Activity

Tic-Tac-Toe

Students practice speaking the grammar point while playing tic-tac-toe with a partner.

This can work for a variety of grammar points: can/can't, does/doesn't, present perfect, etc.

The goal is to get as many points as possible. Students get a point by marking four squares in a row, whether it be horizontally, diagonally, or vertically. I usually let them play for about 5-7 minutes, and then I have them write two sentences at the bottom.

  1. Demonstrate with the JTE
  2. Practice the phrases/words they'll use during the game (especially Spanish, French, German, chopsticks, and whistle)
  3. Make a pair
  4. Play rock-scissors-paper. The winner can speak first.
  5. Each player chooses a colored pen/marker/pencil to mark the paper with.
  6. Students take turns making sentences and marking their paper.
  7. After about 5-7 minutes are up, they count how many 4-marks-in-a-row they have. Whoever has the most is the winner!
  8. Once they're done, they write 2 sentences they used during the game at the bottom of the paper.

I don't think I made the original of this, but I don't remember because I've used it for a couple of years now and have edited it a lot along the way. If you see something with the same pictures on this site, let me know so I can add credit!

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Submitted by rebvandev October 22, 2020 Estimated time: 25 minutes
  1. UonumaRobert October 23, 2020

    This is like that game connect four, right? Looks good.

  2. rebvandev October 23, 2020

    It's similar, yes! It's like Connect Four but they can play any square instead of stacking from the bottom up. I also let them keep playing until they fill up the sheet instead of stopping after someone gets just one point. And thank you!

  3. RedPhoenix May 12, 2021

    Thanks for this activity. I have enjoyed using this with the 1st graders. I made some modification to suit the 3rd grade present perfect continuous lesson. Thank you for this inspiration.

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