I can’t believe that the semester is almost over and final exams are right around the corner!  It feels like I was just teaching “Comment t’appelles-tu ?” to my wide-eyed little Freshmen.  With final exams comes the dreaded review.  I, for one, hate reviewing.  I don’t do it when the year starts and I don’t do it for exams.  What I do do, however, is try to get them thinking about what we have been learning to remind them of what they should study.  Circle of Knowledge is one activity I do that helps accomplish this.

Circle of Knowledge Directions

Materials needed:  I use large, square whiteboards (approx 2′ x 2′).  You could also use butcher paper or individual white boards if you don’t have large ones.

• Put students in groups of 4.  I prefer mixed ability groups for this activity.  Each student is seated around the white board.  I ask each group to come up with a team name and write it in the center of their board.
• I announce a category that we have studied this semester. At the same time, all teams and team members begin to write responses (words related to that category) on their section of board.
• No talking while answers are being written, unless a student gets stuck. At that point, the team members can help by using the target language to try and help others in the group come up with an answer.
• After 2 minutes of writing, time is called.
• Each group looks over their answers and erases any repeated words.
• Finally, one person from each group will give their answers orally from the words listed on the group board.  This way I determine if the word is correct for each category.  I give a point for each correct word.
• Repeat all the above steps with new categories.
• The group with the most correct responses after all the rounds wins!

Examples of categories:

• School supplies, school subjects, family members, personality/physical descriptions, questions you can ask your partner about him/herself, places in the city, what you like to do, what you eat,  what you do to stay healthy, what you do when you are sick, rooms of the house, furniture in the home, what you did last weekend, what you do for fun, professions, etc.

Fun, easy, very low-prep way to review vocabulary!