Games: Energy and "Stickiness" for Learning

It's the time of year we all, students and teachers, need a little extra energy. For reviewing things like vocabulary or grammar, a game was just the prescription my classes needed. Participating in a discussion of The ELL Teacher’s Toolbox (for the second time! yes, repetition is important for learning!) reminded me of some games I'd been meaning to try. (See this blog post for the last strategy from the book I tried: using music.) So, here are 2 games that recently energized my middle school EFL and ELA classes. They were simple to prepare, took only 5-10 minutes to play, but the frisson of excitement was tangible. And that excitement not only makes class more fun, it also makes learning "stickier."

Game 1: From Strategy #19 Error Correction Strategies, a game called “Correct a Sentence.” I used this to prepare middle school EFL students for the TOEFL Jr. test. I created several lists of 9 sentences with frequently-made mistakes. (I found them online or culled them from recent writing assignments.) I put the students in pairs, gave each pair a copy of the sentences, and gave them 3 minutes to correct the sentences. Then the groups exchanged sentences and we checked the corrections. We acknowledged the team with the most sentences right for the day. No prizes, no running tally. But the students were energized, the conversations were productive, grammar was reviewed, and students felt more confident about the test.

Game 2: From Strategy #23 Learning Games for Reading and Writing, a game called “Nine Box Grid.” I used this to prepare middle school ELA students for a vocabulary quiz. I put 9 of the 10 words in a 9-box grid on a Google Doc, numbered the boxes 2-10, projected the grid on the whiteboard, and gave each pair of students a mini-whiteboard and a dry-erase marker. I rolled a pair of dice down the middle aisle. The pairs had to write a sentence on their mini-whiteboard using the word in the box with the number rolled. What if I rolled an 11 or a 12? Then they have to use two of the words in the sentence—but they can pick which two. Again, great energy, great conversations, and great learning about how to use the words. You can review a couple of words a day in 5 minutes. Students came in the next day so excited to get to do it again.

Mostly I believe that learning should be meaningful. Communication is an inherent drive for image bearers of the God who eternally exists in trinitarian community, who spoke creation into existence, and whose first divinely delegated task was naming the animals. Reading, listening, thinking, writing, and speaking are potential powers planted within humans for developing the potentials of creation, exploring the world and relationships we’ve been given, and creating joy and justice in those relationships and that world. I resist “add-on” games and activities that seem to admit that learning is inherently dull and needs to be livened up. 

On the other hand, as we learned about how God created our brains, we’ve discovered that practice is important for neural pathways and that the chemical reward of fun—a dopamine shot to the brain—primes its memory circuits to be especially “sticky.” (For more on the neuroscience of learning, read Upgrade Your Teaching: Understanding by Design Meets Neuroscience and Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning.) Games definitely have their place in that!

What games have you found useful for energizing learning and making it "sticky"?