Cha-Cha Class
If you're new here, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed. Thanks very much for visiting!
DJ Casper’s Cha-Cha Slide
Easy lesson plan? Heck yeah. I simply teach the terms in the song and then force the kids to do the dance with me. We clear the desks to the side of the room and have them stand in a grid for starting positions. Normally they are reticent to join in, and wind up lining the walls. Then they watch me making a fool of myself, and laugh and loosen up a bit. I encourage the more outgoing kids, and eventually everyone is dancing - even the kids who would rather light themselves on fire than answer questions in class. Weird. I know. At least this is true for high school. Here are the terms I’ve used before. Just pop them on a handout and go over them before dancing - there’s your justification for dancing in English class. Who just saved you thinking for a day? I did. 
Terms:
Left 左
Right 右
Back 後ろ
Turn* 回る
Hop ぴょんと跳ぶ
Stomp 踏みならす
Cha-Cha** チャチャチャを踊る
Slide 滑る
Crisscross 足を交差する
Freeze 動くな！ （結氷する）
Clap 拍手
Low 低くかがむ
Top 上、天井の方に手を伸ばす
Reverse 半回転する
Charlie Brown*** ？？？
* - I usually have them turn 90 degrees counterclockwise. It’s a line dance, so as long as you keep the turn uniform, you can do whatever you want.
** - This is most definitely not a real cha-cha. I basically have them do a “conga line” motion with their hands and step back and forth to the rhythm. They weren’t up for a real cha-cha.
*** - “Charlie Brown” is what always gets the most laughs. Because it’s ridiculous. Either mimic the dances from the Peanuts characters or, if that’s before your generation, feel free to liberally borrow from the dances of the Scooby Doo crowd. As long as flailing limbs and goofy knee and elbow interaction is involved, they will love it. Ha ha.