Our topic this semester has been the classroom environment, and so to tie up all the learning for the students, I have found this great scavenger hunt lesson plan!
This week's inspiration was from Ambard's article on "Six Activities for Generating Enthusiasm in the Foreign Language Classroom". I have taken an excerpt straight from website. Read below.
Scavenger HuntThis activity generates a lot of enthusiasm and encourages team work in the target language. The teacher selects approximately 25 different items to be used in the scavenger hunt. These items are cleverly placed throughout the classroom (teacher designates off-limit places such as desk drawers or private property) prior to class. The activity begins with a quick explanation of what is expected of the students. Then, the teacher hands each team (two or three students per team is ideal) a list of ten items to seek. However, each team receives a list that is slightly different from the other teams (this explains the need for 25 items).
- Focus: team work, conversation (speaking and listening), some writing
- Unit: classroom items, descriptive words, spatial (i.e. near the door or next to the table)
Initially, the students use dictionaries or other sources to determine what each item on the list. Then the fun really begins as teams seek to locate these items quickly. Located items are collected by the teams and brought to their home base (desks). The final phase involves writing a basic sentence (in the target language) using each item on the list (ten sentences in this case). These sentences should briefly describe the item or perhaps disclose where it was located (i.e. the pencil is yellow or the paper clip was near the blackboard). Again, only the target language is used throughout the activity.
They had to find the item within a 10 minute timeframe, and record themselves speaking basic sentences using the target language to state where the item is in pairs. For example, "Pena di atas meja." The pen is on top of the table.
This was a great conclusion to the unit, because it was very student directed, and I was able to stand back and watch ALL students complete this task successfully. I was given time to properly observe what the students are capable of achieving.
At the end of the lesson, students gathered on the mat and we shared a few videos on the projector. Although many of these videos were blurry and NOISY, it was a VERY valuable lesson to simply just watch others complete the task.