Using Jeopardy in teaching

Hi everyone!

I am at work right now, and just completed writing up the following activity for possible submission in our ELCA Asia ESL network newsletter. I thought I would post it on the blog because it would give you some more insight into our ESL teaching. Using Jeopardy-style games in a language classroom is not an innovative idea, both Ryan and I have played similar games for review before an exam, but this worked extremely well for us and so I wanted to share it with others.

ESOL class Jeopardy:

Many of you may be familiar with the American game show, Jeopardy, and perhaps you have played an adapted version as a review game in school. We hope this activity might be helpful for you in your ESOL teaching, if you haven't already discovered the joys of Jeopardy!

We played “Jeopardy” in our ESOL classes this semester instead of having a traditional mid-term examination. The students responded extremely well. They enjoyed being able to work in groups and teach each other, and we were impressed with how the students made sure their whole team was following and understanding both the questions and the answers, with the result being that the teachers didn't have to explain anything beyond the game's instructions! It was fantastic to see. Our classes also felt that they learned and benefited from this activity, and it worked surprisingly well with the different levels and cultures of our context.

Categories and Language Functions :Listening/ Speaking/ Group work/ Review game/ Exam option

Level: All levels possible (vary the questions and categories as appropriate for your class context and mixed level groups or “teams” are also possible in a class with a wide range of English language abilities)

Time: Variable, depending on the number of categories and how strict you are about the response time from the teams, but allow for approximately 60 minutes or more if you have longer class periods (it may take longer than you expect!)

Materials: A blackboard/white-board and writing tools (multiple colors are helpful to create the game show ambiance). The class should all be able to see the categories and point options available to them.

Before Class: The teacher must prepare “Jeopardy” style categories with appropriate questions from the course material covered in class and in the reading/homework. Some category examples might be grammar you have covered together, or reading comprehension, or you may also be more specific, focusing entirely on verb conjugation in one category, for example. We had five categories with five questions in each category, varying from more simple questions (for 100 points) up to more complicated questions (worth 500 points), with the points increasing by 100 with each increasingly more difficult question.

Coming up with fair and manageable questions and assigning their varying level of difficulty, and thus worth, was the most challenging part of the preparation work. After you have done that, it gets really fun!

If possible, draw the “game show” grid on the blackboard before class, listing the category at the top and the points (ex: 100-500) in each square. Otherwise, do it as soon as possible when class begins.

In Class:
Divide the class into a few small groups or “teams” (you can decide if it would better if you form teams of varying levels beforehand or if it is appropriate to have teams formed at random on the day).

Ask the students for them to chose a name for their team (we had different Biblical heroes!) and write them on the board next to where you will be keeping track of their scores.
Explain the game to the class.

Playing the game: One team will start and they may select a category and a question, for example, “Verb Conjugation for 200 points.” The teacher will be the game show host, and will read the corresponding question to the team and the class. The team can deliberate together, quietly, and then give their answer (you can decide if you want a strict time limit for their response). If they give the correct answer, then they get the points, and another team continues in the same manner. If the first team does not get the answer correct, then the next team in order has an opportunity to give the answer and receive those points. However, if they also do not get the answer then it would go on to the third team. (Different from the TV version, each team only has the chance to chose and answer one question at a time, even if they give the correct response.) Continue playing, going in rounds, until all questions have been asked (If every team gives the incorrect answer then no team gets the corresponding points, and you continue where you left off).

Note: We gave students time to explain the questions and answers to others on their team who were struggling with comprehension or did not have mastery of the material. We tried to make the questions fair, and wrote them in basic English, however, a few students have much lower levels than the rest of the class. Our students were very happy to share with their classmates.
Evaluation: Although not appropriate for every class or context, we did not carefully evaluate individual students during this activity. We told our class that what was important was their coming to class and participating to the best of their abilities, however, we did ask them to review for this game and to be prepared to answer questions based on all the material we had covered thus far in the term.

We are fortunate as teachers because we know where all of our students are in terms of their levels and their learning pace, thanks to small class sizes, regular in class or homework assignments, weekly small conversation groups, and our close knit seminary community. Thus, we can easily monitor our students' progress, so we don't need traditional individual evaluation methods to the same extent.

Variations: This game can also be used as an excellent review activity for a situation where individual exams are expected or more appropriate. The categories and questions can always be rewritten, so the game has endless possibilities! As long as everyone is learning and having some fun!

We hope you enjoy!

Katrina and Ryan