*Advanced Warning: I am no PPT expert!*
[I've downloaded my fair share of excellent material from this site, and I thought it was time to give back a little.]
Having always struggled to explain Battleships to my students, I thought I would have a go at making an instructions PPT. I think it's an excellent game for reviewing grammar points, or just filling time with round-up/review at the end of a semester. If this is helpful to one or more of you, then it was worth the upload.
Some notes:
- I've listed the ships as I remember them from my childhood (feel free to change names/sizes/anything else on the PPT)
- If using the game to ask students questions, I would suggest getting the whole team to read the question out loud, and then nominate an individual to answer (insist on full sentences, where required). The 'nominated student' idea should ensure more than just the most confident participate, and if the kids read the questions, they're doing the speaking rather than you... and surely that's the point?
- Be flexible on the ship placement timing. Two minutes is probably too short, but intentionally so, because if you don't warn them that the clock is ticking, they will take a year and three days to decide
- You will more than likely find the PPT 'wordy'. My justification is that any time in the past I've tried to explain this game in short-form, it's never been grasped well. So it might be a good idea to go through the instructions early on in the year, that way it's something you can come back to again as a game, and get some mileage out of it
- I've tried Battleships in the past with some sort of physical activity, to spice it up a bit. So for example, you could ask each team a question, and then successful answers could be gambled 'double or nothing' style on a challenge (say, tossing a paper ball into a trash can). My experience of this is hit-and-miss; you'd have to gauge the attitude of your classes, and decide whether such an add-on would descend the room into chaos or not!
Hope it's helpful.
