One of the effective ways to make a second language comprehensible and appealing to the learners is the use of GAMES. Games have the effect of amusing the students and giving them a break, especially in cases when they have to go through four classes a day. Secondly, and most importantly, games give the students the opportunity to practise the language skills they have learnt.
During the last two weeks we dealt with, among other grammatical topics, forming yes/no questions using verbs to be and verbs to do. So I used a game in which the students practised these questions while enjoying a game that they've always enjoyed at home or in school - but in Arabic. They did their best to win the competition. And here is how it went.
1. I divided the class into two groups: A and B.
2. A student from Group A came to the front of the class, thinking about an object.
3. The members of Group B had to identify that object by asking only 15 yes/no questions.
4. The roles were shifted: A student from Group B received questions from Group A.
5. The group that succeeded in identifying more objects won.
6. We played the same game a second time altering the target into famous persons.
Rules of the game:
1. Only yes/no questions can be used. The use of "or" is not allowed.
2. Only short answers can be given; no additional information or hints can be provided.
3. Only well-formed questions will be answered.
The students, and myself, enjoyed the game. They struggled to form correct questions in order to win. They also did their best to think about things or persons that were difficult for the other group to guess. At the beginning, the answers were very easy to figure out: necklace, iPhone, Mickael Jackson, Tamir Husni (an Arab singer and actor), etc. In a later stage, they became more difficult: a flat screen (not a computer), Usama Al-Sayyed (an Arab chef), Al-Hudhaifi (a Saudi Da'iya), etc.
Wafa, thank you for your post. A variation of the above game was productive in my classroom as well--the students seem to love games. A question: how much time do you allot the group to come up with their 15 questions? I had trouble with time management.
ReplyDeleteAnother thought your post brought to mind: I myself would have no way of distinguishing between grade of difficulty or complexity where Arab personalities are involved (as I have no idea who Tamir Husni or Usama Al-Sayyed are). Perhaps we create a list of personalities that students here would be likely to be familiar with/interested in. The above would benefit non-Arab instructors, I think. Famous musicians? Writers? Actors? Other types of personalities? And their rough equivalents in Western culture (within categories as well--since a James Patterson, for example, is not equivalent to a Margaret Atwood). Actually, similar discussion would be helpful in other areas as well. For example, earlier in the week, a few of us were discussing equivalents in music genres between the two cultures (one of the conclusions that we arrived at is that gospel somewhat equals nasheed).
Another game we played last week:
1. Using post-its, I attached the name of a different student on each student's back. The student herself did not know "who she was" for the time being.
2. The students then had to figure out "who they were" by asking their classmates questions such as "Am I taller than Heba?", "Is my shirt cotton?", "What color are my shoes?", etc.
The day before we played the above game, the students engaged in a question forming exercise. However, during the game itself, initially I still had to help many of them form questions. They later became more confident, though.
Very nice game, Fatima. I'll try it with my students.
ReplyDeleteI think you have to be flexible with time in such games because the objective of the game is ultimately to get the students to use the grammatical structure in an enjoyable way. And don't expect that they will produce great grammar just because they studied it yesterday. In fact, the grammar they are studying now was taught to them in school. But, to repeat what was stated in a previous blog, English is a foreign language to the students; it is not used outside class.
Preparing a list of personalities for the above game could be a good idea if the teacher should choose. But why not let the students choose? They can decide what/who is difficult for the other team.
Definitely, Wafa--the students themselves would choose while playing the game. I think such a list would benefit the non-Arabic teachers simply in other ways, namely in the sense of having a bit of awareness in terms of frame of reference. It adds somewhat to the teacher's credibility as well to have some knowledge of the students' culture (I think the above is helpful in establishing a connection). The students seem to react very favorably to any mention of either their own language or anything connected to it.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try the game your way :).
This week we reviewed the "preferences/comparisons with adjectives" lesson from unit three. In order to make the lesson more meaningful, the students and I used real items, some from the classroom, and others that we brought in. For example, I brought in two jackets (one jeans, one cotton), two pairs of shoes, two staplers (a small red one and a large green one), and so on. The items were assigned prices and the students were asked to fill out a worksheet detailing, a) which item they preferred, b) the form of the question they'd use to inquire about the price of each (How much is this one? How much are these?, etc.), and c) what they thought of the price (That's reasonable; That's not bad; That's expensive, etc.). This was an attempt, basically, at integrating a few of the concepts we've already covered into one exercise.
ReplyDeleteIn the second portion of the exercise, the students were asked to utilize their answers for the first portion in order to construct comparative sentences indicating preference. For example:
I prefer the red skirt. It's cheaper than the pink one.
I like the jeans jacket better. It's warmer than the cotton one.
Great and inspiring ideas.
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas. Let me share some of my strategies which I used in last weeks and found them very useful.
ReplyDelete1. Grouping
In the middle of second week I divided my class into 6 groups. In each group there are some weak and good students. Each week a group is honored as “GROUP OF THE WEEK” with a certificate (this is based on their performance in any special task or activity)
In each activity I divide the marks in different categories. And even if member didn`t perform well in that activity, all group members had to lose marks. So in this way students are cooperating and helping each other.
Web sites for free printable certificates templates.
http://www.123certificates.com/
http://www.successcertificates.com/
2. Role plays
(I assigned the task of role play to each group. I gave them two days to prepare their dialogues. Each group worked on one professional industry but have different job titles. Alhamdulillah all the students performed very well.
So I think that role plays not only break the monotony of the class but also give good practice of grammar and pronunciation.
3. Spelling competitions
4. Sentence-building competitions
5. Twenty Questions
(Class was divided into two groups, one student think about a thing or person, other all tried to guess the name by asking different questions with be and simple present.)
6. Substitute dialogues.
(Students were asked to substitute the underline words of a dialogue from their books.
7. Mind Mapping (with the circles on the board)
Important vocabulary (through brain storming) was given to the students to help them in writing a short paragraph of 6-10 sentences.