#TESOL16 Brain Breaks, Fun and Learning with GoNoodle [Handout]

1. Brain Breaks, Fun and Learning with GoNoodle
by Miguel Perez Ramos* & Diego Navarro Petit**
What is a brain break?
Brain breaks are a quick and effective way of changing and/or refocusing students’ attention by
activating, energizing and stimulating their brains keeping them engaged throughout academic
journeys.
What is GoNoodle?
GoNoodle is a website which supports teachers with a variety of video-based activities allowing
students, no matter their age or English level, to enjoy performing fun and calming brain breaks,
and also to learn English actively and passively. GoNoodle challenges students to advance in the
development of their champs (avatars) incorporating a sense of gamification in the classroom.
Who is it good for?
Kids are the main target for GoNoodle, however you can get teenagers and adults to experience
these activities evoking their inner children. Once you get your students, of all ages, used to
work with GoNoodle they will be strongly motivated to keep on using it during their class
sessions receiving the same benefits children do. Once you try GoNoodle with all your students
they will beg for more.
Energizing Activities
GoNoodle offers a wide variety of activities which can boost students’ energy when they just
arrive to class or they simply are bored of the dull classroom routine. We strongly suggest you to
explore the following channel within GoNoodle: Koo-Koo Kangaroo, MooseTube, Zumba for
Kids, Kids Bops, Indoor Recess among others.
Relaxing / Calming activities
Sometimes our students are anxious about evaluations, and some other times they are
hyperactive, and that is when relaxing and calming activities take place. These activities provide
teachers and students with practical tools for calming down and controlling emotions allowing to
set the right classroom atmosphere to continue the academic journey. Some of the channels you
can try out are Maximo, Empower Tools and Think about it; there are energizing-based channels
which contain relaxing and calming activities as well.

2. Ways to use it
You can use GoNoddle in different ways or you can just keep your class playing and making the
champs growing. However, you can try these different ways for using it:
● Warm up: There different activities suitable for starting an energetic class and you can
also relate the content of the lesson with the vocabulary they use in the activity. E.g.
when teaching demonstratives there is a Koo Koo Kangaroo activity named This or that.
● Transition: you can switch from one activity to the other by playing one energetic or
relaxing/calming activity.
● Reward: you can ask your student to perform different tasks in order to play they
favorite GoNoodle activity.
● Break Substitute: sometimes weather conditions do not allow students to go to the yard.
So, you can try the channel Indoor Recess or simply let the students play their favorite
ones. They would love it.
● Closing: there different ways to close your session using different GoNoddle activities,
you can get students used to a particular GoNoodle activities that will establish the end of
the class.
How to sign up?
Go to https://www.gonoodle.com/ sing up for free and start creating your classes.
Final Thoughts
References
Medina, J. (2008) Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home,
and School. Seattle: Pear Press