40 SECONDS TALKS

This funny and motivating CONSOLIDATION activity, following the Ministry

classification, has been designed for my SECOND GRADE STUDENTS to put into
practice while speaking the vocabulary and the grammar structures learned in class so
far (future simple tense, comparatives, etc)
To do this 45 minute activity we need:
a boardgame, which is going to be projected on the whiteboard,
5 stickers, which are going to be used as counters,
a roller dice app and
a countdown app or device
The procedure is as follows:
Students are grouped in FIVES and from each group one student, usually the
most proficient one is chosen as the helper
In turns, each group rolls the dice and the helper moves the counter (different
coloured counters for each group) to the correct square. There is a question on the
square and all the members of the group have to speak up to 40 seconds giving their
opinion (each pupil has to talk for 10 seconds) ; if someone in the group has no idea
about what to say, he/she can choose the wild card just for once to be helped by the
helper who is in charge of giving some brand new ideas, or vocabulary; if they cannot
talk for the given time, they must move back three squares. The winner group will be
the one to reach the finish square. The prize will be to know beforehand the subject of
the composition for the next test.
The first time I did this activity, which belong to the Learning Cooperative
Strategies advocated by Kagan (1994),I gave each group a laminated boardgame and
they had to play in groups; the problem was that I couldn´t make sure that all students
were doing what they were asked for and for that reason, I decided to customize the
activity for my group. I also have taken into consideration Raquel who is very shy and
Fernando whose level is lower than the rest of his peers. For them, basically I designed
the idea of using wild cards since they were going to feel more secure if they had any
kind of help or assistance.