Some time ago I made a concentration game using PowerPoint and put the template here on this blog. The template doesn’t have any content, but you are welcome to take it and add your own content. You can download it at: Concentration Template.
From time to time, I check the stats for this blog and not long after creating the Concentration game, I did just that. When I check the stats, I can see several things: how many hits there have been, the referrers, the links that have been clicked, and the search engine terms people have used. One day, I noticed that someone found this blog by using the terms “cause and effect concentration.” I thought this was a great idea and since one of the rhetorical patterns we work on in my writing class is cause and effect, I have made just such a game.
I use it to do two things:
- help students clarify their understanding of what cause means and what effect means
- practice writing logical sentences (with correct punctuation) that use the following words and phrases:
- as a result
- so
- since
- consequently
- that is why
- because
- for this reason
I chose seven words and phrases because this is the number of pairs in the game. I did not use therefore and thus because these words are usually only used when writing about logical conclusions in math and law and would not fit any of the sentences in the game.
The game worked very well. I wrote the above words and phrases on the board and broke the class into teams. I then explained the game and told the class that the teams needed to do two things.
- First, they had to match two cards. One card would be a picture that represented a cause and the other would be a picture that represented the effect. They were not allowed to take notes on the location of the cards. This is a concentration game after all!
- After matching two cards, one team member would come to the board and use the information on the cards and one of the words on the board to write a sentence of cause and effect. The team could help them, but I would not look at the sentence until it was finished. If the sentence was correct, the team would get a point and another turn. If the sentence was not correct, the next team would have a shot at writing a correct sentence. Once one of the words or phrases on the board was used, I would cross it off to ensure that all of them were used for practice.
Students enjoyed the game and had to work hard to make sure their team’s sentences were logical and correct. The whole class appeared to find mistakes in logic particularly interesting.
Please note that there is one picture that represents surprised and another that represents frightened or terrified. Surprised is intended to match up with the mouse and frightened or terrified is intended to match up with the ghost. Students thought it was funny when I acted out surprised versus frightened and were fine when I explained that I was looking for something very strong for the ghost and not so strong for the mouse.
To open or download the game go to Cause and Effect Concentration Game.
The source for most of the images was My English Images.
Well, it was in fact a very useful and creative tool. You should continue to provide more tools for TESOL teachers. You are good at it.
Thank you for your kind comment! I would love it if you would be willing to share a digital tool with us as well :).
[…] I also wanted to remind you of the cause and effect concentration game that I made earlier. You can find the link to that post here: https://pjgalien.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/cause-and-effect-concentration-game/. […]
I love your concentration game! Thank you for the blank template. Would you be willing to provide the directions for inserting shapes so I could customize it? Thank you.
Thank you Katie! It’s pretty easy to add shapes to the Concentration Template. Go to the second slide. Click on one of the fifteen boxes to select it. Move it to the side. Insert your shape (or picture) in place of the question mark. Move the card back into place. Then proceed with the rest of the cards. If you make a new version of the game and would like to share it, please email it to me and I will add it to the blog. Patricia
Thanks a ton for making and sharing this! I’m teaching cause and result now, and it’s a bit of a dry lesson, but this game really helps.
Thank you Karenology. (I like your name!) I’m glad you and your students enjoyed the game. Sometimes I use it before presenting subordinating conjunctions, coordinating conjunctions, and transitions for cause and effect, just to see what they already know. This semester I used it as a “review” of material they had covered for homework and I felt this worked a bit better. It allowed us to clear up some misunderstandings and to clearly categorize the three different types of words and their correct punctuation. Prizes are always fun too!
Hi, thanks for the game. It’s something I’ve been looking for, but I’m having trouble with it. I’ve been getting error messages saying some parts of the file are corrupted. When I tried to open it anyway, the program crashed. Can you check the file and upload again? Thanks for all your trouble!
Hi Betty. Thank you for the comment. I checked the file and it looks fine. The game was made on PowerPoint and it is the version from Microsoft Office 2010. Are you using 2010? If you don’t have the newest version of PowerPoint, go to microsoft. com and download the free PowerPoint viewer. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=cb9bf144-1076-4615-9951-294eeb832823. Be careful, you do not want the Office 2010 trial because that will expire in 30 days. You can keep the free viewer. This way you will be able to use the game. Patricia
Hi Patricia – Thanks for posting the game template. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve adapted it for use in an offline math package for at-risk students. I will reference your original in the Acknowledgments section of the package. I’ve posted it in my wiki at –> http://small-changes-big-returns.wikispaces.com/PowerPoint+game+templates
Sue, Great idea! Thank you for sharing it. I will pass it on to some math teachers I know. Patricia
Thanks for the template – great use of powerpoint!
I really like your concentration game and I’d like to use it with my Communication Skills class, but I have a problem with opening the cards. Is there a “trick” to open the cards without going to the answer slide?
Hi. Thank you! Make sure you are in slidewhow view. Then, click on the remove button. If you aren’t in slideshow view or if you aren’t on the “remove” button, clicking will take you to the next slide. I hope this helps and have fun. Patricia
OK, so that’s how to make it work….Thanks a lot! I’ll try it one more time….
My Communication Skills (college) class is currently studying how to write cause and effect paragraph. We played your concentration game today and sure enough my students LOVE it! They were competitive and the class was a bit noisy. Nonetheless, they were having fun and at the same time learning.
Thank you so much for creating this totally awesome game!!!