.

I decided to pause the session. I knew that one of my students was studying physical education. A few weeks earlier, she had given a short presentation on pickleball. I asked her if she could spontaneously lead a 3- to 5-minute warm-up routine that the students could do while standing. She agreed.

All participants had to stand up. Then she began the exercises and gave the instructions in Spanish: circle your head, bend your knees, raise your arms, etc. I helped her with a few words she didn’t know.

After a few minutes, everyone was energized and enthusiastic. Once they were seated again, I demonstrated a few movements and asked them for the corresponding commands and vocabulary in Spanish. After all, a bit of linguistic context shouldn’t be missing.

As a final note, if there are no physical education students in your class, you as the instructor can, of course, demonstrate the exercises yourself 😊.