How to use Talking Dice to teach languages

Teachers are always looking for new and engaging ways to keep students interested and attentive. Drilling vocabulary and langauge exercises can often be very boring. Talking Dice make language learning fun.

The following information will give you a sound understanding of how they can be used to get your students speaking, thinking and listening in any first, second, modern, and community langauges in minutes, with minimum teacher input and no extra lesson planning.

1. THE DICE

Each of the eighteen topics contains six identical picture dice. The reason being, this is enough for a classroom of up to 36 split into groups of six, for example. The dice topics were chosen to follow the national curriculum. They can be rolled singularly or in endless combinations of different topics.

2. THE CONCEPT

Whether for first language, second or community languages, and foreign languages, Talking Dice develop talking and listening skills no matter how old or able the student, or the first language and the target language being taught.

A simple roll of the dice adds a new dimension to learning languages that really lets their imagination roll.

Talking Dice are bright and colourful picture dice in eighteen topics that closely follow curriculum language topics, such as the weather, people, body parts, pets, school subjects, hobbies, food & drink, transport, occupations, and more.

Grammar or vocabulary drilling can quickly become tedious for both student and teacher. Talking Dice makes the process fun and stimulating, with minimal teacher input. The process of rolling the dice and saying what you see quickly associates the words with the pictures, increasing memory retention.

Take a simple exercise like learning the weather in a new language. Classes are split into groups of equal ability, and each group is given one die from the weather topic. Each member of the group takes it in turns to roll the die and say what they have learned in the target language:

"It is sunny", "It is raining" etc

The exercise can be extended to other tenses:

"Yesterday it was raining", "It will be sunny tomorrow"

As the group progresses and becomes more able, just add more dice, say hobbies:

"If it is raining tomorrow I will read a book", "It was sunny yesterday so I went swimming"

With eighteen topics and total of 108 pictures, the combinations are virtually limitless, and since they are just pictures, they can be used for any language.

Games and exercises almost make themselves up. Talking Dice have received hundreds of games suggestions over the years, and the best of them have been published in combined Teacher's Notes and Student's Workbooks as an introduction to how Talking Dice can be applied in class. The books contain 40 motivating activities, written in English, so that they can be applied to any target language quickly and easily, with no extra planning. The books are meant as a guide, and students are encouraged to adapt the ideas and make up their own games. The books are available in photocopy-ready printed and E-Book versions.

3. PRACTICAL EXAMPLE

Taking an example from our Teacher's Notes and Student Workbooks, the following classroom activity will give you an idea of how they can be used, and their long term potential.

Game idea: 'Feeling' adjectives (printer friendly)

Students are asked to identify words that express feelings. In this way they can determine the difference between adjectives - these clearly being emotive. Any of the Talking Dice topics could be used. However, many of the words from the brainstorming session may not be appropriate to some of the topics. For example, frightening would be a difficult word to link to clothing. Therefore, students are encouraged to write down any new words they think of during the exercise and you may choose to offer a selection of dice for students to choose from. Students can work alone, in pairs or in small groups.

For instance:

The following are given to the students on their worksheet:
■ An angry man (People topic)
■ A frightening storm (Weather topic)

Before starting the exercise, get the students to brainstorm their own ideas of emotive words. The brainstorming session is an ideal way for students to recall previously learned vocabulary but also to share knowledge. These words are recorded onto their worksheets to assist them in the exercise. Now using some of the emotive words that the students have brainstormed, give example sentences and get the students to write them in the space provided.

Below for your use, are a few examples suitable for students at a variety of levels. The Talking Dice images are in italics.The emotive words are in bold.

Exercise

1. Students roll one picture die
2. Say a sentence using the picture and an emotive word or ‘feeling’ word from their list.
3. Every time they think of a new emotive word they should add it to their list.

Extension

In future exercises ask students to bring out their list of emotive words and offer a reward for every emotive word they use.

4. WHAT DO I NEED TO GET STARTED?

Example: Class of 30 students (any age, ability or language)

Budget: around £50

We do recommend the complete classroom pack, as the more topics you have, the greater the variety of exercises. Saying that you will need at least 5 or 6 topics to keep things fresh and interesting to begin with, and you can build your collection over time. The pack includes the E-Book version of the Teacher's Notes & Student's Workbook free, and you can make up your own exercises if you like.

Small groups or one-to-one, such as SEN, speech therapy etc

Budget: around £30

For smaller groups or one-to-one, we recommend you start off with the Trial Pack and the Books.