| Gilroy’s Grammar Cubes |
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Gilroy’s Grammar Cubes www.gramarama.com Review published in ETp 36 January 2005 The 125 six-sided blocks which make up Tim Gilroy's Grammar Cubes are a very flexible resource. Work individually or in teams - cooperatively or competitively. Throw any number of the cubes (as you would throw dice) and use the words which are uppermost on each face to make a sentence. The fewer cubes you throw, the harder it is. At lower levels, students can use any of the words visible on any of the faces (ie only the word face down cannot be used). When the cubes have been dealt out (just like you deal a pack of cards), choose specific cubes from your 'stash' to make the longest sentence you can. Add words from your stash to a basic sentence on the board to work on adjectives and adverbs. Swap cubes with other students to increase the value/flexibility of your stash by allowing you to make longer sentences. Write a sentence, or an impromptu story, using the words you throw randomly, adding any other words you need. Build up a 'crosssentence' as you would a crossword. English lends itself to this kind of activity in a way that most other languages struggle with. Its lack of word endings, the simplicity of its cumulative tense formations, the flexibility of its vocabulary where nouns - or even prepositions and particles - can be used as verbs, all add to the possibilities of each cube. Consider how the different words are used in these sentences, for example: > Down your drink or put your drink down. > Give me an answer and answer the question. > Steal that pen. It's a steal. > Play a game or put on a play. > I/we/they/you like it like this. The cubes encourage students to be creative as they stretch the words they already know to encompass new meanings. So why dice or cubes and not just words and pictures? Because they feel good. Get the dice out and everyone wants to play with them. They are an easy way of supplying the visual and kinaesthetic impact which many learners need and which almost all learners benefit from. People associate them with games, so simply by getting them out, you can put learners in a good frame of mind for learning. The difficulty is in getting people to stop! |
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