CI Games

I know this is something I've mentioned before, but games seem so important. Kids love to play them, they're low-stress for us, and they break up our lessons nicely. We're always tempted to play games with the kids, but so often, games don't lend themselves well to a CI approach because they're either just fact recall, or they don't really lend themselves to actually understanding a concept. Running around is not always a good measure of understanding. :D

Jeopardy

I've been adapting Jeopardy recently to work better with a CI approach rather than a 'fact recall' game, and I have yet to have a class for whom it doesn't work.

This is a fairly high-output game for the kids, but it is limited by the types of questions they can ask, and it's also mitigated by the fact that students are working in groups. It also gives them some freedom in the sense that there may be various questions which can be answered by what you said.

Here's how you play:

You can allow or not allow your students to have copies of the text in front of them. Students sit in groups in circles around white boards, giant white boards, pieces of paper, or whatever else you want to have them write on. (they also don't necessarily have to write, but it helps some of them) I divided my kids such that there were no more than four kids in a group.

You have a copy of the text and you give an answer from the text (Eastside Medical Center. The Cow. He devoured it. In the bed). Groups write a question, based on the story, which could viably get that answer. They should NOT ask questions like 'how do you say ____________.' The questions have to be based on the story.

When a group had a question, someone from the group stood up and I numbered them based on the order in which they stood. No one could answer more than once if the rest of their group had not already answered. The first group gave their response, and if they got it right, we didn't proceed to the rest of the responders. If they didn't get it right, we kept going with the other groups.

When a group got it right, I asked them 'do you want to keep or give your points?' They answered, and I turned over a note card I'd prepared. On these note cards are point values, negative and positive. Those are the points they got for answering the question. Point values can of course be reasonable or ridiculous.

If you want to be really particular, you could give them answers like equo and expect the question to have cui in it and not accept quis. I wouldn't do this with beginners.

Bingo

This frequently involves translation or just quick recognition rather than comprehension, but it can be adapted.

Part 1: come up with thirty verbs with your class.

Part 2: have them divide pieces of paper into 16 or 25 squares. Have them ILLUSTRATE one verb in each square. (so they won't use all the verbs on every board)

Part 3: ask them to write ten sentences. In each sentence, they can use one verb from the board. At the end, they end up with ten sentences and ten verbs total.

Part 4: they cut up their sentences and put them in a bowl/bag/hat/whatever.

Part 5: you draw a sentence and read it. (make sure you correct errors as you read so they don't hear incorrect language) If they have a picture representing the verb in that sentence, they put a dot/marker/chip/whatever on it. Once someone has won, they switch boards with someone new.

Because they're student-created, this dredges up new and old vocabulary, and it also means the kids have some fun with the statements, are hearing contextual language, and are identifying the language in the language.

Story Speed-Dating

I forget from whom I heard this the first time, but it's been adapted and adapted again. Here's my version.

Part 1: students get a copy of a story. This can be one they've read before or one they have NOT read before.

Part 2: students get a sheet of paper and divide it into three columns: two skinny columns and one wider one. In the first column, they write 8:00 AM-8:00 PM, skipping a couple lines between each.

Part 3: they walk around the classroom getting 'dates' for those times. They write their partner's name in the second column. You can ask them to do this in the target language. We've spent a lot of time learning numbers, times of day, etc, so I taught them the phrase 'do you want to meet me?', and they asked that + time of day.

Part 4: it always happens that someone doesn't have a date, especially since I don't let them meet with the same person more than twice. We generally spend about five minutes with me saying 'stand if you don't have a 3:00' and assigning the stragglers. Sometimes we have triads for this reason.

Part 5: you call the first time. Partners sit across from each other. You tell them how far to read. On the board/projected screen/out loud, write up/say 1-3 questions about that section. They write the answer(s) to the question(s) in the third column for the appropriate time.