Telephone

To listen to others, we need to focus our attention on what they are saying and remember the words they say. We are going to play a game called Telephone to help us practice focusing our attention while we listen to others. The goal of this game is focus on the message and repeat it correctly to the next person. Are you ready to focus your attention?

1. Have students sit or stand in a circle. If online, determine an order before beginning the game.
2. The teacher goes first and whispers a silly phrase to the first student, such as “I like dancing like a worm.” If online, ensure that everyone except for the teacher and the first student have turned the computer speaker off.
3. Then first student whispers what they think they heard to the next person. If online, the next student should turn on their speaker before receiving the message.
4. The message is passed around until the last person hears it (or back to the first person, if students are in a circle); he/she announces what he/she heard. The goal is to get as close as possible to the original message.
5. Play multiple rounds, switching the order of students so someone new is first and last.

• What about this game was easy or hard for you?
• What strategies did you use? What might you do differently next time?
• When do you need to focus at home or at school?
• How else would you like to play this game?

For primary school students:

• To decrease the memory challenge, share shorter phrases of 2-3 words.
• Let students lead the activity for the whole class or in smaller groups.

For students in grades 5-6:

• To increase the working memory challenge, make the original message longer or more complex.
• Share a message that is relevant to academic content. For example, if you are studying the phases of the moon, you could share the message “The moon is a waxing gibbous.”