May 19, 2025 • 24 mins
The "And You" game transforms speaking practice in world language classrooms, helping students overcome anxiety while having fun with movement and authentic communication.
• Based on a college orientation icebreaker game that needs minimal preparation
• Students form a circle with placeholders, with one person in the middle making a statement
• Anyone who shares that trait must find a new spot, creating movement and engagement
• Works with any language unit - from basic likes/dislikes to clothing, food, or complex topics
• Offers scaffolding for shy students through group responses and visual supports
• Requires sufficient comprehensible input before asking students to produce language
• Can be adapted for any proficiency level by adjusting complexity of required statements
• Most effective when kept short (about 10 minutes) and followed by discussion
• Turns the class community into authentic content for language learning
Email me at devon@lalibrelearning.com with your favorite speaking activities!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up?
Que lo que Et salut worldlanguage teachers.
Welcome to the PracticalProficiency Podcast, where we
make the transition toproficiency-oriented instruction
in your world language class ina way that works for you, your
unique context and teachingstyle, and doesn't sacrifice
(00:21):
your well-being along the way.
I'm your host, devon Gunning,the teacher author, conference
host, curriculum creator andconsultant behind La Libre
Language Learning.
This podcast is for thecreative world language teacher
like you who's ready to ditchthe overwhelming pressure of
switching to acquisition-driveninstruction and CI overnight.
(00:42):
You're ready to discover howusing more target language in
class can actually bring you andyour students more joy instead
of adding to your plate.
With practical, authentic anddown-to-earth strategies that
don't require reinventing thewheel or more training, we'll
work together towards the magicof a community-based, target
(01:05):
language-rich classroom, rootedin the power of community and
comprehensible input.
Let's go reason that peopletake our courses and it's the
(01:27):
whole reason that people areinterested in languages at all
right Is they want to be able tointeract, communicate and speak
with other speakers of theirlanguage.
So, with that in mind, I'mgoing to show you a really cool
speaking activity today to makespeaking a lot more fun in your
classroom and to see if thishelps your students, who are
even at the novice level, beable to communicate in a way
(01:49):
that's appropriate for them atthe novice level.
So, without further ado, thisis my speaking activity called
and you.
Now, my name is Devon.
I am the creator, teacher,author and curriculum consultant
and publisher known as LibreLanguage Learning, and in my
classroom, when I used to teachfull time, I would do the
(02:12):
speaking activity a lot, and itdraws from my philosophy that,
as a world language teacher, youare more of a facilitator of
language, which is not a newidea in the proficiency space.
But what this whole philosophybrings to it is the idea that
you are really a party host inclass, which means that a lot of
(02:33):
the activities that we did inmy class were based off of
simple party games that youwould play.
So this activity called and youis based off of a party game
that I used to play when I wasan orientation leader at my
college.
Actually, it's from one of myjobs and it was a great way to
get people talking and knowingmore about each other, but it
(02:55):
doesn't actually require a lotof language.
So, without further ado, let meshow you how this game works
and you.
You may have seen this too.
It's like a common thing to doin colleges and icebreakers and
things like that.
But I'm going to try and usethis real shoddy laminated piece
of paper as my functional maybesemi-functional whiteboard.
(03:16):
Let's see how it works.
But this is how the game works.
It's called, and you and theway that you need to set this up
is you ask students to stand upand bring with them one thing
that they can put easily down onthe ground to be their
placeholder Think of almost likemusical chairs.
So they need something in frontof them that's not fragile or
(03:36):
is going to it's not going to bea big deal if it gets knocked
over so that it's easy for themto bring with them and hold
their place.
A lot of students would usesomething like a pencil case or
a notebook, something like that.
Don't bring a pencil, it'll getkicked around.
So there's a lot of movement inthis game, which is the other
reason why I love it.
So you ask students to linewell, not line up, but to form a
(03:57):
little circle and they havetheir little thing in front of
them that's holding their placein front of them.
That's holding their place.
Let's just make a circle forease of, let's say, you know
about 10 students or so and eachof them, each of the little
students, has something in frontof them, a little space.
So let's say just, for example,say here okay, so these are all
(04:26):
our cutie little students here.
They're all in front of theirstuff, so on and so forth.
You ask students to stand infront of their things, but what
you're going to do as I finishdrawing these little cuties, is
you're going to stand in themiddle.
You're not going to bringanything with you.
Here's how this game works.
The person in the middle isgoing to say something that's
(04:50):
true for them.
It could be anything, butthey're going to say something
that's true for them, all right.
So there's one person in themiddle here let's say that's you
, the teacher.
You're going to start here.
You're not going to haveanything in front of you.
So it's kind of like musicalchairs, where there's always
going to be one less spot thanthe people that you have in your
classroom.
So you're going to start hereand you're going to say
(05:10):
something that's true aboutyourself.
This is a target languageactivity, so I would suggest
that you pick something that youknow your students can respond
to and understand.
Let's say, for example, you'reteaching a unit on likes and
dislikes, which this worksbeautifully for, but you can use
it for a lot of differentthings.
I'm going to show you twodifferent examples today.
One is for a likes and dislikesfocus and one is for a clothing
(05:35):
unit.
So let's do likes and dislikesfirst.
You're going to say somethingthat you like.
So, for example, I would saysomething like I like anime.
Then I'm going to say a twa andyou so put, and you in any form
that makes sense for yourlanguage.
(05:56):
So I'm gonna say I like anime.
Now there are, let's say, twoother people in my class who
also like anime.
There's this guy and there'sthis girl.
They also like anime.
So since this statement is alsotrue for them, us three, we're
the ones who have to find a newspot.
(06:17):
So the other people who don'tlike anime, they don't need to
move, they don't need to doanything.
But as soon as I say I likeanime, and you guess what, these
three people boom.
They are all going to be movingaround the room trying to find
one of these three spots.
They're going to be trying tofind one of these three spots.
(06:38):
They have to find a new spot.
So let's say, this person'sname is Andy and this person's
name is I don't know Sharon.
And then this is me.
You don't have to worry aboutthe handwriting here.
I need to find one of these twospots.
I have to find a new spot, andit cannot be the spot that I was
just in, nor can it be the spotthat's directly next to me.
(07:00):
So I'm going to go in here.
Puff's going to go in here.
So this is me.
So I'm gonna go in here.
Puff's gonna go in here.
So this is me.
Sharon, let's say, is trying tomove over here, but she can't.
So Sharon's gonna switch withAndy.
So Sharon is now here S andthen Andy ends up not having a
(07:24):
spot.
He's like oh no, I'm lost overhere, I don't have a spot.
What am I going to do?
He's it now.
So now Andy comes in the center, all right.
So Andy found a little spot andnow we start a new round.
So Andy, as a review, alsolikes anime.
So he was able to find a newspot, but it wasn't in the
(07:49):
circle.
If you're in the circle, you'resafe.
So this ended up being me.
These are the three people thatmoved.
Andy was over here, sharon wasover here, something like that,
and then there wasn't enoughspots for everybody, so Andy
ended up being the person in themiddle and now I'm over here,
(08:10):
I'm the prof, I'm over here andSharon moved from her spot over
here.
I hope that's making sense.
The basic idea of it is likemusical chairs, where everybody
has to find a new spot.
Here are some of theintricacies of the rules.
Now Andy is the next person.
This is where it becomes aspeaking activity.
Now the only rule is that Andyhas to say something that he
(08:31):
likes, something that he's into.
And let's say Andy is like anaverage student.
So he's going to try and saysomething really easy to say
Like I like sports.
So if he likes sports, there'sgoing to be a lot of people in
this room who also like sports.
I love sports.
Let's say Sharon loves sports,this person loves sports.
(08:53):
This person hates sports.
So not them.
This person hates sports, nothim.
She likes sports, we likesports, you like sports.
Look at all these people wholike sports.
So if he says I like sports andyou can, you guess what's going
to happen?
All of these people who havelikes next to them.
They all have to move now.
(09:14):
So this is where the game getsreally fun.
Everybody has to find a newspot, including this kid in the
center.
So everybody has to find a newspot, including this kid in the
center.
So everybody has to find a newspot.
That's why you need theselittle placeholders here, like a
notebook or a pencil case infront of you, because you cannot
do this with desks.
You're going to have to movethe desks out of the space of
your room and you're going toallow for there to be enough
(09:37):
space for your students to forma circle and then, after they
start moving around from thiscircle, they're going to have
little spaces that they can goto, and I guarantee you students
get really into this game.
They're going to start running,they're going to start shoving
each other, so make sure you goover some rules of movement
before they start doing this.
But it's really fun.
It's a great high energy game.
(09:59):
Here is how the target languagepiece works with this.
So Andy says to me I know whatI want to say, but I don't know
how to say it in French.
Is you can tell him like okay,well, just come tell me what it
is.
And he can say I want to saysports, how do you say sports?
I'll be like, okay, make sureyou ask that in French.
Okay, comment dit-on sports enfrançais?
(10:20):
And then I'll say, oh, okay, soI'll write the word you know,
sport on there.
And depending on what level ofclass that you have, you can
expect a full sentence or not atall.
But I'm going to say, andy, Iknow you can do this.
Can you say j'aime les sports?
And you'll be fine.
So can you say I like sports,me gustan deportes, I like
(10:44):
sports in Spanish, the wholedeal.
And so Andy's going to say thatin front of the class J'aime
les sports, et toi Do you.
And then everybody here who I'velabeled, who has a heart.
Now they all have to get up andfind a new spot, which is where
the crazy really happens.
So I'm going to erase this justto show you as an example of
(11:04):
everybody who likes sports.
They all now have to find a newspot.
And let's say for this examplehere you have two kids right
next to each other that likesports.
These two kids cannot justswitch.
That makes sure that everybodyhas to find a spot.
So they have to find one thatis not directly next to them.
It has to be somebody who's atleast two spaces away from them.
(11:26):
So there's a lot of switchingaround.
If you didn't have that rule,guess what would happen all of
your kids would just shuffleover and find a new spot that
way.
And so, as my little whiteboardgets messier and messier, this,
this keeps going in succession,and here are some ways that you
can actually expand this gameof and you to include other ways
(11:50):
that you can use more targetlanguage with this.
So, let's say, we decided thatthis was going to be a let's say
this is in my level two classand we're learning about
clothing be a.
Let's say this is in my leveltwo class and we're learning
about clothing.
So I would ask the person inthe center to say something
about what they're wearing.
That's true.
So I would expect somethinglike, let's say, andy is still
(12:11):
in the center here.
Andy's going to say somethinglike llevo pantalones cortos.
So that's what you're going todo, is you're going to say
something like llevo pantalones,and they're going to need to
say something.
That's true for them always.
So they say something like I'mwearing pants or I'm wearing
(12:33):
shorts, and they have to.
Once they say that, say and youand anybody else who's wearing
shorts also has to move.
Anybody else who's wearingpants and not a skirt or
something else has to move.
Llevo una sudadera, I'm wearinga sweatshirt.
Then if somebody else iswearing a sweatshirt, they have
to move too.
This is where the game also getsreally fun, because you can
(12:55):
start targeting people that youknow are wearing the same things
as you, and it can be reallyfun to do it this way.
So it doesn't have to just beabout likes and dislikes.
You can also say anythingthat's true for you, about what
you're wearing, what hobbies andactivities you do, what classes
(13:15):
you have.
I've used this game reallyeffectively for when you start
learning the verb to have andit's things that you actually
have like I have this in mybackpack, or I have this class,
or I have this teacher, andeverybody else who also has that
also has to move.
This is a really great way tomake low pressure speaking and
incorporate movement with it.
(13:36):
Now I'm going to put down thewhiteboard and tell you about
some things that you will runinto as issues.
Number one your students won'tknow how to say the phrases that
you're talking about.
An easy way that you canmitigate this is make sure that
this is something that you doafter a healthy succession of
input based activities.
(13:56):
So I do not lead off with aspeaking activity for a brand
new set of vocabulary that kidsjust learned yesterday.
Students need to hear somethingin context at least 20 times on
average for students, but formost students it's actually 50.
They need to hear it a lotbefore it really sinks in.
So make sure that you're doingan activity where you know
(14:17):
you're going to hit like 20repetitions of the same thing,
where you know you're gonna hitlike 20 repetitions of the same
thing.
So if it's a simple structurelike shim or me gusta, like I
like, which is not simple inevery language but if you're
also doing simple content, heavywork, like hey, we're learning
about sports hobbies, interestsand activities and art right now
.
So if you're saying things likeI like to paint, then they
(14:38):
should be hearing the word, orthey should be hearing that a
lot before you ask them toactually do it themselves.
It's also good to do after acouple days of writing as well.
So you've been doing somewriting activities, worksheets,
you've been doing review, you'vebeen doing games, whatever it
might be, and then on, like dayfive, six or seven of this unit
(15:00):
of new functional chunks andvocabulary and things, this is a
great time to do a speakingactivity.
It doesn't mean that you don'tdo speaking more, it just means
that you have to make sure thatkids have enough input before
they're ready to produce outputwhich is difficult, like
speaking.
So that's my number one tip ismake sure that you have enough
input first.
Tip number two is have theimportant phrases and the common
(15:24):
things that you think studentsare going to say already written
on the board or already on aslide for scaffolding.
So give them the phrases thatyou know they're going to need
to be successful.
Tip number three is that youshould because this is not
exactly a volunteer game, likepeople are going to end up in
the middle who do not want tospeak is you should allow them a
(15:45):
safe and easy out where you sayI want all the students to say
it with me or puff, can you saythis with me?
So offer some sort of socialscaffolding as well, especially
if you're really shy students orstudents who don't have a lot
of language confidence yet.
What this looks like is I wouldsay okay, class, like if you
are in the middle and it's yourturn to speak.
(16:07):
You can take the group option,which is everybody says the
phrase with you, and what thislooks like is they start off
with like llevo.
If you're talking about wearing, they're all going to start off
with that same sentence of I amwearing in Spanish.
So you say llevo or me pongo,whatever it may be.
(16:29):
Everybody in the room says thatin a choral response style, and
then the student just has tocome up with perhaps, the
content, and you can help themas well.
If you have students who arereally, really shy and don't
want to do it, then you can goup and be the person in the
middle with them and just takeaway a spot for for that round
and be like oh okay, I see you,alicia, you don't want to do
(16:51):
this by yourself?
That's fine, I respect that.
You're still participating.
How about we say it together?
So you go up as the puff in thecenter and you say it at the
same time with Alicia, you showher exactly what to say and you
do it with her and you just takeaway your own spot that you've
been holding so that it's notavailable for people and then
you add it back in later.
(17:11):
It's no big deal.
You can also, if you havestudents who you know are just
gonna fight you, fight, you,fight you.
On this speaking, I don't thinkit's a bad idea to offer an out,
as long as the out is actuallyquite difficult to do or more
tedious or whatever it might beLike.
It shouldn't be enticingcompared to your really fun game
.
So you can say well, I mean,you can write and you can be my
(17:34):
scribe and write down all of thephrases that everybody said
during the class period.
Would you like to do thatinstead?
Alicia, as my sample shystudent, and they they should
say okay, because that's theirbest option.
So you can ask for somebody tobe your scribe if you want to do
that, and that's actually a lotmore responsibility.
They have to be listening thewhole time, they have to write
(17:55):
down all the phrases and all ofthat, because my tip number four
is that you should try yourvery best to move this into some
sort of follow-up, with a writeand discuss, talking about the
different things that yourstudents have shared about
themselves.
So they like this.
Tanya likes that, alaysia'sreally into this, marcos really
(18:17):
likes that, and you should beable to talk about it as a class
afterwards.
Tip number five is keep the gameshort, punchy and fun.
Like this is something that youcan do for like 10 minutes.
You're going to need to do itonce or twice or three times for
students to really get the hangof it and how the movement of
the whole game works.
And again as an overview,here's how the movement works.
(18:41):
There is one less spot on theoutside of the circle than the
amount of people in yourclassroom.
There's one person who startsin the middle, who says
something that's true aboutthemselves, if it's also true
for other students.
Anybody that it's true for hasto move to find a new place.
They cannot find a spot that'sdirectly next to them.
Whoever is left at the centeris the next person who goes, and
(19:04):
so on and so forth.
The cycle continues until youfeel like it's done.
So, with that movement patternin mind, I would keep it to
about 10 minutes, because ifyour students are into it,
they're going to be runningaround like crazy, and if you
let it go for too long it canget a little bit like push and
shove type style, which I kindof I love active things in my
(19:24):
classroom.
I really want to reward andvalue the kids who hate sitting.
Still, that needs to besomething that we do more often,
but I would keep it to about 10minutes If you know your kids
are going to get rowdy,especially younger crowds,
because this game is really fun.
It's like a huge favorite ofpeople.
However, on the other side ofthings, if you are a high school
teacher like me, tip number sixis that if your students are
(19:48):
not into it, don't drag it out.
I've definitely had classesthat were just not into it
because they were really afraidto speak.
They didn't want to speak infront of their peers and that,
to me, was a okay.
We're going to wait for lateron in the year to start doing
this game, and you can alsosimplify and scaffold it in
different ways.
I've done things like as acolor review, everybody's
(20:08):
holding different colors ascrayons and things like that,
and you just have to say thename of your color when you go
into the circle and everybodyelse has to move if they have
that same color.
So you can also do it indifferent ways to emphasize
different things.
Different ways to emphasizedifferent things.
(20:29):
My last tip for you, though,for tip number seven is for this
game to really be fun and toalso be a great time saver for
you is incorporate this as afrequent routine in your units,
because it's a good idea to havea couple really great games
tucked into your teacher'stoolkit.
That so you don't need a bunchof like new and fresh ideas all
(20:50):
the time.
This, you know, is a reallyhigh energy mood booster that
you can do at any time, that youcan go back and review other
ideas from you know what.
Let's go with a bonus tip fortip number eight, which is that
you can do this whole saysomething.
That's true about you for anyunit that you teach, literally
any unit that you teach, or anyconcept that you're working on.
(21:10):
This works, for you might justhave to be a little bit creative
about it, like you might beworking with only a little bit
of language that your kids arecomfortable saying.
So you're going to want to keepthat whole idea very, very
simple of what you want them tosay.
Give them some examples, first,of ways that this can work.
Like, if you're doing a schoolunit and talking about classes,
(21:32):
just expect them to say theclass in French or the class in
Spanish.
And then, once they're morecomfortable with it or they
start to be in level two, levelthree, level four, they can say
more.
So keep it simple and give themsimple ideas and a very finite
conversation topic to movewithin.
Like, don't be very open-endedwith it.
Like, just say something that'strue about you.
(21:54):
That's going to flop, that'sgoing to be a disaster.
It has to be something that'sincredibly specific so that kids
can come up with the idea onthe spot.
Like, say what you had forbreakfast.
If you're doing a food unit,they should be able to be like
okay, there's only like fourwords that apply for breakfast
and I'm going to choose one ofthose.
And then you know you can.
You can make the promptsdifferent and more fun by adding
(22:18):
in other ideas that you wantthem to be working towards.
Like, after you do what youhave for breakfast, you can do
things like what did you havefor dinner last night?
And people have to say you knowwhat they had for dinner and
make meals and things like that.
So, in conclusion, for thisreally fun activity called and
you, which is based off of asimple get to know you
(22:40):
orientation party game, I wouldmake sure that you have things
that can't get kicked over asyour placeholders, like pencils,
because you'll lose your spot.
Make sure that you offer an outfor your shy students.
Keep the idea really simple forwhat you want them to talk
about.
Remember that you can do it forevery single new piece of
target language that you'reteaching, and model for students
(23:03):
how to form the sentences thatyou want them to say.
Make sure that they've hadenough input before you try this
activity, because a sign thateverybody's uncomfortable is a
sign that they just don't haveenough input to try it yet.
And my last one would be, ofcourse, offering out for
students who are feeling likethis is really above their
(23:23):
shyness meter and capacity.
Give them something likewriting down or scribing what
everybody is saying, so that youcan also turn it into a
follow-up writing activity,because your classroom, your
kids and the interactions thatyou have really are the best
content for your class.
So that's my game.
I hope that you love it and ithelps you to get more speaking
(23:45):
into your classroom.
What are some of your favoritespeaking activities?
I would love to know.
So let me know in the commentsbelow or email me at devon at la
libre language learning dot comand thanks so much for learning
with me today.
Happy speaking activities.
Have so much fun.
What's up?
Que lo que Et salut worldlanguage teachers.
Welcome to the PracticalProficiency Podcast, where we
make the transition toproficiency-oriented instruction
in your world language class ina way that works for you, your
unique context and teachingstyle, and doesn't sacrifice
(00:21):
your well-being along the way.
I'm your host, devon Gunning,the teacher author, conference
host, curriculum creator andconsultant behind La Libre
Language Learning.
This podcast is for thecreative world language teacher
like you who's ready to ditchthe overwhelming pressure of
switching to acquisition-driveninstruction and CI overnight.
(00:42):
You're ready to discover howusing more target language in
class can actually bring you andyour students more joy instead
of adding to your plate.
With practical, authentic anddown-to-earth strategies that
don't require reinventing thewheel or more training, we'll
work together towards the magicof a community-based, target
(01:05):
language-rich classroom, rootedin the power of community and
comprehensible input.
Let's go reason that peopletake our courses and it's the
(01:27):
whole reason that people areinterested in languages at all
right Is they want to be able tointeract, communicate and speak
with other speakers of theirlanguage.
So, with that in mind, I'mgoing to show you a really cool
speaking activity today to makespeaking a lot more fun in your
classroom and to see if thishelps your students, who are
even at the novice level, beable to communicate in a way
(01:49):
that's appropriate for them atthe novice level.
So, without further ado, thisis my speaking activity called
and you.
Now, my name is Devon.
I am the creator, teacher,author and curriculum consultant
and publisher known as LibreLanguage Learning, and in my
classroom, when I used to teachfull time, I would do the
(02:12):
speaking activity a lot, and itdraws from my philosophy that,
as a world language teacher, youare more of a facilitator of
language, which is not a newidea in the proficiency space.
But what this whole philosophybrings to it is the idea that
you are really a party host inclass, which means that a lot of
(02:33):
the activities that we did inmy class were based off of
simple party games that youwould play.
So this activity called and youis based off of a party game
that I used to play when I wasan orientation leader at my
college.
Actually, it's from one of myjobs and it was a great way to
get people talking and knowingmore about each other, but it
(02:55):
doesn't actually require a lotof language.
So, without further ado, let meshow you how this game works
and you.
You may have seen this too.
It's like a common thing to doin colleges and icebreakers and
things like that.
But I'm going to try and usethis real shoddy laminated piece
of paper as my functional maybesemi-functional whiteboard.
(03:16):
Let's see how it works.
But this is how the game works.
It's called, and you and theway that you need to set this up
is you ask students to stand upand bring with them one thing
that they can put easily down onthe ground to be their
placeholder Think of almost likemusical chairs.
So they need something in frontof them that's not fragile or
(03:36):
is going to it's not going to bea big deal if it gets knocked
over so that it's easy for themto bring with them and hold
their place.
A lot of students would usesomething like a pencil case or
a notebook, something like that.
Don't bring a pencil, it'll getkicked around.
So there's a lot of movement inthis game, which is the other
reason why I love it.
So you ask students to linewell, not line up, but to form a
(03:57):
little circle and they havetheir little thing in front of
them that's holding their placein front of them.
That's holding their place.
Let's just make a circle forease of, let's say, you know
about 10 students or so and eachof them, each of the little
students, has something in frontof them, a little space.
So let's say just, for example,say here okay, so these are all
(04:26):
our cutie little students here.
They're all in front of theirstuff, so on and so forth.
You ask students to stand infront of their things, but what
you're going to do as I finishdrawing these little cuties, is
you're going to stand in themiddle.
You're not going to bringanything with you.
Here's how this game works.
The person in the middle isgoing to say something that's
(04:50):
true for them.
It could be anything, butthey're going to say something
that's true for them, all right.
So there's one person in themiddle here let's say that's you
, the teacher.
You're going to start here.
You're not going to haveanything in front of you.
So it's kind of like musicalchairs, where there's always
going to be one less spot thanthe people that you have in your
classroom.
So you're going to start hereand you're going to say
(05:10):
something that's true aboutyourself.
This is a target languageactivity, so I would suggest
that you pick something that youknow your students can respond
to and understand.
Let's say, for example, you'reteaching a unit on likes and
dislikes, which this worksbeautifully for, but you can use
it for a lot of differentthings.
I'm going to show you twodifferent examples today.
One is for a likes and dislikesfocus and one is for a clothing
(05:35):
unit.
So let's do likes and dislikesfirst.
You're going to say somethingthat you like.
So, for example, I would saysomething like I like anime.
Then I'm going to say a twa andyou so put, and you in any form
that makes sense for yourlanguage.
(05:56):
So I'm gonna say I like anime.
Now there are, let's say, twoother people in my class who
also like anime.
There's this guy and there'sthis girl.
They also like anime.
So since this statement is alsotrue for them, us three, we're
the ones who have to find a newspot.
(06:17):
So the other people who don'tlike anime, they don't need to
move, they don't need to doanything.
But as soon as I say I likeanime, and you guess what, these
three people boom.
They are all going to be movingaround the room trying to find
one of these three spots.
They're going to be trying tofind one of these three spots.
(06:38):
They have to find a new spot.
So let's say, this person'sname is Andy and this person's
name is I don't know Sharon.
And then this is me.
You don't have to worry aboutthe handwriting here.
I need to find one of these twospots.
I have to find a new spot, andit cannot be the spot that I was
just in, nor can it be the spotthat's directly next to me.
(07:00):
So I'm going to go in here.
Puff's going to go in here.
So this is me.
So I'm gonna go in here.
Puff's gonna go in here.
So this is me.
Sharon, let's say, is trying tomove over here, but she can't.
So Sharon's gonna switch withAndy.
So Sharon is now here S andthen Andy ends up not having a
(07:24):
spot.
He's like oh no, I'm lost overhere, I don't have a spot.
What am I going to do?
He's it now.
So now Andy comes in the center, all right.
So Andy found a little spot andnow we start a new round.
So Andy, as a review, alsolikes anime.
So he was able to find a newspot, but it wasn't in the
(07:49):
circle.
If you're in the circle, you'resafe.
So this ended up being me.
These are the three people thatmoved.
Andy was over here, sharon wasover here, something like that,
and then there wasn't enoughspots for everybody, so Andy
ended up being the person in themiddle and now I'm over here,
(08:10):
I'm the prof, I'm over here andSharon moved from her spot over
here.
I hope that's making sense.
The basic idea of it is likemusical chairs, where everybody
has to find a new spot.
Here are some of theintricacies of the rules.
Now Andy is the next person.
This is where it becomes aspeaking activity.
Now the only rule is that Andyhas to say something that he
(08:31):
likes, something that he's into.
And let's say Andy is like anaverage student.
So he's going to try and saysomething really easy to say
Like I like sports.
So if he likes sports, there'sgoing to be a lot of people in
this room who also like sports.
I love sports.
Let's say Sharon loves sports,this person loves sports.
(08:53):
This person hates sports.
So not them.
This person hates sports, nothim.
She likes sports, we likesports, you like sports.
Look at all these people wholike sports.
So if he says I like sports andyou can, you guess what's going
to happen?
All of these people who havelikes next to them.
They all have to move now.
(09:14):
So this is where the game getsreally fun.
Everybody has to find a newspot, including this kid in the
center.
So everybody has to find a newspot, including this kid in the
center.
So everybody has to find a newspot.
That's why you need theselittle placeholders here, like a
notebook or a pencil case infront of you, because you cannot
do this with desks.
You're going to have to movethe desks out of the space of
your room and you're going toallow for there to be enough
(09:37):
space for your students to forma circle and then, after they
start moving around from thiscircle, they're going to have
little spaces that they can goto, and I guarantee you students
get really into this game.
They're going to start running,they're going to start shoving
each other, so make sure you goover some rules of movement
before they start doing this.
But it's really fun.
It's a great high energy game.
(09:59):
Here is how the target languagepiece works with this.
So Andy says to me I know whatI want to say, but I don't know
how to say it in French.
Is you can tell him like okay,well, just come tell me what it
is.
And he can say I want to saysports, how do you say sports?
I'll be like, okay, make sureyou ask that in French.
Okay, comment dit-on sports enfrançais?
(10:20):
And then I'll say, oh, okay, soI'll write the word you know,
sport on there.
And depending on what level ofclass that you have, you can
expect a full sentence or not atall.
But I'm going to say, andy, Iknow you can do this.
Can you say j'aime les sports?
And you'll be fine.
So can you say I like sports,me gustan deportes, I like
(10:44):
sports in Spanish, the wholedeal.
And so Andy's going to say thatin front of the class J'aime
les sports, et toi Do you.
And then everybody here who I'velabeled, who has a heart.
Now they all have to get up andfind a new spot, which is where
the crazy really happens.
So I'm going to erase this justto show you as an example of
(11:04):
everybody who likes sports.
They all now have to find a newspot.
And let's say for this examplehere you have two kids right
next to each other that likesports.
These two kids cannot justswitch.
That makes sure that everybodyhas to find a spot.
So they have to find one thatis not directly next to them.
It has to be somebody who's atleast two spaces away from them.
(11:26):
So there's a lot of switchingaround.
If you didn't have that rule,guess what would happen all of
your kids would just shuffleover and find a new spot that
way.
And so, as my little whiteboardgets messier and messier, this,
this keeps going in succession,and here are some ways that you
can actually expand this gameof and you to include other ways
(11:50):
that you can use more targetlanguage with this.
So, let's say, we decided thatthis was going to be a let's say
this is in my level two classand we're learning about
clothing be a.
Let's say this is in my leveltwo class and we're learning
about clothing.
So I would ask the person inthe center to say something
about what they're wearing.
That's true.
So I would expect somethinglike, let's say, andy is still
(12:11):
in the center here.
Andy's going to say somethinglike llevo pantalones cortos.
So that's what you're going todo, is you're going to say
something like llevo pantalones,and they're going to need to
say something.
That's true for them always.
So they say something like I'mwearing pants or I'm wearing
(12:33):
shorts, and they have to.
Once they say that, say and youand anybody else who's wearing
shorts also has to move.
Anybody else who's wearingpants and not a skirt or
something else has to move.
Llevo una sudadera, I'm wearinga sweatshirt.
Then if somebody else iswearing a sweatshirt, they have
to move too.
This is where the game also getsreally fun, because you can
(12:55):
start targeting people that youknow are wearing the same things
as you, and it can be reallyfun to do it this way.
So it doesn't have to just beabout likes and dislikes.
You can also say anythingthat's true for you, about what
you're wearing, what hobbies andactivities you do, what classes
(13:15):
you have.
I've used this game reallyeffectively for when you start
learning the verb to have andit's things that you actually
have like I have this in mybackpack, or I have this class,
or I have this teacher, andeverybody else who also has that
also has to move.
This is a really great way tomake low pressure speaking and
incorporate movement with it.
(13:36):
Now I'm going to put down thewhiteboard and tell you about
some things that you will runinto as issues.
Number one your students won'tknow how to say the phrases that
you're talking about.
An easy way that you canmitigate this is make sure that
this is something that you doafter a healthy succession of
input based activities.
(13:56):
So I do not lead off with aspeaking activity for a brand
new set of vocabulary that kidsjust learned yesterday.
Students need to hear somethingin context at least 20 times on
average for students, but formost students it's actually 50.
They need to hear it a lotbefore it really sinks in.
So make sure that you're doingan activity where you know
(14:17):
you're going to hit like 20repetitions of the same thing,
where you know you're gonna hitlike 20 repetitions of the same
thing.
So if it's a simple structurelike shim or me gusta, like I
like, which is not simple inevery language but if you're
also doing simple content, heavywork, like hey, we're learning
about sports hobbies, interestsand activities and art right now
.
So if you're saying things likeI like to paint, then they
(14:38):
should be hearing the word, orthey should be hearing that a
lot before you ask them toactually do it themselves.
It's also good to do after acouple days of writing as well.
So you've been doing somewriting activities, worksheets,
you've been doing review, you'vebeen doing games, whatever it
might be, and then on, like dayfive, six or seven of this unit
(15:00):
of new functional chunks andvocabulary and things, this is a
great time to do a speakingactivity.
It doesn't mean that you don'tdo speaking more, it just means
that you have to make sure thatkids have enough input before
they're ready to produce outputwhich is difficult, like
speaking.
So that's my number one tip ismake sure that you have enough
input first.
Tip number two is have theimportant phrases and the common
(15:24):
things that you think studentsare going to say already written
on the board or already on aslide for scaffolding.
So give them the phrases thatyou know they're going to need
to be successful.
Tip number three is that youshould because this is not
exactly a volunteer game, likepeople are going to end up in
the middle who do not want tospeak is you should allow them a
(15:45):
safe and easy out where you sayI want all the students to say
it with me or puff, can you saythis with me?
So offer some sort of socialscaffolding as well, especially
if you're really shy students orstudents who don't have a lot
of language confidence yet.
What this looks like is I wouldsay okay, class, like if you
are in the middle and it's yourturn to speak.
(16:07):
You can take the group option,which is everybody says the
phrase with you, and what thislooks like is they start off
with like llevo.
If you're talking about wearing, they're all going to start off
with that same sentence of I amwearing in Spanish.
So you say llevo or me pongo,whatever it may be.
(16:29):
Everybody in the room says thatin a choral response style, and
then the student just has tocome up with perhaps, the
content, and you can help themas well.
If you have students who arereally, really shy and don't
want to do it, then you can goup and be the person in the
middle with them and just takeaway a spot for for that round
and be like oh okay, I see you,alicia, you don't want to do
(16:51):
this by yourself?
That's fine, I respect that.
You're still participating.
How about we say it together?
So you go up as the puff in thecenter and you say it at the
same time with Alicia, you showher exactly what to say and you
do it with her and you just takeaway your own spot that you've
been holding so that it's notavailable for people and then
you add it back in later.
(17:11):
It's no big deal.
You can also, if you havestudents who you know are just
gonna fight you, fight, you,fight you.
On this speaking, I don't thinkit's a bad idea to offer an out,
as long as the out is actuallyquite difficult to do or more
tedious or whatever it might beLike.
It shouldn't be enticingcompared to your really fun game
.
So you can say well, I mean,you can write and you can be my
(17:34):
scribe and write down all of thephrases that everybody said
during the class period.
Would you like to do thatinstead?
Alicia, as my sample shystudent, and they they should
say okay, because that's theirbest option.
So you can ask for somebody tobe your scribe if you want to do
that, and that's actually a lotmore responsibility.
They have to be listening thewhole time, they have to write
(17:55):
down all the phrases and all ofthat, because my tip number four
is that you should try yourvery best to move this into some
sort of follow-up, with a writeand discuss, talking about the
different things that yourstudents have shared about
themselves.
So they like this.
Tanya likes that, alaysia'sreally into this, marcos really
(18:17):
likes that, and you should beable to talk about it as a class
afterwards.
Tip number five is keep the gameshort, punchy and fun.
Like this is something that youcan do for like 10 minutes.
You're going to need to do itonce or twice or three times for
students to really get the hangof it and how the movement of
the whole game works.
And again as an overview,here's how the movement works.
(18:41):
There is one less spot on theoutside of the circle than the
amount of people in yourclassroom.
There's one person who startsin the middle, who says
something that's true aboutthemselves, if it's also true
for other students.
Anybody that it's true for hasto move to find a new place.
They cannot find a spot that'sdirectly next to them.
Whoever is left at the centeris the next person who goes, and
(19:04):
so on and so forth.
The cycle continues until youfeel like it's done.
So, with that movement patternin mind, I would keep it to
about 10 minutes, because ifyour students are into it,
they're going to be runningaround like crazy, and if you
let it go for too long it canget a little bit like push and
shove type style, which I kindof I love active things in my
(19:24):
classroom.
I really want to reward andvalue the kids who hate sitting.
Still, that needs to besomething that we do more often,
but I would keep it to about 10minutes If you know your kids
are going to get rowdy,especially younger crowds,
because this game is really fun.
It's like a huge favorite ofpeople.
However, on the other side ofthings, if you are a high school
teacher like me, tip number sixis that if your students are
(19:48):
not into it, don't drag it out.
I've definitely had classesthat were just not into it
because they were really afraidto speak.
They didn't want to speak infront of their peers and that,
to me, was a okay.
We're going to wait for lateron in the year to start doing
this game, and you can alsosimplify and scaffold it in
different ways.
I've done things like as acolor review, everybody's
(20:08):
holding different colors ascrayons and things like that,
and you just have to say thename of your color when you go
into the circle and everybodyelse has to move if they have
that same color.
So you can also do it indifferent ways to emphasize
different things.
Different ways to emphasizedifferent things.
(20:29):
My last tip for you, though,for tip number seven is for this
game to really be fun and toalso be a great time saver for
you is incorporate this as afrequent routine in your units,
because it's a good idea to havea couple really great games
tucked into your teacher'stoolkit.
That so you don't need a bunchof like new and fresh ideas all
(20:50):
the time.
This, you know, is a reallyhigh energy mood booster that
you can do at any time, that youcan go back and review other
ideas from you know what.
Let's go with a bonus tip fortip number eight, which is that
you can do this whole saysomething.
That's true about you for anyunit that you teach, literally
any unit that you teach, or anyconcept that you're working on.
(21:10):
This works, for you might justhave to be a little bit creative
about it, like you might beworking with only a little bit
of language that your kids arecomfortable saying.
So you're going to want to keepthat whole idea very, very
simple of what you want them tosay.
Give them some examples, first,of ways that this can work.
Like, if you're doing a schoolunit and talking about classes,
(21:32):
just expect them to say theclass in French or the class in
Spanish.
And then, once they're morecomfortable with it or they
start to be in level two, levelthree, level four, they can say
more.
So keep it simple and give themsimple ideas and a very finite
conversation topic to movewithin.
Like, don't be very open-endedwith it.
Like, just say something that'strue about you.
(21:54):
That's going to flop, that'sgoing to be a disaster.
It has to be something that'sincredibly specific so that kids
can come up with the idea onthe spot.
Like, say what you had forbreakfast.
If you're doing a food unit,they should be able to be like
okay, there's only like fourwords that apply for breakfast
and I'm going to choose one ofthose.
And then you know you can.
You can make the promptsdifferent and more fun by adding
(22:18):
in other ideas that you wantthem to be working towards.
Like, after you do what youhave for breakfast, you can do
things like what did you havefor dinner last night?
And people have to say you knowwhat they had for dinner and
make meals and things like that.
So, in conclusion, for thisreally fun activity called and
you, which is based off of asimple get to know you
(22:40):
orientation party game, I wouldmake sure that you have things
that can't get kicked over asyour placeholders, like pencils,
because you'll lose your spot.
Make sure that you offer an outfor your shy students.
Keep the idea really simple forwhat you want them to talk
about.
Remember that you can do it forevery single new piece of
target language that you'reteaching, and model for students
(23:03):
how to form the sentences thatyou want them to say.
Make sure that they've hadenough input before you try this
activity, because a sign thateverybody's uncomfortable is a
sign that they just don't haveenough input to try it yet.
And my last one would be, ofcourse, offering out for
students who are feeling likethis is really above their
(23:23):
shyness meter and capacity.
Give them something likewriting down or scribing what
everybody is saying, so that youcan also turn it into a
follow-up writing activity,because your classroom, your
kids and the interactions thatyou have really are the best
content for your class.
So that's my game.
I hope that you love it and ithelps you to get more speaking
(23:45):
into your classroom.
What are some of your favoritespeaking activities?
I would love to know.
So let me know in the commentsbelow or email me at devon at la
libre language learning dot comand thanks so much for learning
with me today.
Happy speaking activities.
Have so much fun.
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