Long time lurker, first time poster.
This is a game that I adapted from this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoeNCcL5t0A
Materials and Set-Up:
- Cut up slips of paper for sentences
- Grab one or two rubber bands
- Write three sentences on the board
- Queue some music on YouTube/Spotify/etc (I used an extended version of Fooling Mode from Naruto)
Activity:
Start by telling the students you will be giving them a piece of paper and they are to complete the three sentences you have written on the board. These sentences can be modified according to the English level of your students. My most successful variation was "I like (blank)." "I can (blank)." "I am (blank)."
For the "I am" sentence, I encouraged my students to use an adjective, other than "sleepy" or "hungry", or to say "I am from..."
After the students have written their sentences, go to them one by one and have them read their sentences aloud to you. Once they have read their sentences, collect their paper. Continue this until you have all the papers. Next, you will start to crumple these papers together, making a ~snowball~. I recommend that you write your own sentences and put your paper in the snowball as well! Depending on the class size, you will make one or two snowballs. My class size of 20 made two snowballs, and I tied a rubber band around each one to make sure there were no fly away pieces during the game.
While you are busy making the snowball(s), ask the students to form a circle. The students can either stand or be seated - I found both options worked.
Next, explain the rules of the game. Students will pass/throw the snowball around the circle while the music is playing. When the music stops, the student holding the snowball will take a piece of paper out of the snowball, read it aloud, and try to guess who the paper belongs to. You really only need one practice round before the students understand the game.
I found that this game can take up an entire 50 minute block. More often than not, we didn't get to read/guess all of the papers in the ~snowball~.
This activity was great for not only practicing English, but also for the students to burn off some steam and get to know each other better. It was great to see the students helping each other and discussing together! Additionally, it helps you to learn more about your students individually as well as how they work together.
Recommendations:
- Set a five to 10 minute timer for the sentence-writing portion of the class. I play music during this portion, not only as a timer for myself, but also for the sake of the students who finish their sentences in one minute while the others are still struggling with what to write at the 10 minute mark.
- As mentioned, I recommend making more than one snowball if you have a class size of over 20 students, as well as tying the snowball with a rubber band if necessary.
- Consider making two teams and awarding points for correct guesses.
- This is a great activity to use at the start of the year/semester as a kind of jikoushokai
Thanks homies!!
What happens after you guess (wrong or right)?
My bad! I forgot to put that in. I typically give the students a maximum of two guesses. If they get both wrong, then I ask the person who wrote the paper to raise their hand, and then we move on to the next round. If I thought the class was up for more competition, I divided them into two teams and gave them points for the correct guesses!
I'm having trouble imagining the snowballs for some reason. How did you make them? Were students actually able to pull only one of them out at a time? I tried to make a trial snowball and it's a total mess for me!
There's also a version of this game called the "cabbage game." I usually do it in JHS. Students each write a question in English on a sheet of paper. You collect all the papers and make a ball out of it. Then play in the same fashion as described above. When the music stops, whoever is holding the "cabbage" peels off one piece of paper, reads the question, and answers in English. Play continues until all the questions have been answered.
It's usually pretty fun, especially if you have a class that writes weird / creative questions. It's basically another way to play Hot Potato.
Apologies for just seeing this now, cosmicality! For the specifics on how I do it, I take an A4 sized paper and cut it into four pieces, meaning the pieces are long horizontally and short vertically - just the right amount of space for three sentences. I take a paper, crumple it very small, and use that as the base of the "snowball". I keep crumpling other pieces of paper on top of the first one, forming it to be as ball-shaped as possible. The tried and true trick is to wrap the finished snowball with a rubber band. Whoever is holding the snowball when the music stops takes the rubber band off and takes out a piece of paper from the snowball. Once the student has a piece of paper in their hand from the snowball, I typically take the snowball back and re-wrap the rubber band around it while the student is reading the paper :)
and solb43 you're so right! We love a Hot Potato variation. I hadn't heard of the Cabbage Game, but it totally does sound like the same kind of idea!