I invented a new way to get repetitions on story vocabulary (including high-frequency words ‘have’ and ‘give’), questions and numbers! Very simple and kids loved it. I used some pictures of vocab from last term’s story  – Elsa, harimau (tiger), pohon (tree) and rumah (house). There were nine of each item.

Firstly, I told the students there were sembilan (9) of Elsa, harimau, rumah dan pohon. Then I told them to close their eyes and listen to a song. I quickly moved around the room, ‘hiding’ the bits of paper. Then students were asked to ‘cari kertas’ (find the papers). I also asked them to be kind and to give one to someone who had not found any.

Students walked around the room searching for the pictures. I could hear them using the vocabulary as they moved around!

Then we all sat in a circle and I asked “Siapa punya harimau? Beri Ibu Anne harimau.” (Who has a tiger? Give Ibu Anne the tigers). They handed me the tiger pictures and I placed them on the ground as we all counted them. We repeated with each picture. It was easy to see which ones were still missing, but I said “Ada satu harimau lain. Cari satu harimau, kelas!” (There is one more tiger. Find the one tiger, class) Off they went again to find what was missing! We also used “Di mana harimau?” for any cards that were difficult to find.

Lots of repetitions in such a fun way! Try it with your kids this week. I would love to hear how goes.