It's a new semester for many of y'all, and if you used Fast Finisher activities in the fall, you probably have a few students that are chomping at the bit, ready for more. Martina to the rescue! I finished up a new pack of 15 Fast Finisher worksheets (purchase it here), and even better I have started a Pinboard onto which I will be pinning ready-to-go, printable worksheets that I find online and think would work well for this purpose. (The purpose of Fast Finisher activities is for students that finish their work quickly to be able to grab something to do and complete it without needing help from the teacher--read more about how I used them in my class here.)
Logic and Wordoku puzzles make great filler and fast finisher activities!Click here to check out the Fast Finisher Pinboard! You'll find a huge range of activities (especially as I continue to pin to this board--there's not much there yet), so you'll need to think about what kind of activities you want your students to work on and then sort through the ones that I pin. I prefer to use activities that give students comprehensible input, but I definitely include some straight-up vocabulary activities and even a few grammar and culture activities just for variety. Keep in mind that the kids that will be completing these activities have already finished what was expected of them in class, so the Fast Finisher activities should not be a burden. They should be activities that the students enjoy doing, FIRST, and if they provide high-quality input, even better. As you build your library of Fast Finisher activities, you'll be able to weed out more and more of the not-so-beneficial activities as you substitute better ones in. The activities that are most beneficial to students' language acquisition are reading-based (even if they are puzzles) and match or slightly exceed the proficiency level of the students that will be using them.
What procedures have you set up in your classes for 'Fast Finisher' students? Other than the folders, FVR is always a great option--and Mike Peto and Crystal Barragán are two of my fave bloggers to learn about that! Check out TPRS Publishing's FVR Pinboard to see many of their ideas and those of others!
