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HOW TO PLAY - SENTENCE SCRAMBLE - GAME
RULES
Object
Sentence Scramble is designed to teach the basic
structure of simple English sentences. It is great for use with
elementary school students as well as with International students
learning English as a second language. The object of Sentence
Scramble is to make as many sentences as possible with a set of word
cards. All cards are printed on both sides and are color coded:
orange - nouns, blue - adjectives and articles, yellow -
verbs, purple - adverbs, tan - prepositions, and
green - pronouns.
How To Play
Interactive Group Play - Divide the class into groups of 3 or 4, or
pairs for small classes. Divide the cards among the groups.
It is not necessary that each group get the same words or exact number
of cards. Ask the groups to make as many sentences as they can.
Decide how much time will be allotted to complete one round of play.
Lightning rounds may be played in a little as one minute or a more
leisurely round might take 5 to 10 minutes. Set a timer or note
the time on the clock. A group looking for a word it does not have
may trade with another group or write the word on a blank card.
Not all cards need be used - leftover cards don't count. The group
with the most sentences wins. Or, the teacher may assign points
according to the length of sentences - 10 points for three words, 15
points for 4 words, 20 points if a prepositional phrase is included, and
so on. Teacher checks sentences to make sure they are correct, or
the groups may check each other, with the teacher on hand to settle
arguments. Sentences may be read aloud. Comments and
discussion may follow.
Individual Play - In RSP or other
very small classes, students can be asked to set up sentences on their
own, with or without competition. The game can also be kept handy
for students who have finished their work and need something to do.
The teacher or tutor will need to be on hand to check and explain, or an
advanced student can help out.
Teacher Directed Play -
The teacher can ask the class to do
special exercises such as making commands; questions; noun + verb
phrases; adjective + noun phrases; verb + adverb phrases' sentences
with/without prepositional phrases; sentences using nouns, then
substituting pronouns; joining several sentences into a paragraph.
Using the Sentence Grid -
Divide each color category of the word
cards among the individual or groups playing. Each player or team
will make as many grammatically correct sentences as possible by placing
words on adjoining spaces on the sentence grid. Sentences may read
from left to right, from top to bottom, or from bottom to top, but not
diagonally or from right to left. Words within sentences may
intersect. At the end of play, the teacher will check sentences
and award one point for each word used correctly. The player or
group with the highest number of points at the end of the game wins.
Rules
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Punctuation is ignored. If
punctuation marks are desired they may be made from tagboard of
another color.
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Some words have several grammatical
uses, e.g. stamp can be either a verb or a noun. In
this case, they player may elect to use the word in either way.
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These games are open-ended. You
can add as many words as the students need. Using pencil on
the blanks included in the game will enable students to erase and
use them more than once. You can also use small slips of paper
which are discarded after the game. You may wish to add
another category of words, e.g. past tense of verbs or conjunctions.
Teaching Goals
Basic Sentence Structure: Because the words are color-coded,
students will soon learn how a sentence is put together: nouns (orange)
function as subjects and objects, verbs (yellow) generally come after
the subject, adjectives (blue) go together with nouns, and so on.
Grammatical Function of a Part of Speech: Because of the color
coding, a teacher can easily pick out a group of words (e.g.
prepositional phrases) and show where/how they fit in a sentence.
Vocabulary: The meanings of words can be discussed at any point
during the game. One group of words can be picked out for
discussion, for example, adjectives (blue) to talk about opposites (e.g.
polite / rude).
About the Choice of
Words for this Game
Most of the words come from the
list 850 words known as Basic English; and from The Reading Teacher's
Book of Lists (Fry, Kress, and Fountoukidis, Center for Applied Research
in Education, Prentice-Hall, 1993), a ranked list of the most common
words in English.
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