Spot It: AWESOME Game for Multilingual Learners

 If you're looking for some fun ways to create learning experiences that enhance vocabulary AND that are also linguistically inclusive of newcomer students, then you've found the right SPOT. 

Spot It! was a game that my own family started to play A LOT during the pandemic. They have lots of different versions of the game at most online retailers like Amazon. Spot It! can be played a number of ways, but it's a great game for kids (and adults) of all ages - and you don't *need* language to play. The way we play most as a family is finding a match with two cards. Whoever finds the match first either says it out loud or points to it, then they keep the pair of cards. We keep going until the deck is gone. 

I started to think this would be great for students who are acquiring language since they don't have to be fluent to fully participate. I also started to wonder if there was an online generator that I could use to create experiences for my students with vocabulary that aligns to what's being taught. 

The first thing I did was to start collecting printer-friendly icons like the ones I find on The Noun Project or Flat Icon. I typed in content-specific vocabulary terms and also survival words that we often teach newcomers. I can also throw in some fun "freebie" images like a picture of me making a silly face, a funny icon, a sports team logo, and more. We practice what the icons are/mean and we say the words out loud. Then we play the game! This serves as a reinforcement of the words, but also as a brain break! I can create full sets that are tied to certain units of instruction. 

 

Check out this generator! I was really excited about this one because it lets you upload all your icons and then tells you instantly how many cards you can create with how many images on the card. It can also tell you if you need to add more to create more cards. The more icons, the better! Here's a quick video that explains the process.


  Here's the full video (with other games mentioned) from my Wind Down Wednesday Series from the Illinois Resource Center social media platforms.

Have you used this? I'd love to hear about it! Game on, friends!


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