Saturday, January 10, 2015

What's Working - Noche al museo

We had some extra time at the end of a class and my fifth graders begged me to play Night at the Museum - a game where two kids are guards and the rest of them are statues that move but can't be seen moving by the guards or they are out (Nerd Alert: Sounds more like Weeping Angels would be a better name.) The problem is that there is little to no speaking in this game let alone Spanish. It's one reason our gym teacher likes to play it when he gets kicked out his gym and has to have class in the hall - it's quiet.


But then one my girls, K, got extra creative. The guards would close their eyes and count in Spanish to diez. Then if they caught someone moving they had to ask them ¿Cómo estás? The kid caught moving had to answer but they couldn't repeat an answer someone had already said. If they did then they had to sit out. This way we avoided everyone just saying "Estoy bien" each time.

We renamed it Noche al museo and got started. It was AMAZING! They got to play the game that they love and I got to hear watch them practicing the conversation we've been working on in class. I'll definitely be playing this with other classes.  I also know who to go to for game ideas - K's got my back!

Have you modified the rules to any popular games to make them work for the World Language classroom? Share in the comments below!
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownJanuary 19, 2015 at 6:42 PM

    I could relate to your post as my students often ask to play "Wax Museum" (what my school calls it) and I have the same hesitation since there is no speaking. I will try your Spanish modifications! My school is a Responsive Classroom school so there are so many Morning Meeting activities that students ask to play that I have had to "adapt". Some that come to mind are "Siete arriba" in which we use commands in Spanish, "Spanish Counting Silent Ball" and "Quién falta?" (we give clues about the missing person is wearing in Spanish).

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  2. Señora SpeedyJanuary 21, 2015 at 1:36 PM

    My student K gets all the credit - she wanted to play it so badly that she came up with pretty impressive modifications so that it works. :-) I'd be interested to hear how you play Spanish Counting Silent Ball. I've not heard of that one before.

    Thanks for reading and commenting!

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