Of lateral thinking & playing scrabble

End of game 'aid de memoir'

I think crosswords and games like scrabble are especially difficult for learners of languages which use a different script/non-latin - it is harder to 'see' words and manipulate letters around as abstracts in the hope of finding something familiar. This particularly so when one or more of the letters you need 'isn't there' but is instead 'hidden' on the board already. I do not have any proof or research to back me up (help!), but a lot of observation!

So, I find my role is quite an active one with younger or lower level learners; not much fun gawping at seven letters when your mind is blank. Very much the prompter - asking questions to guide them to a word eg "Think of a number" or "What is the past tense of ____?", "Where do you stay if you go hiking?" or "Finish this set of words - bass, tenor, soprano, ____ " and of course trying to avoid a run away winner. A practical aspect is that you will avoid 3-letter-word syndrome that otherwise clogs up the board!

Teams work better but need a time limit - and the 'lesson' needs to have a follow up (don't just tip the letters back in the box at the end!), for example writing x number of sentences using words from the game, or a spelling test or pop quiz at the start of next class. Some students are natural 'collectors' of vocabulary & will take notes - mine need constantly reminding! 

Other hints for players:

• opposites
• plurals (add an 's' to an existing word that is also in your new word)
• prefixes & suffixes
• write possible answers on the board phonetically
• pictionary clues 
• page number in text books or readers
• I Spy
• word transformation (eg give the noun when they need the adjective form etc)
• what's your suggestion, reader?

I'd say in our class today we were more engaged and enervated than usual - cold, wet December night near the end of term - and yet we did not waste our time just playing a game!

iPhone apps in the classroom - Quizlet flavour

A quick warm up flashcard game got my boys in the mood this afternoon...for another game. As they'd been stars last week (Wordle story-telling) I figured they'd earned it. But, I wasn't going to let them 'burn off' valuable classroom time.

I plonked them in front of the PC & went to Quizlet. Giving them ownership was important, so they did all the work - typing in the words (from our flashcard game) of everyday actions. This gave me a chance to assess their typing skills as well (worryingly slow!)

Online, we then 'played' with what we'd created - there's no time lag, just leap in. 'Scatter' = matching the two sides of the cards you have created - in our case eg "wash" + "the car". Seeing they were automatically being timed meant I did not have to force them to pay attention! This, in effect, was exactly the same game we'd played in class!

There are a number of other ways you can challenge yourself on Quizlet, with the set(s) you have made. One of the lads was well-impressed (Sheffieldish for you) I had an iPhone, so I had the idea to use it as follow up. By the time we'd closed down the PC & opened books, I'd downloaded the flashcard set. Our textbook (OUP's English Time 3) has a picture dictionary/glossary in the back, of target vocab. I showed them how to use the flashcard app on the phone, and they realised tapping the tick in the corner meant they 'knew it'. Aha!

Gotcha boys! "Please write the words you have learnt next to the pictures of the actions." Scramble to un-tick the cards on the phone!

Classroom management situation I want to avoid here is kids just copying from one page in the book to another. What does that achieve? At best, a bit of letter writing practice. First, I asked them to write what they could. (I was impressed with what had gone in already.) Then, the coup de grace, use the phone if you want, to double check - the phone was on the TV in the corner, and they couldn't bring it back to the table.This internalises the spelling or phrase, and has them visualising the shape of the word or whatever they are doing to remember how to write it down. They are changing media: text - brain - pencil. I'm no theorist - what are they doing?! Result I want is learning...as footballers practice dead-ball moves or transitions etc.


And the boys? Competitive as usual, trying to mess up each others' turn at the font of wisdom, swishing the cards around on the phone. Taught them how to express themselves strongly in English once it was obvious they were getting tetchy in L1.


In all today I would say we took care of eight daily actions. Not a lot I know, but we are not going to forget them in a hurry! Sorry, no pics - phone was unavailable (could you have said that sentence 5 years ago & made any sense?)