• Divide into groups of four
• Each member of the group wrote down three life events on separate sticky notes concerning language learning, teaching, or exposure
• Each event was arranged chronologically on the desk in a straight line
• Each member was given a counter and placed at the earliest date
• Each person rolled in turn and moved the designated number of spaces
• When a player lands on a note that is not his/her own, each member asks them question concerning their life event/experience
• When a player lands on a note that is his/her own, they discuss their life event/experience
• The game ends when all notes are gone, thus there are no winners or losers

An advantage and disadvantage to this activity is the lack of competition. Some people might feel more comfortable when there is no chance of doing badly in the game, but other people may feel more motivated to play when there is a chance to win.

Another advantage to this activity is that you’re able to choose the topic based on the target language and language learning level. For example, for an elementary/beginner level classroom, you can choose the topics on the notes based on their skill level (objects that can be easily described such as cat, hairbrush, shirt…etc.) For more advanced learners, you can let them choose the topics and it would be important for the students to have direction on what type of questions to ask one another.

An additional advantage to this game is learning to phrase appropriate questions and to answer them. This increases the comprehension and communicative skills of the members when played properly. 

The activity can be tailored for each level based on how the activity is run. For low level learners you can give them aids and prompts to help them communicate and get them started, while higher level learners would not need as much assistant to get conversation started. 

This activity could also be done in a written format. The members could write dates on an anonymous printed form and members of the group would guess who wrote which event. There would be one judge/spy who can guide the process and knows who wrote which event/experience. The questions would need to be more intensive and detail, and it would be meant for a group of advanced learners.

Written by Sara Borgström, Andrew Sansone, Kathy Yang, Chung Hui Liao