Students may lose interest in a course for any number of reasons, but keeping students actively engaged may reduce the chances of boredom.  In “Adult Teaching Strategies” (1995), Carol Sternberger proposes playing games to make lessons more interesting.  Included in her repertoire of activities are game formats resembling bingo, crossword puzzles, Jeopardy, computer simulations,  and what the author calls “hand jive”  in which students respond to a question by gesturing.

     The potential for boredom increases when students are taught grammar outside of the context of their own writing.  What follows are three games constructed through PowerPoint and a rap to reinforce grammatical rules.  Sentences were taken from actual essays written by ENGL-097 students.  If used judiciously, these fun class activities can help students anticipate learning grammar without the fear of being bored.

Helpful Resources

• Comma splice rap
• Compound and Complex
• Fragments
• Race to the finish