Ordering FCs

 Ordering FCs

This game works in the same way as Connect but it is also good for practising ordinal numbers.

The teacher writes on the whiteboard:

Whiteboard

First __________

Second __________

Third __________

Fourth __________

Fifth __________

The teacher shows the students the [six] FCs that they have to choose from. Let us say for example that the FCs are for languages: Spanish, English, Chinese, German, French, and Cantonese.

The teacher has noted down the secret order on the lesson plan (or on a scrap piece of paper). The students have to guess this order.

The teacher twirls a marker pen on the classroom floor and it lands pointing to team A. The teacher rolls a dice to randomly select which student should guess first. It lands on a five. …

“What’s the first language?” the teacher asks the #5s from team A.

The student takes a guess: “The first language is English,” they say.

“Good, but it’s not right,” replies the teacher. Attention is switched to the team B students; the dice is rolled again and it lands on a three.

“What’s the first language?” the teacher asks of the #3s from team B.

“The first language is Spanish,” says the #3s.

“Wow! Good guess,” replies the teacher. “A hundred points to team B!”

The teacher sticks the ‘Spanish’ FC on the whiteboard in the appropriate place before switching attention to the team A students once again. “Now, to win seventy points, which is the second language?” they ask. The dice is rolled; it lands on a two, so the #2s is next to take a guess.

“The second language is ...”

Because the first FC is more difficult to guess (a one in six chance) than the fifth FC (a fifty-fifty chance) I usually offer progressively less points as I go on (as in the above example where the teacher awards a hundred points for guessing the first FC and seventy points for the second FC). You can experiment with the amount of points you award, it all depends on a class’s reaction to the game.

Ordering FCs can of course be used for all kinds of FCs. The first animal is … The first fruit is … The first flashcard is. ...

Ordinal numbers are easily forgotten by students so they can never get enough practice. By playing this game regularly you have a great opportunity to remind them of how to say first, second, third, etc., while at the same time reviewing new FC vocabulary.