Acquiring fluency in a language requires not only knowledge, but also speed. Many second language speakers, myself included, can translate their way to correct answers given enough time, but as we all know, our classrooms don’t offer students that time. Students who are translating one sentence you’ve said have missed the next two.
ESL100, a steroid-inflated course equivalent to RDG120, seeks to teach second language learners the speed and accuracy necessary to be successful in the next level of classes. Only six of my class of 17 students were capable of completing their first vocabulary test and many blamed it on the length of the test. I, of course, blamed it on their lack of fluency of the words.
Looking for a solution that would be fun and emphasize speed and accuracy, I scheduled a game day and sent the students on “The Amazing Race.” They were charged with forming teams of three, locating vocabulary in use around the Terry Campus, and writing a sentence for each. They had 30 minutes to write 25 correct sentences and return to the room. The winners of the race would win 5 bonus points on their next vocabulary exam.
It was a cold and miserable day, but they headed out the door with an excitement level I only see on “Donuts and a Movie” day. Precisely 27 minutes later, the door flew open as the first (and winning) team ran into the classroom. They had located handicap accessible buildings and automatic doors along with students capably completing clinicals. Their cheeks were red. They were laughing and they had a sentence for each of their words. They begged to do it again. The door flew open again and I watched as the second team raced into the room and sagged upon seeing that they weren’t the first back. As the final groups came in, it was easy to read the realization that they don’t know their words well enough.
We spent the rest of class with students writing the sentences they had “found on campus” onto the board for us to critique. Which sentences would get credit and which would not? More importantly, why?
They were still talking about this activity the next day. In letting them loose, and “losing” 30 minutes of instruction time, I gained one of my most effective classes this semester.
ESL100, a steroid-inflated course equivalent to RDG120, seeks to teach second language learners the speed and accuracy necessary to be successful in the next level of classes. Only six of my class of 17 students were capable of completing their first vocabulary test and many blamed it on the length of the test. I, of course, blamed it on their lack of fluency of the words.
Looking for a solution that would be fun and emphasize speed and accuracy, I scheduled a game day and sent the students on “The Amazing Race.” They were charged with forming teams of three, locating vocabulary in use around the Terry Campus, and writing a sentence for each. They had 30 minutes to write 25 correct sentences and return to the room. The winners of the race would win 5 bonus points on their next vocabulary exam.
It was a cold and miserable day, but they headed out the door with an excitement level I only see on “Donuts and a Movie” day. Precisely 27 minutes later, the door flew open as the first (and winning) team ran into the classroom. They had located handicap accessible buildings and automatic doors along with students capably completing clinicals. Their cheeks were red. They were laughing and they had a sentence for each of their words. They begged to do it again. The door flew open again and I watched as the second team raced into the room and sagged upon seeing that they weren’t the first back. As the final groups came in, it was easy to read the realization that they don’t know their words well enough.
We spent the rest of class with students writing the sentences they had “found on campus” onto the board for us to critique. Which sentences would get credit and which would not? More importantly, why?
They were still talking about this activity the next day. In letting them loose, and “losing” 30 minutes of instruction time, I gained one of my most effective classes this semester.