Friday, October 31, 2014

Task Cards in the World Language Classroom


Task cards are quickly becoming a new buzz word in Education.  If you've been to a conference lately odds are you've probably heard the term.  Task cards are a great way to break up the monotony of a typical class period.  They are also a phenomenal tool to help with differentiating instruction:  provide struggling students with lower level tasks while those who have grasped the concept can work on tasks that are more complicated.  How can these task cards be incorporated into the World Language classroom?  Keep reading to see 5 ways task cards can be used in action:

1.  Independent Work- Have your students work individually by distributing a set of task cards and a student answer sheet.  Students work quietly at their desks to complete the questions provided.  The teacher can check the questions with the answer key upon completion.

2.  Homework- Copy and laminate several sets of the task cards for multiple semesters of use.  Distribute several cards for students and have them answer them in their notebooks for homework.  This can be an ongoing homework assignment by shuffling the cards and redistributing them over a period of several days.

3.  Cooperative Learning Activity- Assign students to groups of 3-4.  Distribute one student answer sheet and a bag of task cards.  Students work together to complete the questions.  Add some competition to reward the first three groups who finish first.

4.  Scavenger Hunt- Tape the task cards around the room and have students work their way through the questions by moving around.  Be sure to provide them with a student answer sheet so that they can keep track of their responses and so that it is easier for the teacher to grade.

5.  Scoot- Tape task cards to desks around the room.  Set a timer for 30 seconds.  Students move from desk to desk when the buzzer sounds to answer the questions on the task cards and record them on their student answer sheets.

Task Card Round Up
Here are some ready made task card sets to try out in your classroom!

Italian







  





  Task Cards in Italian   

French        

2 comments:

  1. I love task cards and use them regularly! Thanks for the product shout out! Here's a blog post that I wrote awhile back about uses for task cards in world language classes. :) http://islandteacherblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/using-task-cards-in-foreign-language.html
    Emilie

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