Where In the World are You?
I. Rationale
This activity is designed for either beginning level middle or high school Spanish students as well as fluent Spanish speakers from about third grade and up. Students connect via Skype or another technology system that allows for the students to see and talk with each other. The teacher knows where the other group is located but the students have to ask and answer questions in order to determine the other group’s location. All questions can only be answered with yes or no. The activity could be done with any language where students could connect with another group of learners or speakers of the same language.
This activity supports language development by a) creating opportunities for meaningful and authentic interaction, and b) developing a community of learners.
A) Creating opportunities for meaningful and authentic interaction.
Gilmore (2007) discusses the benefits of using authentic materials for L2 teaching and learning. Not everyone agrees on what constitutes an authentic material so Gilmore lists some criteria that have been proposed in the literature. This activity falls under the criteria of being “language produced by a real speaker/writer for a real audience, conveying a real message” (p. 98). Gilmore (2007) reports that some researchers associate increased student motivation with the use of authentic materials (p. 107).
Ellis (p. 223, 2009) discusses the use of task-based language teaching and lists key precepts.
1. The primary focus should be in ‘meaning’ (by which is meant that learners should be mainly concerned with processing the semantic and pragmatic meaning of utterances.)
2. There should be some kind of ‘gap’ (i.e. a need to convey information, to express an opinion or to infer meaning.)
3. Learners should largely have to rely on their own resources (linguistic and non-liguistic) in order to complete the activity.
4. There is a clearly defined outcome other than the use of language (i.e. the language serves as the means for achieving the outcome, not as an end in its own right).
Ellis (2009) believes that task-based learning is intrinsically motivating and affords learners a rich input of target language (p. 242). This activity aligns well with all of Ellis’ key precepts for task-based learning.
B) Developing a community of learners.
One of the standards for foreign language learning is that students use the language both within and beyond the school setting. According to Phillips and Draper (1999) “A community can be a community of learners of different ages or in different locations. The idea here is that the classroom provides the means so that students can interact beyond their classroom walls.” “The intent of the ‘lifelong learning’ standard is that students from the beginning develop the tools, the habits of mind, and the motivations that allow them to independently pursue activities using language throughout their lifetime.” (p. 68).
Lave (1991) studied apprenticeship communities of practice and discussed how the development of knowledge within that community also went hand in hand with a change in identity. I am working to help my students to identify themselves as learners of the language with important roles to play within a community of other learners.
Description
Students are given the attached document and taught to read the questions in Spanish. This activity can be used for fluent Spanish students the give them an opportunity to learn about the world and geography in a real life setting. In cases with younger students where the concepts rather than the language are new the teacher would need to teach the concepts and geographical vocabulary unfamiliar to the children.
Once students are comfortable with the meaning of the questions the teacher needs to teach them how to answer each of the questions as related to their location. I gave my students a sheet with the answers written out for our location.
Before doing the activity with another group the students should practice several rounds with the teacher. The teacher should pick a random place in the world and the students agree on a random place together. That way the teacher can more effectively monitor their understanding of how the game works. If a student asks a question that doesn’t make sense the teacher can point out the problem in the logic. For instance if a student already asked if the country was in the northern hemisphere it would be a waste of a question to ask if it was in the southern hemisphere.
Once the students have practiced several rounds with the teacher they should practice several rounds in pairs so that they get more opportunity to practice the questions and go through the process.
The teachers exchange account information in order to be able to connect. Due to the finicky nature of technology it’s a good idea to test a connection before the time that the groups are scheduled to meet. Teachers also email the names of the students in their class.
Once the groups are connected each student should present himself. This is an additional opportunity to practice authentic language. The teacher should use the list of the students in the other class so that students can be paired for the game. The game begins with one student from Group A asking a student from Group B a question. Group B’s student answers the question and then asks Group A a question. Group A’s student answers the question and then the play moves on to a different pair of students. One teacher should be designated as the “leader” and should call out the pairs.
Example:
Group A –Tom : Asks first question for his group.
Group B – Mary: Answers first question and then asks first question for her group.
Group A – Tom: Answer’s Mary’s question.
Group A – Joan: Asks second question for her group.
Group B - Beverly: Answers Joan’s question and then asks the second question for her group.
Group A – Joan: Answers Beverly’s question.
Students should have a blank sheet on which to take notes of the answers in order to not repeat questions. Play continues until both groups have guessed each other’s location.
This should be the first communicative activity done between groups. Once relationships are established the groups can meet to do other communicative activities together.
Reflection
I did this with a group of intermediate Spanish learners at an American school in Guatemala. I posted my lesson plan to Skype and only got one response from a teacher in Honduras who ended up not being able to do the activity with my class because of the time difference. Her students left school before my students met. I have contacts in Guatemala and used them to set up the meeting but have been sorely disappointed in the lack of responses from teachers in other places. I’ve contacted schools in Bolivia, Columbia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Arizona, California and Washington D.C. and none of them have responded to my request for classes to participate in this activity. My hope was that we would be able to do the activity with at least five different groups and establish a relationship with at least three of those groups for continuing communicative activities. I’ll keep trying to contact teachers and schools for next year.
Despite the many times that we practiced together as a class and again in pairs the students were extremely nervous about speaking with an unknown group of students. They were very nervous about mispronouncing things and being inferior to the students in the other group. They did fine. It was a really exciting experience for everyone that participated.
We are going to meet with that same group to play a 20 questions game to guess animals.
This activity is designed for either beginning level middle or high school Spanish students as well as fluent Spanish speakers from about third grade and up. Students connect via Skype or another technology system that allows for the students to see and talk with each other. The teacher knows where the other group is located but the students have to ask and answer questions in order to determine the other group’s location. All questions can only be answered with yes or no. The activity could be done with any language where students could connect with another group of learners or speakers of the same language.
This activity supports language development by a) creating opportunities for meaningful and authentic interaction, and b) developing a community of learners.
A) Creating opportunities for meaningful and authentic interaction.
Gilmore (2007) discusses the benefits of using authentic materials for L2 teaching and learning. Not everyone agrees on what constitutes an authentic material so Gilmore lists some criteria that have been proposed in the literature. This activity falls under the criteria of being “language produced by a real speaker/writer for a real audience, conveying a real message” (p. 98). Gilmore (2007) reports that some researchers associate increased student motivation with the use of authentic materials (p. 107).
Ellis (p. 223, 2009) discusses the use of task-based language teaching and lists key precepts.
1. The primary focus should be in ‘meaning’ (by which is meant that learners should be mainly concerned with processing the semantic and pragmatic meaning of utterances.)
2. There should be some kind of ‘gap’ (i.e. a need to convey information, to express an opinion or to infer meaning.)
3. Learners should largely have to rely on their own resources (linguistic and non-liguistic) in order to complete the activity.
4. There is a clearly defined outcome other than the use of language (i.e. the language serves as the means for achieving the outcome, not as an end in its own right).
Ellis (2009) believes that task-based learning is intrinsically motivating and affords learners a rich input of target language (p. 242). This activity aligns well with all of Ellis’ key precepts for task-based learning.
B) Developing a community of learners.
One of the standards for foreign language learning is that students use the language both within and beyond the school setting. According to Phillips and Draper (1999) “A community can be a community of learners of different ages or in different locations. The idea here is that the classroom provides the means so that students can interact beyond their classroom walls.” “The intent of the ‘lifelong learning’ standard is that students from the beginning develop the tools, the habits of mind, and the motivations that allow them to independently pursue activities using language throughout their lifetime.” (p. 68).
Lave (1991) studied apprenticeship communities of practice and discussed how the development of knowledge within that community also went hand in hand with a change in identity. I am working to help my students to identify themselves as learners of the language with important roles to play within a community of other learners.
Description
Students are given the attached document and taught to read the questions in Spanish. This activity can be used for fluent Spanish students the give them an opportunity to learn about the world and geography in a real life setting. In cases with younger students where the concepts rather than the language are new the teacher would need to teach the concepts and geographical vocabulary unfamiliar to the children.
Once students are comfortable with the meaning of the questions the teacher needs to teach them how to answer each of the questions as related to their location. I gave my students a sheet with the answers written out for our location.
Before doing the activity with another group the students should practice several rounds with the teacher. The teacher should pick a random place in the world and the students agree on a random place together. That way the teacher can more effectively monitor their understanding of how the game works. If a student asks a question that doesn’t make sense the teacher can point out the problem in the logic. For instance if a student already asked if the country was in the northern hemisphere it would be a waste of a question to ask if it was in the southern hemisphere.
Once the students have practiced several rounds with the teacher they should practice several rounds in pairs so that they get more opportunity to practice the questions and go through the process.
The teachers exchange account information in order to be able to connect. Due to the finicky nature of technology it’s a good idea to test a connection before the time that the groups are scheduled to meet. Teachers also email the names of the students in their class.
Once the groups are connected each student should present himself. This is an additional opportunity to practice authentic language. The teacher should use the list of the students in the other class so that students can be paired for the game. The game begins with one student from Group A asking a student from Group B a question. Group B’s student answers the question and then asks Group A a question. Group A’s student answers the question and then the play moves on to a different pair of students. One teacher should be designated as the “leader” and should call out the pairs.
Example:
Group A –Tom : Asks first question for his group.
Group B – Mary: Answers first question and then asks first question for her group.
Group A – Tom: Answer’s Mary’s question.
Group A – Joan: Asks second question for her group.
Group B - Beverly: Answers Joan’s question and then asks the second question for her group.
Group A – Joan: Answers Beverly’s question.
Students should have a blank sheet on which to take notes of the answers in order to not repeat questions. Play continues until both groups have guessed each other’s location.
This should be the first communicative activity done between groups. Once relationships are established the groups can meet to do other communicative activities together.
Reflection
I did this with a group of intermediate Spanish learners at an American school in Guatemala. I posted my lesson plan to Skype and only got one response from a teacher in Honduras who ended up not being able to do the activity with my class because of the time difference. Her students left school before my students met. I have contacts in Guatemala and used them to set up the meeting but have been sorely disappointed in the lack of responses from teachers in other places. I’ve contacted schools in Bolivia, Columbia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Arizona, California and Washington D.C. and none of them have responded to my request for classes to participate in this activity. My hope was that we would be able to do the activity with at least five different groups and establish a relationship with at least three of those groups for continuing communicative activities. I’ll keep trying to contact teachers and schools for next year.
Despite the many times that we practiced together as a class and again in pairs the students were extremely nervous about speaking with an unknown group of students. They were very nervous about mispronouncing things and being inferior to the students in the other group. They did fine. It was a really exciting experience for everyone that participated.
We are going to meet with that same group to play a 20 questions game to guess animals.