This is a simple activity that needs a bit of preparation before the class, but is usually enjoyed by the students. It’s a simple game where the students have to correctly identify the object that has been taped to their foreheads by asking a series of questions.

Put the students into small groups of four or five, and place the object cards face down in front of them with the sticky tape or blue-tac already attached to the back of the cards. When you say go, the students should place the cards on their foreheads at once, and janken to decide who goes first. Each student then takes it in turn to find out what they are “advertising” by asking Yes/No questions. If the answer to the question is “Yes” they may ask another question, if it’s “No” then the turn moves to the next player. Obviously the player who guesses first is the winner, but you may want to keep the game going until everyone has discovered their product. For the faster students, have them try to guess the exact product (brand etc), for the slower ones a generic object would probably suffice as an answer.

The time-consuming bit is in the preparation – it’s best to cut up the pictures – which you can download here (cards) – and put them onto some kind of card so the students can’t see through the paper. Two sets per class should be enough

This zip file contains an overview of the Reading Swap Shop, facilitated by Kay Irie on June 5, 2008, along with some of the materials presented. For more information about ideas and activities in the folder, please talk with the contributors listed below.

Kay Irie
Dan Jackson
Paul Joyce
Christine Wilby
Deborah Bollinger

Download Reading Swap Shop Folder

Level 2 Reading teachers are due to give a minimum of five quizzes this semester. As well as the in-house quizzes that you can use with your classes, there are also a set of publisher tests. They are a little easier than the in-house ones, as vocabulary is not recycled from previous units.
unit-quizzes-for-totally-true-3.pdf
unit-quiz-answers-for-totally-true-3.pdf

This is a folder which contains crossword puzzles for Units 1 to 8 from Totally True Book 3. The crosswords target all the ‘New Words’ from the Glossary and use the (rather naff) definitions from the book. There are 2 files per unit, a student puzzle and an answer key.

These puzzles can also be done online by students on the elpweb.com site. Here is the link http://elpweb.com/resources/slevel2reading.php?id=menu

Toally True 3 Units 1-8 Crossword Puzzles

Downloadable tests (and answers) for every unit of the Totally True textbooks are available at the following website. You can also download answer keys for exercises in the Student Books.

Totally True

NB: The material downloads as PDF files – these can be viewed and printed, but they are password protected to prevent the text being copied.

Provoc is a free Mac OS X application for vocabulary study. I’ve tested it myself recently and found it to be very useful. It is something that we might want to consider using on the eMacs in the FLSC. If you want to try it yourself, You can download some sets of vocabulary to practice with from the Provoc developer’s sharing website under the tab Vocabulary and practice your irregular French verbs.

Another way to try it might be to use a Provoc file I created from a provisional vocabulary spreadsheet. Download and import the files to allow flashcard and multiple choice vocabulary drills.

One very nice feature of Provoc is that it will print beautifully formatted flashcards in a variety of sizes. Here is a sample of small flashcards in pdf format to use for games or drilling. If you install Provoc yourself, you can make cards as large or as small as you like.

Maybe we can set this up in the FLSC, so students will be able to do it themselves?

I have entered the vocabulary for Totally True 3: Chapters 1-4 into an Excel spreadsheet with definitions which differ slightly from those in the textbook. This spreadsheet should make it easy to manage word lists, create simple quizzes, generate flashcards, and make other study materials. If we are all working from the same set of vocabulary, teaching and testing should be more consistent without forcing everyone to do exactly the same thing.

Download the Totally True 3: Chapters 1-4 vocabulary list (in progress).

The current fields in the spreadsheet are:

• ID
• UNIT
• WORD
• POS
• 日本語
• ENGLISH
• SYNONYM
• ANTONYM
• RELATED WORDS

If you think these need to be changed, go right ahead and make any changes you like to the spreadsheet and attach your version in a comment at the end of this post. I would suggest adding rather than deleting fields. If some information is not needed or wanted, those columns can be hidden as needed.

Obviously, this spreadsheet is not yet complete. The Japanese meaning of the target words is still missing for some vocabulary. I’ve added synonyms and antonyms just off the top of my head. Please add more as they come to you. Proofreading would be much appreciated!

This is meant to be an example of what can be done to organize materials for teachers and students.