Introduction

It was not easy finding a suitable exercise for the drama lab. In the face of time-limits and possible insecurities due to limited articulateness from the student's side, a lot of activities were out of range right away. After I had some time to play through some of the possible scenarios that might occur during different activates I deemed appropriate, I eventually decided to play a game called Digits with the children.

Target group and Time

There are three main reason why I chose Digits: Firstly, Digits is a game that is easy to set up. I will touch upon this in detail in the section "Instructions to set up the activity". Secondly, the game can be played numerous times and therefore allows for good time-management. Some other activities I considered were not easily adjustable to the ten-minute time limit. Thirdly, Digits seemed very appropriate in terms of difficulty for the target group. The game is playable not only with digits, but also with months, seasons and all other countable word families.

Learning objectives

As vocabulary from single respective word families is used in the game, the learning objectives are to memorise and revise words that are already familiar. Some children might also extend their vocabulary with words from a word family that is already known.

Digits is therefore not a game which requires children to think about the semantic structure of unknown phrases and words but rather strengthens what is already known. Aside from the vocabulary side, I hoped that Digits would help strengthen inter-personal communication and relations within the group. Children are often unaware of what their place is in a social setting and are sometimes not yet sensible enough to recognize that they are taking too much space and are too dominant. The main objective of Digits should thus be to make children aware of this. If a student is too dominant and wants to say every number in the game, it is necessary to intervene.

Instructions to set up the activity

The students and the teacher stand in a circle. The teacher explains then explains the game:

1) The goal of the game is to count up to 10 (variable; the teacher may also choose to let the students count up the seasons of the year or the twelve months) in a non-consecutive order. Communication may not take place verbally.

2) If two students say a number at the same time, the group has to start counting again.