Ping-Pong Ball Launcher
This is fun for drilling, for eliciting sentences, and also just for a quick brain break. To make a cup that shoots a ping-pong ball, cut the bottom out with a blade, put some tape over it if the edges are sharp. Then cut the round bottom off of a balloon, and tie the spout.
The next step is to stretch the balloon over the end of the cup. Most models I've found online have the balloon stretched over the wide end, to shoot the ball out the narrow end. However, I haven't been able to get mine to attach that way, because of the size of the cup and the balloons I've been using, I suppose. Sometimes I'll wrap a rubber band around the balloon for extra support. It's important to find cups that are thick enough and that won't crack or bend too much under pressure. The ones I end up finding in São José are rather flimsy, but I've found that even a cracked one still shoots well, and doubling them up is also an option. There are probably other solutions for the body that I haven't thought of--it doesn't have to be a cup.
To shoot the ball, simply hold the cup with one hand and pull down on the tied end, and potential energy will do the rest!
So how can these help teach English? Here are a few ideas:
Set up some targets, each labeled with vocabulary words or structures you want learners to practice. Separate the class into teams, and have students take turns coming up to a designated starting spot to try and shoot down one or more of the targets. To earn points for the team, they have to use those words or structures in a sentence. In this particular lesson, we used some adverbs of attitude that were part of a writing lesson. Getting students to do something active with the target language before sitting down to write can make a huge difference. It did in this case.
Another way to use these launchers is to play a game like tennis or ping-pong. This will require a bit more space, and, keep in mind, there will be a ball bouncing everywhere--it could get wild! Separate students into two teams, make a dividing line in the center, perhaps with floor tiles, and have one team launch the ball to the other side. The other team tries to catch it with their cups, but it can touch the ground only once. It's a good idea to designate "out of bounds" zones, including the ceiling, and score like in tennis or ping-pong. If a member of the other team catches the ball in the cup without it hitting the floor, it counts for two points. If it hits the floor one time, it counts as one point. But points only count if students do something with the target language. This can be answering a question that the person who launched the ball asked, or naming a word in a category suggested by the person who launched the ball. (This is one advantage in wrapping the balloon around the narrow end of the cups, as it's easier to catch with the wider end.) I always allow teammates to help each other, as needed, so that students with don't feel called out on the spot.
It's important to keep things connected to what students are studying. If it's toys or sports, for example, have players name a vocabulary term say which of the terms they like or don't like. If there's a particular structure they are working on, such as yes/no questions, or affirmatives and negatives, or past versus present, make this an initiate and response game, the team that launches initiating, and the team that catches responding, switching each time.
For example, team one, launching the ball: Do you have a dog?
Whoever catches it on team two: Yes, I do. Do you have a cat?
Or:
The launching team: I like pizza.
The responding team: I don't like pizza.
This game is great for drilling, when there is specific language that students need to produce orally. It could also be used as a freer practice, though, especially when there are more open-ended questions and answers. I find that for a conversation practice at the end of a lesson, students sometimes need a little extra motivation and guidance, and gamifying this part is sometimes just what they need.
Balance Toys
This is based on a model of an old toy that is a bird standing on its beak with its wings facing downward, providing equal weight for the bird to balance on the tip of the beak. I made a quick version, without the bird design, by wrapping masking tape around some tongue depressors, including a toothpick at the bottom center, as it needs a pointy edge to balance on. For weight, a clothespin or two clipped on each side does the trick. I also attached some toothpicks to the sides, with the response questions, "Yes, I do," and "No, I don't."
The toy can be balanced on a the tip of a pencil eraser, and the pencil stuck into a bit of play dough to stand on the desk. It will wobble back and forth, but if the weight is even, it will balance. To play, one student asks a question, and the other says their answer and places it, in the form of a bead, on a toothpick on the appropriate side. The idea is that two students have to work to balance the toy by asking questions to get an equal balance of yes's and no's. This gives them a chance to practice empathy, putting themselves in the other's shoes and predicting their answer. So many games are about competition and winners, but why can't a game be about solving a challenge together?
Maker Pictionary
This game requires almost no preparation, and can be done with whatever items you have on hand. I first started playing this with string, thinking of games like Cranium where players mold things out of clay to get teammates to guess a word, and also thinking of the different ways I experimented drawing lines in art school. I liked how students had to look at things differently as they manipulated the string into objects, usually in the form of a 2-D drawing. Once, when no string was available, I grabbed what was there--mostly paper clips, binder clips, and colored rubber bands, and I actually liked the result much better--loose parts are powerful!
The idea is to have students choose a word--it can be from recently-learned vocabulary, or let them get a word from this online generator, which is also an app. They then make the class (or their team, if playing in teams) guess the word using whatever items are available, assembling them quickly and adjusting them as needed. I usually have the rule of no speaking, but they can make movements with the items they make. This allows students to explore creativity and develop different skills in communication.
Here are a few pictures from a colleague's high school fine arts class in Belo Horizonte. Art classes are not common in Brazil, especially for older kids, and these kids thought the game would be really difficult, but were surprised at the ways they found to communicate creatively.
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| Photo by K.C. Santos |
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| Photo by K. C. Santos |
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| Photo by K. C. Santos |
Here's a picture from maker pictionary done with a private student. It was a warm-up to start class, but it also served to lead in to a writing lesson. We had been learning about the five senses, and I challenged her to make something that involved one or more of the senses, related to summer. You can probably guess hers--ice cream. Mine was a little more unusual, but she guessed it--a tree, and then I explained that it was an ipê tree, which often has yellow blossoms in the summer. When I see them moving, that means that there is a cool breeze coming my way. As a teacher, I always have to be ready to model language and also guide students to think more deeply (not that there was anything wrong with an ice cream cone--it was perfect for the game!) We did a few more rounds before transitioning to the writing lesson, which was to write about your summer, describing things you enjoy involving the senses.
Games never fail to change the dynamic and spark motivation, and they encourage students to try out new skills, often letting learners who struggle in other areas find their place to shine, all while using language and building essential skills. These are just a few games with a DIY element that I have tried and liked. What are some of your favorite games? Have you ever made your own game, or hacked a pre-existing game to make it something else? How would you adjust these games, or others, for your context? Share your thoughts and keep tinkering! We may say DIY--do it yourself, but so many things work better when we do them together!
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