Discover 5 Games to Boost Engagement & Community in Your World Language Class with Profe Valentina and Carolina Gómez

Are you searching for low-prep games perfect for this busy time of year? Look no further! In episode 89, I welcomed two incredible educators from Colombia, Profe Valentina and Carolina Gómez. They shared five engaging, low-prep games that are ideal for any classroom setting. These games are designed to boost engagement, foster community, review content, and add some fun to your daily routine. In this post, I’m sharing highlights of the five games, but to hear all of our conversation, listen here or above. 

Game #1: High Five or Chócala

Valentina adopted this first game to work with her younger students. In this game, students share personal information to find similarities. For example, students might share their favorite movies or hobbies or a place they went to over the weekend. 

At the beginning of the year, Valentina gives notebooks to her second graders and has them put their favorite things in each of the corners on a page. Next, she has her students walk around the classroom with their notebooks while music is playing. When the music stops, they stop, and share with the closest classmate. When they find someone with the same information, they celebrate with a “Chócala,” which means “high five.” This is a great game to build community.

We talked up how this game is so adaptable and how it is okay for your students to do this game in English. Listen here to our conversation. Your students will get to the point of using the target language, but you must have patience. 

Game #2: Me Too (Yo También)

Carolina shares this game that’s similar to Chócala, which helps build community. Each student draws, and later in the year you can add writing, on a card something about themselves or something they like. Next, the students get in a circle, and the teacher gathers and shuffles all of the cards.

As the teacher reads out the information, any student who shares that characteristic stands up and says “Yo también” or “Me too.” To adapt this to a higher level, you could have the students draw and write a sentence about why they like what they wrote. Carolina, Valentina, and I also talked about how to reuse these cards and expand on this activity. Listen here for those details.

This game is a wonderful way for students to learn about each other and reinforce the use of target language in a meaningful context.

Game #3: El Artista

In this game, students should be given individual white boards. Next, you are going to partner up your students in groups of two. Then, the teacher writes five familiar sentences on the board.

Each student then takes turns illustrating one of the sentences within a 40-second limit. The partner must guess the sentence based on the illustration.

You can easily level up this game if you’re using a text. In that case, the students will find the sentences in a text and do the same game. This is a wonderful low-prep game, and the students love to play it!

Game #4: Bless You, ¡salud!

The fourth game is such a simple one to play. This game uses a Kleenex box. Inside the box, the teacher places slips of paper with questions written on them. Carolina uses permanent marker to write on fabric pieces instead of using paper pieces. As the music plays, students pass the box around. 

When the music stops, the student holding the box pulls out a question to answer aloud. The rest of the class responds with “¡Salud!” after the answer, creating a supportive and fun environment.

In episode 89, we share different versions of this game for any level. Listen above or here. 

Game #5: Busca Busca (Looking for)

This hide-and-seek style game involves hiding an object in the classroom while one student, with their eyes closed or turned away, waits. Then, the class guides the student to find the object using phrases in the target language.

Valentina likes to use objects from stories or units from class. For example, if the class is learning about a topic, such as winter, she will use a snowflake as the hidden object. This game is engaging, gets everyone involved, and teaches useful descriptive language.

How To Have a Successful Game

I asked my guests to give us some tips on how to have a game be successful with our students. First, even if the first time is a disaster, play and play again. It will get better. 

Next, it’s important for the teacher to model the activity and then encourage students to join in. You also don’t want to just model what they should do, you want to use interactive modeling. Interactive modeling involves actively participating in the activity with the students and asking them questions to check their understanding.

Carolina also shares with her students the goal of the game. Sometimes, it is just to have fun, sometimes it’s connected to something that you’re doing in class, or it could be a cultural game. She also models and plays the game the first time in English and uses visuals. 

Finally, it is important to watch your students and try to read what is going on when you are not having success with a game. Valentina added to remind ourselves that games or any activity does not have to be perfect. It’s okay to tell your students that the game is not working right now and why and then to ask them if they want to try again. Give your students opportunities to repair and learn.

Listen to all of the details of how to play these games here.