Toward the beginning of the new school term, set several greeting rules for the entire class to follow daily. Start with a few basic rules before asking your students for additional suggestions. Basic rules for students can include greeting the peer at the next desk before class starts and greeting the teacher at the start of class. Examples of additional rules include greeting one another with a firm handshake on Wednesdays or with a friendly wave on Fridays. Further involve students by having them create posters with these greeting rules to post around the classroom.
Spend some time discussing proper greeting etiquette with your class, particularly if you have very young students or students of a non-native culture in your class. List several common forms of greeting, such as hugs, handshakes and various verbal greetings. Ask the class to tell you which forms are formal versus informal. Discuss which greetings to use for certain situations. Explain how a firm handshake should feel and have students practice shaking hands with you and with each other.
Practice saying "hello," "good morning," and other phrases of greeting in different languages with your students. In addition to French, Spanish and other more familiar foreign languages, include greetings from less familiar languages, such as Japanese, Slovak, Swahili or Greek. Ask students about the ethnic heritage of their own families and include greetings from those cultures as well. Also discuss cultural practices surrounding greetings alongside the linguistic portion of foreign greetings. National Geographic suggests turning this exercise into a geography lesson by showing students where to find each country on a map.
Include kind words and encouragement in your own greetings and instruct your students to do the same. Teacher Vision suggests complimenting a student's new haircut or recent classroom behavior. Direct students to follow your example by complimenting each other during a scheduled greeting time at the beginning of class. Alternatively, assign students a written greeting assignment where they must write a personalized greeting to an assigned classmate. Rotate the assigned classmates each day until every student writes a note for each of his or her peers.
Help break the ice in your classroom by allowing students to see who else shares similar interests. Toward the beginning of the school year, ask students to share individual details about their likes and dislikes. Then, for example, if a student says he enjoys baseball, ask the others in the class if they enjoy sports too. Encourage understanding by asking students to elaborate on why they enjoy their favorite hobbies.