Taboo Teaching Strategy You Can Use In Class

The basic idea of the 'Taboo' teaching strategy is simple and effective - it was even 'stolen' by a daytime TV show in the UK. The classroom activity is called 'Taboo' [the TV version was called 'You Say We Pay'] and works like this:

* One student sits facing an image that other students can't see

* The student gives other students clues about what the image means, but is not allowed to use the name of the image

* Other students try to guess what the image is from the clues they hear

* An element of challenge is added by imposing a time limit for each image, or a fixed number of clues.

In other words the Taboo teaching strategy makes specific words 'taboo' - they can't be mentioned and students have to find other ways of explaining what these words mean.

In the TV show, viewers rang in and were able to win money for each image they could convey to the show's presenters, in one minute.

Clearly no money can be won in the classroom but this activity is fun and engages most students.

Here's what to do to set up the Taboo teaching strategy:

1. You can set this up so that just one student has to do the guessing and other students supply the clues.

2. An alternative setup is to make it competitive and have students work in teams. Each team has one student facing away from the information and the other members of the team supply the clues. The other teams, while waiting their turn, will certainly make sure no other team cheats!

3. You can project images through a data projector, but some simple flashcards can work just as well.

4. The 'image' might not be a picture - for example it could be a word or phrase, a mathematical equation or formula, a shape, pattern, and so on, depending on what the lesson content is.

5. You can make the 'image' and the clues as easy or as complex as you want, so this activity can work with students of all ages and at all stages of learning.

6. This activity can be very good way to check what's been learned as an end-of-lesson plenary session, or as a way of starting a lesson to connect with what students learned in a previous lesson.

A few examples:

* In a Spanish lesson, vocabulary items are projected to test recall: for example a picture of a beach is shown and the word 'playa' is given as the clue - the student has to work out the meaning and says 'beach' - this is very easy, but the fact that it's a game adds a fun element to what is essentially a vocabulary recall exercise.

* In a History lesson, a picture of Adolf Hitler is shown and a clue could be:'The leader of the Nazis in World War 2 '

* In a math lesson an equilateral triangle is projected and the clues might be be:

'It's a three sided shape - the three sides are of equal length - each of the three angles contained in this shape measures 60 degrees'

Note that the students giving the clues are not allowed to use the word 'triangle' or 'equilateral' - forcing everyone to take their understanding to a higher level by being able to explain the concept behind the image, not just to name the image.

* In a science lesson the chemical formula 'H2O' is shown - the clues could be:

'It's the chemical formula for a liquid that's essential for life and is made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen'

Th 'Taboo' teaching strategy works because it appeals to the natural desire our brains have to fill in the 'information gap' contained in a puzzle, and the elements of both competition [against yourself and the clock as well as an opposing team] and cooperation elevate this kind of activity above the routine classroom knowledge check.


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