Boris: Running Dictation Game

Running Dictation is a high energy, fast-paced review activity. You can use this activity to review any text-story, content, facts or topics. In this case, we will be reviewing the Boris story. It is a fun way to give the students more input. More exposure to language=more input=language acquisition!

Boris story. It is a fun way to give the students more input. More exposure to language=more input=language acquisition!

What you need:

• Students in groups of 3-4
• Set of sentence strips (choose Romaji for extra scaffolding or Kana for extension depending on your cohort of students)
• 10 x A5 pieces of paper per group
• Coloured pencils for each group

How to set up/play:

1. The teacher copies and cuts up the sentence strips #1 to #10 (PDF attached) and posts randomly around the selected space (classroom or designated outside area) Please note there are blank strips to add additional sentences of your own.

2. Each team is given coloured pencils and a blank answer sheet/s to record their answers

3. When given the signal from the teacher, the Runner for each team moves to find one of the randomly placed sentence strips, reads it and returns to their team.

4. The Runner repeats the Japanese sentence to the team and the corresponding number.

5. The Secretary writes down the sentence in Romaji or Kana depending on the level of the student, then hands the answer paper to the Artist.

6. The Artist quickly draws a picture to match the sentence.

6. Once all the sentences have been transcribed the Editor takes the full set to the teacher to check for accuracy and identify any that need redoing.

What I love about Running Dictation:

* Boosts cooperative team work

* Gets students moving

* Variety of roles keeps the tasks fresh and non threatening

* So versatile! Use to review any text