Papelitos

Roberto Acuña, Mexico

Roberto Acuña, better known as Polo, has been an undergraduate and high school ESL teacher at the Tec of Monterrey in Zacatecas, Mexico for more than 13 years. He is also the pastor of Corazón de Dios Missionary Baptist Church.

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Background
Objectives
Materials needed
Description of the activity

Background

This is an activity that I have been using with my classes for many years. You could say that it is an old favorite that I try to make sure and use with many of the groups that I have had over the years.

Objectives

Making questions with ‘how much’ and ‘how many’. Distinguishing between countable and uncountable nouns

Materials needed

1. Four small slips of paper for each student
2. A container to hold the paper to be drawn from

Description of the activity

1. Divide the class into two teams
2. Give each student four small slips of paper
3. Each student will write the answer to questions which ask HOW MUCH or HOW MANY (Ex: There are 20 students in the class., It rained a lot last night. There is little light in the room., There were 60 questions on the test.)
4. Students should fold complete answers and put them in the container.
5. One student from each team passes to the front of the room.
6. The student from team A will choose a paper and read the answer.
7. The student from team B will try to form the correct question.
8. If the student from team B gets the correct question the team receives 2 points.
9. If the student from team B does not get the correct question, he/she may receive help from the team.
10. The students can keep guessing until he gets the correct question or one minute is up.
11. If the student gets the correct question with help from his/her team, the team receives 1 point.
12. The total time per team is one minute. After each correct question, the student from team B will draw another answer and read it aloud. This process continues as many times as is possible in one minute.
13. When the minute is up, the teams (same players) switch roles. Team A reads the answers and Team B guesses the questions.
14. After both players have read and guessed, a different member from each team passes to the front to repeat the process.
15. The game continues until there are no more papers.
16. In all cases, the teacher determines if the student has come up with a correct question.

Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.