Five NO PREP formative assessment activities
Every language teacher knows the struggle of balancing effective assessment with limited time. Crafting and grading quizzes can be time-consuming, leaving little room for other essential tasks. That's why I'm here to share five simple NO PREP formative assessment activities, allowing you to efficiently assess student understanding while saving valuable time.
True-False / Multiple Choice
These classic question formats are incredibly versatile and can be tailored to any lesson. They're easy to prepare ahead of time for predetermined topics, they're also equally effective for spontaneous discussions or personalized Q&A sessions. Students love when their own experiences become test questions, adding an engaging twist to their learning.
Quick grade: student self-correction, trade with a peer and grade, or you can do a quick walk around the room with stamp or highlighter to check if they were correct.
2 Truths & a Lie
This activity adds an element of fun to formative assessment. Just like your true-false or multiple choice questions you can come up with one of these in just one minute and have it graded the next!
Listen & Draw
This is a favorite among students! It provides a creative outlet for assessment. Simply narrate a few sentences related to the lesson topic, and have students illustrate what they hear. Adjust the complexity of sentences based on available class time. You can have them draw one scene in the box, or divide it up to draw multiple. I tell students to do the best they can drawing and they can label their pictures or write a caption in English to make it clear for me. If they only understand part of the sentence then draw what they do understand.
An example of a listen and draw quick quiz from my fourth grade class after learning weather and feelings: “Il est nuageux et il pleut. Le lion est triste.” (It’s cloudy and raining. The lion is sad.”
Quick Grade: Repeat each part of the sentence and review the meaning of the sentence in English. I have them give themselves a check next to each part they got correct and then count their total points. Here is what I might say using the example above, “The first sentence was, ‘Il est nuageux et il pleut’. What does that mean in English? You’re right! It’s cloudy and it’s raining. If you drew a cloud, check it off. If you drew rain check it off. And the second sentence was, ‘Le lion est triste,’ what does that mean? YES! The lion is sad. If you drew a lion give yourself a check, if you drew a sad face give yourself another check and if you drew a sad lion give yourself a third check. Now count up how many checks you go, write that number out of four, and circle it!” I like to throw in a more challenging sentence to see who is really getting it. We had talked about feelings but not animals. I knew they could understand “lion” if they thought about it because it’s a cognate but it was a newer sentence structure and a new way of using the word so it would be a challenge. If students were able to all 5 points I would give them a 4 (Exceeding Expectations). If they had 3 or 4 points, that would be a 3 (meeting Expectations).
Read & Draw
Similar to listening and drawing, this activity focuses on reading comprehension. Students read a short text or class summary and illustrate key points.
Quick grade: same idea as the listen and draw - 1 point for each key element of the text.
Read & Translate
This one is good for a more structured and formal assessment or as a bell ringer for reading practice. Students read a short passage or the class summary and select sentences to translate into English. Have students choose 2-3 sentences (depending on the length of the text) that they feel confident they know and would be able to translate into English. Number each sentence in the text for simplicity. I tell them if they don’t know a word leave a blank line and write the rest of the sentence. If they want to challenge themselves they can translate the whole passage. This activity not only assesses comprehension but also reinforces vocabulary and language structure.
Quick grade: You could collect and formally correct or have students grade themselves. Re-write the English directly underneath the sentences on the board so students can compare. Give students a red pen or colored pencil and have them correct their sentences.
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These simple, fast assessments offer real-time insights into student understanding without the need for extensive preparation or grading time. If you need a more formal assessment to put in the grade book you can collect their weekly packet on Friday and count up their total points for the week. Since you were grading the activities immediately it shouldn’t take long to add everything and enter the grade.
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