When-Who-What-Where? is a four-tiered 'flip and produce a sentence' game designed to reinforce basic word order in simple statements across a range of tenses. It also practices pronoun usage and application of direct and indirect objects. The format reflects a traffic light pattern: students begin by fliping over a 'When?' card. which is red and signifies 'stop and think' (about the time being referred to and what how the verb will need to be structured later in the utterance). A 'Who?' card is then selected and placed next to the overturned red card. This card is yellow and signifies 'wait...' (and see who is performing the action, also affecting application of the verb). The final 'What?/Where?' is turned over to complete the sentence, being green and signifying 'go!' (ahead and say what is being done and where it is being done). The three cards will give students all of the vocabulary and pointers to create a grammatically correct sentence - for example 'On Tuesday she goes to school' or 'Tomorrow they will watch TV in the living room'. However, the green 'What?/Where?' cards can be interpreted in a variety of ways, and there are no precise answers for the random combinations possible. This game encourages a focus on form and structural processing through a challenging puzzle format, and can also be used as random pieces for sentence building/writing. It tends to be difficult for students at first, but with regular application it can create a lot more automaticity in their production. Whether or not your students are 'up to' past and future tense' study, the game creates a great introduction for them to learn how to adapt their sentences to make them grammatically correct according to tense and subject-verb agreement. My young learners love it!
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Downloads:
Free Sample Download (.pdf)
[15 cards featuring I/you/he/she/they and present simple, present continuous, past simple and future tenses]
Free Reference Chart (.pdf)
[A handy chart giving examples of how to apply sentences across the various tenses in combination with different pronouns and adverbs of time]
English Raven
Members Only Download
[All 135 cards in the set, a massive range of possible combinations and the assurance that each game should be 'fresh']
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