Captur Paddles - Board Work Activities

Thirteen or thirty?

Bill Pellowe — Tue, 14 Mar 2017 11:46:38 +0000

It's usually pretty difficult for my Japanese students to make the distinction between "thirteen" and "thirty", even at the lower intermediate level. Often, when they say a number like 16, it sounds like "sixty", and when you repeat the number in English to confirm it ("Did you say sixty?"), they say "yes, 16." This page talks about using Captur Paddles with words that sound similar.

The problem is more a matter of incorrect stress patterns than actual pronunciation problems. Even after practicing in class, many sound better with the 'teen numbers, but still put too much final stress on thirty, forty, etc.

Traditional remedy

The traditional approach seems to work, at least in the short-term, and it gives them a strategy for the future. It starts with writing the words on the board and underlining or circling the stressed syllable. Have the students repeat after you.

16: sixteen
60: sixty

However, as mentioned above, many students will still place too much stress on the final syllable of 60. They'll say something akin to a cross between "sixteen" and "sixty". I demonstrate how to really take it down a notch by saying the first syllable loudly, and whispering the second one. I write it on the board as a very large 6 and a small "t" or "d".

Letting them try it out

Here's an activity that puts students together in pairs. One of them produces the number (16 or 60) and the other uses the Captur paddles to indicate which one was said.

Have the students face each other, if possible. Tell them that the student on the right is "A" and the student on the left is "B". Draw a table like this on the board:


Student A, 3 times:	13	30
Student B, 3 times:	14	40
Student A, 3 times:	15	50
Student B, 3 times:	16	60
Student A, 3 times:	17	70
Student B, 3 times:	18	80
Student A, 3 times:	19	90
Student B, 3 times:	19	90

So, to start, student "A" chooses either 13 or 30, and says it to student "B". Student "B" uses her Captur paddle to indicate which number she thinks that "A" has said. The students do this a total of 3 times. Then, they move on to the next row, switching roles.

Embed the numbers

Isolated numbers are generally easier than numbers that are embedded into a sentence. This is true for both the speaker and the listener. A variation on the above exercise is to have the student put the numbers in context. You could write some example sentences on the board, or you could tell the students to come up with their own sentences. For example:

Mary turned 13 last month.
Joe turned 30 yesterday.
I have 13 cousins.

Listening to the teacher

Next, go through some listening activities with the students. They listen to you as you either say the numbers in isolation or within a sentence, and all of the students use their Captur paddles to show which number they heard.

Type of Activity:

Quizzes

Skills:

Listening

Pronunciation Activities

Materials:

Board Work Activities

You want to cook me?! Ditransitive Verbs

Bill Pellowe — Tue, 14 Mar 2017 05:53:24 +0000

Take the following two sentences as an example:

I'll cook you dinner.
I'll cook dinner for you.

They have the same meaning, but students who process slowly from left to right could read the first one as, "I'll cook you." They may parse the meaning as, "I'll cook you for dinner"; obviously this would confuse them.

In "I'll cook you dinner", both "dinner" and "you" are objects. In a ditransitive verb sentence, the indirect object comes between the verb and the direct object. We can reword a ditransitive verb sentence by switching the order of the objects and inserting "to" or "for". We saw an example of "for" above; here's one with "to":

I gave him a present.
I gave a present to him.

In this article, you'll see several ideas for using Captur to go over these verbs with your students. Choose one or two of these alternatives for your class. But please don't get the idea that the entire class period should be devoted to this type of drill activity! These activities should be short, and they should be followed up with opportunities for students to use these words in a more communicative context.

Activity for Teaching Ditransitive Verbs

This activity asks students whether or not the sentence could be reworded, as shown on the board:

can reword (I _____ for / to you)

cannot reword

If you don't use the Captur board magnets, you can write A: for the first example and B: for the second. With that on the board, the activity would go like this:

Teacher: I'll show you the city.

Students:

Teacher: Right. I'll show you the city. I'll show the city to you. Next. He poured me a drink.

Students:

Teacher: Right. He poured me a drink. He poured a drink for me. Next. I ate my mother's cookies.

Students:

Teacher: Right. That's not one of these verbs. I ate my mother's cookies. Next. ...

Activity to Teach Prepositions

You can also ask students whether the reworded sentence would contain "to" or "for."

On the board:

I _____ for you

I _____ to you

So, it would go like this:

Teacher: I'll give you a present.

Students:

Teacher: Right, "to". I'll give you a present. I'll give a present to you. Next. I'll buy you a present.

Students:

Teacher: Right, "for". I'll buy you a present. I'll buy a present for you.

Continue. Option: have students say the alternative sentence:

Teacher: I'll give you a present.

Students:

Teacher: Right, "to". I'll give you a present. Change that.

Students: I'll give a present to you.

Teacher: Right. I'll give a present to you. Next. I'll buy you a present.

Students:

Teacher: Right, "for". I'll buy you a present. I'll buy a present for you.

Another Activity: What Wasn't Said

Some verbs can be used both ditransitively and transitively. This can be made into a listening activity. On the board:

I _____ for / to you

I _____. (maybe for / to someone, but I don't know who)

So, it would go like this:

Teacher: I read the children a book.

Students:

Teacher: Right. I read the children a book. I read the book to the children. Next. I told a story.

Students:

Teacher: Right. I told a story. I told a story to someone, but we don't know who. Who did I tell the story to? We don't know. Next. I cooked dinner.

Students:

Teacher: Right. I cooked dinner. Who did I cook for? We don't know. Maybe I cooked dinner for myself. Maybe I cooked dinner for someone else.

Alternative Activity: Ask For More Information

An alternative to this is to leave out either the direct or indirect objects, and have students listen for the missing information. In other words, what information is missing?

Who? (To / For whom?)

What?

So, it would go like this:

Teacher: I asked a question.

Students:

Teacher: Right. Who did I ask? We don't know. OK, next. I told John.

Students:

Teacher: Right. What did I ask him? We don't know.

This could be followed up with oral responses from the students:

Teacher: I sent a letter.

Students:

Teacher: Right. Ask me.

Students: Who did you send the letter to?

Of course, if you're teaching strict / traditional grammar, your board will say "To / For whom" and the students will ask, "To whom did you send the letter?"

What Are Some Common Ditransitive Verbs?

ask
buy
cook
give
offer
send
show
tell

Others include assign, bet, bring, cost, do, feed, find, get, lend, owe, pass, pay, play (e.g., She played him a song), promise, serve (e.g., He served us dinner), teach, throw, wish, write.

Type of Activity:

Quizzes

Skills:

Vocabulary Activities

Materials:

Board Work Activities

Find The Lie

Bill Pellowe — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 16:10:24 +0000

Each student should prepare two (2) true sentences about themselves, and one (1) false sentence about themselves. It's up to the other students to vote on which sentence was the false one.

I have a dog.

I can cook well.

I've been to Kyoto.

The other students can have a few minutes to ask the student some questions in an attempt to find out which of the three statements is false:

"What's your dog's name?"
"What's your favorite meal to cook?"
"When did you go to Kyoto?"

Then, everyone in the group uses their Captur paddles to say which statement is probably the one that's not true.

Make it four!

You could, of course, have students prepare four sentences instead of three. In my experience, with Japanese university students, three just seems to work better.

Not Too Obvious, Please!

The students at my university who are on the baseball team tend to wear their baseball jackets to class. Invariably, one of their sentences will be about baseball. I tell them that their sentences about baseball are too obiously true, since they are wearing their baseball jacket, and their teammates are also in the class.

Whole Class, or Small Groups?

The size of the groups are up to you. In larger classes, it's probably better to split the class up into smaller groups.

Type of Activity:

Surveys

Skills:

Discussion Activities

Materials:

Board Work Activities

Speculation: I think that's true about you

Bill Pellowe — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 16:06:12 +0000

On the board, have two options:

I think this is probably true about the teacher.

I think this is probably false about the teacher.

Prepare some sentences about yourself. Alternatively, you could tell short stories about yourself. Include some that are false.

My hobby is bungee jumping.

I play guitar.

I have a twin brother.

When I was a child, I was on a TV show on the Disney Channel.

Let Students Discuss Before Answering

Instead of having students answer immediately, you can give them a couple of minutes for discussion in English before you ask to see their answers. They can discuss in pairs or in small groups. This allows them some real communication in the target language. Also, the "pressure" of showing an answer at the end of the short discussion provides some real motivation.

Dicussion, with Questions

If you're giving students a few minutes to discuss your story before answering, why not allow each pair/group to ask you one question as well?

Answer, Discuss, Answer Again

Another technique that is useful here is sometimes called, "Answer, Discuss, Answer Again."

Students give their own answers immediatly.
Then, while holding their paddles, they move to sit with one or two students who gave a different answer.
These pairs or small groups discuss the reasons for their answers. How do they know? Can they convince the other students that their answer is correct? Students are more often more motivated to discuss or defend a position if they have already given an answer.
After a few minutes, ask for students to answer again.

Students Turn: How Well Do You Know Me?

This works just like "Students Speculate" above, except that the students are in small groups of about six. Students take turns being the center of their group's attention. Each student reads out a few sentences about themselves, and the others in the group respond with their Captur tools (A for true, B for false).

Type of Activity:

Surveys

Skills:

Discussion Activities

Listening

Materials:

Board Work Activities