Teaching activities 1: “HOLIDAYS AND CELEBRATIONS” A kahoot activity

Summary

Creation of activity for students of 8° grade at English class with a level of English of B2 at a public school through the use of the web page kahoot 

Aims:

·         The aims will focused on the “understanding” concept of bloom’s taxonomy, more specifically in the areas of recognizing, classifying and identifying.

·         Students will make use of  the platform kahoot (a web page used to create mini quizzes) to complete fun quizzes regarding holidays in a competitive fashion

·         Identify and associate images with concepts

Length: the activity will take up to two school hours (45 minutes each)

Materials:

·         Computer lab (property of the school)

·         Projector

Rationale:

The topic of the class is based upon the one presented from the student’s textbook “travelers” for 8° grade which is the approved book regarding the current curriculum  by the ministry of education. The activity on itself is based on the idea that interactive activities, being games and such, can prove to be more effective at the time of learning for the student as it is being presented in a more interesting manner for him/her which creates an improve in the motivation of the student. In this case kahoot is the tool selected for the task, as it was stated in the researches of Gardner and Lambert (1959) that there is a relevant connection between second language acquisition and the motivation of the learner. Finally having the previous point into consideration, the use of activities whose format are more similar to games can produce an increase in the motivation for the class, considering that at this point the students are going through a phase in which standard activities are of no interest to them. The use of the topic “holidays and celebrations” has been selected with the idea of a subject that can feel related to and, in case of foreigner students, it gives the chance to showcase celebrations that they do not know about, creating an environment of multiculturalism.

Description of procedure:

Activity’s length

1 hour and 30 minutes

Procedure

·         Students take their seats in the classroom and given time to stay calm (10 minutes) ·         Students will be explained of the activity (10 minutes) ·         The students are taken to the computer lab (15 minutes) ·         The activity takes place with every student using a computer of their own (or in pairs depending on the amount of computers available) (25 minutes) ·         A students is declared winner of the activity and answers are compared  (15 minutes) ·         Students give their feedback of the activity (15 minutes)

Possible limitations

·         Lack of interest in certain students: we as teachers cannot expect every student to be able to feel motivated about our activities, therefore we need to put most of our efforts to grasp their attention.

·         Lack of material: every school is different, sometimes the school may not be able to provide the necessary materials to perform the class getting in a position to alter the activity.

·         Disapproval of the establishment: in certain cases the school may decline the idea of the activity in its entirety, making it impossible to put it on action.

Link to activity: Kahoot activity