NO TECHNOLOGY, NO PROBLEM
Alicia Briles
Christine Lloyd
Billy Miciche
Objective: Participants will partake in engaging technology-free,
language based activities that can be adopted to any language or
level.
Objective: Participants will understand how to implement these
activities and adopt them to meet the needs of their students.
THINK-PAIR-SHARE
Think to yourself: What technology free activities do you enjoy doing
with your students?
Pair: Discuss these activities with the person next to you.
Share: Get ready to share out your answers!
HUMAN LIKERT SCALE
Line up on the duct tape.
Each person will share a technology free activity they use or their
partner told them about.
If you also use the activity, step to the right.
If you do not use the activity step to the left.
At the end, your students will be spread across the room based on
their answers.
JENGA
Game available at Five Below.
Set Up: Number all of your Jenga pieces (1-48)
Create a list of 48 numbered questions. (vocab words, numbers,
conjugations, culture questions)
Students set up the game pieces as they typically would for Jenga.
The same rules apply, but when students pull a piece they will look at
the number.
They must answer the question that corresponds with that number
before places their piece and moving on.
GUESS WHO
Game boards available at Five Below.
Students play the game as they would in English.
They each pick a person and try to determine who their partner
picked by asking yes no questions.
Great for introducing descriptions or reviewing important vocabulary
at the beginning of the year!
BOARD GAMES
Snakes and Ladders
Picture Vocabulary
Free template online
Edit the document to match the
targeted vocabulary.
Students use any game piece to mark
their place.
Have a list of questions available
Students must correctly answer a
question before rolling the dice.
If the space has a ladder, they climb
up.
Students use any game piece to
mark their place.
If students land on a picture, they
move to the matching vocabulary
work space.
If it has a snake, they slide down.
If they land on a word, they move
to the space with the matching
picture.
First person to reach the finish mark
wins.
First person to reach the finish
mark wins.
SEIS
Purpose: cooperative learning activity to practice vocabulary, grammar, culture, etc.
-Each student will have a worksheet to fill out, but there will only be one die and one writing utensil.
-The youngest student will begin to complete his/her worksheet.
-The student next to him/her clockwise will roll the die to try to roll "seis."
-As he/she is rolling the die, the other two group members will be helping the student writing with the
answers to the worksheet.
-Once other student rolls a seis, he/she shouts "seis," and passes the die clockwise. That student will then
start trying to roll "seis."
-Meanwhile, the original student writing has passed the pencil to the student who rolled the "seis" and
the two group members not rolling or writing are helping the writer to complete his/her worksheet.
-This process continues until all the worksheets are completed.
SAGE KNOWS BEST
-Purpose: Group Review Activity
- In groups of 3 or 4, students lay out flashcards (face up) that contain questions,
vocabulary, or grammatical concepts
-Students take the cards that they are experts on, and they sign the back of the
cards.
-Students should sign as many cards as they can and hold onto them. Any cards that
they cannot sign can be placed to the side.
-Once all cards are signed, students will teach their cards to the rest of the group.
-Unsigned cards will be given to the teacher and reviewed as a class when all
groups have finished.
5-3-1
Purpose: game to practice grammar or vocabulary
- Students will work in groups of four and compete against each other. Each needs an
answer key (4 versions), a white board, marker, and eraser.
- One student will the judge, and the other three will compete.
- The judge will hold the answer key and give his or her group members a word in
English.
- The other three students will write the word correctly as quickly as possible on a white
board and show it to the judge.
-The first person to get it right earns 5 points, then 3 points, then 1 point.
-After each question, the students rotate roles.
SPOONS!
Materials needed:
Spoons- one fewer than there are players.
Teacher created set of cards. Create about half a deck of cards that have a picture
and the remaining cards with the correct vocabulary word that describes that picture.
Arrange the spoons in a small circle in the center of the table and deal four cards to
each player. Each player tries to make 2 matches (1 picture/word and another correct
picture/word). The dealer takes a card off the top of the deck to have five cards in his
hand, removes one and passes it facedown to the left. Each player discards to the
person on his left. The last player places his discard into a trash pile. Cards are picked
up and passed quickly around the table until someone gets their matches and takes a
spoon from the center. Once the player with 2 matches takes a spoon, anyone can take
a spoon. Last person to not get a spoon gets a letter from the word SPOON.
objective
The winner is the last player remaining. Players move closer to elimination each time
they don't get a spoon and take the next letter in the word S-P-O-O-N. Spell it and
you're out.
the fun part
The player who reaches their 2 matches first has a variety of ways he/she can take the
first spoon. A sneaky pull exposes those paying too close attention to their cards. A
demonstrative grab leads to a wild free-for-all. Either way, it's hilarious.
SPINNER!
Spinner is a great, easy tool to review any concept.
Materials needed: Premade spinner on paper. Paper clip. Pencil/Pen.
Students simply place their pencil/pen into the paper clip and spin the
paperclip. Where is lands is what they have to answer or complete.
Use the spinner template to actively involve students in your lessons.
Create one per team or table. It will assist in randomly selecting
students to: read or answer questions, respond to prompts, perform
classroom jobs or duties, work in cooperative teams, lead a project,
review for quiz/test......endless possibilities!
NUMBER REVIEW GAME!
DADOS LOCOS
Purpose: To review numbers in the target language.
Materials needed: Dice
Give a group of students a pair of dice to begin. Students take turn
rolling the dice. The first student to shout the highest number (no
adding needed) is the winner. For example, a 2 and a 5 are rolled. If
the person says 25 that is great, but that is not the highest number. 52
would be the highest number and they would get the point. To make it
more challenging (and depending on language and level) add more
dice. Students can end up creating large number combinations, all in
the target language!
FRONT TO FRONT, BACK TO BACK
Have students pair up and stand back to back.
Determine who will go first (tallest, oldest, etc)
Ask a question. Provide think time.
Have students turn around and answer the question.
Return back to back. Have the student who did not answer reiterate a
part of their partners answer.
LET’S PLAY!
Stand back to back with your partner.
Most experienced teacher goes first!
1.
Describe one activity you want to try!
2.
What content could you use that activity with?
3.
How does the human likert scale work?
4.
How did we use the human likert scale today?
5.
How do you think these activities will help your students?
6.
What color eyes does your partner have?
LET’S TEST THEM OUT
Walk around the room and try any of the activities!
ASK SOMEONE WHO....
For this, you create a sheet with the number of squares you would like.
Inside of each square, you can post a topic, concept, vocabulary
review, grammar review etc. Students walk around and find someone
who can help explain that concept to them. Great way for students to
move around and interact with their peers. Sometimes, students
explaining items to fellow students is a great tool for reinforcement.
After they meet with their peer, the person who was able to explain
signs that square.