Chopped In The ASL CLassroom

Chopped

Chopped is a fun activity to play in the classroom while learning food terms and phrases. It can be put together in a number of ways by using real food, clip art, student’s artwork or cutouts from a magazine to name a few.

Why Play?

Playing chopped gives students the opportunity to use the language they know and figure out how to communicate to others what they can’t say through mime, circumlocution, and other strategies. The language is not rehearsed or practiced in any way. This activity simulates real-world communication. Pushing students to expand their language and comfort zone allows them to build stronger communication skills. It is also interactive and gets students moving around the classroom not sitting at a desk for a long period of time.

Challenges

The challenge in this activity is keeping students in the target language since they won’t have all of the vocabulary needed for all of the tasks (depending on what level you do this activity in). The fix to this is easy. Allow other teams to “steal” the food if they catch another group talking. This can be taking the already made food to set the other team back or the ingredients they need for a recipe they are creating.

Another set back is having all of the needed supplies. I sent an email request out to parents sharing an Amazon link for the playdough and got donations. The clipart is already mine from an activity I created for food.

There are other premade activities you can find here.

How to set up

You can start with my already made instructions here or create your own rules to the game. I start by placing images of clipart at random in a plastic bowl and cover it with a cloth. I split the students into even teams. Each team has a station that consists of a bowl of food items, playdough, and a clean plate to showcase their food creation. I project the first challenge and set a timer. Time will depend on your bell schedule.

When the timer goes off, students must throw their hands in the air. Their food creation must already be plated. Each group brings their plate to the front of the room and tells about their recipe. I then give each student a bead to vote with. They walk group to group looking at each plate then placing a bead on the station they feel had the best signed performance, creativity in the recipe, and looks appetizing. Teams can’t vote for themselves. I give the winning team candy at the end of the competition (not each round).

The Pantry

Not all the food you give students will have the ingredients they need to make a recipe. I set up a “pantry” by placing post-it notes on the board with the names of common staples found in a pantry. I also keep an envelope with food items that can be used. In each challenge, I instruct what can be taken from the pantry. For example, one challenge might get 2 items while another can get 5 items from the pantry. After each challenge, these items are put back into the “pantry.”

I hope you try this activity in your classroom. It is a lot of fun, very active and a great way for students to use the language in the classroom.

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