[mesmark]

Quote little sage

3) Have one team sit down and close their eyes, or face the wall.

I totally missed step 3 the first time I read through this. It makes so much more sense now. I'm glad this was dug up again.

[Manuela]

Hi Karen.
Nice to see (read you back! I played it the way you do, I said FREEZE and then let the students turn around. I just didn't have to pay close attention to their peeping or not since I let the other group see a flashcard.
The rubber ball sounds silly I know. However, it is a very successful tool in getting each and every student to say something during class. For some reason which I can't explain (i have never been a fan of ball games) students seem to enjoy catching the ball and saying whatever they are supposed to practise saying. I have a collection of small balls, one looking like a hedgehog, one a funny little smiling face (five cms in diameter), another one that opens up and becomes 5 times its original size when you throw it. I find that the moment you
ask a question and throw the ball an electic current goes through the class and everybody is eager to take a turn. With my 8-10 year olds I do this at the beginning of each class to revise things we have learnt to say so far.eg. "Where do you live?" . The first student answers and throws the ball to a student of his choice and repeats the question. When I think they have had enough practice with that I clap my hands and I get the ball back and start a new question thread.
The rubber ball can very well be replaced by a a crumpled piece of paper.
Happy teaching.
Manuela

[nshubin]

I really like the game and I 'll use it, but doesn't it drill "They have been doing smth", rather than "They were doing smth"? My students are so picky!

[Manuela]

From what I know the present perfect continuous has two meanings:
1. An action that started in the past which is still continuing at the moment
e.g. It's 12 o'clock. They have been sleeping for 15 hours. Should I wake them up?
2. When an action has stopped but its results are obvious.
e.g. He's exhausted because he's been working in the garden.
Look the streets are wet. It has been raining.

Past Continuous we use when we know exactly the moment when something was happening in the past.
e.g. What were you doing yesterday at noon?
Time can be established by the occurence of another action.
What were you doing when the phone rang.

In the FREEZE game time is implied. i.e. What were they doing when I said FREEZE?I don't think that any of the uses of the present perfect continuous applies here.
Only if you consider that the positions of the players are obvioius results of what they had been doing. But is a frozen position an obvioius result of an action? I wonder.

Do you still feel that the game practises the PPC? If you do , you have found a perfect game to practise that!

[little sage]

Hi,

I think it could be used to teach the Past Perfect Continuous, because there are some (weird) present results, and because the time the action stopped is so close to the present.

I can imagine, say, me washing the floors and my husband walking in. When he walks in, I stop washing the floor, I pause.

He could say:
1) What were you (just) doing? PC

2) What have you been doing? PPC

or, if the cloth is still in my hand and I'm obviously not done the action:

3) What are you doing? PrC

I think, though I'm no expert, all three would be correct but show slightly different perceptions about the situation: 1) the action is finished, had duration, was interrupted 2) gee, the room is clean now / why is she holding a dirty cloth? 3) the action is not finished

If your (very perceptive) students are really picky, then make a sign saying "Yesterday at 4:00" and have the acting students stand by that when they mime the actions. Then PC usage is more clear.

Hope this helps,
Karen

[daviidwilson]

Quote Manuela

From what I know the present perfect continuous has two meanings:
1. An action that started in the past which is still continuing at the moment
e.g. It's 12 o'clock. They have been sleeping for 15 hours. Should I wake them up?
2. When an action has stopped but its results are obvious.
e.g. He's exhausted because he's been working in the garden.
Look the streets are wet. It has been raining.

Past Continuous we use when we know exactly the moment when something was happening in the past.
e.g. What were you doing yesterday at noon?
Time can be established by the occurence of another action.
What were you doing when the phone rang.

In the FREEZE game time is implied. i.e. What were they doing when I said FREEZE?I don't think that any of the uses of the present perfect continuous applies here.
Only if you consider that the positions of the players are obvioius results of what they had been doing. But is a frozen position an obvioius result of an action? I wonder.

Do you still feel that the game practises the PPC? If you do , you have found a perfect game to practise that!

I think it could be used to teach the Past Perfect Continuous, because there are some (weird) present results, and because the time the action stopped is so close to the present.

I can imagine, say, me washing the floors and my husband walking in. When he walks in, I stop washing the floor, I pause.


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