Game Based Activity

This is a game-based activity that centers around knowing the English words for various clothes items. This Level 3 (CASAS) assessment was designed to be formative (low stakes) and informal. The previous class, we had learned basic clothes terms and touched on continuous present participle (as in wear(ing) these clothes). The objective of the game was to reinforce and deepen their knowledge of American English words we use for our clothes both patterns and types. Bringing in the continuous present participle was meant to be a bonus but I’m not sure it was effective.

 I taught this class this Thursday afternoon (10/24) and used Clothes Bingo as a warm-up. I scoured clothes from all over my house (my closet, my wife’s, out of town adult son and daughter). I found every item that was on the various lists except a vest and mittens. I packed what I had in my car and went to school (whereupon the office secretary asked if I was moving in).

Instead of reviewing the textbook, I offered up each item one then another. I wrote the words on the whiteboard. We discussed colors, patterns (flowery, plaid, stripes, dots), texture, fabric. We went into zippers, snaps, and buttons. The difference between a knit hat and a baseball cap, a sweatshirt and a hoodie, shoes and boots. I brought a tweed jacket, a dress suit, and a swimsuit. They asked me a gazillion questions which I did my best to answer. They were very interested.

We then played Bingo. I used a sheet with 30 terms that I held and marked as we played. I’d copied it and chopped the terms into small squares, one word on each. I passed out the Bingo cards (nine items on each, all different) and put the papers in a hat. When I pulled them out one at a time, I would go to the table with the clothes and hold up the item. Sometimes I called out the item and asked a student to describe themselves wearing the hat or the socks or the shorts or someone else in the room wearing one. This worked with some students, but others got flustered. I did more of the show-the-item than the participle as that increasingly felt like one bridge too far. I walked around as I picked and presented; most folks were checking or Xing the right terms as announced or shown.

We only did one game which was filling up the whole card (all nine slots) but in hindsight, I should have let one person win with a straight line (horizontal/ vertical), another with a crisscross, and then every square. I think they had fun so if I perhaps I should’ve stretched it. Then there would have been three winners not one. I did not prepare a prize which was also a mistake. No disappointment expressed but it would have made a high-water mark. And though I coached them to say “Bingo”, the student who “won” just said “I win”. And she did as I checked my marks and her card. She won.

I think the primary objective worked. The clothing bazaar (of sorts) followed by the Bingo did reinforce and deepen their knowledge of the types and styles of the clothing of this country and hwo we refer to them. I could see from one class to the next interest and knowledge (they took notes intently). This was useful information and they ate it up. My attempt to wedge in the participle, however, didn’t land and I did that less as we went along. Lesson learned.

My bazaar of sorts at the end of class (PVCC TJACE ESL 3 sub 10/24/2024)