CK students practicing sentence speaking.

I know this is an area that some folks struggle with. What challenges do you face when trying to have students practice speaking sentences like, 'I'm wearing pants.' And for those who've had success, what types of activities have you used?

I'm struggling to think of any other activities that are 100% student to student based with TA and I just in an overseeing capacity other than splitting up into 2 groups and doing a FC/table based game. How, with sentences like the one mentioned above, can we get all students activated in smaller groups? I'm wary about using too much translation week on week in doing RPGs

Here are a few suggestions:
Rotation Drill: cards provide the target language and are placed on the floor in a line. Students are placed facing each other with one card between them. So you have two lines of students with a line of cards between them. ALL students Q&A with each other AT THE SAME TIME based on the card at their feet. IE: What's he wearing? He's wearing pants. After one round, students 'rotate' down and around the line. So they move to another card and pair with a new student. This can be done with two groups for CK students. Full participation and full student talk time. And it can be done quickly - once students get the hang of it. You could also use different cards to cue different Q&A's. Ie: If it's a strawberry, students should ask, 'Do you like strawberries?' If it's a card of Rodney, students should ask, 'What's he wearing?'

Sentence Pyramids:
This is tricky at first**
Using the 'sentence' CP/CK cards, you make a pyramid on the table out of the cards. The goal is to turn a card over one the bottom row of the pyramid and work your way up to the top, making a sentence along the way. One student can turn a card over and the other students can choral produce the language. The catch is, if a student turns over the pro-noun 'he' on the first row, the next row turnover should be a word that can 'follow' for a sentence which makes sense. Ie: if the second turnover is 'she,' the students have to begin again at the bottom of the pyramid.
So they'd want to turn over something like, he - eat - banana. If they do so, they can start a 'new' sentence until the turn the final card over at the top of the pyramid. So long as the sentence is making sense, even if the top card does not 'finish' the sentence, the students have 'defeated' the pyramid.
If you did this in two groups, you could have the groups compete to see who can 'defeat' the pyramid first.
Full participation, ALL students speaking and practicing sentences, also learning about sentence structure and word order.

These two sound awesome!

I'm always wary of doing team games in CK (CLs seem to thrive on it!) so I'll definitely try out these two. Especially the FC train-game thing, that sounds great even for the lower levels.
Ta muchly, "admin."

Team games can be successful in CK, but I would stay away from class long team scoring systems. Prolonging the competitiveness for the whole class can become stressful and emotional for this age of student. But for a short 5 minute segment, even if there were a few every class, where teams are changing and having fun is the object, a team vs. team activity should be just fine.

I also like 'battleship' or 'face off.'

Two teams sit at tables and are given a secret card/cue/vocab etc. The teams take turns trying to figure out what the other team has. IE: Team A has the pants card, and Team B - with help from a TA or FT - CHORAL produces a sentence like, 'You are wearing shoes.' To which Team A would reply, 'No, sorry!' It goes back and forth until one team guesses correctly.
Full participation, a bit of competition, lots of student talk time, and even a 'task' base to the activity - language is a function of accomplishing the task.

I've been trying to do more pair work in my CK classes recently. Just really simple stuff that I can expect them to do on their own. As long as you set it up clearly, the kids are able to do a pretty good job. And instead of the teacher being the center of attention and leading the class, the Teacher and TA become more like a monitor to make sure the kids are doing a good job.

Yesterday I was practicing prepositions with a CK02. I set up a chair, a box, and a table at the front of the room. Then I had all the kids pair up and hold their partner by the hand. The purpose of hand-holding is twofold.
1. They can't run all over the place.
2. It's adorable.
I gave each pair a ball and the first student places the ball wherever they like and the other makes the sentence "It's under the chair." or whatever. Then the second student places the ball and the first makes the sentence. I told them to raise their hands when they were finished. The TA and I just walked around making sure they were doing a good job and helping the weaker kids.


Then today I was doing "Can I have a cola, please?" with a different CK02. After drilling the sentence I put a slide of a restaurant up and showed them a role play with the TA and me. I was the waiter and the TA was ordering a drink. I set up a couple tables for the kids and let them do it on their own. The TA stayed with one table and I stayed with the other.

Another CK and CP role play I've used for sentence speaking is playing "fruit stand". I set up a table with 1 chair with FC of fruits/vegetables on the table. 1 student plays the customer, the other plays the shop owner. The grammar is: "What do you want?" or "Can I have a _____?" I give the students a couple of kuai to purchase their fruit.

1. The first TL the shop owner asks customer: What do you want?
2. The second TL the customer asks the shop owner: Can I have a _____?

I've used this with higher level CK's using breakfast/lunch foods substituting is as "restaurant" instead of "fruit stand" and have printed money I give them to purchase their meals. They really seem to love participating this way too.

I think the scanned 'sentence' making cards are excellent resources for PPT's in CK classes.

You make sentences based on cards 'appearing' or 'flying' into the slide. For example:
slide 1: I eat bananas.
slide 2: You eat bananas.
slide 3: You like bananas.
slide 4: Do you like bananas?

Students are trained to produce a sentence chunk based on the visual cue of the card. The see the chunks strung together and make a sentence.

You can train them to produce sentences quickly as you move faster and faster through the slides.

This is also good because if the students buy the cards, they can practice making sentences at home.

An activity that my students enjoy is "The Wolf Game."

The game is relatively simple. All you do is set-up a small baby chair in one corner of the room. One student will hide behind the baby chair. Another student will ask a question. Instead of simply asking a question, the student asking the question must jump towards the baby chair for each word they say. (Kid Jumps) "Do" (Kid Jumps again) "You" (Kid Jumps Again) "Like" (Kid Jumps Again) "Tomatoes?" Knock on the baby chair. The kid behind the baby chair pops up & says "Yes, I do." The kid behind the baby chair then chases the kids asking the question back to their seat. They must answer the question before chasing the kid back to their seat.

Sometimes I give students a FC if it is warranted. The student behind the chair will hide but hold a tomato FC. The kid asking the question will (Jump) "What" (Jump again) "Do" (Jump again)"You" (Jump Again) "Have?" Knock on the baby chair. The kid behind the baby chair pops up & says "I have a tomato."

You can also use this as a group activity. If so, the kids asking the questions must hold hands. I'll say 1-2-3 (They jump) "What". I'll say 1-2-3 (They jump) "Do"..........yada, yada. The kids behind the baby chairs will all have printouts of the same FC. They all answer & chase kids back to their seats.

Just don't put footsteps on the floor. I demonstrated once & slipped on the footstep right onto my hinder. Also, newer TA's will initially not always jump after every word when we demonstrate. I demonstrate first, then the TA does it; then students get involved. Once they get the hang of it, it's really fun.

“Run To Lines Game” – This game involves running back and forth with the entire class. The teacher sits at the end of the row of students in a little chair. The teacher then puts her hands on her lap and faces forward in order to signify silence. Then the teacher looks over to the row of students, slowly raises up one hand, drops it down quickly and says “Go!” All the students rush to the blue line (the line that is parallel to the whiteboard). The teacher then says a sentence in pieces, and students repeat chorally. “What can” (students repeat) “you do?” (students repeat). Then the teacher raises up his hand, drops it again and says “Go!” The kids and the teacher run back to sit in their chairs. Continue to lead the kids back and forth from their chairs to the line. Surprise them by saying “Go!” at unexpected times. You can lead them in speaking the language while they are sitting in the chairs or standing on the line. My students love this game.

“Percussion Game” – This game is based on the theme of the show, “STOMP." The show is about how you can make percussive sounds with basically anything. Bring tin cans, plastic cups, plastic boxes, a small tin with a 5 mao inside, spoons, and/or hard chopsticks to class. Set up the boxes and cups on a table like a drum set and demonstrate hitting them. At the end, shake the small tin with mao in it as a raucous conclusion to your song. To get students to say sentences, have all students say the question or sentence as choral repeat. Then call on one student, have the student stay the sentence, and then give him the drumsticks (chopsticks or spoons). Let them give the class a percussion show for 10 – 20 seconds. The kids love hitting the drums and shaking the small tin with mao in it. They will say anything to get the chance to do it.
Simple Variation: Have the kids crawl under the table, pop up on the other side, then grab the drumsticks and hit the drums. It’s hilarious and they love it.

“Relay Game” in 2 Key Steps:
Step 1) The teacher writes the question or sentence on the board horizontally, placing circles underneath each word. The students run up to the board, say the word and hit the circle with a a safe tool (spoon, chopstick, nerf baseball bat, etc). Then they run back to their seat, pass the tool to their classmate, who then runs up and says the next word in the sentence.
Variation on Step 1: Have them touch the word with their pointer finger, say the word, then dance back to their seat. Giving kids the opportunity to dance and do other physical moves (such as a kung fu kick or a bootie shake) in class is fun for everyone.

Variation for Step 1: Have them high step to the board (such as an exaggerated march). Any antics they can do on the way to and from the board enhances the game.
Step 2) Have one student run up to the board, tap each word with the spoon and say the entire sentence. Then they return to their seat, pass the tool to their classmate, who then runs up and does the same thing.

Remember, any antics on the way to and from the board makes the game really fun.
My students enjoy this game a lot.

“Dance, Freeze, and Say”
Play a song. Ask the TA to stop the song about every 20 seconds. For this game the teacher dances with the students, then everyone freezes when the music stops. Repeat the question or sentence in pieces, such as “It is” (students repeat) “a long” (students repeat) “green snake” (students repeat).

If you are practicing a question, a great trick is to direct it toward the TA. Start by saying “Hey, ( TA’s name )” (students repeat). The TA reacts surprised or shocked. Then practice the question as described above. If the question is “Who’s she?” or “Do you have a (noun),” be sure to post or project cards or digital images. That way, you can point to them as you are practicing the question, and the TA can respond to the question accurately.
This game is extremely fun for the kids, and of course they produce the language because they are having so much fun, they aren’t even thinking about being in a classroom.

“The Rhythmic Train”

Ryan taught me this game, and I’ve created a few variations of it. For CP and CK classes, put the kids in a line and make two fist pumps, while saying “Toot Toot” like a train whistle. Then lead the kids around the room, stop suddenly (using any kind of stopping hand gesture and saying “Stop!”), and then say the question or sentence in pieces. The kids repeat after you, just as described above. Remember to carry the cards with you in order to practice different vocabulary words.

Variations:
As you are moving around the room, do different things to keep the kids attention. Go very fast. Go very slowly. Sing different notes and end with “Hey! Hey!” Sing “Boo-Boo-Boo-Hey!” and kick your feet to the left and right (alternately) when you say “Hey! Hey!” The kids will try to mimic whatever you’re doing, start pleading for the antics that are most fun for them, and most importantly, repeat the target language after you whenever you stop the train.

“Poo Poo Bomb Grid Game”

I learned this game from TA Jack at Jiangdong. It’s brilliant.

Make a large grid on Microsoft Powerpoint that includes 12 separate boxes. All the boxes are numbered 1 - 12. Behind the boxes, import images of ice cream, various fruits, two bombs, and two piles of stinky poop. Surrounding the grid, import images of nouns from the target language. The teacher points to the nouns, which prompts them to say a sentence. If the topic is clothes, The kids can say “I’m wearing pants” when the teacher points to “pants.” If the question is “Do you have a ____ ,” use images of kites, cars, bicycles, pencils, books, etc. After the teacher points and the student says the sentence, they can choose a square from the grid. The kids are exicted to discover what is hidden behind each square.

Wow, thanks for this post Matt!!! Extremely appreciated!

my pleasure ) More to come....