Letterboxing+activity+for+commands

Lisa Lilley Central High School Springfield, Missouri lisalilley10@gmail.com lisalilley.wikispaces.com

//"This was a creative lesson and I appreciate it."// Comment made by student at end of letterboxing activity

The last few weeks of school, as any teacher knows, are some of the most difficult. Attention spans become even shorter as the temperature starts to rise. Students and teachers also feel a great deal of pressure as there is so much to do and learn in a very short amount of time. In the last couple of years in my Spanish 2 class, I have strategically left some of the easiest concepts for the end of the year. Among them is the real life application of asking for, understanding and giving directions to places in a city using formal commands.

My brother-in-law told me about letterboxing, the forerunner of geocaching, at Christmas and an idea started to take shape. Finally o n a gorgeous Friday in May, my students and I crossed the street and walked a few short steps to Drury University where we had our first letterboxing activity. Prior to this day, w e did several successful activities involving commands in the classroom (see May 2012 at left).


 * "Letterboxing" Directions: **

1. I began with an explanation of Letterboxing in Spanish - by showing the PPt below. I explained that the part of England, the moors, where it began, was similar to the geography of Kansas which many of my students have seen. In that time period, there weren't many activities in that part of England and Letterboxing probably began because people were bored and wanted an adventure. I said that they didn't have Wiis or videogames to entertain them. You can get more background info. and target language phrases about Letterboxing via this article as well as a general online search: []

2. Allow students to choose a partner; predetermine who the lucky person is who will get to work in a group of three if numbers are uneven. Once paired, they decide who is Partner A and who is Partner B. 3. The teacher gives directions in target language about where students are to gather when they go outside; need to have a central meeting point where further directions & wrapup can be given. 4. Partner B waits in designated area where they can't see Partner A hiding the cache. In some classes I appointed a couple of student monitors to be sure that everyone stayed together. As they walk to the waiting area, the Partner Bs pick up their small "cuaderno" or notebook made of 6-8 pages of sticky notes 5. Distribute clues to Partner A. Partner A reads it and figures out where to hide the cache that contains the stamp and ink. They then go get their partner. 6. Guide partner to hiding place using formal directional commands; must give at least 8 commands even if the cache is very near them; Open box, partner B stamps their libreta, return the box and ink to where it was found.

7. Go back to the teacher and return the first clue to her in order to receive another. Partner A must read and figure out where next cache is and direct partner there. As pairs of students return, simply switch clues.

8. Continue steps 6-7 until time is called. Then Student A retrieves box they first hid and brings back to meeting point; Roles are now reversed; A will take the libreta and go to waiting area while B now receives clues (from a second set to offer variety)

7. Repeat steps 6-7; At the activity's end, Student B must retrieve the cache they first hid and then all return to school building. Students may keep their libreta as a souvenir or turn it in for participation points.

__**Prep work:**__ 1. Scout out location and make list of acceptable hiding places and determine the limits where students can walk. Also need to find a place where half of class can wait out of sight while clues are being hidden. 2. Type up locations from #1 above in the target language. I made two different sets so that we could have new locations when Partner B took over giving directions. Cut apart. I found it worked easiest to have sets for each class instead of trying to make sure I had all of the clues returned to me. Here is a list of clues I used:

3. Have at least as many stamp pads and stamps for half of the number of students in your class. Put them into a container; I used paper bags this first time out. I numbered them to be sure that all were accounted for. 4. Each set of partners will need a book for their stamps. We simply tore apart Post-It Note pads with 6-7 Post-Its making a booklet or students could make "smoosh" book in advance.[]

__**Variations and Reflections:**__1. In the next year I am going to track down more stamps so I can do the variation listed in #3 below. I'll also be on the lookout for plastic containers instead of paper bags so that the activity will be more similar to how Letterboxing is actually done. 

2. I think this activity could be done indoors with notification and cooperation of teachers and administration. It would be very important to set limits on where students can travel and perhaps appoint some monitors. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">3. I did this lesson on a "Fast Friday" when our classes are only 50 minutes. It was rushed but we were able to get it done. I will plan to do the setup (PPt) on the previous class period to save time and build interest. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">4. Next time, I'd like to do the lesson as outlined in #5 below on one of our 90-minute period days. Students would need to create a mini-book with half of the book representing the stamps they found and half representing stamps others left for them. See smooshbook instructions under Prep work #4 above. One half would be labeled "Sellos que encontré" and the other would be "Sellos que recibí" = Stamps I found / Stamps I received". <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">5. In a 90 minute block, Student A and Student B would have their own notebooks (see #4 above) and individual stamps. When Student A receive their first clue, they would place their own notebook with their name on it in the bag or box along with their own stamp and the stamp pad. When they lead Student B there, B would use their own stamp to stamp inside Student A's book and then write a note on the inside. We were working on comparisons and superlatives too so I was originally thinking if I had time I would ask students to sign their name below their individual stamp and then write a statement about themselves using the absolute superlative (Soy atletiquísimo.) or a superlative (Soy la persona más alta de la clase). Then Student B would stamp their own booklet with Student A's stamp as proof of having found the cache. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">6. For the most part, students did a good job of staying in the target language. As they got further away from me, of course it was difficult to monitor their speech. I might work out some type of system where students would be given, say 3 tokens (poker chips or similar); if other students or even their partner hear them give instructions in English, they will lose a chip. Students at end with all three tokens get full points; those with chips taken away would receive fewer points. However, I have moved away from this type of setup with most activities. I count on the fun of the activity and interaction with partners to be the motivating factors for students to use the target language. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">7. Another variation for the interpretive/presentational modes is to distribute the list of hiding places a few days in advance; Students find the location and must write out directions to that spot. They then upload clues to the internet (wikispace, edmodo or similar). Students go to the internet, download the instructions and go in search of caches at their own pace. Might give reward for student(s) at the end with the most stickers. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">8. Next time, I want to better embed cultural content for this unit by focusing on one particular city such as Barcelona. Students would become familiar with its key sites and give directions to them. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">9. You can learn more about geocaching in an article published in the October 2011 issue of //The Language Educator:// <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">[]