Everything Old is New Again: Grammar

For those of you who have my book, Enter the Rubber Chickens, you know that I have my students play with rubber chickens to make grammar lessons memorable. There is just something funny about rubber chickens. When something is funny, we tend to remember it.

Alas, my rubber chickens are lonely this year. There is no one in my classroom to play with them. However, after a brainstorming session with my husband, I found a decent substitute for the rubber chicken activities in my grammar lessons.

First, my students used a Google Form to tell me 2-3 people in the class that they would like to work with in a competition. Then, I formed the teams based upon their wishes, giving each team a number. Once in my class Zoom on a competition day, I asked the students to change their names in the Participants list by adding the correct number before their names. So, Karen Tischhauser became 1Karen Tischhauser. I sent the teams to breakout rooms to decide upon a mascot, an unbreakable object or toy, before we began any grammar competitions. Once they chose a mascot, they again changed their names. Now 1Karen Tischhauser became Purple Pig Karen Tischhauser. And the competitions could begin.

I explained the rules, and then I sent the teams to their Breakout Rooms. As soon as they left the main room, I broadcasted a message to all Breakout Rooms, giving them their first task. Then, I closed the rooms, giving them 60 seconds to do what they needed to do. The first team to come back to the main room and type a correct entry into the chat earned a point.

There is a lot of manipulating Breakout Rooms in this type of competition, but it is well worth it. We all had fun. Grammar rules were solidified.

After a few competitions in this way, I decided to make a few changes. The first-place team now earns two points. The second-place team earns one point. When it makes sense, the first-place team can earn an extra point by having one team member read their response—usually a sentence—while the owner of the mascot has the mascot act it out on their video screen.

Any of the competitions in Enter the Rubber Chickens can be made to fit this design. As of the writing of this post, I have had my students use this game format for complete sentences, commas, and verb tenses. In all cases, we had a good time, and information was solidified.