Teaching in China

The basic idea of the activity is to get students to read something, remember it, and then verbally relay that information to a classmate. It’s easily adaptable to any level and/or material. I use this about once every two weeks.

Put students into teams of two or more (partners work best, but for larger groups you may need to make the teams bigger). Put all of the teams on one side of the classroom. Give them a document containing a list, essay, timetable, or anything else that has to do with what you are studying at the time. The document you give them should be incomplete with missing words and/or phrases. A completed document is placed on the other side of the classroom on a desk (one completed document for each team works best. That way they aren’t fighting over it). Each team must designate a “runner.” The runner’s job is to run across the classroom and retrieve the missing information on their team’s document. You may want to call this person the “walker” for safety reasons. The “walker” can’t use any pens or pencils. He or she must go read the completed document, return to his teammates, and relay the information verbally. The teammates must complete their document with the information the walker gives them. The walker may return to the completed document on the opposite side of the room as many times as he/she likes. The first team to complete their document correctly is the winner.

At the end of an intense 15 minutes of memorization and information exchange I can almost guarantee the students won’t forget anything written on that document.