Correct-the-mistake Activities

I like to avoid breaking into a student’s speech to make a correction, so I try to use these activities instead when possible.

On the Whiteboard
One way I make corrections is by, hopefully discreetly, taking notes on mistakes I hear and writing examples of them on the board ten minutes before the end of class. I let students read the sentences and try to find the mistake in each, sometimes including correct sentences (and making sure to tell them that) so I’m not just focusing on their mistakes.

Grammar Auction
For this, I type up ten to fifteen sentences, some of which are correct, and “give” pairs of students a lump sum of money. They make corrections on the sentences they think have mistakes, and then decide how much money they will bet on each sentence. If they are right about the correction (or if the sentence was correct to begin with), they “win” the money, if not, they lose it. The team with the highest amount at the end wins.

Tic-tac-toe Correction
Another activity that people strangely seem to love involves tic-tac-toe. I write nine sentences with mistakes on a tic-tac-toe grid on the board, and the class breaks into two teams. They get five minutes to discuss the mistakes in groups. X picks a box and if the team correctly finds and changes the mistake, they win the box and I write an X. If they are wrong, O can try the sentence later. Obviously the first team to get three boxes in a row wins. This basic game can get oddly competitive.

These activities give students an opportunity to think about why something is a mistake on their own at first, which is more valuable to them than me just telling them. We also have time to discuss why, more time than we would if I simply broke into the conversation and told them the correct answer.