In trying to teach the present tense verb endings (о̄, s, t, mus, tis, nt) beyond chanting, so that students could recall them quicker, I used an activity with hand signals as taught by Professor Tim Griffith. In this activity, the teacher points his thumb at himself for first person singular, points the index finger in front of them for second person singular, and points their thumb to the side for third person singular. Then uses two hands to signal the plural version of these endings. The students then have to mimic the teacher’s hand signals and match the correct endings as the teacher does this in random patterns.
My 7th and 8th grade Latin students then developed a game to teach these endings. A number of chairs are placed in a circle less one than the number of players (the teacher can and should play too!). The OUT player must stand in the middle of the circle and call out either “singular” or “plural”. Then all of the players including the one in the middle must think of an ending from that section (“о̄, s, or t” if singular is called, “mus, tis or nt” if plural is called). After everyone has a chance to think of an ending (a few seconds at most), then the OUT player calls out his/her ending. Everyone with the same ending as the OUT player must immediately leave their seat and find a new seat including the OUT player. Whoever does not get a seat is the new OUT player.
After a number of rounds of this game, the game can be changed where the OUT player calls out either “1st person”, “2nd person”, or “3rd person”. All the players must then think of an ending that corresponds to that person (1st “о̄, mus” for 1st person, “s, tis” for 2nd person, “t, nt” for 3rd person) and the game continues with the OUT player calling out an ending.
When students are first learning the present tense verb endings it is helpful to have these written on the board for them to reference during the game. This was successfully played by 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. The only small glitch is when many of the 3rd graders wanted to be stuck in the middle. Some incentive then may be needed for not being caught without a seat.