Are you looking for fun and creative ways to spice up your classroom? Are your go-to activities becoming boring and mundane? If you can answer yes to these questions, then continue to read on. I want to share some ideas to engage students in communication while you teach and assess their progress.
Picture Talks
Pictures are the most basic, low-prep way you can teach vocabulary, ask questions, and chat about a specific topic. Picture talks are highly engaging, highly compelling comprehensible input. They work great for teaching culture and staying in the target language or for introducing vocabulary. Pictures are incredibly versatile in the language classroom. Use various pictures to make comparisons about cultures or to talk about similarities and differences.
Running Dictation
Running dictation is a great way to get some movement into your classroom. This activity takes a bit more time for you to create, however, it can have a big impact on student learning if done correctly.
Split students up in pairs. You can always make the groups larger, but I like 2’s because it keeps students “on” at all times. Running dictation is like a relay race with language. It works well with reviewing stories but you can also use it to practice common phrases. It is versatile.
Record the words, phrases, or review items you are trying to cover. Create several different videos. Set up computers in the back of the room or outside your classroom door (don’t disturb your teacher neighbor). Each computer will have a different sentence from a story (or what you are covering). Don’t put them in order. Teams will compete to finish first.
I assign each student-pair a role and after each round, they switch roles. One student views the video and is the “runner” the other writes the information down and is the “writer” and signs to me. I check for accuracy and after I approve, student teams can move to the next station. You can easily add a third person to share the information with you. So then you would have a runner, writer, and delivery person.
After the relay is over, you can extend the activity by having the pairs put the story in order and make a video.
Gap Activities
Gap activities are when students don’t have all of the information. This can be a partner activity when each student is missing some information from their document or it can be a document where the whole class has the same paper and you sign information and they fill in the blank with the accurate words or phrases. These are quick and easy to make and they are a fast way to do a check of what students know or still need to work on.
Gallery Walks
Gallery walks get kids out of their seats, moving around the room, and considering the learning and information that is placed before them. It is a win, win for teachers and student. Gallery walks are a great place to showcase student’s work, get some receptive practice in, and have students practice giving constructive feedback.
I always feel student work is better when they know peers will see it. So any time I have a major project, I hold a gallery walk. It saves class time since I don’t have to have 40 students present in class and students are more engaged in the activity because they are out of their seats.
Hang student work on the wall with a short URL or a QR code. Other students choose which projects to stop and watch and leave comments. Depending on the number of students you have, most students will only be able to complete a few viewings. In most cases, it will be impossible for peers to watch every video.
Give students some Post-it notes and have them write 2 positives and one needs improvement (2 stars and a wish). They leave the Post-it by the work and move to the next assignment.
have you tried these activities in your classroom? Add one to your lesson plans today. Share with us your favorite activities in the comments below or in the Creative ASL Teaching Facebook group.
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