A game about Ocean Park: Pop-up notes

All the pop-up screens from this PrimeTeach file have been copied here so that you can print them out easily. 

Overview

Note:

This package of materials was developed in collaboration with the following teachers:

Wendy Arnold, Lau Chi Wa Irene, Hui Sze Lai Celia, Chan Kit Wah Cathy.

The materials were developed through a series of TeleNex workshops and have been piloted in Hong Kong primary classrooms. On the basis of feedback, materials have been modified and further developed by TELEC to accommodate a variety of teaching and learning styles.
Theory: In this package, students write an answer key which they then use as a reference point when they play the board game. Writing the answer key provides students with a controlled writing activity which focuses on grammatical accuracy and gives them a chance to familiarise themselves with the content of the game.
Theory: Fluency involves being able to maintain the flow of speech without too much hesitation and pausing, as well as producing language within time constraints. Accuracy refers to correct grammar and clear pronunciation. Carefully sequenced activities are needed to build students' confidence so that they can achieve a balance of fluency and accuracy.

Example:
The ferris wheel goes round and round.
The roller coaster twists and turns.
The roller coaster is exciting.
The dolphins can jump and swim.
Example:
dolphin
panda
sea lion
shark
Example:
cable car
crazy ship
ferris wheel
roller coaster
Example:
It goes up and down.
It goes round and round.
It goes backwards and forwards.
It goes high and low.

Example:
It twists and turns.
It loops.
It swings.
It rises and falls.

Example:
They can jump very high. 
They can clap and walk.
They can dive.
They can do somersaults.
They can do tricks.
Example:
The dolphins are intelligent.
The sea lions are funny.
The pandas are cute and friendly.
The roller coaster is exciting.

Materials

Note:

It is a good idea to enlarge each half of the game board to A3 size on the photocopier and paste them together. Students will be working in groups and will therefore need one large board between them.
Note:

You need to give each group of four students a set of cards in an envelope. The cards will need to be cut up before the lesson.
Note:

It is a good idea to enlarge the Answer key to A3 size on the photocopier because students will be doing group work and will therefore need one large copy between them.

Steps

Note: If you have already completed the activities in Finding out about Ocean Park with your students, you can omit Steps 1 to 3.
1. Theory: The purpose of this activity is to arouse students' interest and encourage communication. It is therefore inappropriate to insist on grammatical accuracy at this stage. Correcting students while they are speaking may inhibit fluency and discourage them from contributing to the discussion. 
2. Example:
What can the dolphins do? 
How does the ferris wheel move?
What are the pandas like?
2. Example:
jump, swim and dive
round and round
cute and friendly
3. Example:

It is important to give students a clear model of the target language. They need to be able to hear the target language with correct syllable stress and clear pronunciation before they move onto the next activity in which they will have to be able to read aloud and be understood by their classmates.
5. Example:

Monitoring helps the teacher to identify problems that need to be dealt with on an individual basis. It also enables the teacher to make a note of problems that are common to many students. These problems can then be focused on during whole-class feedback.
7. Example:
The dolphins can ...
The sea lions can ...
The sharks can ...
The pandas are ...
The dolphins are ...
The sea lions are ...
The sharks are ...
The crazy ship is ...
The ferris wheel is ...
The roller coaster is ...
The cable car is ...
The crazy ship goes ...
The ferris wheel goes ...
The roller coaster ...
The cable car goes ...
7. Example:
The dolphins can jump and swim.
The dolphins are intelligent.
The ferris wheel is fun.
The ferris wheel goes round and round.
The roller coaster twists and turns.
8. Example:
The dolphins can jump and swim.
The dolphins are intelligent.
The ferris wheel is fun.
The ferris wheel goes round and round.
The roller coaster twists and turns.

8. Note: It is important to present vocabulary and grammar in an organised way on the board so that students can see language patterns. If students are encouraged to notice patterns and work things out for themselves, they can start to form their own rules. This should help to make the language more meaningful and memorable.
10. Adaptation: You may prefer to give your students sentence endings in a jumbled order and ask them to match them with the beginnings of the sentences:

walk and clap
very exciting
cute and friendly
fun
dangerous
relaxing
swim and dive
amusing
backwards and forwards
twist, turns and loops
bite and kill
round and round.
rises and falls and the view of Ocean Park is wonderful
exciting
intelligent
11.  Key:
The dolphins can swim and dive.
The sea lions can walk and clap.
The sharks can bite and kill.
The pandas are cute and friendly.
The dolphins are intelligent.
The sea lions are amusing.
The sharks are dangerous.
The crazy ship is exciting.
The ferris wheel is fun.
The roller coaster is very exciting.
The cable car is relaxing.
The crazy ship goes backwards and forwards.
The ferris wheel goes round and round.
The roller coaster twists, turns and loops.
The cable car rises and falls and the view of Ocean Park is wonderful.

Consider all acceptable answers and add them to the answer key.
12. Theory: It is a good idea to get students to look at the Game board in order to find out what they already know. In this way they will bring their knowledge of games to the context and activate language needed for explaining and playing games. By finding out what students already know, teachers can avoid unnecessary explanations and simply provide the information needed. If students discuss how to play the game in Cantonese, it is a good idea for the teacher to summarise in English.
13. Note: The following is for teachers' reference only. The amount of information given to students will depend on what they already know about the game and what kind of additional information they need.

Objective of game:  

To be the first player to reach Finish.

Equipment for each group:  

The set of Cards that your students matched in Steps 4-6. 
A Game board for each group. 
the Answer key that your students completed in Steps 7-11. 
A dice and four counters.

How to play:

1. Player one throws the dice and moves his or her counter forward the correct number of spaces.
2. Player two (the student on the left of player one) then throws the dice and moves his or her counter.
3. The game continues with player three and four having a turn. The dice is always passed to the player on the left so that all four players get an equal number of throws. 
4. If a player lands on Pick up a card, then he or she must pick one up and pass the card to the player on the left. The player on the left must read the Tell us about ... instruction aloud. 
5. The player who landed on Pick up a card must give as much information as possible about the animal/ride without pausing and hesitating. (It does not matter if the sentence is grammatically inaccurate.)
6. If the player referred to the information on the card without hesitating, he or she can move forward two spaces. If he or she did not maintain fluency or did not convey the information, he or she must go back three spaces.
7. The card is then placed at the bottom of the pile.
8. If a player lands on a blue square with an incomplete sentence, he or she must produce a grammatically correct sentence.
9. The player on the left must check the Answer key to see if the sentence was correct.
10. If the player produces a grammatically correct sentence, he or she can move forward two spaces. If the player produces a sentence which is not grammatically correct, he or she must move back three spaces. 
11. The game continues until a student in the group reaches Finish.
13. Adaptation: You may prefer to demonstrate playing the game, rather than giving instructions. However, you will need to rehearse the demonstration with three willing students before the lesson.

Demonstrating the game provides an ideal opportunity for you to model the communicative language that we use when playing board games:

Who's going to start?
Whose turn is it?
It's my turn!
Can I have the dice, please?
Bad luck! Go back three spaces.
Can you say it again please?
Correct! Go forward two spaces.
14. Theory: Correcting students while they are speaking may inhibit communication and discourage them from participating in games. 
14. Note: The board game has been designed so that students focus either on fluency or on accuracy. When students first play the game, it is intended that they focus on fluency when they pick up a card (yellow squares) and accuracy when they complete a sentence (blue squares). However, as students become more confident and familiar with the game, they will gradually develop a balance of fluency and accuracy. It is therefore a good idea to let them play the game more than once so that they can achieve this balance.

Web ideas

Example:
Introduced April 1990
Height 188 feet
Length 3,830 feet
Weight 1,000,000 pounds of steel/600,000 tons of concrete
Top Speed 70 MPH
Ride Duration 2 Minutes
Number of Trains 3
Number of Cars 7
Capacity 1,700 per hour/28 per train
Colors Green and Orange
Special Features Features the world's tallest vertical loop (140 feet), plus loops at 90 feet, 62 feet and a 40-foot-tall corkscrew.
Height Restriction Must be at least 54" tall

 
Example: The Viper is green and orange. It is 188 feet high and 3830 feet long. The ride lasts for two minutes and the top speed is 70 miles per hour. The Viper has the world's tallest vertical loop. It has seven cars. You must be 54" tall to ride on The Viper.

Before you and your students start constructing the text, discuss the following:

Which information in the table is of interest to children aged 9-12.
Which categories of information should be omitted when you/they write the text.
How should the information be ordered for a 9-12 year old reader of the text.
Example:
I like the Viper because it has a very big loop.
Note: The tables of information used by students in Suggestion 1 provide a good model of how to organise information. They also help students understand the kind of specific information they need to locate when they have to search and scan texts that they find, using search engines. If students are clear about the kind of information they are looking for before they start searching, they can ignore anything in the text which is irrelevant to their purpose. 

Grammar notes

For more information on using adverb groups, look at the following in PrimeGram:

  Grammar: Groups & phrases: Adverb groups: Overview

For more information on using verbs, look at the following in PrimeGram:

  Grammar: Word classes: Verbs: Overview

For more information on using modals, look at the following in PrimeGram:

  Grammar: Groups & phrases: Verb group: Adjusting interactions: modality: Overview

For more information on using adjectives, look at the following in PrimeGram:

  Grammar: Word classes: Adjectives: Overview