ESL Speaking Activities: Numbered Heads
Que? Shuh? Que Dijo? I constantly was hearing the words “what?” in a wide range of languages. My students were simply not speaking in English. I knew I need to make a drastic change.
After attending a conference, I was introduced to Numbered Heads. It turned into such a huge success in my classroom. I can remember when I first tried it two years ago, and was thinking could this ever work for my newcomers. I am here to tell you that it works! It increases engagement and holds the students accountable during discussion time. I am here to explain how you can incorporate this activity for newcomer ELLs. This activity is also great for your advanced ELLs.
1. Group students together in groups of 3-4. Once the students are in the group assign each person a number. You can have the students in each group count off by the number of people in that group. For example, if you have a group of 4 then the students will count from 1-4 in each group. Depending on the amount of students you might have 2 of one number in a group. Here are some detailed directions.
2. Teacher ask the students a question. You can pose the question on the PowerPoint or Smartboard. To encourage rigor use Bloom’s Higher Order Thinking Question stems.
3. In their groups have the students discuss the question. Set a visible timer so the students will know how much time is left. Remind them that everyone needs to know the answer. Even the newcomers!
4. The teacher will call a number and ALL the students with that number will stand up. The students are to stand the entire time.
5. Call on the first group to answer the question. Then, using the Accountable Talk Stems have the other groups expand on the question. If you have newcomers in a round of questioning, let them hear some answers first before being calling on them first. You can also have them repeat what the last person said. In the Speaking Bucks Freebie there is Accountable Talk Stems .
6. Have the students sit down and repeat!
This engaging activity is an activity that has changed the landscape of speaking in the classroom. It can also be used a quick formative assessment.
To encourage speaking further I using incentives such as Speaking Bucks. Students can cash in the Speaking Bucks for classroom prizes. Please return next week as we continue our speaking series.
