Teaching the same group of learners for 8 years over their primary schooling allows teachers an unique opportunity to watch learner’s language grow. However, it does present some challenges re introducing some topics (again!) and finding ways to continually reinforce the language being covered in class. There are many games that can be successfully adapted to the languages classroom to allow for practice with not just vocabulary, but also asking and responding to questions.
Here are two we used today. These games can be played inside and out.
” Stuck in the mud” – same rules as normal game of stuck in the mud, except the way people get ‘unstuck’ is to be asked the focus question and responding to it in the Target Language. We don’t have any crawling through legs! If you are ‘stuck’, you put your hands on your shoulders to show that you need to be freed.
“Heads down, thumbs up” a great ask and respond opportunity. The person who is touched on the thumb asks the person out the front that they think chose them, that person responds to the question and replies “Yes” or “Please sit down” (in target Language) I always emphasise that the aim of the game is to practice the asking and responding – not staying out the front!
Really, it is just up to your imagination! Or you can find lists like this at this busyteacher link 😉