Activity: "Word Play Lottery"

 

Description: The teacher prints out dozens of simple nouns and verbs and cuts them out so they’re on small individual slips of paper. Then, the teacher puts all the verbs into one bag and the nouns into another. Students are invited to draw one word from each bag (older students and high levelled ELL students may draw more). Students are then given about 2-3 minutes to write a sentence that includes those two words. Students are invited to share their sentence with the class. The slips are collected and the process is repeated while students’ interest holds. The blog I found this activity from also includes 4 other activities for engaging English language learners that are worth looking at.

 

Rationale: I chose this activity because it is a practical activity in which all students can participate. Through my experience with tutoring, both primary and intermediate students enjoy activities like this because it gives them a challenge in a way that they have to use their imagination for. I also chose this activity because I would use it in my classroom. ELL students will build their understanding of what verbs and nouns are and how they act in sentences. When forming their sentences, the ELL student will need to have an understanding of the English language because he or she will need to connect two possibly very contrasting words into one sentence. For example, if the student got the verb “breathe” and the noun “British Columbia”, the student may write the sentence “I like to breathe fresh air in British Columbia”.

 

Implementation & Adaptability: This activity can be adapted to fit primary-aged students or intermediate students. For example, primary students may only choose 1 noun and 1 verb per turn, whereas intermediate students and higher level ELL students may choose 2 or 3 of each and create a short paragraph. This activity would primarily be used in Language Arts class, but teachers can create a particular focus (e.g. science, social studies, etc.) depending on the words he or she chooses to include in the bags. If he or she chooses to focus on a particular theme, it could be a great review and/or cross-curricular connection. It is also possible to just use random words because, either way, students are constructing sentences that have to make sense and are building an understanding of the English language.

 

Credibility of Source:  I found this activity on The Reading Horizon’s Blog. The entry is titled “5 Fun Classroom Activities for Engaging English Language Learners” which tells me that the writer most likely has some type of experience with ELL students. This blog also has several other entries dedicated to providing teachers with information on ELL students. I also googled the name of the activity and got several hits from other websites dedicated to English Language Learners.  Luckily, there was a short description of the author accompanying the entry. The blog writer, Robin Merrill, is a children’s book author and teacher. She also writes for a website titled “Teacher Certification Degrees” which is a career site that provides resources for prospect teachers. 

 

Reference:

 

Merrill, R. (2012). 5 fun classroom activities for engaging English language 

learners. Retrieved from http://www.readinghorizons.com/blog/post/2012/08/07/Classroom-Activities-for-Engaging-English-Language-Learners.aspx