Developing Language Skills with Headbandz

English Learners (ELs) are developing academic language in 4 domains: listening, reading, writing and speaking. We find many different ways for them to practice developing their language skills  in content areas like Math, Science, Reading, etc. 

EL students have been working on the important critical thinking skill of asking and answering questions. This strategy helps students deepen their understanding of what they are reading.  Asking and answering questions is also  a component of language development..  EL students sometimes need help with the syntax and sentence structure of asking and answering questions.   

While mastery of language in the content  areas is important, it’s equally important that students have fun while learning. One way we did this recently was by playing a game called Hedbanz. To play Hedbanz, each player sticks a picture card in their  headband, so that only the other players can see it. Each card has a picture and a label. The items could be either animals, foods, or objects.  Players take turns asking their teammates yes/no questions to try to figure out what they are.

ELs quickly learned that asking and answering questions is harder than they thought. One reason is that vocabulary sometimes limited the description questions they wanted to ask, or the hints they gave to help the Guesser.

Through this game, the students learned to ask How? What? Do I..? Can I..? questions to get information they needed. This activity will help them when we move onto our reading passage, where I will introduce the concept of Main Idea and Details, which calls for students to ask questions and answer questions to demonstrate their understanding of the text, and to summarize what they have read.