Living Memory (Listening, All levels)
Living Memory!
Hegedűs Fanni
Horváth Szana Dorina
Part 1: The Game
I designed this game specifically for my 7th-grade students, with whom I spend my (German) teaching practice. The game is a normal memory game however the twist in the game is that the “cards” are the students. This game helps students learn (German) words or phrases accurately and playfully. Since the game is not language-specific it can also be used during an English class. HFLevel & Learning Outcomes
Level: Beginner (not only for beginners it can be played with students at higher levels, however I planned this game for a beginner class) This game helps students practice vocabulary they are already familiar with, however, you can use the game to teach new words or expressions. During the game, the listening skills are also developing, as the student(s) have to pay attention to each other to find the correct pairs. There are so many different ways to play this game. We can even use pairs of opposites or synonyms as “cards”. This game develops students’ vocabulary as well as positively affects the development of listening comprehension.
Materials Needed
word pairs (see Appendix)
human 'cards'
Object of Game
To find the pairs
Rules of Play
The class or the teacher should pick one or two students depending on the class size who should leave the classroom while the teacher tells the other students their words.
Every student is given either a word or its meaning
The task of the players is to find the pairs. The game works just like a traditional memory game.
Each round begins with all the "cards" standing up. The contestant calls on two students who tell their word or definition.
When the player discovers a match, the matching 'cards' sit down.
Scorekeeping
Whoever finds the most pairs wins the game.
Part 2: Reflection
I saw this types of games or really similar ones to my game during my classroom observations. In my opinion the kids enjoyed playing this game so that’s the reason I made this game for my 7th grade students. As I mentioned earlier we were learning about jobs and occupations in the unit I was teaching so the word pairs I chose for the game were strongly connected to that topic. The students were already familiar with almost all of the occupations and the descriptions, so I used this as an opportunity to practice the ones they already knew and learn those that were new to them. Luckily my class was really cooperative during my whole teaching period so they were happy and open to trying and playing new games. The game didn’t require a lot of preparation so we could spend more time with playing. We selected one person who left the classroom he/she was the one who had to find the pairs. Since my class was relatively small we only selected one student for each game. While one student was waiting outside I gave each of the other students either an occupation or its description. When we played the game for the first time I didn’t think of noting the words that I already gave to them so I was a little confused because I didn’t know if everyone received a word. But luckily they were really helpful with solving this small problem. For the second and third play I managed to find a solution to that. All of the students were standing while I was giving them their words and they sat down when they received it. In my opinion this was a good solution to the problem. In my opinion the kids enjoyed playing this game, and were also helping each other. I think that this game is a great way to learn and practice words or phrases in a foreign language, moreover it also develops the students listening skills since they have to pay attention to the others in order to find the word pairs. In my opinion the only disadvantage of the game is that only maximum 2 students can play it however this can be also solved by playing multiple rounds. HF
This game is really simple and no preparation is needed to play this game, maybe a list of the words that you want to play the game with. I’ve tried this game with both 4th grade (8-9 year old) and 8th grade (13-14 year old) students. This game proved to be effective as a tool to practice and drill new vocabulary, because students had to focus on their own words, while keeping the meaning in mind, and the gamers had to remember all the words they’ve heard during the game, while thinking about the meaning. Another benefit of this game was that students could listen to the pronunciation of the vocabulary items, while practicing saying it out loud.
With intermediate level students (8th grade) I used this game to practice two word compound nouns as well, where the students were nouns, and the gamers had to find compound nouns using the nouns (for example: Student A: Cheese, Student B: Cake, and the gamers had to find this match). This game can be used as a warm up activity at the beginning of the lesson, or a practice game during the learning process, or a revision game at the end.
It seemed to be a joyful experience for the students. They’ve enjoyed leaving the classroom and standing up. I’ve experienced that they can focus better if they get opportunities to move even just a little bit during class. The gamers enjoyed it as well, because it was a competition between them, and it gave them a motivation to pay attention, and do their best. Students also gain motivation from the sense of accomplishment if they find matches, not to mention if they find more matches in a row. Avoiding loss is also plays a great role in this game, since gamers can only gain the points if they know the meaning. Gamers had to work hard to find a match, and they don’t want to lose the point because they don’t know the meaning. --HSD
Part 3 Appendix
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