Spelling: simple idea

This very simple game provided literally hours of productive
fun. The drawbacks are that you must know the students first
language and in bigger classes it would not work (I used it on classes of 4-5), but it is
well worth the effort to try it.
Bring in every 2-3 letter of the alphabet (I started by putting
them big colored sheets of paper-- these were kids-- but by
the time I lost some letters/they got bent and it was time for new ones they didn't
care about the gimmick and I did it more efficiently on small
pieces of paper)
2) write known words (or new words from the lesson) on the
board in the students language on the board
3) The students spell out the word
That's it!
There are many simple twists to this game as well
1) For colors they had to spell them and put the letters near something that was red,
green, ect.
2) Ask a student to name any word in English and then they
spell it.
3) learn the alphabet by spelling the words letter by letter
4) Ask questions "What month/day/season is it?" "What is Maria's favorite animal?"
and they spell the answer.
It was an absolute Godsend! Whole 75 minute classes (with 11-12 year olds--
a hard age to entertain) flew by so fast we would all say
"It's over ALREADY??"

Kelly Horgan