Description:The Flashcard Game facilitates mastery of English words, phrases, and rules. Students need flashcards to play. If no flashcards exist for the content, students can easily make their own. The flashcards can take many different forms, depending on the content to be learned. For vocabulary words, one side of the flashcard has a picture and the answer is on the back. For grammar, the card can have future tense on one side and past tense on the other side. Once the cards are made up, students proceed through three rounds in pairs to memorize the content. In Round 1, the “Tutor” shows and reads the front and back of the flashcard. Then, the “Tutor” shows the front of the card and the “Tutee” gives the answer for the back. If the “Tutee” answers correctly, the “Tutor” offers a praiser and gives the “Tutee” the card. If the “Tutee” answers incorrectly, he or she does not win the flashcard. The “Tutor” offers a hint or shows the answer again. When they have gone through all the cards, the pair switches roles and goes through the cards again.

For Round 2, fewer cues are given. The “Tutor” shows the front of the card and the “Tutee” tries to win back the card by giving a correct answer. When both students win back all their cards, they move on to Round 3. In Round 3, fewer cues are given yet. The “Tutor” says what’s on the front, this time without showing the card. The “Tutee” tries to win back the cards with the correct answer.

The Flashcard Game is done in rounds to improve the likelihood of success at each round. Students are the “Tutor” and “Tutee” and get repeated practice and immediate feedback.

Description: RallyCoach is ideal for peer tutoring and support during practice time. Students pair up. If students are seated in cooperative teams of four, they pair up within their own team. If not, the teacher may assign students to pairs. The pair receives a worksheet or multi-part task. The problems are typically mastery-oriented practice problems, such as grammar practice. But RallyCoach can also be used with more challenging or creative problems such as written responses. In the pair, one student is the “Solver” and the other the “Coach”. The “Solver” answers the problem, verbalizing the answer before writing. The “Coach” watches and listens. The “Coach” offers help if needed. When the “Solver” solves the problem, the “Coach” offers praise, Great job, partner! Partners switch roles and the “Solver” becomes the “Coach” for the next problem.

RallyCoach transforms independent work to cooperative work. During practice sessions, two heads are better than one. Partners can pool their knowledge and provide peer help and support when necessary. Partners hold each other accountable to the task. While working together, students also get to practice speaking as they verbalize answers.

Description: RallyRead is an effective structure for building reading fluency and comprehension. The teacher assigns the reading text. It can be a story, a blog entry, an email, a newspaper article—anything at the appropriate level of difficulty. The teacher informs students how often they need to switch readers. Partners can switch every sentence, every paragraph, or every page, depending on students’ ability levels. Partners can also switch roles on timed intervals, such as every minute. Partner A reads his specified reading period. When finished, he asks his partner a comprehension question. For example, Where did the dog go? Partner B answers. If correct, Partner A praises, Good listening! If incorrect, Partner A offers help, referring the partner to the appropriate reading passage so the partner can find the correct answer.

RallyRead is often preferable to independent reading because students get the opportunity to practice their fluency skills and also get practice in rhythm and intonation. Words often come out differently when pronounced than when read in one’s head. RallyRead also develops listening skills. Students must listen actively for comprehension to correctly respond to their partners. While teacher read-alouds are good to model proper pronunciation, they lack the active student participation that RallyRead offers.

Description: Each student receives one “talking chip.” The chips can be any kind of game token, or a pen, pencil, eraser, slip of paper, or any other tangible item. It is preferable if each student has a unique color for his/her chips. The students are given an open-ended discussion topic such as, Where in the world would you most want to live and why? In order to speak, a teammate must place his or her chip in the center of the team table. It is his or her turn to speak. Teammates cannot interrupt and must practice respectful listening. When he or she is finished, another student places his or her chip in the center of the team table and is free to add to the discussion. When a student uses his or her “talking chip”, he or she cannot speak until all teammates have added to the discussion and placed their chip in the center of the table. When everyone has had a chance to speak, each student collects her or his chips and continues with the discussion, using “talking chips” or start again with a new topic.

Talking Chips regulates discussion, ensuring that everyone participates and everyone contributes. Shy students, low achievers, and less-fluent students are encouraged by the social norms of the structure to fully participate and develop their language skills, too.