Stop the Hand: An Ecuadorian Children´s Game

Student Age: Every student

Target: Practicing Vocabulary

Materials Needed: Pieces of paper, a timer, pens and pencils

Number of Students: Any number of students

Lesson:

Do you know the game of Scattergories? “Parame la mano” (Stop my hand) is a game played in Ecuador that is very similar to Scattergories and it is meant to help students, especially younger students, practice vocabulary in their native language. However, it is a great tool for practicing vocabulary in their second language, as well, and it´s fun overall! Here´s how to play:

  1. First, choose up to 5 different categories that your students are currently learning. If you know Scattergories, you can choose some of those subjects. Otherwise, you can choose major subjects that the students are learning at the moment. Some good examples could be: girl´s names, last names, countries, nationalities, languages, etc. You can also use more difficult and abstract categories if your students are a bit more advanced (i.e., good guys in movies, bad guys in movies, things or places that are cold, things that you can find on a menu, etc.)
  2. Write out all the letters of the alphabet onto small pieces of paper and have a student choose the letter. All the items that the students write down in each category must start with that same letter, and some may be more difficult than others (Q, for example, is surprisingly difficult!!)
  3. You set the time for the students. When I played this, we started with 2 minutes on the clock for each round that we did and we changed categories every round to mix it up and to give the students more opportunities to practice what they were doing. Towards the end, I offered a small prize to my students (a small box of chocolates to whomever had both “good” answers and who could answer the most categories), however, during this time the students only had 1 minute to answer all five subjects. If you don´t want to set the time, you can also ask that the first student who finishes can start by saying “Stop 1, Stop 2, Stop 3, Stop 4, Stop 5.” By the time the student says “Stop 5”, all students must stop writing. (This is how the game is typically played in Ecuador, in Spanish…”Parame la manouno, parame la mano dos…etc.”
  4. You can set the rules, too. We used similar rules to Scattergories when I played this with my students. No copying, no repeating places. The original game of Parame la mano says that each correct answer that is unique earns 100 points, but each repeated answer only earns 50 points, and the other members of the game can decide if your answer is good or not for that category, so that way it is fair to everyone. You can also have the students read their answers out loud to practice their pronunciation of new vocabulary words (plus, it´s fun to see what all the students have come up with for their answers!)