Triptico or a “trip” to the past?

Haven’t you had enough traditional ways of teaching? 

Here is a revolutionary language tool that has ameliorated EFL teaching. It is called Triptico. 

As the title denotes, are you willing to move forward and integrate technology in the EFL classroom (e.g. by using Triptico) or have you decided to “to go on a trip to the past” and fossilize?

Triptico is an amazing tool for creating your own language games. Through this tool a teacher has more options at his disposal. For instance, word magnets, questions & answer games, bingo, image spinner, task timers etc. Compared to similar tools Triptico is more versatile since you customize every game according to your student’s needs. Indeed, such tools have emerged through the issues that EFL teachers encounter on a day-to-day basis. At times a language game may turn out to be too difficult or too easy for our learners. Tools like Triptico offer the privilege to tailor the game to your student’s needs. 

 How can we apply Triptico in the EFL classroom?

Firstly, an EFL teacher can drill the grammar via “Word Magnets”. If we were teaching the present continuous, we would write stem sentences (E.g. at the moment/drinking/George/is/tea) on the board and the students would have to produce a grammatically correct sentence from it (George is drinking tea at the moment). Through Triptico we can drill the same grammatical phenomenon in a rather more meaningful way, simply by writing each word on a magnet. Then each student comes to the board and puts the magnets in order to form a correct sentence. That way, it will seem more as a puzzle than a boring grammatical exercise. This is illustrated in the picture bellow.

Another interesting instance of Triptico is revising grammar through competition games. Here is another alternative way of practicing WH questions via Triptico through the game “What is the Question”.

1. Question: Where are you from? Answer: I am from the USA.

2. Question: Whose book is this? Answer: This is Ben’s book.

3. Question: When is your birthday? Answer: May birthday is in March.

4. Question: How fast can a cheetah run? Answer: A cheetah can run very fast.

5. Question: Which car do you prefer: a Ferrari or a Mercedes Benz? Answer: I prefer a Ferrari.

6. Question: What is this? Answer: This is a car.

7. Question: How old are you? Answer: I am twelve years old.

8. Question: What is your name? Answer: My name is Maria.

9. Question: How long is the snake? Answer: The snake is 10 meters long.

10. Question: When do you go to the cinema? Answer: I go to the cinema every Friday.

11. Question: How was your day? Answer: I had a wonderful day.

12. Question: Who is your favourite singer? Answer: My favourite singer is Adele.   

Here the class is divided into six teams. The answers are given and the students have to find the questions in order to win. The unique feature of this particular game is that for every wrong answer the points are transferred to the rival team. As teachers and adults we know how important it is for young children to win. In practice, children make every endeavour to succeed in the game and subconsciously learn and assimilate the target language patterns. Through such learning games even the most reticent students actively participate in it and eventually practice the foreign language.   

These teaching techniques may resemble old teaching methods such as drilling. However what differs from the past is the way we execute them. In fact, it doesn’t really matter what you as an EFL teacher include in your curriculum but what matters is HOW you implement it. After all, every individual eats and drinks so as to survive but what defines our status and makes us special is HOW we nourish ourselves.

Advantages

• Triptico has contributed significantly to Edutainment; a contemporary approach to teaching which combines education with entertainment. Through this approach learners subconsciously learn and assimilate the foreign language.
•  It has created the optimal learning environment for second language acquisition.
•  By virtue of such tools, we avoid transmitting sterile knowledge to the EFL learners.
•  Engages learners in meaningful activities and motivates them to learn the foreign language.

Limitations

• Although the limitations are rather limited, it is worth mentioning that such exercises are restricted to the classroom. Even if children have an account on Triptico they won’t have access to the game. But no worries!! There are many similar games and quizzes in every e-book which can fulfill this gap.
•  Another constraint is that not all EFL classrooms have access to the internet. In most cases it isn’t a matter of money. It’s just these digital natives cannot simply detach themselves from those smart phones and concentrate in class. Hence, many school principles decide to restrict the internet connection.

So, what do you think of Triptico?

Would you give it a go?