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20+ Teacher and COVID Friendly Activities for Language Lessons

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20+ Teacher and COVID Friendly Activities for Language Lessons

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Includes: government guidance, ice breakers (for back to school), formative assessment style activities, useful tools and settling activities related to exam skills, with challenge elements), vocab practice suggestions and MFL games.

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Private German Tutor, Online French Teacher Qualified EFL Tutor

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Teacher, Student and COVID-19 Friendly Low-Prep Activities and Ideas for Language Classrooms

This post includes:

Current government curriculum expectations

General school and government safety guidelines

20+ COVID-19 friendly activities for language classrooms in the era of 'the new normal'

DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional and can't guarantee these ideas are 100% COVID-19 friendly, nor that they will stop the spread of COVID-19. However, I have considered the information from schools, the government and used some of my common sense. I hope you find them useful for your educational settings. If there are any ideas you can't use in your language lessons, feel free to disregard them.

If you're not here for the background, scroll to the bottom of the post. There you will find low-prep activities and ideas for language lessons. Perfect for 'the new normal'! Interested in the background to these ideas? Keep reading!

Government Safety Guidelines and Back To School

Recently, there has been much talk in the media surrounding the corona virus and back to school. As well as lots of waiting around with bated breath for guidance for teaching staff! Thanks to Ania Gerson for sharing this relevant image which caught my eye recently.

The government feels that 'schools are not currently considered high risk settings when compared to other workplace environments'. In addition, not going back will 'leave a huge dent in life chances' (Gavin Williams, 30th August

2020.) Therefore, returning back to schools and colleges after the summer holidays is simply a must. As teachers, we should adhere to 'good hand and respiratory hygiene and maintain[..] social distancing'. All pretty much 'the new normal', right...? Have you washed your hands?!

School Safety Measures

Schools have also made provisions to follow government safety guidelines. These include: children being put in groups, or "bubbles", to limit contact, and the use of face coverings in communal areas of schools.

In addition to this limited governmental advice, schools across the country have put in their own protocols to minimise risks of transmission. For example:

Teaching staff moving around the educational establishment, rather than the students.

Some schools are allowed to give out sheets, some aren't.

Many schools only allow teachers to hand out sheets.

Some allow group work based on bubbles, others don't.

Other schools are allowing choral repetition, others don't etc.

This variation in individual school guidance makes creating a range of activities for language classrooms in the current climate tricky.

The ideas and activities below may/may not be suitable for your individual school. However, I have tried to combine COVID-19 friendly back to school activities, apps and websites which could be used in language classrooms with the guidelines above and below in mind. The list of back to school activities for 'the new normal' also takes the curriculum government expectations into consideration. I have outlined these below, published on 7th August 2020.

Clearly, these expectations above are extremely clear in the thinking that we must continue to provide high quality education for our students. Which will help them with their exams and future goals. Some of this education could be online, but, once again, it must remain high quality. Additionally, it appears teachers should continue to teach the curriculum but adapt based on gaps in current knowledge, with a focus on regular use of formative assessment. Especially, as it stands, the vast majority of pupils in year 10 and 11 are expected to continue to study their examination subjects.

I do believe there are a lot of unknowns at the moment about what types of activities can be carried out in classrooms, as well as how. However, I hope the ideas below are useful. Leave me a comment below on your thoughts, as well as other ideas that other language teachers around the world might also be able to use!

20 Teacher and COVID-19 Friendly Activities for Language Lessons and The New Normal

It wouldn't be back to school without some ice breaker activities, would it? The suggestions below are interactive, help you to get to know the students a bit better. That includes getting a handle on their language level too!

1. Either ...Or...
A fun activity that assesses current knowledge. Project slides, similar to the image with two choices. For example, summer or winter. Each student must write a sentence in their exercise book or on an online mini whiteboard, such as on whiteboard.fi to explain why they choose that. I.e. I prefer summer because it's really sunny and I don't have to go to school. To mix things up a bit or to test a particular grammar point, tense or question forming, you could also alternate short instructions at the bottom of the slide. In my examples, I wrote: write a sentence under summer and write a question under winter.

2. Rainbow Talking
Get students to pick any colour from the rainbow. Set a timer of 2-5 minutes, depending on students' levels. They must think of as many items as they can, that are that colour, in the target language. Use the things around you for inspiration. Online dictionaries could be useful here, but not a requirement. Share ideas with the whole class.

3. True or False
This is a simple 'getting to know the teacher' ice breaker activity. Create individual slides with true or false options that might be interesting for your students to know about you. Try to combine topic related vocabulary of things you have previously taught, or things you need them to remember for future lesson. You could use the help of Plickers (see below) to collate your true or false answers. Alternatively, use a thumb up for true and thumb down for false, perhaps.

4. Last One Standing
The teacher says sentences in target language, i.e. "I woke up late every morning during lock down" or "I haven't brushed my teeth today" and the students sit down if it's true for them. To keep those who have sat down in the game, the teacher can ask students sitting down to translate, in order to have another 'life' and be able to participate again. The last one standing wins! Fun getting to know you game with a focus on listening and translation.

5. Popcorn Speaking
No real popcorn was hurt in the making of this activity!!! Have all students seated, facing the front and advise they must talk about themselves or a topic. Depending on what you're trying to assess! Ask them to think for a few minutes and prepare 5-10 bullet points /sentences.

All students start with 5 points. One student begins and stops after they have said their sentence. They nominate another student by saying their name immediately and then sit down. The nominated student must stand up and either: translate what the other student (2 points) said AND/OR read out one of their sentences (1 point). They repeat the nomination activity until you get bored! The speaking activity allows students to get to know each other, you to get to know them, as well as fix any pronunciation errors etc.

To make it more challenging, you could also add challenges, such as you can't use the most common 5 verbs or use a connective, give an opinion etc. The popcorn element is the students sitting and standing.

COVID-19 Friendly Formative Assessment Based Activities Using Technology

Assign Each Student a QR Code linked to Plickers, print out and ask them to paperclip (or glue if they have their own glue stick) and use in place of mini whiteboards.

Students work in pairs but sit back to back (they could also face the front of the classroom but one has their head looking down at the table). The first faces the board and reads a text aloud. The second either writes a transcript, fills in gaps or must answer true or false to a set of questions. Once completed, they swap around and look to check if their answers are right. In the meantime, the first person faces away from the board, looks at their true or false or gap fill hand out and starts preparing for their turn with a new text that their partner will read aloud to them.

8. Don't Pass The Parcel
A great alternative to a traditional classroom based pass the parcel. In my time, I definitely spent way too long making pass the parcels to use with my groups. Play some TL music and when the music stops whoever has it needs to answer the question. For a 'new-normal' approach, students could clap their turn, raise their hands (mexican wave style), stand up and sit down etc until the music stops. It's an easy way to do some formative assessment.

I had to include this website because I am beyond obsessed with it! Help! 🙂 Flippity Manipulatives (with numbers and letters) are ideal for matching activities. Just label each field with a number or letter for matching. This activity is also perfect for categorising. Check out this link to see a French questions categorising activity I uploaded: https://www.flippity.net/ma.php?k=19j0XnZrJfm9xd3ajSfRblhRsueTAn4ru8uTaE50LTPY. 9. Flippity

In my opinion, it's COVID-19 friendly, depending on how you structure the activities and the outcome. It's particularly useful for assessing knowledge which I think is key. They could also be used for translations - no sheets necessary. The website offers instructions, a demo and templates so check them out to get started.

10. Whiteboard.fi
Digital mini whiteboards for the whole class. Devices required! Ask the students a question, show a phrase, play an audio clip and ask them to do something to assess their knowledge. It's just like you're in a lesson but with less germs! The only catch here is that students will need their own devices, which I know isn't possible in all language lessons.

Making The Teacher's Life Easier Activities/Ideas

11. ClassroomScreen.com
Avoid moving around the classroom and simply use the traditional style whiteboard to add vocabulary or grammar notes on the board. In addition, I love the fact that they have dice for activities that may have in the past required physical dice. There are loads of other cools tools including: work level symbols (i,e, whisper, silence) to avoid teachers having to raise their voices, as well as traffic lights, an egg timer and stop watches to keep track of timed activities.

12. Classtools.net
Like with Flippity, I am equally as obsessed with this website. It's an old favourite. I think the Venn Diagram Generator is ideal for individual work, and whole group work. You can project a diagram to get students started, pick on individuals and add as a group. That just means one student is speaking at a time, rather than many together. Can also be adapted for small group work if students are in bubbles, for example.

Settling Activities / Starters

13-19. Teacher & COVID-19 Friendly Settling Activities for Language Lessons
I believe for those teachers who will be moving around a lot, a settling activity is an excellent way to get them started. You could project a standard set of activities on the screen each lesson. However, that will mean getting yourself organised first; defeating the point of this COVID-19 friendly settling activity. So, consider printing one for each student to stick / paper clip into their own books! Thanks @MorganMFL, @Mariade53969789 and @campello_mfl for the inspiration - go follow them on Twitter etc!

Feel free to use the image above and copy onto a word document. If you'd like an editable copy, you can edit the PowerPoint file below with 6 no-prep and super useful Teacher Friendly Settling Activities for Language Learners To Get Students Started!

20. Odd One Out

Another golden oldie! Perfect for topic-related vocabulary. This is just a quick example. However, I usually put between 5 and 10 lines together, depending on the group. It's perfect to get students thinking. There isn't just 1 correct answer. It tests existing knowledge and gives students new vocab that they could use, perhaps in one of the settling activities mentioned above!

21. Retrieval Grids
Some suggested that they would use their retrieval grids, rather than the ideas I have listed here. Therefore, I decided to add these to the list too! Retrieval grids are quite popular at the moment and quite rightly so. I started using retrieval grids in 2018 and feel they are an effective idea for students to consider and 'retrieve' what they have been working on over the past few weeks/months. As you can see in the retrieval grid pictured is looking for students to retrieve key information from an English lesson from the last week, last two weeks, last month and before that. Clearly, this type of activity is going to be a bit more prep. However, you could prepare one for each month / topic and hand it out at the beginning of each month/topic for students to use if you are running a bit late. Alternatively, it's a brilliant revision tool and could be used within the lesson, too.

There you have it! Super quick, low-prep teacher friendly and (hopefully!) COVID-19 friendly activities and ideas for language lessons.

Other ideas: I wrote these posts before COVID-19 hit but there may also be further ideas that you can adapt to fit the new normal here:

COVID-19 Friendly Language Games
COVID-19 Friendly Low-Prep Vocabulary Activities

ALSO! A few recommendations if you are interested in more activities for language lessons in the new normal!:

SonrieinSpanish has put together loads of COVID-19 friendly resources for Spanish on TES. I am sure many of these can be easily adapted to your languages!

Check out Dannielle's Padlet with many crowd-sourced ideas for COVID-19 safe lessons here: bit.ly/31GrrG1

References and Further Reading on COVID-19 Safe Activities for Language Lessons

Gavin Williamson: not sending children back to school risks 'huge dent in life chances'
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/30/gavin-williamson-not-sending-children-back-to-school-risks-huge-dent-in-future-life-chances-coronavirus (Published 30th August 2020)

Guidance for Full Opening Schools
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools (Published 7th August 2020, Edited 28th August)

Guidance for Schools COVID-19
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/guidance-for-schools-coronavirus-covid-19 (Updated 26th August 2020)

What Will a Return To School During The Covid 19 Pandemic Look Like? https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/what-will-return-school-during-covid-19-pandemic-look (Published 24 August 2020)

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20+ Valuable Teacher and COVID-19 Friendly Activities For Language Lessons

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Teacher, Student and COVID-19 Friendly Low-Prep Activities and Ideas for Language Classrooms This post includes: Current government curriculum expectations General school and government safety guidelines 20+ COVID-19 friendly activities for language classrooms in the era of 'the new normal' DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional and can't guarantee these ideas are 100% COVID-19 friendly, nor that they will stop the spread of COVID-19.

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Whiteboard app similar to Whiteboard.fi

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22h
Writing, technology, cooperation & feedback
Avatar of Aurora Carretero Ramos
Aurora Carretero Ramos
2d
Writing, technology, cooperation & feedback
We used this tool during lock-down and it worked quite good with our students. You can see one of their works: https://celiamanceragamez.blogspot.com/2020/04/my-quarantine.html 
Stand up/sit down game - Sentences relevant to the lesson's grammar coverage are shown one by one. Students stay standing if the grammar is right, sit down if grammar is wrong & must stay seated if they are eliminated. Last one standing wins!
Avatar of anonymous
Anonymous
2d
Stand up/sit down game - Sentences relevant to the lesson's grammar coverage are shown one by one. Students stay standing if the grammar is right, sit down if grammar is wrong & must stay seated if they are eliminated. Last one standing wins!
Phone recording for
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Anonymous
2d
Phone recording for class playback

Can be used as a classroom activity or homework. Set specific phrases for pronunciation practise, set questions for pupils to answer, give a picture to describe. Pupils record their responses using their phone and playback to class. Even better if connected to a bluetooth speaker in larger classrooms. This assumes all pupils have a phone with the record function but encourages positive use of a mobile phone in the classroom.  Playback can be used as a listening activity for the class.
Plickers to check kn
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Anonymous
3d
Plickers to check knowledge and understanding of individual student
French
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Anonymous
3d
French
Good for current affairs- 
Reading Comp and Vocabilary 
www.lepetitjournal.com/Dublin
Live worksheets
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Anonymous
3d
Live worksheets
Vanesa Maciá
Students can complete them in their tablets or phone and send it to the teacher.
Reading race. Beat the teacher
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Anonymous
4d
Reading race. Beat the teacher  
The teacher gives a student a head start to read a text out loud. The teacher starts after the student has read a couple of sentences and tries to get to the end of the text first. After a couple of goes, get students to challenge each other rather than the teacher.
debbassnett
A free French gramma
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Anonymous
3d
A free French grammar lesson / photo description
Revise French phonic
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Anonymous
4d
Revise French phonics, 12 colors and analyse this authentic French nursery rhyme: 
Speaking tasks
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Anonymous
4d
Speaking tasks
Can be recorded on lingt - you record the questions, share the link and students submit their answers. Very easy to mark too!
Use of Qwiqr to crea
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Anonymous
4d
Use of Qwiqr to create pronunciation guides with suggested websites linked via QR on Knowledge Organisers. Qwiqr can also be used for oral feedback recorded by teacher, sent through Google Classroom via link and student can record their response using the "conversation" option. 
Digital whiteboards
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Anonymous
4d
Digital whiteboards
Whiteboard.fi is a great digital solution if you cannot use mini whiteboards in your classroom. @BotonesSalgado
Easy to grab digital tools
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Anonymous
4d
Easy to grab digital tools
Check Classroomscreen for immediate access to digital dice, random name choose, traffic lights and text input to be used 
in a lesson. @BotonesSalgado
Read Aloud competitions
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Talkie
4d
Read Aloud competitions
For lengthy texts you need to go through with GCSE students.

Activity 1 Read aloud activity where you call out one student out of the blue to pick up where their peer left off. More engagement: Split the room into two teams and call out two students each time to compete. Team gets a point if their opponent fails to keep up. Take away points from the team if a member refuses to participate. Lay out other rewards or consequences if necessary. 

Activity 2. Students work in pairs. Each student will take turns reading the text although can only read up to 3 words max. The aim of the game is to get their opponent to read the last word.  Can be done back to back. 

@talkietheapp 
Speaking practice on Flipgrid
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Cristina Panadero
4d
Speaking practice on Flipgrid
Teacher can create a task for students to record their answers. Teacher can easily leave a video feedback or just written without the need to email any files. 
https://info.flipgrid.com/
@cpanadero1

Oral practice with a digital wheel
Avatar of Cristina Panadero
Cristina Panadero
4d
Oral practice with a digital wheel
Students can work in pairs or small groups to answer to the questions on the wheel. Points could be awarded for the answers using a particular structure for example. 
Exam type questions (IB Spanish B SL)
@cpanadero1
Alternative to pass the parcel
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Anonymous
4d
Alternative to pass the parcel 
I normally play music and pass a plush around so when the music stops whoever has it need to answer the question. For a  Covid-safe approach, students can clap in turn or stand and sit til the music stops. 
@campello_mfl
Back to back speaking
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Anonymous
4d
Back to back speaking 
Students sit back to back with 2 different versions of the same text with different gaps. They need to listen to each other to complete. Alternatively, to avoid handouts, you can have a text on the board and one has their back to the board and the other reads. The one with their back to the board has a true or false or needs to write the transcript. TBH any paired speaking can be done back to back 😉 
@campello_mfl
Longer speaking task
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Anonymous
4d
Longer speaking tasks can be recorded by pupils on Vocaroo and emailed to teachers. You can record your feedback and email it back. 
Repetition of new vo
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Anonymous
4d
Repetition of new vocabulary 

Email new sentence builders to pupils and insert audio of your chosen activities so that they can carry out repetition activities such as ghost repetition, faulty echo... ahead of the lesson as part of their homework. 
One pen each and one big dice!
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Anonymous
5d
One pen each and one big dice!
Same idea as the "one pen one dice" game except they have a pen each, and you put a big digital dice on the screen. I've been looking for one that auto rolls online but I am yet to find one so I'll see if I can do an auto rolling PowerPoint with some kind of noise when it lands on the six! This will allow you to keep an eye on them too, make sure they're resisting the temptation to use their pen when it's not their turn!
Sentence stealer
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Anonymous
4d
Sentence stealer
Instead of giving out cards on which pupils write the numbers, they write the number of the sentences on their MWB and work with the pupils around them as opposed to walking in the classroom. If they steal a sentence they add the number on their MWB and if they have their sentence stolen, they rub the number off. 
Use technology!
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Anonymous
4d
Use technology! 
There are some great tools that really can help in delivering languages in the current situation. Check this post for ideas!
@BotonesSalgado
RepetitionSnake
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Anonymous
5d
Repetition
Snake repetition round the classroom. Then get one snake to chase another. Or send one round in the opposite direction. 
Video yourself doing phonics key words and actions so you don't have to project your voice. 
Find someone who...
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Anonymous
5d
Find someone who...
This is usually an activity that requires students to walk around chatting to each other, but in this blog post I have come up with a few ways of conducting it in a Covid-safe way. 
MFL activities, games & ideas for 'the New Normal'
Avatar of Sonrie Inspanish
Sonrie Inspanish
4d
MFL activities, games & ideas for 'the New Normal'
Here is a PowerPoint with a  range of ideas, templates and technological tools that you can use within 'the New Normal'. Hopefully it saves everyone planning time!
Dreimal - Y12/13 Icebreaker
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Anonymous
4d
Dreimal - Y12/13 Icebreaker
All students write down two words in the TL (can be as basic as they like) and put into an envelope (they mustn't show each other). Shuffle the envelope and split the class into two teams (this can work with small groups but you would need at least two in a team). 
Round 1: A student picks a word out of the envelope and has to explain it in ENGLISH to the rest of their team (without saying the word in the TL or translation). The rest of their team must guess the word in German! I would set a timer of about 20-30 seconds here. If they guess the word in the time, they get a point for their team but if not, it can be passed on to the other group who can guess and steal the point. Don't put the word back in the envelope! A student on the other team then picks a word and you repeat until all words are out of the envelope and all students have had two goes. Put all the words back into the envelope.
Round 2: As above but this time they must explain in the TL (more difficult as they haven't spoken the language a lot recently. However, because they have already come across the words in English, this helps them work it out!)
Round 3: Pick a word but this time ACT IT OUT. This is where it gets funny and students really start to lose their inhibitions. Plus it can go quite quickly as students have already seen the words twice so should remember them quickly.
Depending on how many students (and thus words) we have, I sometimes stop the charades bit after one go each as obviously this bit is more about breaking the ice than learning any of the language.

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Write a sentence using a word from each column in secret. Students have to guess the sentence but you only tell them how many they have correct. Promotes listening skills and logical thinking.

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From Keziah Mee...
You say a word or sentence in TL and if the student can translate it Like a Boss, they stand up. You then choose one to translate - if they get it correct, everyone standing gets a point. If they get it wrong they lose a point.
Can be great for bluffing!

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Flamenco Experience

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The heart and soul of Spain's culture - Flamenco dancing!

Enjoy the passion of this creative dance.

This workshop covers the five disciplines of Flamenco: Dancing, Guitar, Cajón (Spanish drum), Clapping and Castanets.

Threaded with the history/meaning of Flamenco and videos, this workshop will encourage Spanish learning through fun and music.

Taught by professional Spanish teachers, who are also Flamenco dancers, students will love the opportunity to experience the dance - just like a true flamenco ensemble!

We provide the instruments and accessories for a full dress-up session.

Facilitators: Flamenco dancer, Guitarist and percussion teacher.

Maximum 30 participants; from 1 hour and 30 minutes duration.

Activities based on Federico Garcia Lorca's poem and his love for flamenco "Verde que te quiero Verde" - Spanish teacher Optional. Adjust to GSCE, AS and A Level.

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Testimonial: " The workshops went really well ! I have never seen the students so attentive and interested ! They have loved being involved in the dance and the music, which were well adapted to their level and varied enough to get every students participate. They were very enthusiastic about playing a real instrument and being able to play something so quickly . Carmen, Angus and Demi have been fantastic, very patient with the student and fantastic at teaching and communicating their passion. They were really professional, on time and equipped, ready to start. We are looking forward to next year to organise other workshops with Canela Fina. Many thanks for your help Maria, with the organisation and the preparation"
Joanna Trabaud - MFL teacher - Royal Greenwick trust - 180 year 7 students

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" We all enjoyed yesterday's workshops. Sarah and Paul were great - the pupils were really engaged and had a great time learning some steps, and the level of Spanish was pitched just right for them in their first year of the language - they learnt a handful of new flamenco related words which was great. It's certainly something we would consider doing again next year, so I will be in touch. Many thanks, it was great working with them.

Jane Cochrane - Upton Hall School 70 year 8 students

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" I have to say it was the best Spanish experience day I have run in all my career. Demi and Carmen were amazing and so professional. Staff, parents and of course the children are so so happy"

Georgina Osborne - Claremont Prep school - year 6, 7 and 8 students

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" Los profesores fueron estupendos, trabajaron muy bien con las niñas, muy agradables y pacientes todos, y usando mucho español, así que perfecto! Todo salió muy bien y aprendieron mucho, genial, muchas gracias !

Belén Marquez - The Abbey School - 74 Year 9 students

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"Another fantastic workshop! Fast-paced, authentic, challenging and rewarding! Canela Fina were easily to work with and professional throughout the planning and delivery of the workshop - will be sure to repeat it again next year.

All professionals were fantastic! Having Ulises and Jesús repeating was useful as they knew the workshops we did last year, the types of students we have etc.

Alejandra, the dancer is a fantastic teacher, very efficient and effective, will demonstration and wasted no time in getting started. In control and flexible about space etc.

Cuffy, professional and great guitarist. Arrived promptly and was easy to set-up; absolutely no fuss and was great in the school environment.

Ulises: Great delivery of the presentation to get the most out of the students. Cajón workshop, was well-organised (especially in a restricted space).

Jesús: Managed the body percussion workshop perfectly, and students enjoyed it! Good explanation at the beginning of the special aspect of his shoes. Staff commented on his dancing during the "show"!
Resources: presentation, activities and videos
Wonderful! Plenty to discuss with students and the presentation was delivered mainly in Spanish with some English reinforcement; this worked well as some students responded in Spanish, without being prompted. Some history about Flamenco was great and the classroom resources to use either before or as a follow-up, mean that we can make it a core part of the Year 8 Scheme of Work, rather than just a one-off "fun" activity (it gives it an educational base).

Martha Wathmough - Teacher of Spanish at Bristol Grammar School - 106 year 8 students

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Canela Fina! | Flamenco Experience workshop

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The heart and soul of Spain's culture - Flamenco dancing! Enjoy the passion of this creative dance. This workshop covers the five disciplines of Flamenco: Dancing, Guitar, Cajón (Spanish drum), Clapping and Castanets. Threaded with the history/meaning of Flamenco and videos, this workshop will encourage Spanish learning through fun and music.

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Settlers for the students to do while we prepare our stuff -great if you are moving across classrooms

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Settlers for the students to do while we prepare our stuff -great if you are moving across classrooms

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https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/spanish-settlers-12390520

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Writing, technology, cooperation & feedback

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Writing, technology, cooperation & feedback

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We used this tool during lock-down and it worked quite good with our students. You can see one of their works: https://celiamanceragamez.blogspot.com/2020/04/my-quarantine.html

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Stand up/sit down game - Sentences relevant to the lesson's grammar coverage are shown one by one. Students stay standing if the grammar is right, sit down if grammar is wrong & must stay seated if they are eliminated. Last one standing wins!

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Stand up/sit down game - Sentences relevant to the lesson's grammar coverage are shown one by one. Students stay standing if the grammar is right, sit down if grammar is wrong & must stay seated if they are eliminated. Last one standing wins!

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Phone recording for class playback

Can be used as a classroom activity or homework. Set specific phrases for pronunciation practise, set questions for pupils to answer, give a picture to describe. Pupils record their responses using their phone and playback to class. Even better if connected to a bluetooth speaker in larger classrooms. This assumes all pupils have a phone with the record function but encourages positive use of a mobile phone in the classroom.  Playback can be used as a listening activity for the class.

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Plickers to check knowledge and understanding of individual student

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Good for current affairs-
Reading Comp and Vocabilary
www.lepetitjournal.com/Dublin

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Vanesa Maciá
Students can complete them in their tablets or phone and send it to the teacher.

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The teacher gives a student a head start to read a text out loud. The teacher starts after the student has read a couple of sentences and tries to get to the end of the text first. After a couple of goes, get students to challenge each other rather than the teacher.
debbassnett

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A free French grammar lesson / photo description

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Revise French phonics, 12 colors and analyse this authentic French nursery rhyme:

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Can be recorded on lingt - you record the questions, share the link and students submit their answers. Very easy to mark too!

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Use of Qwiqr to create pronunciation guides with suggested websites linked via QR on Knowledge Organisers. Qwiqr can also be used for oral feedback recorded by teacher, sent through Google Classroom via link and student can record their response using the "conversation" option.

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Whiteboard.fi is a great digital solution if you cannot use mini whiteboards in your classroom. @BotonesSalgado

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Check Classroomscreen for immediate access to digital dice, random name choose, traffic lights and text input to be used
in a lesson. @BotonesSalgado

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For lengthy texts you need to go through with GCSE students.

Activity 1 Read aloud activity where you call out one student out of the blue to pick up where their peer left off. More engagement: Split the room into two teams and call out two students each time to compete. Team gets a point if their opponent fails to keep up. Take away points from the team if a member refuses to participate. Lay out other rewards or consequences if necessary.

Activity 2. Students work in pairs. Each student will take turns reading the text although can only read up to 3 words max. The aim of the game is to get their opponent to read the last word.  Can be done back to back.

@talkietheapp

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Teacher can create a task for students to record their answers. Teacher can easily leave a video feedback or just written without the need to email any files.
https://info.flipgrid.com/
@cpanadero1

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Students can work in pairs or small groups to answer to the questions on the wheel. Points could be awarded for the answers using a particular structure for example.
Exam type questions (IB Spanish B SL)
@cpanadero1

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Wheel embedded on Google site using https://wheelofnames.com/es/#

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I normally play music and pass a plush around so when the music stops whoever has it need to answer the question. For a  Covid-safe approach, students can clap in turn or stand and sit til the music stops.
@campello_mfl

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Students sit back to back with 2 different versions of the same text with different gaps. They need to listen to each other to complete. Alternatively, to avoid handouts, you can have a text on the board and one has their back to the board and the other reads. The one with their back to the board has a true or false or needs to write the transcript. TBH any paired speaking can be done back to back 😉
@campello_mfl

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Longer speaking tasks can be recorded by pupils on Vocaroo and emailed to teachers. You can record your feedback and email it back.

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Repetition of new vocabulary

Email new sentence builders to pupils and insert audio of your chosen activities so that they can carry out repetition activities such as ghost repetition, faulty echo... ahead of the lesson as part of their homework.

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Same idea as the "one pen one dice" game except they have a pen each, and you put a big digital dice on the screen. I've been looking for one that auto rolls online but I am yet to find one so I'll see if I can do an auto rolling PowerPoint with some kind of noise when it lands on the six! This will allow you to keep an eye on them too, make sure they're resisting the temptation to use their pen when it's not their turn!

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Sentence stealer
Instead of giving out cards on which pupils write the numbers, they write the number of the sentences on their MWB and work with the pupils around them as opposed to walking in the classroom. If they steal a sentence they add the number on their MWB and if they have their sentence stolen, they rub the number off.

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There are some great tools that really can help in delivering languages in the current situation. Check this post for ideas!
@BotonesSalgado

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I love technology! Not just for the sake of it but because I believe (based on my own experience) that it can enhance the teaching and most important, the learning experience of my students.

I love blended learning and I think that digital resources can be crucial in retrieval practice, which is key for languages! If students are not continuously exposed to the language (our Sentence Builders), they will simple forget them! Similarly, digital tools help, along with cultural input, to make lessons memorable! These are just some of my favourite platforms!

TaskMagic- Textivate

I have written extensively how these can be used at all different stages of the teaching/learning process according to the MARS EARS model: especially in the Model/ Awareness and Structured Production stages. Please see previous posts to see how I introduce/drill language using these tools.

Quizlet and Memrise

These are essential in making students independent and help them learn our SBs! Most students are used to using technology on their mobiles and, although the Repeating, Covering, Testing traditional learning method still has a place for many students, creating courses online linked to my Sentence Builders have proved to be a huge success! I use Memrise for KS3, they love the competition points system, and Quizlet for KS4.

These are my Quizlet courses linked to my Sentence Builders (downdable from the Resources Page on this blog).

All courses are shared with students via Firefly, our school digital platform and via Onenote. Students complete the courses for homework (learning tasks) and they get tested on them in lessons, formally or as a whole lesson activity. I think it is vital we give students learning tasks as homework! Let's face it, if we do not explicitly say they have to learn the vocab, most learners would not do it!

I love this simple app! You can create roulette type of exercises for retrieval practice, again, based on our Sentence Builders. Its use is ideal in the first two stages of learning but it can also be used in the last stage (Spontaneous stage) where students create a sentence from a given prompt. This technique, can be used up to KS5, very successfully.

This is an example of a Wheel of names activity based on SB from the topic of Technology (Y10) The activity can be done orally (testing after the Quizlet learning task) or in written with mini whiteboards. Able classes can be asked to extend the sentences with something that makes sense or/and using a different tense! I can spend a whole lesson doing just Wheel of names activities! If you add and element of game (points system) you have a winner!

Most nicely, you can have two or even three wheels opened on your screen! which means you can practise very long sentences! It would look like this: (Wheel 1 is about Sentences with IR and wheel 2 about reasons why)

Fantastic app which I discovered thanks to Joe Dale. Similar use to Wheel of names but many more uses! Vincent Everett has many examples of how he uses the Randomizer tool with Sentence Builders, like the above example, without having to split your screen! Mike Elliott also has a great example of how to use the Randomizer in conjunction with Flipgrid! Below is Mike's video on how to do this to practise pronunciation with students on a given set of SBs. Once you create your activity, you just share the link with your students!

This must be my absolutely favourite app! which I have used for a few years now and has proved so handy during lock-down. It allows you to create many exercises based on the Sentence Builders that you are working on during lesson time.

It also develops independence in learners and just adds a fun element to a conventional worksheet! It helps to make your lessons Memorable!

I particularly like the Freetext input activities, which allows me to create translation activities but also listening and dictation! Great for modelling the language! Example below:

As in the case of Flippity, once you have your activity you just share it with your students! I do this via our class Onenote.

This is the coolest app I discovered during lock-down thanks to Carmen Quirós. It is a presentation app but very engaging and interactive! I love the templates it provides to create info-graphics, board games and escape rooms! You can get very creative with these Escape Rooms!

Marie Allirot and Julia Morris have shared many impressive escape rooms using Genially, check them here. However, using the templates as they are, is highly innovative and engaging.

I have created my own escape rooms, again, to practise in a different way those precious SBs so they are great for the structure production stage of learning. What I love about Genially, is that you can embed activities from LearningApps (or any other app) into your slides, making these activities part of the challenges to complete to escape the room! This is Retrieval Practice and Gamification on the use of SBs at their best!

Example of a Genially Escape Room for SBs practice

Example of a Genially Escape Room for oral spontaneous practice

Another cool use of Genially, is their board games templates! These are just ace and students love them to practise their Sentence Builders or discussing KS5 topics!

Example of a Genially Boardgame

Mentimeter allows you to create interactive presentations by letting your audience (your students) interact with you! I used it to test SBs too (2nd stage of learning) but also to get spontaneous responses from the students from a prompt. The teacher carries out the presentation with questions and students will get a code which they introduce in their own devices. Students answer those questions using their devices.

All answers will appear on the screen! Great for collaboration, sharing good answers among students and quick feedback for the teacher (how many mistakes are there?/ checking for understanding). This tool proved great during lock-down too! See example below:

This app is great to practise oral and writing collaborative work. I use it in the last stage of the learning process (spontaneous, extensive production) although it can also be used for Controlled Production. I love it because it is a collaborative space for students and they can learn from each other. It is eye-catching and again, it makes the learning more memorable than just using a classic worksheet!

Another use for a Padlet is to share videos that students make! and for collaboration with partner schools. This is our Erasmus journey, using Padlet, below. I also use Padlet for revision schedules for my Y11 students. They love it! This is an example.

This is a great app for oral practice. I create a group for each of my classes and then threads on whatever I want them to give a presentation on. I use this at the last stage of the learning cycle: Spontaneity and free output from students!

This is a Quiz app but with a twist! It allows you to create different quizzes in different formats. Also, as part of your quiz input you can include listening (up to 10 seconds) which it makes it perfect for testing our SBs from a listening point of view! My favourite Quiz: Open-ended! so I can include dictations, translations, oral questions, you name it! Again, something very similar to Flippity, LearninApss but on a different formal so it is not boring from the students point of view! The way I use it is not so much as a testing device but as Solo Practice mode. This way, I promote independence in my students.

Jane Basnett offers a fantastic overview on how Quizziz can be used for retrieval practice here.

Other digital resource I love with ready to use activities are:

The language gym extremely good for SBs practice and VERB TRAINER!!! the students love the competition element! This is Gianfranco Conti's app!

This is language great for listening videos! Again, my students can be come addicted to this.

Languagenut this offers listening, reading online activities

Lyric Gaps to practise languages with pop songs.

Exampro AQA past paper questions to be created on specific themes, papers etc..

Linguascope good for younger learners

To get a better flavour of these tools and others check my webinar below. As always, many thanks to TILT for conducting these free webinars!

For more TILT Webinar videos, which offer an amazing FREE CPD, check Joe Dale's Youtube channel here.

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How Digital Tools can support Sentence Builders!

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I love technology! Not just for the sake of it but because I believe (based on my own experience) that it can enhance the teaching and most important, the learning experience of my students. I love blended learning and I think that digital resources can be crucial in retrieval practice, which is key for languages!

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Repetition
Snake repetition round the classroom. Then get one snake to chase another. Or send one round in the opposite direction.
Video yourself doing phonics key words and actions so you don't have to project your voice.

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This is usually an activity that requires students to walk around chatting to each other, but in this blog post I have come up with a few ways of conducting it in a Covid-safe way.

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A great 'ice-breaker' activity to do in the first lesson with a new group is 'find someone who...' as it gets students talking to each other and gives them a focused purpose rather than just doing an open-ended 'tell us a bit about yourself' in a room full of people they don't know very well.

In normal times, it's a very easy activity to do, in that you print off a sheet for each student and they walk around the room chatting to each other, finding someone who can do each of the things in the grid. The idea is to put a different name in each box. However, in September 2020, when the situation seems to be different in every school and we're not quite sure how it will all work as schools go back to 'the new normal' after the Covid-19 lockdown, it might not be so easy. Here are my ideas of how to do this activity in different situations:

If you are not allowed to print off sheets and hand them out, project the sheet on to the whiteboard and either do the activity as explained above (walking around chatting about each box and they write names in their exercise book with a bit of extra info) or as a whole-class activity (see below).

If children are not allowed to move around the room and talk to each other face to face, you can project the sheet on to the whiteboard and have a class discussion about each point in the grid. Go through the boxes one by one and pupils can put up their hands if they can do the thing in the box. For some, just pick one student to give the answer (e.g. who can say 'French' in French just has one answer!), but for others you can ask lots of pupils to contribute (e.g. who can name a river or mountain range in Spain) and talk about the answers. You could even project a map of the country to highlight the geographical features, or show a world map to show Francophone or Spanish-speaking countries (or a map of Europe for German-speaking ones).

If children are in small bubbles, they can do the activity as explained above (talking to each other and writing down names) but could be allowed to put the same person's name in more than one box, or you could reduce the number of boxes.

If they are allowed to work in pairs but not in bigger groups, they could use the grid to 'interview' each other about how much they know about the language and the countries where it is spoken. Then they can report some of their partner's answers back to the class.

If you're doing live online lessons, you could send the sheet in advance or display it on the screen during the lesson and ask each student in turn if they can fill any of the boxes.

If you are setting work for students that can't be in school, or are providing online learning (but not live lessons), you could use the grid as a kind of quiz. Pupils could find an answer for each box and then send them to the teacher. This could also be extended as a project in which pupils could research some elements from the boxes and find out more info (thank you to Joanna JS on Facebook for this idea!).

I hope these ideas fit with the Covid regulations in your school, but if they don't, let me know and I'll try and come up with another way of doing this activity!

Here are the sheets:

I'd say they're ideal for new Year 7 classes, but could be used with any new class as a way of helping them get to know each other.

As always, let me know what you think on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

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Getting to know you - "Find someone who..." - Kate Languages

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A great 'ice-breaker' activity to do in the first lesson with a new group is 'find someone who...' as it gets students talking to each other and gives them a focused purpose rather than just doing an open-ended 'tell us a bit about yourself' in a room full of people they don't know very well.

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MFL activities, games & ideas for 'the New Normal'

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MFL activities, games & ideas for 'the New Normal'

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Here is a PowerPoint with a  range of ideas, templates and technological tools that you can use within 'the New Normal'. Hopefully it saves everyone planning time!

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MFL activities, games & ideas in the New Normal- Booklet- Templates- Cuadernillo nueva normalidad

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Activities and ideas for the language classroom within the 'new normal'. A very useful PowerPoint designed for MFL teachers that includes a range of activi...

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All students write down two words in the TL (can be as basic as they like) and put into an envelope (they mustn't show each other). Shuffle the envelope and split the class into two teams (this can work with small groups but you would need at least two in a team).

Round 1: A student picks a word out of the envelope and has to explain it in ENGLISH to the rest of their team (without saying the word in the TL or translation). The rest of their team must guess the word in German! I would set a timer of about 20-30 seconds here. If they guess the word in the time, they get a point for their team but if not, it can be passed on to the other group who can guess and steal the point. Don't put the word back in the envelope! A student on the other team then picks a word and you repeat until all words are out of the envelope and all students have had two goes. Put all the words back into the envelope.

Round 2: As above but this time they must explain in the TL (more difficult as they haven't spoken the language a lot recently. However, because they have already come across the words in English, this helps them work it out!)

Round 3: Pick a word but this time ACT IT OUT. This is where it gets funny and students really start to lose their inhibitions. Plus it can go quite quickly as students have already seen the words twice so should remember them quickly.

Depending on how many students (and thus words) we have, I sometimes stop the charades bit after one go each as obviously this bit is more about breaking the ice than learning any of the language.