Five Closure Activities For a World Language Classroom

There are so many parts of a lesson that each teacher wants to successfully teach. I'm sure we all have different opinions on which parts are most important. But what happens when you have only a minute or two left and you don’t want to miss your closure? As a Spanish teacher, I often teach a grammar lesson and then feel that I have to rush my closure as the minutes tick by. I would like to share a few ideas to do as a wrap up at the end of the period…

1. Post it Note to the door: Have the students write one quick sentence using the grammar or vocabulary that you taught that day to see if they are using it properly. Look over them, correct them, and then have the students randomly grab one the next day and try to figure out the sentence.

2. Poll Everywhere: Have a question already developed before the period starts from www.polleverywhere.com.  In the last two minutes, project the question and answers and have students send a quick text with the code.  The website instantly shows the results of the voters and you can get a great sense of where the kids are in the understanding of the concept before they leave.  This site is only valuable if the students can use cellphones for educational purposes.

3. Whiteboard Ws: Dismiss students in groups to go to the board and write there “wonders” and “worries” before they depart from class.  Record these, either on paper or with a quick picture, and use them as a discussion for the next day. 

4. 1,2,3 from me: Give each student a notecard and have them write 1 thing that they learned, two ways to use it in a sentence, and one question or comment that they have for the teacher about the grammar or vocabulary studied.

5. Positive Pairs: Have student stand up and pair up with another student to share two positives each about their learning experience that day in class.  Students will then record their positives on a slip of paper provided by the teacher.  Each partner group only needs one piece of paper.  Have a poster, or bulletin board, for students to pin them as they leave.  Look over these and start the next day or lesson with all the wonderful things that you had seen and read. 

Hopefully all, or at least one, of these ideas can be implemented in your classroom.  I feel like new closure ideas are always so useful because we tend to favor and use the same couple.  Mixing it up is great for teachers and students to become more engaged in the lesson.  Let me know if you have ever tried these or if you try one and like it!