4 in a Row for Adjective Ending Practice

Overheard in my classroom today while doing practice exercises on adjective endings:

• "If I win, I'm going to take this game board home and frame it."

• "I like this game!  I really like this game!"

• "No, we both got it wrong because it's the genitive case..."

• "Nooooooooooooo!"

• "I'm pretty sure I know how to do this because I'm winning."

• "Be a man and write down an answer."

• "We gotta use some strategy here."

Adjective Endings is one of the really difficult grammar topics in German for English speakers.  My third year students were introduced to the topic last year but are reviewing it now.  It's the kind of thing they need to practice, practice, practice, but there are only so many times I can give them a worksheet on it before there's a revolt.

So, today, I suggested to my student teacher that we try Sarah's Four in a Row Review Game (which was inspired by Fawn Nguyen).  It took a little time to explain the process since it was the first time we'd done it, but once students understood how the game worked, they were off and running and having a great time playing and working through challenging practice exercises.  

Any time I can get students excited about practicing adjective endings, it's a win.  Thank you, Sarah, Fawn, and #MTBoS for the idea!  

It went so well in German 3/4 that I'm going to try it tomorrow with German 1 to practice imperatives (commands).  We'll see how it goes with them...

UPDATE: I'm happy to report that the game was a success also in my German 1 classes on a Friday afternoon!  The biggest challenge with German 1 was that some groups finished quite quickly, so I put a second game board on the back of their paper and encouraged them to do a second round.  Also, I had a few partnerships of two very strong students, and no one ever got a question wrong, so it ended in a draw.  They seemed fine with that outcome, though.