Using mini whiteboards in the MFL classroom - Flipbook - Page 4
14
Chain Words
This activity is to help students understand the syntactical relationship between the
constituent parts of a sentence in a foreign language that is highly inected for
number, gender or case. Write out your sentence on a number of boards where one
word is written on each board. The words should be written in the most simple
form found in the dictionary. Give the boards out randomly to students who then
come to the front of the room. Students rstly have to rearrange themselves so that
the parts are in order. Then a student facilitator, with the help of the class, has to
make changes to the sentence so that it is grammatically correct. This might involve
conjugating a verb, making an adjective agree, putting a noun into the correct case.
15
Peer and Formative
Assessment of
writing
Students produce a piece of writing spontaneously on a whiteboard. The teacher or
peer than underlines the mistakes but does not correct them. Students then try to
correct their mistakes. Other adjustments can be recommended as well including
where further details could be added. Once this is correct, students can then copy
their best version in their books.
16
If this is the
question, what is
the answer
Write a word or phrase on the board. Students should then write on their whiteboard
a question to which the word or phrase on the board is the answer. This can be in
the target language or in the mother tongue. The rationale behind this activity is to
enable students to demonstrate their breadth of knowledge of a topic.
17
Drafting Work
Whiteboards are great for getting students to draft their work before writing it up in
their copy book. This can be further accompanied by the teacher circulating around
the room with a different colour pen underlining errors or suggesting areas for
improvement, which students can then work on before copying it into their book.
18
True or False,
Multiple Choice,
Higher or Lower
Prepare a number of questions about a topic that are of the type true or false,
multiple choice etc. Pose these questions to students giving them time to write
down an answer. When students have written their answer they hold up their board.
This will give you instant feedback as to how they are progressing with a topic.
Sentence relay
Write out 6 or seven sentences in TL. The class are split in to teams of 2, 3 or 4.
One player comes to the front from each team and can see sentence 1. They have
to get back to their team and tell them what the sentence says. The person running
is not allowed to write it down. When they think they have it, they hold up
whiteboard for teacher to correct. When it is correct (Spelling, capital letters etc
much all be correct), another runner can come up and see sentence 2. The rst
team to have completed all of the sentences accurately wins.
Suggest a sentence
Write a keyword on the board e.g. soeur. Students then must write a sentence on
their mini whiteboard that contains this word. This is a great technique to get
students applying previously acquired knowledge to new knowledge and thus
creating stronger cross topic links through language.
Listening Bingo
Before doing a listening activity, give students the topic or questions. Ask students to
brainstorm vocabulary that they might expect to hear in the activity. Students then
listen and tick off the words as they hear them. This is a fantastic activity to
introduce students to a difficult piece of listening and to get them listening actively
before they attempt the activity proper.
19
20
21
