The attached instructional material was used during the last class for both two sections. The goal was to review the materials covered in the semester by using a game called Jeopardy. There were 25 questions divided into five categories. In the first section, we only had two groups due to the small number of students. In the second section, we had four groups. The task was that each group would have a turn to select a question and answer the question, and get points for it. If they were not able to answer it in one minute, the question goes to the group that said bingo & raised their hands first.
In regard to the students' reactions, they were very excited to the point of that I ended up laughing so hard! For example, I had a rule that every group had a minute to respond to the question, then the group that said Bingo & raised their hands first would get to answer the question. However, in the section that I typically observe, a couple of students raised their hands during the entire session--and some would say "Bingo ... bingo... bingoooo" a number of times before the minute ended. I do not think that they were disrespecting each other--I think that they took it as joke or as a form or silly teasing. In the other section, students used their native language over English so the other group would not know anything. The majority of the students were either speakers of Arabic or speakers of Spanish. And the Spanish speakers used their mother tongue more than the Arabic speakers. I did not like the fact that they used their native language because there were two students (two Koreans) that were left out--one in each group. However, one of them did not seem to care, and the other is a graduate student who know most of the stuff covered. Although I did not like it, the justification for using a language other than English did make sense because they did not want the other group to take their idea after the minute was over. Next time, I will have them write the answer on a sheet of paper
In regard to the students' reactions, they were very excited to the point of that I ended up laughing so hard! For example, I had a rule that every group had a minute to respond to the question, then the group that said Bingo & raised their hands first would get to answer the question. However, in the section that I typically observe, a couple of students raised their hands during the entire session--and some would say "Bingo ... bingo... bingoooo" a number of times before the minute ended. I do not think that they were disrespecting each other--I think that they took it as joke or as a form or silly teasing. In the other section, students used their native language over English so the other group would not know anything. The majority of the students were either speakers of Arabic or speakers of Spanish. And the Spanish speakers used their mother tongue more than the Arabic speakers. I did not like the fact that they used their native language because there were two students (two Koreans) that were left out--one in each group. However, one of them did not seem to care, and the other is a graduate student who know most of the stuff covered. Although I did not like it, the justification for using a language other than English did make sense because they did not want the other group to take their idea after the minute was over. Next time, I will have them write the answer on a sheet of paper
jeopardy_game_end_of_semester_esl_15.ppt |