The+Lottery+Game

THE LOTTERY GAME One of the various resources I will bring with me to my classrooms will be what my Mentor Teacher calls "The Lottery Game". She uses this game to make attendance less boring, and more interactive. We all remember how taking attendance can be tedious, particularly for big groups, and how students keep on talking and distracting us. I can still remember the threats (YES!!) my homeroom teachers used against us, when doing attendance since chatty as we were, we kept on talking while he was painstakingly going over the attendance list of 40 names. So, I have seen my Mentor Teacher using this strategy quite effectively. I will explain the game first, then try to explain its effectiveness. The Lottery Game - Before starting the roll call, the teacher gives the students the topic of the day - this topic could be as general os as specific as one wants it to be. Then, as she calls each name, the students respond with the answer to her topic question, and do not merely grumble a "here!" as we often hear. At the end of the exercise, the teacher randomly asks the class what a particular student shared. The person who comes up with the correct answer wins the lottery and can leave class to go to the office with the attendance sheet. The topics can be - Your date of birth, favorite sport, music, food etc...

The reasons for which I like this activity and will try this in my classrooms are: 1. No time is lost during this less-than-pleasant but compulsory part of every class. 2.This activity allows for interaction in a rather pleasant way, in a real context and keeps the noise level down. 3.Teachers can use this to know who their students are - what are their music preferences for example 4. I have seen this activity as a great way to do a quick brainstorming as a diagnostic assessment on a new topic or unit to be introduced in the lesson. (In a very short time teachers can see what students know, how much they know etc) 5. particularly in French, students need a warm-up or transition before they can actually tackle a lesson in French. So, the Lottery game can be a "cool" way to have students start thinking in French, and expressing themselves in this language. As an example - this exercise can be used to do a quick review on vocabulary, or even verb congugations. 6. Last, but not least, students are trained to be active listeners - they have a purpose while listening and in the long run, this activity can help them become better listeners.

There are a few things we need to consider while using this Lottery Game - we should not expect it to work effectively on the very day we introduce it to students. They will need to understand the gist of it, so that they can enjoy and appreciate it. Also, instead of the teacher selecting the topic/questions everyday, students can be invited to come up with their questions too. In this way, they will be more involved, and will develop a sense of ownership, where they will conduct the game, and play it themselves, while learning something, and avoiding the boring "here" when their names are called. Kusum