The main vision of the FSL curriculum is for students to “communicate and interact with growing confidence in French”. We know that in order for students to successfully learn a second language they need to use it. Second language teachers are always looking for new and engaging ways to get students communicating in the target language in order to purposefully practice the language in meaningful and purposeful situations.
Some of the best activities are ones that can not only be used to scaffold the language for students but then can be transferred to a variety of different learning contexts to provide these meaningful guided opportunities. Once students feel confident with their abilities and no longer need further practice, they can apply this newly acquired language to authentic situations.
Talking JENGA is one of those types of activities. It can be used as a way to give students a chance to practice necessary words and expressions, it can be used to create opportunities for students to ask and answer questions spontaneously in small groups, it can be used to as a prompt for conversation.
What do we need:
• Purchase one or several Jenga sets. Get them at garage sales, or pick up the smaller (more portable versions) at the dollar store.
• Number the blocks individually.
• Create a Talking JENGA Card to support the learning context of your choice. You can access a blank template here.
How to Play
The activity is best played in small groups to promote increased talk time during class. It is recommended 2-4 students per group. Students play JENGA as they regularly would, however, every time they pull a block, they must look at what number is drawn. From there, they will look to the provided Talking JENGA Card for the question they must ask their group members. Each player in the group must answer the question before the player puts the block on top of the tower. Then, the next player takes their turn and the process repeats.
This type of activity works great in small groups if you have enough JENGA sets for the whole class, or can be used for centres. It is a great activity to provide students at the beginning of class to get their Minds On in French. It can also be used as a challenge for those who finish their work early.
It is recommended to spend 5-10 minutes max on this type of activity, to maintain student interest and participation.
What do Talking JENGA Cards look like?
Practicing Necessary Vocabulary, Words or Expressions
The JENGA card could have each number linked to different images of the words and expressions that students are working towards internalizing. See the example here of colours and animals.
The numbers that could be linked to ‘picture sentences’. Essentially, images that you want the students to talk about in complete sentences with their group using focused language structures. For example, here students are learning to describe things. We are starting very basic with just colours and animals. The group could come up with the two sentences to the left. See the Describing Animals Set here.
If students are working on asking and answering questions more spontaneously, the numbers could be linked to a variety of questions related to the learning context. For example, if we are working towards students being able to talk about their families, a set like this one could be used.
A question set could be created based on an image that the group also has access to. For example, if they have a map in front of them like the one here and the question set could look like this.
The opportunities for this type of activity are endless. It is also great because the activities can be provided in a way that many entry points are possible. The activity can also be accommodated by providing students with a question set with sentence starters for prompts.
What other ways have you used this activity with your students? How would you adapt this to your students? Have you used this before? Tell us about how in the comments below.
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