Left, Right, Center
24I’m always looking for a really lucky student to take to Vegas, so I brought in some games to test their skills. No really, I wanted to teach some basic prepositions of location and thought of a friendly little game we play at parties called LRC. Students learn how say “left, right, center, and stay” from playing the game. My students love this game because it’s fast paced, simple, and fun.
Here are the basic rules to the game: Normal Rules The main tweak I make is that they have to say what they are doing in Spanish. If they don’t, another student can call them on it and take one of their chips. Sometimes I use candy like Smarties or Jolly Ranchers instead of the plastic chips. They love winning that pot! They usually share with the group anyways, so everyone wins.
- LRC Cheat Sheet
They beg me to play any time we have extra time in class. You want to keep learning? Ok!!
After playing and at the end of class, I asked them to describe their bedroom (vocab we started learning this week). Their proficiency levels shot up just knowing these words! And it was more interesting to read. Tomorrow I will read these, and they will draw what they hear…
Megan
rachel573
Kara
[...] Left, Right, Center [...]
I let the students have a study hall today bc I have so many sophomores out for PSAT and freshman are stressed about their exams. I told them they could switch seats if they ask IN SPANISH to sit in front of, beside, behind a friend in the classroom. Was a great and REAL use of those preposition words! It was hilarious to hear them all raising their hands and asking “Puedo mover detrás de Emily?” etc..
I love this idea…I will try when I teach these concepts. By the way, what do the letters IM, IL, NH, NM, NL, and U represent. I’m guessing U is unsatisfactory, right?
Our district uses proficiency based assessments, so this is how we “grade” the students work in class too. NL = novice low, NM = Novice Mid, NH = Novice High, IL = Intermediate Low, IM = Intermediate Mid, and then the scale goes to the Advanced and Superior Level but high school students rarely get there.
Thanks for your response!
For some extra details about the proficiency levels:
http://actflproficiencyguidelines2012.org/
Do you play this with normal dice and assign numbers to left, right and center? Or did you buy the specific LRC dice?
I use normal dice and write this on the board:
1-2 = a la derecha
3-4 = a la izquierda
5 = se queda
6 = al centro
Also, check out Kara’s cheatsheet that she gives her students to play…
http://creativelanguageclass.wordpress.com/games/left-right-center/
what happens to the chips in el centro?
Can’t tell if the my previous comment went through…
Just wanted to let you know that I love this idea and plan to use it when I teach these words. By the way, what do the letters “IM, IL, NH, NM, NL, and U represent?
Great idea! I plan to use this when I teach prepositions. What do the letters IM, IL, NH, NM, HL and U represent on the handout shown?
Since the real game is $9.99 I was thinking that at teacher supply places blank dice can be bought and then labled.
Absolutely!
I love that even more because then I can write the letters I, D, C, and the dot for the Spanish Izquierda, derecha, and centro!
Sounds fun and useful. What becomes of the chips in the pot? I’m guessing they just stay there until the end of the game?
The pot stays til the end. The last person to still have “chips” wins! I used jolly ranchers and started each student with 3 of them. I’m thinking now that I could use coins from some of my travels so students can compare pesos, euros, and colones! Hmmm…
Sounds great! How often do you play it? I’m already thinking “How could I tweak this for another skill?” Maybe with “arriba & abajo” or “delante and atras” ?
I play 2 or 3 times when it fits in the unit or wait until the students ask for it again.
just wondering…when kids are playing this game, are there any other target language expectations or is “okay” for them to be chatting away in english?
This is your call. I would say it depends on a few different factors. What level class is playing this game? Level 2 should be able to handle more than just words. Level 1 – maybe not. When my students played last year – games were short. They lasted by 10-15 minutes. I had another activity ready for when the first groups finished. I would maybe add other game phrases on the board for them to use while playing like “it’s your turn” or “hurry up” or “I won” or “Good luck” so they can use more of teh language while playing. Like I said – in the end, only you know what is realistic for your students!
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I let the students have a study hall today bc I have so many sophomores out for PSAT and freshman are stressed about their exams. I told them they could switch seats if they ask IN SPANISH to sit in front of, beside, behind a friend in the classroom. Was a great and REAL use of those preposition words! It was hilarious to hear them all raising their hands and asking “Puedo mover detrás de Emily?” etc..
One idea I read about somewhere and implemented was to have them crumple up a piece of paper and try to throw it at the trash can in front of the room. If they scored, I gave their team 2 points. If it landed to the right or left or behind or in front of the trash can, they could still get 1 point for their team if they could say where the paper landed.
How fun!