Word Chunk Game

I learned this activity at the 2013 Pedagogy Rusticatio, and it is one which i find students either love or hate (meaning, if their team wins, they love the game, but if their team loses, they hate it). The Word Chunk game is a combination of translating sentences aloud into English and trashketball. It is a truly competitive game and can get rather intense depending on your students.

The basics of the game: teams compete to be the first to translate aloud correctly Latin sentences into English. Bob Patrick gave me directions for this game (and Bob got them from Ben Slavic's blog), and with Bob's permission, I post them here.

Directions

This game is both low stress on the teacher (unless students having lots of fun in your classroom stresses you out!) AND while having fun an intense vehicle of language acquisition. It is used with material, a story for example that you have already been working on with students, so I think of this as a Friday kind of activity to review a story, especially with structures or vocabulary that has been challenging. First the set up; then the procedures:

• Students are divided into small groups (3-6 per group, depending on class size. 3 is better but in huge classes you may have to go with larger groups)
• Groups are in small circles around the edges of the room so that there is a long alley down the middle of the room.
• At one end of the room, a box is set up on a stool/desk that approximates a basket.
• 3-6 whiffle/tennis/jelly balls are lined up at a “free throw line” some 15 feet or so away from “the basket”. (how many balls depends on the size of your groups)
• Teacher pulls sentences directly from the story which you have been reading in class, but you can also edit them to focus on what you want to focus on.
• Create numbered slips of paper for each team TWICE, i.e., if there are 7 groups, then create 14 slips of paper, each numbered 1-7.
• Put these slips in a ziploc bag, bowl, hat, etc.
• Each group must come up with a name for itself, in Latin.
• The game proceeds like this. Teacher reads the first sentence slowly, aloud, and continues to do so, over and over again. Group members huddle together and decide, together, what the sentence means. 
• THEN, ask a team to pull a slip of paper from the bag. Announce the team name which corresponds to that number
• THEN (very important--this prevents one person from doing all the work) the teacher calls on someone in the group to give the answer. ONLY that person can answer, and if the group feeds the answer, they are disqualified. HOWEVER, if the person makes a mistake, group members may correct it. The teacher must distinguish between FEEDING the answer and offering CORRECTIONS. Corrections are allowed. Feeding the answer is not. Because the group never knows who the teacher will call on, they learn very quickly that everyone must know what the sentence means before they raise their hands
• Students may request that the Latin sentence be repeated again AS MANY TIMES as they want when called on to translate
• If the person called on gives the correct English meaning of the sentence, the team receives TWO points goes to the free-throw line and shoots for points. Team receives one additional point for every basket scored. Teacher or student keeps score.
• If the person does not give the correct English and the group cannot correct mistakes, the teacher pulls another slip of paper and the process is repeated.
• After a team has completed shooting baskets, do not return their number right away. That team still has one number in the bowl/bag, but everyone else still has two. Return that number after the next round. Complete the process for each round.

This is a listening and comprehension game. They are “re-reading” old material, which is always good. They are helping each other understand. Because you can focus on certain structures or words, and because you are reading slowly, clearly, over and over again, they are getting multiple repetitions of Latin that they otherwise would not have done on their own. Students swear by how helpful this game is. My problem is not overusing it. - Bob Patrick


Now back to me. Here are my personal observations about the game:

• This is a great CI activity due to the sheer number of repetitions said aloud, which is actually what you want.
• This is not a game to do right away if your students are not familiar with hearing Latin spoken aloud in a context, such as in a dictation or a story told aloud. Your students need to be somewhat familiar with the sounds of Latin.
• As the teacher, I myself will create the teams so that there are no “stacked” teams
• I myself create the sentences as part of a larger continuous story, but I will be sure to use vocabulary, language structures and familiar phrases which we have done in dictations, TPRS stories, readings, etc. ad nauseam so that it is 100% comprehensible for students. In other words, students are already familiar with hearing these words/forms aloud in Latin in a context.
• I do not make the sentences too long, because it is easy for students to get lost and to feel overwhelmed. You as the teacher do not want to raise anyone’s affective filter in this game. Sometimes, i will read a very short sentence on purpose to give everyone a fair chance.
• I personally love this activity, because I am amazed how it does further language acquisition in disguise of a game. I truly do not think that students realize just how much this activity helps them.

So give it a try - you’ll be surprised both by the results and the fun which you and your students will have.