Linda Li used Sabrina’s Two Truths and a Lie today. I observed one of the classes. She first modeled the activity, using a power point slide show, saying that she:
- Met the Dali Lama (who was in Delhi)
- Ate a lot of pizza
- Went to the hospital
The kids asked a lot of questions, drawing heavily from the question words on the walls. (Linda has 55 posters on her classroom walls.) Finally they figured out that she was lying about meeting the Dali Lama.
Then she said: Now you are going to write two things you did this weekend and one thing that is a lie. You can use these verbs – use different verbs in each of your three statements:
saw, went, ate, bought, studied, slept, drank
The kids then wrote their sentences in their notebooks. The rest of the period was spent with the kids in front of the class trying to fool the class.
Linda was inspired by a Michael Coxon post on Facebook. She decided to try it with her beginning students and was very happy when the activity worked so well with 6th grade foundational students with only one month of Mandarin under their belts.
The output is INSANE. It’s insane. And none of it is forced. That’s why it is insane. One thing is certain about what is going on here right now – the kids have absolutely zero awareness of the language they are using to communicate with each other. They are just communicating. It’s unbelievable to see this.
Here are more comments (from other posts) on this activity:
- Annemarie Orth saysDecember 3, 2019 at 4:56 AM (Edit)This is a great activity-it rarely fails (if students are ready for it) and students like writing on index cards (and I like using the physical cards.)Another reminder that I’m trying too hard.I had to look up what WBYT meant…then I read that post. For someone that moves too fast all the time, I am reminded that my students need me to slow down more than I want to. When I first started teaching in a classroom 15 years ago, I felt that I couldn’t have any moments of quiet, that I had to fill every single minute. I realize that I still feel that need. It’s hard work for me to slow down to the pace my class needs.My Spanish 1 class this year especially needs me to go more slowly. They come in and they are so wound up that I’ve been starting class with a minute and a half of silence. Then I breathe deeply with my bouncy student so that he sees me do it and also breathes deeply. It’s like teaching middle school again.Reply
- Carly saysDecember 3, 2019 at 11:40 AM (Edit)There is a lot of wealth disparity in my school. Some students go on amazing vacations and some are barely getting a holiday meal. Any advice for modifying the activity to make it better for students who really didn’t get to do anything fun over break? Maybe two lies and one truth?Reply
- becker saysDecember 3, 2019 at 1:51 PM (Edit)I have done that before, and it has worked marvelously. Usually I’ll notice a kid stuck on their card, having written only one thing, and when I ask them how I can help they say they don’t know what to write. Then I tell them to make up two things (or three!), and tell them that they’re my secret weapon and to make the lies ridiculous. Then, when interest starts to wane I can use their ridiculous card to close the activity and make it memorable because it was so tricky.I did this activity on Ben’s advice (literally scrapped all of the other plans I hadn’t planned because planning is a waste of my time), and it worked really well for all of my classes, keeping their interest for basically an entire 40-50 minute block. Bear in mind that these are elementary (3-5th) grade students not used to sustaining focus, but since it was about them they were willing to play them game.Reply
- ANNEMARIE ORTH saysDecember 4, 2019 at 7:56 AM (Edit)Sometimes I have students just make up one thing they did (and I read it), and everyone else has to guess who made it up, based on what they know about that student. I, too, work at a school with more than half students on free/reduced lunch, so most students work over break and/or watch Netflix/You Tube.