Grass skirts revision race

This activity gets the students motivated with a competitive revision race.

Author
Nicola Crowley

Preparation

  • Make a worksheet with between 10 and 20 questions of what you want to revise. Multiple-choice, gap-fill (cloze) and short-answer questions are best. See an example worksheet.
  • Copy the worksheet on to different coloured paper; one colour per team of 3 or 4. If I don't have coloured paper I use different coloured markers and draw a line down the left side of the page.
  • Cut under each question from right to left leaving the left edge of the page uncut. When the students have completed their question correctly then you can tear off the next question. The result is what looks like a grass skirt!

Procedure

  • Tell the students that they are going to have a competition in teams and that they will be given one question that they must answer correctly before they get the next question and so on. The winning team is the team that answers all the questions correctly first.
  • Put the students into teams of 3 or 4.
  • Tear off the first question from each different coloured worksheet and place face down in front of each team. Tell the students to wait to turn over the question until you have given out all the questions and said "GO!"
  • Tell the students that they can start and when they have the answer to write it into the blank or beside the question (depending on the questions you have given them). It is a good idea to have the answers on hand so you can quickly tell the students whether it's correct or not.
  • I usually nominate one student per team to run up to me at the front of the class to get the next question. However, make sure that the students have a clear path free of bags etc. so they don't trip. If this is a worry then an alternative is to get the students to raise their hands when they have the correct answer.
  • If the answer is correct I tear off the next question from their team's worksheet and give it to them.
  • If the answer is incorrect I send the student back to their team to try again. If they don't get the answer the next time I might give them a hint or tell them the answer if they're behind the other teams.
  • After there has been a winning team I encourage the remaining teams to continue answering the questions for second and third places. I try to give enough time for all the teams to finish.
  • Then I review the questions that the students had difficulty with or didn't get to finish and take note of errors made to be reviewed in the next class.

Notes

  • In classes with a large number of students choose a student to help and give them the answers or get her/him to do the activity before class and he/she can tell the students if the teams' answers are correct or not.
  • If the class is weak, or the worksheet is difficult, give the students a word bank of possible answers on the board.
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