Raoul's China Saloon (V5.0) Beta

The Bar Room => The Bar (ON-TOPIC) => Topic started by: Ivyman on March 18, 2021, 03:42:57 PM

Title: Any Good Group Work Activity Suggestions?
Post by: Ivyman on March 18, 2021, 03:42:57 PM

Hi Everyone,

My students seem so bored with work requiring textbook, multimedia, etc.

From time to time, I have experimented with group activities.  These include Lego's, puzzles, etc.

Can any recommend teaching methods or researched terms that get students standing (rather than sitting), working in groups, having fun, etc.?

I know others do team building activities, etc.

Title: Re: Any Good Group Work Activity Suggestions?
Post by: Escaped Lunatic on March 19, 2021, 03:51:16 PM

Ever try the "build a tower" exercise?

Break the class into teams (4-6 people per team).  Give each team 10 sheets of printer paper, a paperclip, and a small roll of Scotch tape (or local equivalent).

Using ONLY those materials (and only communicating in English), build the tallest tower possible.  Set a time limited in the range of 10-20 minutes.

Naturally, carefully inspect the tallest ones for "extra" materials.  If you want to reduce the chances of extra paper being introduced, see if there's any colored paper available instead of issuing generic white paper.

Title: Re: Any Good Group Work Activity Suggestions?
Post by: old34 on March 24, 2021, 04:41:08 PM

Similar to The Marshmallow Challenge using uncooked spaghetti instead of paper and each tower has to be topped by a marshmallow. A lot more fun. Spaghetti is easy to find these days in China but marshmallows are a little more difficult. If you have a local 7-11, they usually carry them.


Google Spaghetti Challenge. There's a lot of stuff on the web about it including a PDF handout you can use for pre-teaching and an interesting Ted Talk for debriefing.


Enjoy