Why I Need More Verba Packs

Verba was one of the most exciting misiones we’ve had in Classcraft so far.

When I gamified Genius Hour for the end of the semester, I set up about 10 misiones or “eventos aleatorios” for us to start each day. In one misión, the student with the most Action Points on each team had to win a round of Verba or lose 15 AP.

They were hooked.

There was some frustration, but when I followed up with the frustrated parties, it turns out the bitter taste had more to do with the loss of points in Classcraft from the mission. (I mean, the original event just had people losing points–at least they got a chance to keep them!)

So now I’m trying to get my hands on a few more copies of the game to play next year, so I kicked in on the Kickstarter campaign. The problem is, I won’t get MY copies if more people don’t kick in too!

Of course I could always download and print some packs for free, but we’re talking some hefty decks–a lot of ink and paper! Plus there’s just something

With more Verba packs I could…

• Start class with a giggle by passing each student a handful of noun cards on the way into class and drawing a sentence card
• Reserve one pack for checkout and make Verba a homework choice 
• Add a new station to First Day Fun Stations to dive right into using the language
• Have students write new cards to emphasize sentence structures we’re focusing on
• Reinforce TPRS stories by having students substitute nouns from the story
• See which group can come up with the funniest story from their matches

• Try stringing some cards together in a story skeleton like @kballestrini
• Help students set goals by sorting cards according to what they know and want to know
• Practice new structures by having students change the form of their match to get the point
• Have students write stories/skits to share with elementary kids around their favorite match
• Set up spontaneous conversation topics for interpersonal practice
• Invite parents or native speakers from the community to a game night to show off students’ target language skills
• Play like a a going-on-a-picnic style icebreaker to bring the class together, early on or for review
• Or simply reward kids who finish a task early with a quick game while others finish

Now I bribed my students with some HP points for Classcraft to write up their honest opinions–extra if it was in Spanish. If I haven’t made it clear why you should invest in some Spanish Verba packs, well, don’t take my word for it. Just look at what my kids had to say after one round!