Horse Races

GRAMMAR: Comparative/Superlative     EXAMPLE: Bangkok is the hottest city in the world.     DATE ADDED: 03-23-10 

ÒÓ    éêë    15-30 min.   If you're going to give this activity a low-rating, please post a useful comment to help make it better. SearchJHSActivity

Materials Needed:

• HorseRaces attachments:
  Worksheet
   & HorsePictures

Detailed Explanation:

1. Give each student a worksheet and have them work in pairs. Give each pair some money to bet with (I use $20). Explain that there are four races in this game and each race has three sentences: a, b or c. Some sentences may or may not have mistakes in them and they must find and correct them. Give some examples on the blackboard and tell the students that they can re-write the sentence or mark the mistakes on the actual sentence. Explain that they should then mark the appropriate columns (spelling or grammar) or if the sentence is fine, the ‘Good!’ column. Depending on how much money and how good their English is, they can try to win more money back (see below).
2. Start ‘Race 1’ and allow two minutes for students to check the English. Tell them to mark the appropriate columns, keeping in mind that some sentences may have more than one mistake.
3. Next, the ALT/JTE should collect the amount of money each pair wants to bet. Have them take a note of how much money they use.
4. Check over the answers together and students who were right will win their money back and possibly more! The odds I use are:
   • If they have one sentence correct, they will have 1/1 odds (whatever they bet, they receive back so they break even).
   • If they have two sentences correct, they will have 2/1 odds (they double the amount they bet).
   • If they have all three correct sentences, they will have 3/1 odds (they triple the amount they bet).
5. Continue the other races in the same style.
6. The pair with the most money at the end wins.

Variations:

• For low-level classes, you could use easier English and also use the horse cards instead.
• I've attached a handout of 16 horse pictures which I printed, cut and laminated and then recut and stuck magnets onto the back of them. For my first class, I had the students racing their horses around a track drawn on the blackboard moving along 1, 2 or 3 steps depending on how many correct sentences they managed. However, I also did this with the betting as well and it got too confusing so for the rest of my classes, we just used the money. The JTE felt that students get more excited when they bet with money.
• You can use the game for any kind of English grammar, not just 2nd grade (for example, in 1st grade - I like apples, I is favourite food is curry, etc). Just change to it to suit your needs.

Teaching Suggestions:

• Extend the time limit for checking sentences if the students need more time.

Tips/Cautions:

• This activity doesn't involve much speaking but you could have the students say the correct English sentence or write it up on the blackboard.

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This page was last modified on Friday, June 24, 2011 10:25:36 AM