Fill in the Blanks

A fill in the blanks exercise is a learning activity where words or phrases are intentionally left out of a sentence, requiring the participant to complete it by inserting the missing elements. This helps learners practice and assess their understanding of the subject.

Prepare a fill in the blanks exercise with 10 to 20 missing words in several paragraphs about about <the topic.>. Use normal sentences and omit some important words. Put the missing words, sorted alphabetically, into a column to the right of the paper or frame. (Without giving the words this exercise is much harder.) Then each participant works on his/her own. In the end read out the paragraphs and wait at each place holder for some participant to shout out the proper word, or say it yourself.

Practicalities

Chat-GPT works well for this. A suitable prompt is

As a warmup 4C connect exercise for during a technical coding training, create a fill in the blank exercise with at least 10 missing words in several paragraphs. Target audience are experienced developers. Use, combine and rephrase in your own words these sentences and omit relevant words: …

Benefits

This is a self-correcting exercise because the redundancy of natural language helps filling in the gaps. For the blanks filled by most of the group, you know what they already know.