Chain Game - Links for Fast Finishers

When I was younger I often kept myself amused with a pen and a piece of paper.

I would select two words composed of the same number of letters and see how quickly I could transform them from one to the other.

To make it more fun normally the words would be opposite, or funny. For example, "How many steps does it take to get from wheat-bread?"

wheat--cheat-cheap-cheep-creep-creed-breed-bread

As you can see, the rules are simple. You change one letter of the word, but it has to create a word. 

I can change wheat-cheat, but not wheat-wheap.

I don't remember how I learned this, but in high school I found out it was actually a word puzzle invented by Lewis Carroll!

You can download his original writing, Doublets A Word Puzzle by Lewis Carroll for free. I don't follow the exact rules, but it is an interesting read and it has lots of examples you can use.

I rarely use this activity as an "assignment" but I do introduce and use it for fast finishers.

Can you spot the error in this graphic? Keep reading to see what I'd do

At the start of the year we go over how to play. From then on every week I write two new words at the top of the board. If at any point in the week students finish early they can attempt to connect the words in the fewest words possible.

For example, I may write: Cat-Dog

One student may submit: Cat-Hat-Hot-Dot-Dog 5 links

And another student submits Cat-Cot-Dot-Dog 4 links

The "winner" is the person who completes it with the fewest changes. In this case the second person wins.

To add a vocabulary aspect, I have the students define and write a sentence with each word. Their submission is not valid if it includes a non word, or a fake definition. (update: 6/12) I am relatively lenient with the definition. As you can see in the example above, the student defined bare incorrectly.

Bare should mean naked or uncovered. They mixed it up with bear to carry or hold. However, the sentence could be seen as correct: the right to "naked" or not-immensely altered weapons. Most importantly to me, it is an "academic" sentence that means they probably paid attention in a Social Studies class (where one of the teachers at my school discusses how some people argue that people should have the right to bare weapons, but not AK47s). As a result, I would probably leave a short note here, but not disqualify them. However, you can be as strict as you need to be. Many teachers would not allow that word to pass leave a note about homophones and declare the winner a different student.Which hopefully means student one will have learned a valuable distinction! 

Whenever a student finishes their work early they can tinker with their word chain to see if they can cut a step out or try a different approach to get a smaller number.

Here's a copy of the worksheet in case you'd like to use this with your class. This is free for the next 5 days! After June 15th, the price will be adjusted.

Mad Gab (A perfect game for pronunciation practice)

Have you ever seen a game and thought, "This was MADE for my classroom." If you teach pronunciation in your classroom this game is PERFECT for you!

What's the premise of the game?

1. The game is basically a collection of 1,200 "puzzles" that you try to get your teammates to guess.
2. One person will read the puzzle. For example, "Bail heed ant sir."
3. Their teammates will try to figure out what is really being said.

This is a GREAT game for all the different types of blended speech. When we say, "Bail heed ant sir" we usually end up saying something like, "Bellee dants ir" which sounds an awful lot like, "Belly Dancer!"

Here's a commercial with another example:


The goal is to solve three puzzles before time runs out! With my students we normally play a simpler version where they get 1 minute. In that minute they have to try to guess as many as they can. Then it is the next team's turn.

Now, there is a website  where you can access similar puzzles for free; however, I think buying the game is worth it because it comes with this handy card holdy flippy thing (I know that's an awful description), and I think that students realizing they are playing a real game (not just one designed for English language learners) is helpful to their self esteem.

If you read the actual directions (and I always do) they include the role of the coach. I encourage this! The coach knows the answer and tries to guide the guessers by giving them pronunciation advice such as, "Put more emphasis on the first syllable," or "Speak faster!" The coach needs to be at a high-ish English level, so the teacher is an easy fit. However, many students can do it as well.

Now, I think buying the full size game is worth it; however, if the price is too high (normally over $20), you have other options. They also have a travel version for UNDER $5! It is only 240 puzzles, but a great start for your class.

I'll end with this older Tweet from Mattel

Try saying this Mad Gab three times fast and slow then post the answer below! “Nosed Ring Sat Hatched.”
— Mattel Game On! (@MattelGameOn) April 3, 2014

What do you think, "Nosed Ring Sat Hatched" is really trying to say? Post in the comments and I'll let you know if you are right!