Transforming Drills into Dynamic Speaking: Games for Authentic Interaction

2846 

Session 

Non-language specific 

English 

Christina Brodell  
Hinsdale Central

Christina Brodell  
Hinsdale Central

Caitlin DeLacey  
Hinsdale Central High School

Even structured pair activities at the novice level rarely provide authentic negotiation of meaning: real-time, spontaneous interaction essential for developing interpersonal communication skills. This session demonstrates how to transform traditional practice activities into FUN, interactive, communicative games that generate authentic language negotiation across proficiency levels. Participants will explore strategies that embed grammar and vocabulary reinforcement within playful competition, creating low-stakes environments where learners take linguistic risks and experiment with language. These game-based activities incorporate cooperative learning principles that build classroom community, lower affective filters, and dramatically increase motivation and engagement. These practical strategies help educators design oral interpersonal communication tasks that maintain target language use while developing the spontaneous negotiation skills learners need for real-world communication.

Participants will be able to transform traditional worksheet activities into communicative games by selecting appropriate game structures, adapting materials for different proficiency levels, and designing activities that require authentic negotiation of meaning in the target language.

Participants will be able to create linguistic support materials that sustain target language use by developing game-specific vocabulary sheets, sentence frames for common interactions, and communication strategies that scaffold spontaneous oral communication.


Participants will be able to adapt participation system that monitor student participation during game-based activities by modeling observation protocols and participation rubrics that track individual accountability and interpersonal communication development.

We will actively engage participants through hands-on game modeling and simulation throughout the presentation. Attendees will experience the games as students would by playing sample activities (such as Heads or Tails, or Rock Paper Scissors adaptations) in the target language (ours are in Spanish), allowing them to feel the level of engagement and authentic communication these games generate. While participants play, we will simultaneously model the accountability systems by circulating with observation tools, tracking participation, and demonstrating how to collect data on student language use in real-time. This dual approach ensures participants not only understand the pedagogical rationale but also leave with embodied experience of both the student perspective and the teacher's role in facilitating and assessing these communicative activities.

Transform worksheets into dynamic games that spark authentic conversation and risk-taking! Discover how playful competition builds community, lowers anxiety, and motivates students to negotiate meaning spontaneously in the language. Learn practical strategies that develop real-world communication skills while keeping learners engaged and speaking.

Secondary

Curriculum and Instruction