#2953. ¿Cómo se dice?

Language, level: Middle
Posted Tue Oct 14 04:45:45 PDT 2003 by William Charney (patric568@excite.com).
Valley Road School, Stanhope, NJ
Materials Required: 4x6 index cards, markers
Activity Time: @ 40 minutes
Concepts Taught: verb stems, present indicative endings, person forms

On each card write a regular -er, -ir, or -ar verb in its infinitive form along with its English translation. Below that, write the verb stem. On other cards, write the person endings for the present indicative tense. I find it helpful to use the same color for the entire category of endings. Shuffle the cards. Divide the class into teams and distribute the cards randomly. I have found that teams of 4/5 students is doable. Allow the teams to look at the verbs and endings they have received. Then, say, "¿Cómo se dice ____?", supplying a specific person form of a specific verb. The team(s) with the correct stem and ending must run to the front of the room with the cards. They must then pronounce the verb. The person with the stem tries first. If he fails, the person with the ending goes next. If both fail, it goes back to the stem team, then the ending team. If they cannot pronounce it correctly, it goes out to the remaining class teams. Each successive attempt is worth fewer points. For each successive attempt, a different team member must be the one to go to the front of the room or guess for the team. At the end of the period, the team with the highest number of points wins.