Making Grammar Practice and Homework Meaningful
July 14, 2007
Kari Miller, Academic Coordinator
Using the workbook in class/Correcting answers:
1.Tic Tac Toe: Play Tic Tac Toe with the answers. Before class, assign some of the answers to the homework/workbook a number 1-9. Put a Tic Tac Toe board on the board and play by teams. Teams take turns choosing a number from the Tic Tac Toe board and, if their answer is correct, they get an X or O. If a team misses the answer, the other team gets a chance to “steal” it.
2. For correcting dialogs:
a. Mime and speak: Send two volunteers to the front of the room. Have two other students read the dialog. As they read, have the two at front mime the actions in the dialog.
b. Put students into groups and have them practice the dialog, then perform it for the class. As groups perform their dialogs, the rest of the class listens for the answers. Afterwards, the class gets to discuss/debate the correctness of the answers.
3. Correction groups:
a. Pass out a handout with the answers to a section of the homework. Ask groups to correct their exercises and discuss answers they have wrong.
b. Divide the exercises needing correction into two groups. Divide the class likewise. Assign each group a section of the exercises and ask them to exchange their homework with the other group. Have each group grade the other group’s exercises. Discuss answers as a class afterwards.
4. Correction cards: When students arrive in class, distribute notecards or small sheets of paper and have them record their answers to their homework assignment. (If it is a lengthy assignment, you might choose specific questions for them to record.) Allow just enough time for this copying and collect the cards. Now go over the homework as usual. Students can correct their own work and keep the feedback immediately, while the teacher can go back later and correct the homework at his/her own leisure. (
5. Give students a choice for homework. Instead of sending the entire class the same assignment, tell students to choose the assignment they would prefer to do. For the correction, put groups that chose the same activity together and check their answers.
6. Homework game: Make correction more student-centered. Start with one student, who gives the answer to one exercise. This student, if correct, gets to choose someone to give the next answer, and this person in turn would choose the next person. If the student is incorrect, the first student with the correct answer gets to choose the next person to answer. Variation: play this in games, having teams take turns answering questions. Assign points for correct answers. Take away points for incorrect answers or for students who have not completed the assignment.
7. Survey: In exercises with questions or opinions, instead of having students give their own opinion/personal answer/point of view, have them survey other students in the class.
8. Info gap: Pass out 1 of the exercise answers to every student. In order to correct the entire assignment, students must walk around and check their answers with the people who hold the correct answer in class.