Hey y'all,
I've been excited to share this with you.
A new activity I have recently introduced to our routines that has truly gotten students speaking a ton. We start each period with first writing our expressions of gratitude and then where we are on the blob tree. Then they speak with partners/small groups to compare and contrast. Then finally, a random person is chosen and the rest of the class has 2 minutes to bombard them with questions and follow-up questions. I also recently made the adjustment of introducing the "balle de discussion," so we could have a bit more order in that bombardment of questions, and it's worked like a charm.
I use ClassDojo as the randomizer and the timer, and I also keep track of their questions & answers by assigning points (0 points for no target language communication; 1 point for isolated words; 2 points for complete sentences; and 3 points for series of sentences and/or elaboration).
The points don't actually translate into a grade, I just tell them that it's my way of keeping track of the types of responses they give. This has tapped into their competitive nature and they are super hype to participate and to speak in larger chunks of language.
It's been a hit!
One last note, is not to worry when you hear the sound cut out, as I just did my best to mute out student names and other identifying information. Keep listening and check out the extent to which these juniors and seniors are able to ask and answer a variety of questions, sometimes across time frames!
Try it out, let me know how it goes!
