Quick online teamwork exercise for ELLs?

June 15, 2021 6:19 PM

I am teaching an online high school class for ELLs, and tomorrow's topic is "teamwork." As a "mind's on" sort of activity, I wanted to give the students a quick, light exercise where they would work collaboratively on something in Google Meet.

I don't want the activity itself to be language based, as I wanted to give them a break from language and do something frivolous. I imagined something like an online manipulative app where they could design a funny animal with tangrams, getting team member input. I can't find anything of this sort, and I'm short of ideas. I'm open to anything! Can anyone help me think of something?

The activity will hopefully take 15 or so minutes. Students are not super tech-y. Ideally, it could be collaborative with students all pitching in, but I cooould have the groups choose a "leader" who will share their screen and get input. Also, the students all can speak the same language. I'm using the Google Suite for education (Google Classroom, Docs, Slides, etc)

Thank you!

posted by to recite so charmingly to Education (2 answers total)

Response by poster: I should also add that students will be using Chromebooks. Also, for the most part, they have low literacy in their first languages as well, so I'm trying to keep the activity less demanding for English and the first language too.
posted by to recite so charmingly at 6:27 PM on June 15, 2021

Best answer: What about Google's puzzle party? One of my coworkers had good success with it during virtual and in-person learning this year. Pro tip: don't choose anything abstract or with big unbroken expanses of color.
posted by lilac girl at 9:14 PM on June 15, 2021 [1 favorite]