60 Tricks for Your Bag of Tricks

ACTFL Convention 2014

60 Treats For Your Bag of Tricks

http://goo.gl/0JmHwP

Mercedes Koch mkoch@dist113.org  @Profe_Koch  Deerfield High School, Deerfield, IL

·         Community Building : What’s in a name? Students should also use each others name, repeat the name of the student who finished talking.  Smile if you don’t have a question! What is on our computer wallpaper? Classdojo.com (you can also make an icon for a group… group work) the class gets a reward when all get x pts.

·         Grouping: Intentional grouping – seating chart with A and B rows. Cut apart postcards and students should find the others who match their cards.  Speed dating – all students in groups have a number and those numbers get together and then go back to their groups.

·         Everyday Treats: Word Wall – set aside a space for words that students want to know, leave it up all year because those are the words students want to know. Make a clear signal for no English. Exit Slips- use plus (I get it), check (yeah, OK), minus (not a bad answer, just check in with them during the next class). Plastic sheet protectors – copy a picture and they can put it in their Psp and mark or draw on it.  Parent Guardian Emails for students who don’t do home work – keep it positive, emphasize practice.

·         Flashcard Treats: Hand out flashcards – a different one to each student, they go around and ‘teach’ other students. They can also switch cards after this activity and do it again.  Line up in order of smallest to largest, most to least useful. Competition: sit in pairs, set out flashcards, pictures up, teacher says the word and student picks it up, you can play multiple round.  Switch up the competition by having the word up and teacher projects the picture.  Information Gap – one student sits with their back to the screen and show a picture, students tell their partner the word in the target language. From Me,to You- write a message to someone that you need revenge on, if they can write a command correctly, the other student has to do it and then switch (the teacher says that the person who wrote the command has to do it themselves). Flyswatter – at the end of class (so wild).  Mensch! – the counting game Buzz, count omitting the number 7, any number with 7 or any multiple of 7, keep score on the board for other class to compete. Four in a Row- make a Scattergories card with different sentence in English, a group works to translate or think about how to say these in the target language, use StikPik to select students and if a group gets 4 in a row, they win. 

·         Review and Flashback Treats: Vocabulary Circle- ‘it’ stands in the middle with a picture and has to touch the desk of the person who has that word. Snowball Fight – give a topic, students write words pertaining to that topic and throw it, the next student adds to it. Sandwich Board – students wear a speaking target the whole class (ask for volunteers). Jigsaw. Hand Signals – check in quickly. 

·         Speaking Treats: One Picture Three Tenses – show a picture, students make a statement in different tenses. Study in the Bathroom – put your words in a category (verbs in the bathroom, fem nouns in the kitchen…).  Quick Key App – Scantron (check this out!) .  Poker Chips – collect for speaking. Situations – on the board in English with A and B partners, pairs practice and perform. 4 Fish in the Pan – read a story, students listen and write notes, pair to write a summary, compare to a reading in the book.  AudioBoom.com – a free place to record student speaking.

·         Template Treats: Postcard – create a postcard with a picture and verbage of a cultural topic. Newspaper – work in groups, read an article, write a summary (with leading questions). Writing Corrections – so that students can reflect on mistakes that they made. Conversation – standard questions in both languages with appropriate modifications. 3 Second Rule – when speaking, they must keep speaking and not leave a pause of more than 3 seconds, if there is a pause, they lose a poker chip.

·         News Treats: newseum.org – shows front pages of newspapers from around the world, good for comparing a specific event around the world. Music Charts from all over the world.

·         Internet Treats: www.language-exchanges.org – The Mixxer – it’s like Match.com to find someone who wants to learn the language that you want to connect to.  Viewpure.com put the YouTube like there and it erases the commercials.  Quizlet.com – students should make their own pages and put them on a www.padlet.com . Infograph.