My husband has an evening routine of watching “Pardon the Interruption” after dinner. I don’t love sports talk shows, but this one keeps my interest. Read on to see how I have adapted their “What’s the Word?” into a speaking/writing activity for class (which will earn some street cred with the sporty students).
Here’s a decent clip of how the word game works on PTI:
The gist of the game is that Tony and Michael have a news story from the world of sports. They are given an opinion sentence/phrase that is missing one word. Normally they are looking for an adjectives, or sometimes nouns, to complete the sentence. Next they defend their choice. In this video, they even make up a few words. Very creative!
In the classroom, this is a great way to follow up a video, news story, cultural video/photo or article that could have different opinions or that is somewhat controversial. Show the authentic resource, give them a sentence in target language with a blank, and let them pick how they would complete it and defend it. I noticed that most of the PTI sentences used simple verbs (is, was, feels, and seems). They can write their word on a dry-erase board before they defend it (at their proficiency level) with a partner or in a group. Then favorite ones could be shared with the class. I would limit it to one to three questions like this. Also this could be a station activity (maybe a picture is on a big piece of paper where they all could add their word). Eventually they can write the sentences and share with the class.
Here are a few examples (in English so all readers can understand):
It would also be a great way to compare how they view things before and after a lesson. You can show them a photo and sentence at the beginning of class, and then teach the lesson where they get to explore the unique perspectives behind the practices and products. How much would their initial responses change?? Hmm…
And for a little fun… Google even has the Tomatina bug! 🙂
Click image to read more about the doodle/GIF.
Download the examples I made to use as a template (Keynote only): WhatstheWord.key
Featured image from Flikr.com by Nedim Chaabene, 2014 (Creative Commons)
Last night, I read this new post, and I loved the idea, but thought I would have to shelve it for a little while until I found the right topic in Spanish.
Later, I was preparing for my 7th grade history class, and I wanted to ask some follow-up questions about an assigned reading about life under feudalism. They were fine, but boring, and then I remembered your post. The results were more than satisfying. I had students fill in the blanks with prompts about medieval life. One was, “I would feel __________ if I was a woman living in the Middle Ages.” Students came up with amazing responses, then defended them. My favorite response was “powerless”. It helped them to really engage, to strive to feel what it would be like, and to then come up with the best description. When defending their choices to each other, and to the class, it proved they had read the material. Best of all, it only took 10 minutes! Thanks for such a great idea that turned into such a meaningful activity!
And I plan to use it for Spanish on our class blog. mil gracias!!!!
Kelly! Thank you for your powerFUL example of how it worked!! Your prompt is great too. You helped me realize something big. Teachers often ask how to get students ENGAGED. So one answer is to make it more MEANINGFUL. I have found that “textbook activities” like comprehension questions, disengage them.
When you say it only took 10 minutes, do you mean to prep/create it or to do it in class?
Thanks again for sharing! I would love to hear how it works with your Spanish classes too!
Kara,
It only took 10 minutes of class time, and students worked on it while I checked to see if they had completed homework. As they finished, I had them talk to another student or two about their choices, then when I was done checking, we discussed it as a class. I had them complete three prompts in their interactive notebooks, and still have not read them, but I can’t wait!
It also only took me 5 to 10 minutes to create and post the prompts, which was great. Thanks for not only sharing your idea, but for modeling your inspiration, as well.
Thank you, again! I have been following your blog for 3 years now, and it has really had an impact on me and my students.
Nice! Thanks for sharing that. I’ve been working on not spending more time creating the activity than it takes to do it in class. And you’re welcome! We are so glad to help others out.