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A simple retrieval starter

Retrieval practice is all the rage, since research is clear that having to pull out information (language) from long-term memory reinforces learning. We always knew this really, and language teachers have long begun lessons with some sort of recap from previous lessons. The easiest activity is simply to ask students to translate words or chunks, preferably from the first language into the second.

Here is another dead simple activity which forces pupils to retrieve from memory, but which keeps the class in the target language and involves the use of whole sentences (preferable to isolated words).

Just give pupils a sentence to complete with a word or phrase of their choice. (You could specify in advance if you want one or the other.) After you give your sentence starter, pupils write down as many words/chunks as they can in one minute. They could do this on paper or a mini-whiteboard. After each round elicit a few answers, but move on quickly to the next example since the emphasis here is on listening and retrieval.

Note that this super simple task gets pupils to listen, make semantic associations and make grammatical decisions, so it involves what the researchers call “elaborate processing” which leads to stronger memory. The task can also be pitched at any level, as simple or sophisticated as you want. You could even invite pupils to come up with humorous or absurd examples. You can have a specific language focus for your examples too.

So here are some French example sentence starters:

Le weekend dernier je suis allé...
Au supermarché j’ai acheté...
J’adore le français parce que...
Je suis en bonne santé parce que je...
La capitale de la France...
Demain soir je vais...
Ma matière préférée...
En classe il est important de...
A midi nous mangeons...

You can make these up on the spot, tailoring them to your class, making them just hard enough to require semantic and/or grammatical decisions to be made.

On the whole I prefer this type of starter to the written do-now exercises which are common practice. Why? Because they require listening, retrieval and, importantly, get the class focused on you and doing a shared activity. It sets the tone for the rest of the lesson. Plus... and it’s a big plus... the task needs next to no preparation!

If you have any great starters, do leave a comment.





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