Hot potatoes is a free software application that can be used to produce worksheets, activities and interactive learning experiences. They can be used to teach a concept, evaluate or just to have fun with. There are six different applications to produce language based interactive activities. They are crosswords, matching words, clozes, unjumbling words, multiple choice and short answer quizzes.
Having had a go at these they were very easy to use and quick to produce. Hot potatoes can be downloaded from this address http://www.iq.poquoson.org/hotpotatoes/#download. To access the activities and complete them online the students need access to a web server Internet Explorer 6.0 or newer. Some interesting games and activities can be found on the website which would be fun and engaging to use in the classroom to promote learning.
Students could create their own activity pages, a good way to evaluate what they have understood and then have others in the class complete their activity sheets. Connecting with other classes and sharing activities could be fun and help to add life and enjoyment to the more laborious and sometimes less interesting language type learning and skill development. Verbs, conjunctions and adjectives could be much more fun to learn and apply what is learned using Hot Potatoes with students in the classroom.
