Running dictation

Tips for teaching to deaf learners:
Ok so the traditional idea of a running dictation would involve spoken English, but in this lesson, deaf learners are encouraged to sign, fingerspell or speak as they feel comfortable.
Some hard of hearing students may be more comfortable practising their spoken English / listening skills. I think this should be a standard approach to all activities; that all students pick the productive method they feel most comfortable with. Students who wish to practise speaking can be paired/ grouped together.

Preparation:
A running dictation can be used for almost any topic, but here the topic is farm animals and the grammar is prepositions. Please try changing the activity for different topics and let me know how it goes.
So before this activity learners should have learned prepositions and farm animals in order to understand the activity fully.
Pre-taught vocabulary: in, on, under, behind, in front of, next to, farmer, table, cow, pig, giraffe, bird, tractor, chicken, snake, boy, apple.
The teacher should prepare sentences and place them around the room. In this example, the sentences were:

1.     The cow is on the table.

2.     The farmer is on the cow.

3.     The pig is under the table.

4.     The giraffe is behind the table.

5.     The bird is on the farmer.

6.     The tractor is next to the farmer.

7.     The chicken is in the tractor.

8.     The snake is under the pig.

9.     The boy is in front of the tractor.

10.  An apple is in the pigs’ mouth.

The sentences and numbers were written, in different colours, on strips of paper which were pinned around the room in a random order. They can be slightly hidden, but perhaps not too hidden or learners may destroy your room trying to find them.

Procedure:
The running and writing - Put learners into pairs or small groups and explain that one member of the team runs to find text strip number one, remembers it and then runs back to tell/sign the text to one other member of the team who must write it down. The learner who ran should not write at this stage, the same learner can run back and forward to the same text as many times as needed. Learners then swap roles, so the writer then runs to find sentence number two and the runner then writes sentence number two. In small groups the students can rotate. This swapping, running and writing continues until learners have all 10 sentences written.
Checking and feedback - The groups/ pairs can then swap writing papers which can be corrected by another group/ pair. This is not a necessary step, but it means that accuracy in English is checked, teams can add/deduct one point from other teams for every letter which is wrong or missing. The teacher should write the ten sentences on the board for easy correction. Teams swap writing papers back with scores and the team with the least number of mistakes can receive a reward or prize.
Draw the picture (instructions) - The next stage is that pairs/ groups take turns at drawing each of the sentences to create one picture. Be clear in explaining that this is a cumulative drawing, not ten drawings.
Checking and feedback - When this is complete, again groups can swap and correct the other groups’ drawing; the teacher should draw a quick, basic example demonstrating the prepositions. Again this can become a competition or perhaps a class vote for the best drawing.

Tips:
Again please try experimenting and using this activity for different ready activities/ texts it doesn’t always have to be ten individual sentences.
Competition is a major motivation technique with this activity so definitely use it to your advantage when explaining the task.
Ask concept check questions/ instruction check questions to ensure that the learners understand the instructions. This can be done using one group/ pair as an example to demonstrate; perhaps stronger learners who are more likely to understand can demonstrate.

Feedback:
I have used this in a lesson with 7-9 year old learners at elementary level and it worked really well. Please comment if you use this activity or if you create an adaptation then please share it with us. All comments and feedback are welcome.