¿Quién Tiene la Pelota?
¿Quién tiene la pelota? is a fun
game that kids ask to play over and over again! They will literally ask me: “are
we going to play quién tiene la pelota today”?
I came up with this game to help and encourage my students in
language development and expression. This game teaches the Spanish verb: “tener” in the simple present using the
first and second person singular.
This game will help children learn in Spanish:
1.
To
say who has the ball.
2.
To
respond in the affirmative if they have the ball.
3.
To
respond by making a negation sentence if they don’t have the ball.
Before hand preparation for this game:
Before hand preparation for this game:
Before playing this game, children will need to be first
familiar with what they are going to say. So for that I do the following
activities for about two or three weeks before playing the game:
1.
Have
students sit in a circle. Show the ball
to students as you say “la pelota”. Have each student hold it and say “la
pelota” then pass it to the person next to them.
2.
Next,
take “la pelota” and give it to each child individually and immediately say: “(insert
student’s name) tiene la pelota.” Do this with all the students.
There is no need to translate. Children will automatically understand what you
are saying or what it means.
3.
Next,
gently throw the ball to a student and then ask: “¿quién tiene la pelota?” (Normally at this point the kids understand
what you are asking and most of the time they will respond by just saying the
name of the person who has the ball) but I reinforce each time by saying the
complete sentence “(insert student’s name) tiene la pelota.” This is very
effective because children will eventually start to respond in that manner. In
my experience I had seen some students get it after the second class.
You can even create a chant while keeping a
steady beat with hands patting on legs:
“Corey tiene la pelota” (repeat 3 or 4 times).
Do the same with the other students when they
have the ball. (using their real names J)
Here is how to play: (this game is suitable for ages 4 to 6)
·
Have
children sit in a circle with both of their hands behind them as shown in the
picture.
·
Select
a student to be the guesser. This student will stand away from the circle
against a wall with eyes closed so he/she will not see to whom the teacher gives
the ball to.
·
Teacher
selects a student and puts the ball in his/her hand.
·
Once the ball is in someone's hand, teacher calls the student that’s away from the circle and
ask: “¿quién
tiene la pelota?” and the student tries to guess by pointing and saying
for example: “Jessica tiene la pelota” (I’m using different names as an
example, but student will use their classmates real names) if Jessica does not
have la pelota, then she will show both of her hands and say: “no
tengo la pelota” then the guesser will try a second time. If he/she guesses correctly, the person who
has the ball will show the ball as he or she says: “¡si,yo tengo la pelota!”.
·
You
can decide before hand how many times guesser can guess before getting it
correct. In my class guesser gets three turns. If student does not guess who
has the ball in the three turns, then either student or teacher can ask “¿quién
tiene la pelota?” then the student that has it will say: “yo tengo la
pelota”.
For older children (ages 7 to 10) you can add a variation on
the last part of the game. If student does not guess who has the ball, then the
guesser can then turn to one of his classmates in the circle and say: “Corey,
dime quién tiene la pelota.” (Corey, tell me who has the ball.) This is
an opportunity to introduce the word: “dime” which means “tell me”. Then Corey will say in Spanish who has the
ball. Example (Juan tiene la pelota)
Another variation to the game is to use other things such as:
carro, osito, silla, regla, borrador, etc (it’s a great way to introduce and
practice vocabulary words)
I find that using the real object is more fun for the kids
but you can also use small cards with the object on it.
For the older children, you can give out three different
items to three children in the circle and guesser will guess who has what…
There are so many variations to the game. These are just some
ideas I came up with and the kids really enjoy it and the best part is that
they are learning in a fun and playful way to speak a foreign language as
natural as they learned their maternal language!
Share your experience! Your feedback and comments are welcome!
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Thank you and….
Have
Fun!
