I cannot believe that I have never blogged about this game before. I have a tendency to exaggerate, but I really don't think that I am exaggerating when I say that this is the MOST beneficial, MOST engaging, and MOST awesome game that a TPRS®/CI teacher can play. Don't believe me? Haters gonna hate....but I think … Continue reading Mafia: The TCI game of all games
Oh, if only there were more hours in the day! I have so many posts that I need to write about the sessions that I attended at CSCTFL15 last week. I'll add them as I find time over the next few months! This CSCTFL15 share is another one from Mira Canion's presentation on Deepening Reading … Continue reading Sentence BINGO ~ Fiesta Fatal Review
I shared this game on my blog many years ago, and I'm posting it an updated version today since it is so buried in the archives. "Thief" is a game that I first learned about from Michele Whaley, who read about it in a post by Jeremy Jordan on the MoreTPRS listserv. I have historically used … Continue reading Thief! A game to practice physical descriptions and direct object pronouns
Overview: Generate comprehensible input and provide opportunities for output from a traditional vocabulary-review game that is played with a partner. Download a PDF of the instructions and sample game boards for this activity here. PREPARATION: Generate a word cloud of the target vocabulary structures that you want to review (in the target language). This can … Continue reading Word Race Stories
Hay--the word for "there is" or "there are" in Spanish--is one of the highest frequency structures in any language. However...it's not one of the easiest to teach because it is difficult for students to form a mental picture with which to associate it. As with any new structure, give your students the translation (ideally, in written … Continue reading There is/There are
Pencil Grab is a super simple activity that I learned from Carmen Andrews-Sanchez via Kristin Duncan’s blog. It’s so simple and so fun! I pair up students and give each one a pencil. Then, I say a series of true or false statements, and students try to grab a pencil before their partner does anytime that … Continue reading Pencil Grab True-False game
I think that I have thought of a good way to add value to Wordoku puzzles. (A Wordoku is a Sudoku puzzle that contains words instead of numbers.) I've created several Wordoku puzzles for my students to use that contain thematic vocabulary. (Click on this link to see some examples.) I like having puzzles on … Continue reading A new way to Wordoku
BIG EXCITING NEWS. The Comprehensible Classroom is officially debuting its first-ever GERMAN activity! Oh yeah! Thanks to Brigitte Kahn for sending along the German translations of 'Un sapo de otro pozo' (follow the link for game instructions)...for all you German teachers out there, download the full German PDF here! Brigitte, you rock!!! Thank you!!! If … Continue reading Was passt nicht?
"Odd one out" is a fun game commonly played by language teachers, whether first or second+. You may have played it under a different name, or without naming it at all! The basic concept is that students are given a list of three to four items, and they must identify the "odd one out"--the item that … Continue reading Odd one out / Un sapo de otro pozo
Although I am not teaching this year, I've been thinking a lot about the last few weeks of school as my former colleagues muscle through the last two weeks here in Anchorage. As a middle school teacher, the best adjective for those last two weeks was CRAZY! The amount of daylight here in Alaska combined with the … Continue reading Summer plans
