Snowballs

Snowballs is another one to try when they’re lacking motivation and is a great plenary activity. Be careful with this one though as it can be absolute chaos if not structured properly.

1. Each student has a piece of scrap paper.

     2. Ask them to write a time phrase….Chaque jour

     3. Get them to roll their paper up into a ball.

     4. When you say so, the students then throw the paper across the room.

     5. Students then go and pick up a snowball from the floor.

     6. Now they write a verb phrase….je joue au foot

     7. Repeat actions 3-5.

     8. They add extra details such as…avec mes copains/dans le jardin

     9. Repeat actions 3-5.

    10. Now they could add a justified opinion.

    11. Repeat actions 3-5.

    12. Now ask them to translate the sentence on their paper into English.

At the end I normally stand by the door with the bin and ask them to bring their piece of paper to me to check. That way you don’t end up with paper all over the floor at the end and you can make sure that they have all understood the task.

Tips

• You may need to give them the vocabulary for each section otherwise you could end up with sentences that don’t make sense!

• A variation on this could be to make paper airplanes out of them instead of snowballs.

• Make sure you give clear instructions at the start (Don’t throw the snowballs at each other / Don’t throw them until I say so - it’s important that they all do each section at the same time, otherwise the activity won’t work) otherwise it’s just mayhem, trust me.