Group Activities: Memory Chains

Hey all, Chris here.

Today I would like to share a fun technique for group activities which allows all students the chance to participate and simultaneously forces them to pay attention! This technique is easily adaptable and scalable for various class sizes and levels. It can also be used for a variety of lessons and topics, from pure grammar practice to advanced conversation.

Using a memory chain as the basis for an activity or as an enhancement to one is rather simple. I will provide an example of how I used this activity as part of introductions on the first day of a class.

First I put up 3 questions on the board:

Wie heißt du? (What is your name?)
Wie alt bist du? (How old are you?)
Welche Hobbies oder Interessen hast du? (What are your hobbies?)

The number and/or difficulty of questions is entirely variable. The more questions you have the more students will have to remember which makes for a more challenging activity.

I then divided the students into groups and instruct them to form a circle. Larger groups make for a more challenging activity. If your students are lower level I would suggest limiting the group size to 5 or 6 students with 2-3 questions. For more advanced classes I have used 3-4 questions with groups of around 10-12 students.

Another alternative is to have the class act as one big group in which case there is only one question.

I demonstrate how the activity begins by asking a student in one of the groups the aforementioned questions. After the student finishes answering they turn to the student to their left and ask 'Und du? (and you?) The student will also answer the questions and must then restate the previous student's answers. This requires the student to use the 3rd person form to answer. The activity continues as subsequent students must answer answer the questions for themselves while also having to remember what each of the previous students answered. Needless to say, the last student in the circle will have the most difficult task.

This activity is an excellent way for students to practice verb conjugations in the first and second person form.

As an additional challenge, you can stipulate that if any student cannot remember what the previous students have answered or states any incorrect information, the group must start over at the beginning.

To add in practice of the plural 'wir' (1st person plural in German) you could ask students to also remember anything they share in common with other students in the group. After they have completed the circle you could ask them to report on these - such as 'Tom und ich kommen aus Chicago' or 'Sarah und ich sind zwanzig Jahre alt'.  

The teacher should monitor the groups to make sure the students are making progress and to help out if there are any questions. It may even be helpful to join  a group and participate.

As a preparation for future activities, the teacher may wish to jot down notes on student responses which could for example be used in a Jeopardy style game where students would guess which of their classmates provided the answers.

Overall, this is a fast and fun way of ensuring all students participate and its great adaptability and ease of use are helpful for newer and more experienced language teachers alike. As with any type of activity, overuse is not advised as students will quickly tire of it.

Questions and comments welcome!