¡Pégalo Primero! Game

I am always trying to think of ways to expose my students to a variety of ways to practice vocabulary. Let's face it, if we are teaching languages as we should be, it should be comprised of vocabulary (words and phrases). Students love games and therefore, the two should naturally go together. So I came up with a game (forgive me if someone out there already has something similar) that is highly engaging and also practices input of the language/vocabulary. This game is not limited to language classes alone. It is such a fun way to practice vocabulary words, phrases, events...just about anything!

I call it "¡Pégalo Primero!" (which means Hit It First!) as, the object of the game is to "hit" or grab the card first. As you are describing the scene, vocabulary word, event, etc., the students must keep their fingers on the edge of the table until you finish your description then they must grab the card first. It can get very loud and quite exciting! One rule I use in my class is focused primarily to save my cards: they cannot fight over a card. If there is a dispute with no resolution, they must both forfeit the card and no one gets it.

I have used this game after a Movie Talk, after practicing the new vocabulary and just before a Quizlet Live! game, and after a story. We always wait to use this game until after the students have been exposed to the vocabulary and structures sufficiently to be successful with ¡Pégalo!.

Here is an example of the game:

Here is an example of a card for a Movie Talk

Teacher: There is a little girl with large blue eyes, blonde hair, and a blanket over her head. 

You can give other descriptions too, but I wait to give the most obvious clue at the end of my description. If I have only one card with a little girl on it, I may say something like:
there is a room with cracked paint, a bed, and a person. The person is....
This way, you are able to get them listening more. If you are doing one for vocabulary practice, I typically give the translation or the definition and the kids must find the card I am defining. If you want the game to be a bit more challenging, I will have the kids place half the deck of vocabulary cards face side up in the target language and half down in English (you can do this with flashcards and vocabulary too). For the following card, I would simply give the translation: grapadora
An activity we do in class is called Visual Vocabulary to help them use words  in sentences using visuals. They must find visual representations of words they are struggling with and place it in our classroom Padlet. I then print them out for each class and we use these cards for practice.

This is an example of a vocabulary card.

The person that has the most cards, wins the round. This is a low-tech activity that is fun, engaging, and a great way to practice vocabulary and structures.

Teach Like a Jedi Master

I am a geek. I love everything Star Wars and tech; as, I am sure you can tell from the title of this blog post. I love to incorporate these elements into my teaching style to make things fun and engaging for my students. We “Write Like Jedis” in my class, use Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader to help explain difficult grammar concepts, and “travel” to the planets Hoth, Tatooine, and even the city of Coruscant. As I dig deeper into the meaning of the phrase, Teach Like a Jedi Master, I have stumbled across a much deeper meaning that I feel educators should ignore no longer.

I would like to believe every teacher wants to be the best he can be for his students; which is why we attend professional development sessions on our days off, participate in webinars and Twitter Chats, and read up on all the latest sound instructional practices. In order to make the connection between teaching like a Jedi Master and our current roles as teachers, I believe I must first focus on what a Jedi Master is and what his capacity is in the life of his students.

A Jedi Master is a Jedi that has earned his right as a Master after demonstrating a variety of skills; including teaching. One of the important skills a Jedi Master must experience is the success of his or her students. Some take several Padawans on at a time; while others take on one specific student to teach wisdom and skills to. This is a process that takes time, patience, and a tremendous amount of coaching. This is the heart of what Jedi Masters do. Coaches have caught on to this important skill; so I ask, why is it we don’t run our classrooms as coaches coach their athletes?

Educators can learn so much from the coaching style. In most situations, coaches first demonstrate a particular skill, have the athletes practice it, then the athlete will demonstrate his ability to the coach. The coach then makes the necessary adjustments and the athlete tries again. Some of the best learning happens when trial and error is the norm and correcting oneself is allowed to naturally happen. I see the same benefits in gamification in the classroom (but that’s another post for the future).

Jedi Masters we must be; maximum potential we must reach. When creating your plans for the week, be sure to include ways for students to learn from their errors to reach their potential. The best learning comes when we move out of our comfort zones. Luke learned valuable lessons from Yoda on Dagobah; most of which he initially failed. Yoda coached him and helped him realize his true talents. He saw the potential within Luke; he just needed to help Luke realize it himself.

May the Force be With You!