How to Play the New JUMBLE Kahoot! Game

What a great surprise to find the new game JUMBLE on Kahoot! If you are a language teacher and haven't played Kahoot! yet in class, drop everything and head over there to check it out. It's simply one of the most engaging "clicker" games to review vocabulary, grammar, or cultural items. Every Spanish teacher should be using it. 

Now Kahoot! has just released JUMBLE. In this game, students receive a clue with four answers listed below. Instead of choosing one answer, players reorder the choices. For example, if the clue is "Place these Spanish Holidays in order from first to last during the year" with these four options: El Día de Los Muertos, Los Reyes, El Cinco de Mayo, and La Semana Santa, then the answer would be the following:

Los Reyes, La Semana Santa, El Cinco de Mayo, El Dia de Los Muertos.

This is great way to test for comprehension for TPRS novels or other readings. Order your events in the story and Jumble will mix them up for the game. It's  another great way to provide comprehensible input in a game situation.

I made up a simple Latin America geography quiz for Spanish classes since we are studying Kristy Placido's TPRS novel Noche de Oro and Chris Mercer's TPRS novel Todo Lo Que Brilla which take place in Costa Rica and Ecuador. I broke up the names of places into four separate letter bundles. Students reorder the pieces to spell the name of the place in Central or South America. My students loved it and now it's just a question of eking out enough time to make more of these fun review games. 

If you would like to try the Spanish geography Jumble game on I made up for class just click the image below. Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter below for more helpful teacher tips!   

Click the image above to try out Jumble on Kahoot!

Using Games in the Language Classroom

Games have the power of teaching through fun. When done right, you can have a while class happily using grammar and vocabulary in context without even realizing they are practicing your targeted items. I always feel a bit like the sneaky chef when playing games in class; I'm introducing spinach (the grammar I want them to practice) by hiding it inside a big, delicious smoothie (that's the game). You can take many of your favorite childhood games and turn them into instant language class activities. Scategories, I spy, 20 questions, and more can be used without having to prepare anything beforehand.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite games was Battleship. I took this basic idea and modified it for the language classroom to develop two new games, Exploradores del Mar and Foto-Safari. In these games, students have a search and find board with different animals they have to find using either sonar waves (Exploradores del Mar) or with their camera (Foto-Safari). Voila!  No violence! They use the verbs and subjects provided to search for their opponents animals.  In advanced versions (good for middle school and up) they have to conjugate the verb using the small grammar box provided. In simpler versions, the verbs are already conjugated and they can their practice pronunciation. 

I find that once they start, students can easily spend fifteen to twenty minutes speaking in pairs without using English. Teach them a few game terms like Me Toca, Te Toca, and off they go!  How often can we get our students to speak in the target language for that  long? It's hard but this game gives them the structure and scaffolding they need to do it!

If you would like to give it a try, you can get our free version by clicking here. 

What are your favorite classroom games? 

Thanks and happy teaching!

Drew

Click the image to play Exploradores del Mar!