MASH in an ESL classroom
Teachers already print our worksheet. This is how a round actually fits a language class, including the parts that go wrong. The how to play MASH page is the rules. This page is the lesson.
Paper first
Most rooms do not have an iPad per kid. The printable MASH sheet is the version that works when the Wi-Fi is down and the cart is in another building. One copy each, a pen, one person drawing the spiral. The paper walkthrough is the counting.
If you do have devices: the browser game needs no account, which matters on a shared Chromebook. The iPhone and iPad app is the one to load before class if you want typed options and a saved story.
The sentence the game writes
A finished round is four or six future-tense lines you can put on the board:
- You will live in a shack.
- You will marry Jordan.
- You will have 17 kids.
- You will drive a shopping cart.
That is the language job. The spiral is how you get there without the student picking the "right" answer. They still have to read the result out loud, which is the speaking part.
A 15-minute warm-up
Write MASH on the board and one sample fortune. Two minutes. Then pairs fill their lists from a word bank you already wrote up. Five minutes. Spiral and count, or tap Play in the browser. Three minutes. Two students read. The class asks one follow-up each ("Where is the shack?" "Who is Jordan?"). Five minutes. Sit down.
If you have a full period, the writing extension is: turn the four lines into a paragraph in the past, as if the fortune already happened. "I lived in a shack and I married Jordan." Same vocabulary, different tense.
Word banks that match a unit
Do not ask beginners to invent options. Put the unit vocabulary on the board and make them copy four into each list.
- Jobs: doctor, teacher, bus driver, YouTuber
- Homes: mansion, apartment, shack, house. Those four are the acronym, so they stick.
- Numbers: 0, 2, 5, 17 kids. Zero is a real option and it gets a laugh.
- Cars: Honda, shopping cart, horse, Tesla. One disaster per list or the reveal has no stakes.
More lists live on the MASH categories page. For a travel unit, use the honeymoon destinations. For older students, college and majors.
Mixed levels in one room
Beginners copy from the board. Intermediate students pick from the bank but have to spell the word themselves. Advanced students write their own options, including at least one they would hate. The counting is the same for everybody, so you are not running three activities.
In the app, the typed-in answers are the advanced path. The random suggestions are the scaffold: a student can tap a job they recognize but cannot produce yet.
What not to do
Do not let the class fill a spouse list with the vice principal, or with a kid in the room who will cry. The blind-list house rule is good for a sleepover game, but not for a language activity.
Don't spend a long time explaining the spiral. Draw one on the board, count the loops out loud, then start. Kids who have played this on paper already know. The ones who aren't familiar will learn it during the first round.
Play a round in the browser if you want to save paper.