The Creative Language Class
Shake things up! Make language learning more engaging!
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What Kara’s tweeting…
- RT @joedale: 6 word story using 6 unique camera shots > Useful in MFL? Perfect for iPads! #mfltwitterati lhstv.weebly.com/6-word-stories… 16 hours ago
- 300+ ideas for post-reading activities: teachnet.com/lessonplans/la… #langchat Can modify to proficiency level! 3 days ago
- Cut out parts for students to match up. Celebra los Dias festivos de Estados Unidos con sabor latino espanol.babycenter.com/a2500016/celeb… 3 days ago
- @tashaosull78 @ElKel99 I have a set and LOVE them. I share and students store their work on Edmodo. 6 days ago
- @lovemysummer @SraSpanglish I haven't played with those. Pick your fav! 1 week ago
What Rachel’s tweeting…
- H 4 months ago
- #actfl12 TCI: Be flexible, be willing to deviate from your plan, use your "plan" ad your curriculum as a guide. Carol Gaab 6 months ago
- Hands on session on circumlocution. Wow! Imagine how our students feel. Let's give them tools to keep communication going!#actfl12 #clc 6 months ago
- Looking forward to my first session...whachamacallits and thingamajigs - saying what you mean. #actfl12 #clc 6 months ago
Lotería, Red Rover, anything kinesthetic.
How do you play Loteria?
It’s like bingo, but it’s from Mexico and it has pictures. There is an older blog post about it (it is an app or can be purchased from Teachers Discovery). Also Google it and you will see lots of info about it.
How do you play red rover in your class?
Pictionary! Clues are in target language. We speak only the target language.
Board Races — I assign 5 teams for example, and then within a team give each a number and make them stand in the back of the room (in their teams). Then I call out #3 and give a word – they have to walk quickly up to the board and write the answer in the target language. (or sometimes this serves as a dictée and they have to write the exact word)
An alternative is to give the first person on the team all the same word, such as “stylo” and everyone on the team has to add a word to create a 7 word sentence. (Il a un stylo vert pour science) It’s great for correcting grammar. Kids are “running” (carefully) and screaming at each other. Target language of course!
I seem to have a lot of athletes and they like playing with a ball! I have a mini basketball hoop and sometimes we play games and they win points and 3 points = 1 shot on the goal. The team with the most baskets wins! They love it!
Kaboom, Sparkle, LRC BIngo
Kaboom…choose slip of paper, if you can translate it, fill in the blank, etc. you keep it. If not, it goes back in the pile. If you get Kaboom, (Caramba), you lose all the slips you’ve earned. LRC is same except if you get left or right, you give your cards to person on your left/right, If you get Simon, you steal from player of your choice.
Sparkle in grade school is a spelling game. You give a word, each student says a letter. Once the word is spelled the next person says the full word. The next person says Sparkle and then next person is out. (or if you say the wrong letter). I use it for memorization of things like days, and verb forms that need repetition. I like it because it’s random…you’re not out because you made a mistake. Ex. lunes, martes,…domingo, Chispas…next person out.
Duelo. Pictures…2 students stand back to back. Each chooses a picture and puts it on his chest face out (so you can see it)…they count una, dos, tres (like a duel) and turn around, The first one to say the word showing on the other’s chest wins the duel.
Just tried this today and the kids really liked it. How do you resolve the “Ugh I totally said it first!’ whining?
I chose a neutral score keeper. I’d love other suggestions.
I usually preface by saying I’m the final say and if I can’t tell, they’ll get another chance. Btw, I love the idea of sheet protectors and expo markers.
I love playing SLAP. Students are in pairs and have pictures of the vocab spread across both desks. I call out the Spanish and they have to be the first to slap it. (they slap each other then the game is over for everyone!) If they slap at the same exact time they rock paper scissors for it. When there is only one card left, have everyone put their hands in the air and really tease them and make them wait for it. Then when you call it is a big deal to get the last card. The person with the most cards at the end wins the game.
I love it the most with the sports unit because so many start with JUGAR. I can say jugaaaaaaaaar…….futbol. They love it.
My kids love that game too! We call it “Agarra”.
We play that too, but instead of slapping the card, they have to pick it up. So who ever ends up with the most cards at the end of the game wins.
I have 6 mini whiteboards. 6 students are in each row. I give each row a whiteboard and a marker. I give them a verb and a tense. The first person has to write the definition of the verb, then pass it to the next. The whole row conjugates the verb, and they cannot fix it until the end. It gets crazy as they have to run the whiteboard to the front of the row, and then as the row works together at the end to fix it if there are errors.
I play a game called escaleras (ladders) I create two lists of whatever topic I’m covering in a table format in a Smartboard lesson, I then use two different markers and cover each line separately. I divide the class into two teams while each student has a small whiteboard, I uncover the bottom line for both teams and wait until everyone on the team has written on their whiteboard the correct response I’m looking for, then I uncover the next line. (I won’t uncover it until everyone in the team is participating). Kids get really into eat and help each other to get the correct answer so that they can move up the ladder. They particularly love this game because the winning team who gets to the top of the ladder gets free homework passes. (I guess the incentive to play this game is to big for them)
We play a modified version of this in my room. I draw “ladders” on the board. One member from each team comes to the board. I give them an English word and they have to write the equivalent in the TL. The first team to do it correcly gets to keep the word on their ladder and climb, while the other teams have to erase. Once the ladder rungs are filled, the team wins. I love this because it requires zero planning ahead of time!
We play this game, but individuals…. my kids pick 12 words, and put the english on one side and spanish on the other of a piece of paper they have folded in half…. they play their partner and have one minute to climb their partner’s ladder. Then they switch and the person they are playing guesses their ladder. I have a timer on the smartboard that dings at the end of a minute. After both have gone the winner stands and plays the next person in the rotation. The first few rounds I let them look at the Spanish and say the English. Then we switch and they look at the English and say the Spanish.
Love these ideas! How can we make them in the target language only? Could pics work?
Bingo is the all-time favorite but “Matamoscas” (Flyswatter game) is a close second with most of my classes. (Have a selection of letters, numbers, magnetized pictures of vocab, etc. on the board and have 2 students go to the board with 1 flyswatter each. Students in the “audience” take turns calling out a vocab word and the first student to slap the correct spot on the board with the flyswatter wins. Losing student has to give the flyswatter to somebody from the audience, winner gets to stay up. Fast-paced and fun — just make sure the 2 students with flyswatters don’t kill each other!)
Pesca! (Go Fish!) is another much-requested game. (I usually take about 20ish vocab words and make double sets of cards with pictures that represent the words. Play like traditional Go Fish — with pairs, not sets of four — Students have to ask in the TL for cards to get a match.) I like to use this one to practice indefinite articles (Tienes un/una…?)
Memory is another favorite for vocab. (play w/ a partner like traditional Memory, with Spanish word cards & picture cards.)
Many classes also love Around-the-World, especially now that I’ve started using the Random Image Chooser on the SMARTboard (find it in the Gallery!) You can fill it with as many images as you want. Just push “choose” and the Chooser bounces around the screen and finally “pings” out a picture (complete with fun sound effect!). 2 students compete to identify/describe/etc it correctly in the TL, and the first student to get it right gets to move “around the world” to compete against the next person.
My students love to throw the ball in the recycling bin for extra points when they get an answer correct too! They also love crayon war. It is a version of flyswatter. I write down all of their vocabulary and make copies. They play against a partner and have to be the first to circle the correct word.
I do this with sheet protectors and expo markers.
My kids love bingo too. I’ve got a ton of ultra-competitive kids and anything they can win at they want to play. They also love matamoscas, this one sometimes gets a little rowdy and lately they’ve done really well playing “Lo tengo” where we divide up either one set of vocab picture cards between the whole class or each table plays with a set (kids get more cards) and they have to hold it up and yell “Lo tengo” if they have it…then we get faster and faster. Snakes and ladders is another they seem to enjoy, I just drew snakes (which ended up looking like worms) and ladders on an excel grid and they play with vocab picture cards. The “Ay caramba’s” are clearly voiced when someone hits a snake.
We play Picture Pages. I put a picture on the projector and one student faces the screen and th other has their back to it. The one looking at the picture describes it in Spanish and the one with their back to the screen tries to draw it. They love doing this and it is all in the target language. It also helps them work on direction words that we don’t always get to use, like: in front, behind, next to, etc.
For the artistically impaired, there’s a really good, full-color Serpientes y Escaleras game board here: http://www8.georgetown.edu/centers/cndls/applications/postertool/data/users/pag119.gif
What do you do with this?
My students love baseball. I use this in my Spanish and ESL classes. You turn 3 large objects into bases and have the board be home. Put numbers 1-30 on the board. Every time a student is up to bat they pick a number and you chose the pre-made questions that matches that number. If they get it right, they get to roll the dice. 1- 1st base, 2- 2nd base, 3- 3rd base, 4- out 5- walk (next person doesnt have to answer a question), 6- out. If students throw the dice off the table its a strike. If they get the question wrong it’s an out, but the other team can still pick that questions since they never heard the answer. I have used questions from the test, shown pictures and they have to come up with vocab word….anything really!.
I forgot about 4 corners (sometimes 5). It’s another elementary school game adapted to language. Instead of numbering the corners, I put up signs with character names or subject pronouns or letters…Students stand in whatever corner they want. I call a word from slips of paper. (ex. a verb form to match a subject, or an adjective to describe a character, or a word that begins with that letter.) Whoever is standing at that corner is out. Then the slip goes back, students move or stay and another slip is called. When there are only a few people left, they must split up so there is a winner.
My kids love to play scrambled sentences. The kids are divided into teams with vocab words on cards in front of them. I say a sentence aloud and the teams have to put the words in the correct order then run to the front of the room with their cards. The hardest part is remembering where the first word in the sentence belongs!
Love this board:)