Scribble Talk and MegaMutantPenguinSkiDeath

 Less of the small p politics and more of the Practical  activities today. Scribble Talk and MegaMutantPenguinSkiDeath. Which can be re-versioned as the Softy Save a Seal game.

For this you will probably need a what I don't call Sentence Builder (been watching too much Miranda). The sort of Keep Talking sheet described in a previous post, that lets you go way beyond a sentence.

Your pupils might have done the connectives dice activity, to practise keeping talking, prompted by and, but, because, especially if, so, for example on the throw of the dice.

And you are ready for Scribble Talk.

Pupils work in pairs. One draws a box on a piece of rough paper. The other partner is going to talk, using their Keep Talking sheet if necessary, or trying to use it less and less. The other partner scribbles in the box as shown, as their partner talks. It is a way of timing how long they can talk for. If you just set a timer for 3 minutes, you have no idea how much of that time they were actually talking for! When the pupil talks, their partner scribbles. If they pause or hesitate or stop, then their partner stops scribbling. Pupils are developing their ability to extend their answers more and more coherently and spontaneously.

Then, if you are worried that they are relying too much on repeating the most well-worn expressions, j'aime... parce que je peux... mais je n'aime pas.... parce que je dois..., then you can ask them to play MegaMutantPenguinSkiDeath.

The dynamic is the same. One pupil speaking, giving an extended answer, keeping going using and, but, because etc. The other pupil instead of scribbling this time, draws a picture of a skiing penguin on one side of the small piece of rough paper. On the other side, they write a secret keyword from the Keep Talking Sheet that their partner had been neglecting. Maybe j'allais or j'ai dit or j'aurais préféré... Their partner has to keep talking, making sentences and extending them as before. And when they say the keyword on the back of the sheet, the penguin skis into a tree and they can swap roles. (And use a red pen to dispatch the penguin.)