Reading Scavenger Hunt

Materials: authentic reading in the target language – article, book, etc & worksheet

Language Component: Reading

Forms & Functions: Grammar, syntax, vocabulary

To create the worksheet, select a series of sentences within the reading that utilize grammar or vocabulary the students are focusing on.  Edit the text on the worksheet to remove or alter the sentences from the reading. For example, if my focus was to teach students about past tense and the sentence I selected from the text was “amerika kara kimashita” I might alter the sentence on the worksheet to either “amerika kara kimasu“ or “amerika kara __________”.

Students should read through the text once without the worksheet for comprehension and meaning. Before starting a second read-through, hand out the worksheet. If your worksheet has words removed (as in the second example) students simply need to find the appropriate phrase in the text and copy it. If the sentence has been altered, students will need to take the additional step of correcting the sentence once they have found it.

Marketplace activity

Materials:

• Notecards/white paper for vendors signs
• Money/purchases tracker for buyers

Language Component: Speaking, Listening

Forms and Functions: Bargaining in a marketplace

Overview:  This activity is used for the popular topic of bargaining.  This is an important language function that is often learned in language classrooms.  First as a class brainstorm different types of stores (shoe store, jewelry store, etc.).  The teacher will write about seven of these stores on the board (depending on how many students are in the class, I had a class of approximately 30 and I wanted about seven “vendors”).  The teacher will then break the students into seven even groups.  In these groups the students need to come up with a list of items their store would sell and the prices for the items.  After the students make the lists, choose who would be the vendors and who would be the tourists/buyers.  All the tourists will start with $100 and their money/purchase tracker and will walk around to the vendors to bargain and buy items.  The vendors will also keep track of their sales.  The buyer who ends up with the most amount of items at the end of the activity was a winner, and the vendor who ends up with the most money at the end is the winner.

 Marketplace Activity

Modifications: This game is difficult to modify because it is specific to bargaining, however it can be used at many different levels with different vocabulary to suit the students abilities.

Battleship

Materials:

• Battleship printouts

Language Component: Speaking, Listening

Forms and Functions: Conjugation of verbs and verbal skills

Overview: This activity takes a little bit of preparation from the teacher but is an activity that can be altered to many different topics.  The students will each get a paper with the instructions and battleship board.  I have attached the one I made for 6^th grade Spanish with the instructions.  The teacher will need to explain the instructions to the students because many of them have not played battleship before.  Students will also need an explanation of how to draw their ships.  There should be five ships (one ship that is one square, one that is two, one that is three etc.) that are all straight lines.  The ships cannot be overlapped, bent, or placed diagonally.  It is also important to make sure the students are speaking in the target language during the whole activity.  This is a fun game that students love and it is great practice!

ST1 LP15 Battleship

Modifications: This game can be modified to any sort of conjugation and verbs that the students are learning.  Although it might not work perfectly for every language, it can be adapted to work for most, or the teacher could change the categories to make it more effective.

Word Splash

Materials:

• word splash print out
• powerpoint or print out of pictures of words for document camera or projector

Language Component: listening/reading

Forms and Functions: attaching meaning to visuals, translation 

Overview: This game is a spin off of the Flyswatter/BB Bump game but instead of a whole class competition is used in pairs and can be a competition or not.  In pairs the students will have a print out of a word splash (below is an example of one I made for my Spanish class) with their vocabulary words.  The teacher will flip through the slideshow of pictures or show the pictures on the document camera/projector.  When the students see the picture they must circle the word on the paper, student can choose to keep score or can work together to find the answer.  This is a good activity for students who do not like competition in the classroom, or when the teacher needs to make sure all the students are involved (such as test review etc.)  After each picture, the teacher should allow the students time to find the answer, then review it as a class

Modifications: This game can be used at any level as a vocabulary practice game.  It can be adapted from pictures to words for translation of words for more advanced or abstract vocabulary at higher levels.

Vocabulary Dice

Materials: Dice

Language Component: Speaking

Forms and Functions: explaining words in multiple ways

Overview: This vocabulary practice game can be played in pairs, or groups of a few students.   The teacher will give each group one die and a list of vocabulary words (students can also use their vocabulary words for the unit/chapter).  The first student will roll the die to see what their task will be for the first word.

1: define the word

2: something that means the same thing

3: what does it remind you of?

4: draw it

5: act it out

6: something that means the opposite

Example:

Word List: Apple, Banana, Peach

If student 1 rolls a 5, they will act out the word ‘apple’

Next is student 2, if they roll a 3 they might say ‘bananas remind me of monkeys’

Modifications: This game can be adapted to different languages as well as different subjects such as science and social studies.

Snake Game

Materials: Game boards as shown below, scraps of paper or buttons.

Language Component: Writing

Forms and Functions: verbs, subject pronouns and vocabulary

Create simple game boards in a single path or a piece of paper as shown above. The squares could have pictures or vocabulary in the target language, subject pronouns and/or verbs. For game pieces, you can use scraps of paper; different color bingo chips or buttons. You will also need one die and one board for every two students.

Each student rolls the die, and may advance that many stops along the path.  Students should count out their moves using numbers in the target language.

When they arrive at a square, they jump forwards or back to the matching square (if they land on a picture, they jump to the name, and vice versa)

To win, they must land on Meta by exact count. They get three tries. If on the third turn, they have still not rolled an exact entry, they move back the numbers of squares on the die, then jump to the matching square.

 

Modifications:

When students hit on the head of the snake, they have to back down to the tail of the snake. Other rules can be implemented according to your needs and target language.

 

Fly Swat / BB Bump

Materials: Transparency with drawings of the target vocabulary

Language Component: Listening

Forms and Functions: attaching meaning to visuals.

 

Set up a transparency on the doc cam containing the drawings for the vocabulary words being studied.  Divide the class in two halves and tell students that each halve is a team.

A representative from each team will be at the board with a marker. Whoever circles or hits the right drawing after the target word is said, wins a point.

Continue in this manner until the entire class has had an opportunity to come up to the board.

Modifications:

Instead of markers, students can have fly swatters. Sometimes these items make the activity more interactive and competitive.

post-it notes categories

Materials: some post-it notes with words or sentences written on each

Language Component: reading

Forms and Functions: vocabulary, grammar, culture

This activity is very adaptable and can be used to teach vocabulary, conjugations, grammar word classification, cultural concepts, etc. The concept is that you divide the board, or even the entire classroom into several categories that you clearly label. On post-it notes you write words or sentences (in the target language) that fit in at least one of those categories. This is done ahead of time. In class, you distribute the post-it notes to students and they have to put them in the right place.

For example, I did this with foods and meals in France. The meal names were the categories, and on the post-it notes were different foods and dishes. Afterward, we debriefed by talking about the traditional composition of meals in France, and we discussed the cultural differences (e.g. when students placed eggs in the breakfast category —eggs are not eaten for breakfast in France).

Modifications: you can do the same activity with conjugations: a verb and what verb category it goes in. Also, depending on the level of students, you can do words, phrases, or full sentences (for example, sentences that a person might say in such or such situation, the situations being the categories on the board, and the sentences being on the post-it notes).

Boggle

Materials: whiteboard. If you want to create a permanent board, it’s very easy to do – see example photo below:

 

(image from http://mrsrojasteaches.blogspot.hu/)

Language Component: reading, writing

Forms & Functions: Vocabulary

This activity is a great way to fill extra time in class, and it encourages students to look beyond the text and curriculum to explore the language. You can do it as a single activity or leave the board up throughout class and have students submit their discoveries at the end of each week.

Set up your boggle board with letters from the target language. You can create a boggle grid as large as you like, remembering that the larger the grid, the longer the words that can be found. Larger grids work well for more advanced students, while smaller grids will be less intimidating for novice learners.

The rules of boggle are very simple – find as many words as possible within the letters provided. All letters must be connected, you cannot pull letters from opposite sides of the board to create new words. Think of it like an advanced word search, where you can search in every direction possible.

Students should be given access to a dictionary to help them discover new words. If students are struggling, have them work in pairs or small groups. Set a timer (5-10 minutes) and ask students to write down every word they can.

When the timer goes off, ask students to share some of the words they discovered. When the student shares, they should also say what the word means and show on the boggle board how the word was formed (trace a line with their finger, etc). The student or group with the most words is the winner.

Modifications: For additional challenge, give points based on the length of the word – longer words have higher point value.

Word Race

Materials: some objects that represent the vocabulary studied (for example, if the vocabulary is classroom supplies, have a glue stick, a notebook, a pencil, etc.)

Language Component: listening, speaking

Forms and Functions: vocabulary

This activity is a good way to make vocabulary building fun and to get students to release some energy. It is best played outside, but can be played in the classroom if it’s arranged to make it safe to run.

Students are separated into several teams and each team lines up facing the same direction. In the distance, set the objects you’ve chosen to use. When everybody is ready, shout out one of the objects in the target language. Students have to run, grab the correct object, run back and repeat the word to you. The first team that does that correctly scores a point. The game goes on with the next people in line.

Modifications: you can do the same game with other things than vocabulary. For instance, I have done it with big pieces of paper in the distance; I would say a verb and students had to run to the paper to conjugate the verb, and then run back with the paper to show me it was correct.