Let’s Build a Tower

Scripture: Genesis 10-11

Learning Objectives:

  • Students will review the story of the Tower of Babel
  • Students will learn God confused the people’s languages so they couldn’t understand each other and complete the tower
  • Students will participate in an activity to help them review various nouns needed to purchase items

Guiding Question: How does one communicate clearly in English when shopping and working on a project together?

Materials: a variety of tools and found materials (identical set of items for each team)

Procedure: Review the story of the Tower of Babel. Discuss with students the words the people would have needed to understand in order to complete the tower. What words would they have needed if they had to purchase the materials to build the tower? Divide students into teams. Each team has a “store” with identical items. The items can be any items you choose, but preferably items the students can use to construct some sort of tower. The more varied the items the more practice in speaking English your students will have. One student on eat team is the shopkeeper. The shops should be set up at a n equal distance from the teams. At your signal, the other members of the team take turns racing to the store and requesting an item their team needs to build the tower. If you have multiples of the same item in each store, they are only allowed to request one of the items. (One craft stick, not all ten craft sticks.) Once the student who went “shopping” returns with an item, the next team member can go request an item. The team must rotate all players through equally. Once all the items have been ‘purchased” students can work together to build a tower. The first team to use all of the materials to complete a tower wins. After the game, discuss with students what words they needed to use. Ask if other words would have worked better or if they realized there were words they did not know. Review any words that seem to cause students difficulty.

Additional Questions: What words do construction workers use on a regular basis?

Supplemental Activity: Have students interview various construction workers to discover what words they use regularly on their jobs. After they have compiled a list of common words, have students create a poster or flash cards to help interested students practice those words.

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