My favorite bail out move! A listening game!

In case you don't know what a bail out move is... it's an activity that the teacher can do with little to no prep in case they need to "bail out" of their lesson that isn't working well, or it can be used if you have a few minutes of class left and don't know what to do with it.

My favorite bail out move is a listening game/circumlocution game that I learned from Luke Worthington (who learned it from one of his professors).  It's super easy, requires little prep, and the kids get ALL OF THE INPUT!

1.  Give the students a small sheet of paper.
2. Have them separate it into categories (place, thing, food, animal, clothing, person, etc).  You could cater these categories to what you're trying to focus on in class if you wanted...or not!
3.  Under the category title, the students should write an example for it in L1 or L2 (animal: tiger, person: Ariana Grande, etc).
4. They should cut or tear their paper into small cards that have one category and example on each.
5.  Collect all the little papers.  They don't need to have names on them.


6.  The teacher will describe the item to students in L2 slowly without saying the actual item.
7.  Students must listen to at least 3 clues before guessing.
8.  Students may raise their hands and guess the answer in L1 or L2 (the idea is that they're getting tons of L2 input as you describe each item).
9.  If the student guesses correctly, they get to keep the card.  The student with the most cards wins! (I find making activities competitive can add engagement in many of my classes, but you wouldn't have to make it a competition if you don't want to!)

I've used this game to fill 3-20 minutes in my classes.  I keep the extra cards for the next time I might need them.  Enjoy!  

Tips:
-Tell the kids to pick examples you would know.
-If you don't know the example, just don't use that card.
-Feel free to change any cards to something you do know (I warn my class that I will do this).
-I tell the kids that they may NOT guess their own card as long as they know it's theirs.  Mine have forgotten what they wrote so long ago and many of them write the same thing, so I don't police this too carefully.
-You could have the whole class do this at once if they need more structure by having them all number a paper 1-10, writing their guesses, and then seeing who got them correct at the end.

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