A couple of people have asked me recently about using Jenga as a learning resource, and because I have an impossible amount of marking to do tonight, what better way to sidetrack than to write my blog!
The last post about Jenga was on my Posterous (RIP) blog, so unavailable. And as it is, I have since developed and increased the usage of the resource.
Primarily for me, Jenga is a great resource for encouraging spontaneous speech, for encouraging team work and reinforcing vocab.
How to start?
Option 1:
- Label all the bricks 1-6 (If you have more than one set, mark all the bricks in each pack with a colour, so that if bricks go astray, you know where they belong!)
- Consider 6 questions you want the students to spend time working on, orally, so that each time they take a brick out of the tower, they have to respond to that question in as much detail as possible. This is very good CA preparation.
- The aim for the students should be to give more information every time they answer the same question. Because I only have 8 in that group I let them choose who they played with.
- Establish the ground rules from the start - wait for the person to give their answer before playing on. The boys want to destroy the tower but not lose, so they just ignore the one giving the answer
- Consider the groupings. 2-3 students, and experiment with same and mixed ability
Option 2:
- Label the bricks 1-48
- Type up a grid of 48 questions and corresponding answers
- Each time a brick is removed, they have to translate/answer the phrase/question that corresponds to that number on the sheet.
- Consider having a quizmaster/scorer for this. You can also have a Group Talk score sheet, as I have mentioned before.
Lots of varieties - feel free to share your version!
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