Battling It Out Between Clases

Setting Up a FSL Battleship Game

Looking for a simple and engaging way to connect your students with other FSL students?  Organize an on-going game of “L’attaque des Navires” or “L’Attaque Navale” (with a grateful nod to Battleship by Hasbro, for which no copyright infringement is meant).

This is an ideal game to encourage use of letters, numbers, strategy, problem solving, and the use of the 2^nd person plural (vous).

 

Key vocabulary your class needs first:

Le grand navire

L’explorateur

Les traversiers

Le canôt

Frapper

Manquer

Couler

Prepare them to ask and answer the questions. This proved to be an interesting process between our 2 classes (with Bev Moss of London), as we each taught them different ways of interacting. The result?  Some puzzled looks at first, but then the realization they understood the meaning!

On va tirer à….

Je pense qu’il y a un bateau à….

Je choisis…

Non, vous avez manqué.

Oui, vous avez frappé (our favourite phrase to hear!)

Review your class strategies for listening for comprehension and to interact. How do I make meaning from what I am hearing?  What is I don’t understand what is said?

(Bev also did an amazing job at teaching la politesse to her students. Whenever we missed, they provided the bad news with, “désolé, mais vous avez manqué.”)

Set Up The Game

1.     Set a regular time with the other teacher to connect via Google Hangout, FaceTime or Skype. Don’t try to finish the game in one class. It builds excitement and provides opportunities for reflection if you play over the course of a few weeks.

2.     Provide your students with a copy of the blank gamesheet. The top section is for recording your guesses, misses, and hits of the other class’ ships. The bottom section is to record the location of your ships.

3.     As a class, decide where you will be placing your ships. Have students record these locations on the bottom section of their sheet.

a.      Le grand navire – 5 spaces

b.     L’explorateur – 4 spaces

c.      Les traversiers – 3 spaces (2 of them)

d.     Le canôt – 2 spaces

4.     Don’t underestimate the need for some classes to review how to use a grid system, and how to play the game.

5.     Let the game begin. Each class takes a turn “firing” at the others to try and hit (and sink) the ships. All students should have the opportunity to either ask or answer a question.

6.     As the students become more comfortable, encourage them to introduce themselves to each other, to say hello, good luck, goodbye, etc.

7.     Resist the urge to step in and repeat what they said or heard. Encourage students to help each other en français. (“Qu’est-ce qu’il a dit?”)

Extensions / Assessment

·      For those asking and answering questions: proper terms, fluency, confidence, pronunciation, level of prompting, shows understanding to interact, etc.

·      I will often check each students’ game sheet to see if they have correctly kept track of the guesses.

·      Before each round begins, you can do a review of what has been asked, what has been hit, what area of the grid is still left unexplored, etc.

This game is an easy and meaningful way to begin your #fslbeyond journey, and to connect your learners with other learners. Bonne chance!