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Turn a common activity on its’ head-
after introducing and then Listening and Repeating a set of flash cards to a class, next have the whole class say the word on the flashcard before you do (or, Repeat After Them).
Doing this is a user-friendly test for the students, because no student is being singled out to show if they know the word or not. Yet for those who don’t know the word, they get needed input from their classmates, and then from the teacher. And for those students who know the word, the teacher saying the word again afterward is also an effective way for students to double-check their own pronunciation.
Just a simple twist, but my students responded very well to it!

www.EigoNoto.com copyright 2010 Elton Ersch


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There are no formal tests in the Eigo Noto classes, but there are times when checking students' work is necessary.

After doing a listening activity in the Eigo Noto workbook is an example. Here is a simple way for students to check their own answers.

Simply asking the students to check their answer with their seat partners before listening to the CD again and/or checking the answers with the whole class accomplishes many goals:

• Students are self-directed. Successful language learners, or any learner for that matter, display an ability to learn independently.
• Students check their answers in a (usually) non-threatening atmosphere, reducing their anxiety about testing. Keeping the anxiety level low in the Eigo Noto classes is paramount in achieving the goal of preventing students from learning to not like English.
• Paired students get an opportunity to communicate together in their native language. One of my HRTs today said her students need practice in this skill. The Eigo Noto lessons are not only about communicating in a foreign language, but also about improving the students' ability to communicate in their own language.
• Higher level students get a chance to teach what they know; lower level students get a chance for peer-level error correction. This is actually one of the great advantages of the mixed-ability classroom; use it to your advantage with group work.

Accuracy checking, or testing, is something that is done explicitly or implicitly in almost every class.  It can focus on either comprehension or productive ability.  Listed below are methods and activities that test these abilities in ways that try to minimize students’ affective response.  By minimizing student stress in the classroom, we help to maximize student motivation.

There are many ways students can demonstrate comprehension in the Eigo Noto lessons. They don't have to respond in English to show they understand.
Some ways you can know students understand:

• Students point to pictures in a textbook when you call out the English word or phrase
• Students respond in Japanese
• Students respond with body language or gestures
• Play Karuta with cards in pictures or Japanese

Ohajiki is another game from the Eigo Noto activities. It looks like a blend of Karuta and Bingo...
Each student has several words, pictures, letters, numbers, etc. in front of them (on a page in the textbook, for example). Or the students or teacher can make a print similar to Pair Karuta.
To begin, each student places a small cover over a set number of the words/pictures (five). As the teacher calls out the word, students can take the cover off the word (if they have covered it). The first student to remove all of their covers wins.
Instead of calling out a single word, the word (or letter or number...) can be included in a sentence, Q&A, or short dialog.
Time: about 10 minutes (with 5 words covered)
Suggestion: Students don't have a ready set of things to use to cover the words or pictures in their pencil case, so I cut paper into strips about 1 cm X 7-8 cm. The students can use these to tear into 5 pieces and use.

The O/X Game is a very powerful classroom activity- In one activity students participate in all of the categories of activities on The Minimalist ALT. It is also very flexible, making it useful for almost any language pattern. Learn to use it well!

Karuta is a classic Japanese school game. A set of cards is spread face up on the desk, and when a clue is called out, students try to be the first to take the matching card.
In this simplified version, there are no prepared cards. Instead, a pair of students is given a blank piece of paper.

CROSSFIRE

With the classroom set up with the desks in 6 rows facing forward, choose one row -either front-to-back or side-to-side- to stand and respond. After the teacher says a sentence or asks a question, the student with the first hand up can respond. If the response is correct, this student may sit down (if incorrect, the student remains standing, and the next fastest student may respond). This pattern continues until there is one original student standing in the line. At this time, the line of students ninety-degrees opposed to the original line and containing the last standing student, stand and become the responders.

Continue play until the students sufficiently understand the correct patterns for responding to be able to continue to the next activity.

LINEFIRE

With the classroom set up with the desks in 6 rows facing forward, choose one row to stand (I usually roll a single die/dice to choose one row, counting from left to right). This row stands, and in order (front-to-back or back -to-front) each student in turns responds. If the response is correct, the student sits down; if not, the student remains standing, and the chance to respond moves to the next. When all students have responded correctly and sat down, the student who answered incorrectly is given another chance. 

Choose another row to stand and continue as above.

Asking an individual student to translate your spoken or written English word or structure into Japanese can be an effective way to test comprehension of meaning and to reinforce it for the entire class. It also follows the good teaching practice of not telling an answer, but rather challenging the students to elicit it.
Beware, though, that this is a test. The student's answer will be either correct or not. And all of the other students are watching and listening. This raises the answering student's affective filter and anxiety level.
To lessen the anxiety, I usually ask the whole class to first chorally give me the translation, giving everyone the challenge. Then after this, I ask for a volunteer, or choose one by rolling the dice, to tell me the correct translation. Asking for a volunteer or choosing a volunteer by dice, rather than choosing one yourself, lessens more the stress on the lone answering student.

This is a simple twist on the Find 3 People activity that makes it into a testing activity. Simply require that students who have found their 3 people come to the teacher and perform the Q & A with the teacher before sitting down (and to perhaps receive points).