Ping Pong Reading

I like to call this activity Ping Pong reading and it's a great way to review short chunks of text, or story, that your students are working with. I have also heard it called Popcorn Reading and The Train Game. This takes a bit to set up but my students always enjoy this activity and Admin loves it. All you need is a short text that your students are at least semi-familiar with.

You will need to pair your students into groups of two. I usually just have one row scoot closer to another row. To help the students understand the instructions for the first time I will name the rows Batman and Robin so that I can say, "Batman row reads first. Robin row will read second." They listen better if I give them a Superhero name instead of just Row A and Row B.

a) Have Student A (or Batman) read a sentence in the TL.
b) Student B (or Robin) reads the same sentence in English.
c) Student B then reads the next sentence in the TL.
d) Student A reads the same sentence in English.
e) Continue until teacher says to stop (or timer goes off!) --I have a maraca that I shake when I feel they are losing interest.

Ping Pong Reading (variation 1)
a) Same setup as the original version
b) This works best if you use music but a maraca (or any noise maker) will also work)
c) Whenever you shut off the music (I use the Spanish National Anthem), whoever was speaking loses (doesn't gain a point).
d) Whoever was not speaking gains a point.

Ping Pong Reading (variation 2)
a) Same setup as original version (This is the one I use the most because it gets them up and moving a bit and talking to classmates they might not otherwise talk to.)
b) Have them ping pong read to each other for however long you want them to.
c) When you shut off the music, or use your noise maker each person in the right hand row moves back a seat. (or whichever row is easiest for the student to get in and out of.)
d) With their new partners they start to popcorn read again starting at the least furthest place read between the two partners.