Using Rhubarb from TexToys
I got this activity from a colleague who used one of the text reconstruction exercises I made using the Rhubarb exercise generator from TexToys. You can find exercises I make with on virtually all of the 3,000+ lessons I have online. The example used below is here.
The activity lets students practise listening and spelling. It also encourages students to ask for and give clarification for words they don’t know the spelling of.
Here it is.
This is the empty exercise. The students have to reconstruct the whole text.
Student A dictates short phrases to student B, who types in the words one at a time. After each word, he/she must press “Check” to see if they have entered the correct word and/or spelling. If it is correct, all instances in the text of that word will be displayed. If it is typed incorrectly, the word will join a list of incorrect words below the running score.
If students are unsure of what letter is next, they can press the Hint button. They will lose points but not as many as a wrong guess.
You can see below what the text looks like after a dozen or so words.
An alternative to straightforward dictation is to tell students they can break from dictating at any time to try to guess the rest of the words in the text. This gets them guessing words in context, experimenting with ideas about which word comes next in a collocated pair or what the preposition is in a phrasal verb, etc.
Students could also swap roles for the second paragraph, although a fair part of the text might be revealed by then.
It’s a fun activity that my students really enjoyed.
Of course, the activity can also be used by students working alone, simply as a text reconstruction.
Let me know what your students think.
Tags: dictation, online activity, pair work
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Shelly S Terrell, Marta Galindo, Vicky Loras, Anna Musielak, Sean Banville and others. Sean Banville said: My latest blog post – Online Pair Work Dictation – http://bit.ly/hRsVqe #ESL [...]
[...] Banville has an excellent online pairwork dictation activity. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Google Buzz-up this post Share via [...]
Hi Sean,
Thanks for a really useful class activity. Have linked to it on the TeachingEnglish facebook page http://www.facebook.com/TeachingEnglish.BritishCouncil so that our more than 16,000 readers/contributors can benefit from it as well.
(Have done the same for Cornish pasties which seems to have gone down really well).
Feel free to post there yourself directly when you have anything you want to share.
Best,
Ann
It´s a great idea how to use the fact that you are in a computer lab instead of a normal classroom. I like it and I will try it as soon as possible. Thank you very much
Zdenda
Hi Sean,
I almost always go to your website first in the morning everyday. The news is quite interesting. This type of exercise is required not only to improve the memory ability but also it makes the reader to take his effort to study hard the news texts and even to memorize which is required to retain the impression of event and the knowledge in English and vocabulary words, by then doing it, we can fully use the words as it is in our daily communication both written and communication. It works…Thank you, may this website hs many many more years to publish.
Best Regard,
Monching
Thank you, Monching
I hope my websites continue for many more decades
Hi Sean,
How are you today? As how I am eager to learn English, I usually do all the exercises especially this online pair work discussion, I do memorize a lot too as it helps me a lot to retain the knowledge. The way you have prepared the lessons in most of your dedication and consistency, many people have learned something perfectly. How nice being a student if the teacher is like you. I will never get bored, I will study so hard. I have a great time to learn. More power to you. God bless.
Monching