Classroom Ideas -- Supplement/Review : Baseball

This is a new series of entries within the HandS Korea blog that is designed to help you come up with ideas for the classroom ranging from effective grading, homework assignments, supplementary activities and discipline. If you have any suggestions and/or questions, please leave a comment!

Supplementary activities can be vital, especially if you're ahead in the curriculum or have a particularly bright group of students who tend to move quickly through material. Coming up with those supplementary activities often requires some work and often materials to which you may not have access. Within this entry there a supplement that is educational and requires very few materials as well as very little prep time! Enjoy!

Baseball
Baseball is a review activity, but it can also be used as a way to test your students' retention of things like vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension of texts read. It follows the same format and rules of an actual baseball game.

Materials : A white- or blackboard and dry erase markers or chalk.

Preparation : Choose vocabulary from a past unit, potential test questions, grammar rules and examples, anything related to the topics at hand that have been studied in class.

Before the game : Draw a baseball diamond on the floor and label the bases. Also draw a scoreboard and include the 9 innings (or less depending on how much time you have) as well as a space for strikes and outs. Divide students into 2 teams and allow them 1-2 minutes to select a team name. Otherwise, you can choose silly team names for them, especially for younger ages. The instructor should choose the "batting" line up. Write the line up for each team on the board, so students can remember the order and when it's their turn.

Directions : The students remain in their seats on their respective team's side. The instructor should ask the first student "up to bat" a question. (It might be wise to keep the questions relatively simple the first time through each team's line up and to progressively make the questions more challenging.) It's up to you, the instructor whether or not each student can consult his/her teammates for help. If the student gets the correct answer, then his/her team advances to the next base. (I mark each team's place on the bases with a different color marker or a particular shape.) If the student answers incorrectly, then it is a strike. Either way, after one student has answered, it's the other team's turn. Continue like this as time allows. Every so often I like to throw in a "bonus" question that tends to be a little more difficult and I like to allow the teams to consult each other first for the answer and the first team to raise their hand and respond correctly gets the "bonus". It can be a double, a triple, a home run, a grand slam, depending on the difficulty of the question.

Notes : You might want to consider the dynamic of your class before deciding whether or not to allow students to consult their teammates. Some classes get along well together and don't give each other a hard time. Others...do not. To avoid classroom drams, think about this before you decide to implement this activity. Also, as a reward to the winning team, as opposed to a treat or something of that effect, I like to take away a small portion of the homework (maybe a couple of questions less) for the winning team. Finally, to make this baseball game more authentic and exciting, try to be the umpire as you would see one in a real baseball game. For example when a student gets a home run, in a loud announcer-like voice, call out "Hoooommmme runnnn!" Try not to focus on the negatives like "Strike" and "You're out."

* Did you try this activity and it turned out to be a success? Please tell us! Also, if you have any pointers or tips to make it better, let us know this as well!