As I have come to understand proficiency-based instruction, my games have become so much more interesting for students. In my current Jeopardy games, students are doing a guessing game from a clue. My clues use circumlocution to talk around the terms and lead students to the answer.
There are a few choices for large-group games on the Internet and Jeopardy is the one I like best. When students tell me they love Quizlet Live and Kahoot they aren’t expressing interest in the content of the game, they just like pushing the buttons. Quizlet Live is most often played as an identification game. The students give the term to name what they see. I know it can be played with a clue and an answer, but the site is set up in a way that promotes an identification game. Kahoot, while sometimes used in the same way, is conceived to be a game where students pick the right answer to a question. As an example, here is my best attempt on the theme of Daily Routine. An ok game, but still like a language exercise.
So where am I going with this? The game Jeopardy offers a format which is more of a guessing game, and, there is a great online technology tool to make these games.
With the platform Fractile, I am able to make a true guessing game. See my game on Tourism in Martinique linked at the bottom of this page.
Factile has options that make Jeopardy better than the versions I have created in the past. You can have multiple teams playing, not just two, which keeps students more engaged. Also, there is a flashcard mode that I like to use to review material with my students before we play which seems to get them to pay close attention.
As you can tell, I have enjoyed playing Jeopardy with my students. I find that it can be a true guessing game that engages students, as opposed to a stilted language-learning game. And, with the technology tool Fractile, I can have students play in small teams and we can review before the game using the flash card feature. Another feature that you may enjoy from Fractile is that you can play my games as they are for free or you can make a copy if you join the site and edit my games to make them work for your class.
mmemoghtader.com 