Revising? It Can Be Fun Too!

Let me start with one question today. Do you think revising is important? And now the second, biggest part of the question we English teachers adore: why/why not? Discuss.

Maybe you didn’t have anyone to discuss this with, but let’s not make a big deal out of it. What matters to me here is what you think, your personal opinion, whether you’re an expert teachers or have no teaching experience at all. For some teachers, revision isn’t an essential part of their everyday teaching practice. They might only look back at course contents for the sake of using up the last minutes of their final lesson(s) before exam day. Other teachers, however, do believe that revision is necessary, a rudimentary exercise that should be practiced at least once every one or two months (or at the end of each semester). For a few others the idea of revising only a couple of times falls short because they would like to revise every week or every day if you may. I mean, there’s no harm in doing so, but let’s face it: sometimes too much doesn’t equal too good. Consistency is key.

Whatever is your place in this, my point here is not to discuss whether teachers should revise or not or how much revision should be done. If you ask me, I normally revise around 5 times a school year, depending on the groups and their circumstances. But in this post, the how often I do it is not the key. Instead, I’ll focus on how I do, so that I can share a few of my ideas with you. 

 

CSI

I know, right? Some of you might be thinking of murder cases, cops and cheap hotel rooms. But no, this is not it. CSI here stands for Classroom Syntax Investigation, which is a cool name for an activity about spotting out mistakes. I’ve normally done this activity at the end of every two units in order to brush up on old (and new) grammar contents. I’ve tried different dynamics: in a group of four or five, one person is given the role of a language detective. Their job is to investigate their peers by paying careful attention to the language they use. Generally I ask the student in charge to note down errors or good uses of grammar and to report them to the group when the conversation dies down. Sometimes, it is worth discussing some of the “linguistic crimes” with the whole group. Another possibility is to have a few language detectives going around the room checking on everyone speaking rather than sitting down with a smaller group.

Quick note: I like to have language detectives investigate not only on the grammar but also on the register, the pronunciation, the vocabulary, you name it!

Catch ‘Em If You Can

This one here is great fun. No matter what age your students are, they’ll play and play and will enjoy themselves a lot. The activity is based on a board game which has been around for years. You can check it out here. The game can be either purchased (not very expensive) or you can make it yourself. All you need is some cardstock paper, scissors and some fly swatters.

What I do: have students in two or four groups (depends on number) and give one fly swatter per group. I usually make this into a competition so, for example, if I have four groups, I ask two students from different groups to come out at the board and stand by its sides. I have a doc with words and phrases that I show them once the two students are standing by the board. When computers or OHPs aren’t available, I’ll write down the words on the board. Next, I give out the instructions: students from the other groups have to call out either a synonym, an antonym, a definition or a translation of one of the words/phrases. The aim is that the students standing by the board have to swat as many words/phrases as they can, so that each correct answer adds up to their final score.

I have done this to revise irregular verbs, prepositions and phonetic symbols. Also, I’ve used flip-flops instead of swatters. My experience? Students love it!

Grammar Auction

This activity is an old-time classic. I’ve known many teachers who use it in their classes in various different ways. Me, I love to do this activity either on the first day (to activate background knowledge and see how much students more or less know) or on the day before the exam, what I usually refer to as revision day.

Two important things here. Number one: design is vital! I try to change the layout every time I decide to bring this one into the classroom. I also do it because I might have to make a few changes to the sentences, so once I get started with modifications I always make sure the design looks fresh. Number two: this activity usually takes up a good deal of time, so make sure you allot students a decent amount of time to play the game.

So here’s how I do it: in groups of three or four (max.), I give one copy of the auction board per group and ask them to read the sentences and try to spot out all the mistakes they can find. I usually give them about 10-15 minutes for this. I walk around the room, monitoring and speaking to the groups, but I don’t normally help them with the answers. That would spoil the fun. 

 

Once the time is up, I begin by calling out one number or price and then read the sentence. Then, I start with the bids, encouraging groups to bid for the sentence and increasing the price. I think it’s important to pre-teach them some specific words for this game like “(to) bid”, “add up”, “total up”, “subtract” or “going, going, gone!”.

When the bids are up, I ask the group to read their new sentence with the corrections. If the sentence is correct, I give them the money they bid for. To make it more fun, I always have some fake money to give them, like plastic coins and counterfeit notes. Students love it!

Long story short: the idea is that the group with the most correct sentences (and with the most money) wins.

In my experience, I’ve come up with a lot of activities for revision. I also do more formal types of exercises to combine with fun games like those above. In my opinion, revision doesn’t have to be looked at in horror. It can be great fun with the right combination of elements, ideas and good (teaching) will.

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to leave a comment with your ideas!