Game to review the vocabulary (backs to the board game)

To remember what you have learned is paramount in learning. New words or phrases are crucial if they stand a chance of becoming readily accessible in long-term memory. However, most students can`t recall the vocabulary after the lesson and then the rate of forgetting is increasing. To avoid this problem, one solution offered is to follow the 'principle of expanding

rehearsal'. Backs to the board game provides learners a way to review new words shortly after they are presented, and then use them at increasingly longer intervals.

 To play this amazing game, you can follow the following steps:

·         Teacher prepares around 20 words with picture taken from the lesson taught in the previous meeting. The word can be displayed on a power point presentation or written on the whiteboard.

·         Divide the class into Teams A and B, group of 3 or 4. Team A sits in a group on one side of the classroom, Team B sits on the other side.

·         Bring two chairs to the front of the room so that when seated, a student is facing his or her respective team and their back is to the blackboard or white board (backs to the board).

·         One member from each team sits in their team's chair. The teacher shows the ppt or writes a word, phrase, or sentence on the board.

·         The students in the chairs mustn't see what's written on the board.

·         Once the teacher yells 'go', the teams have one minute, using only verbal clues, to get their seated teammate to say the item written on the board.

·         The only rule is that they MUSTN'T say the item written on the board, in full or part.

·         The first student in the hot seat to utter the word scores a point for their team. The first team to score X number of points wins.

·         When the round is over, two new team players are switched into the hot seat and a new item is written up.