Korean Job Discussion Forums

[matthews_world]

I'm looking for new classroom games to add to my repetoire.

I can think of 5 that I play repeatedly.

Hangman

Chair Game - circle 1 chair for each student in the classroom. Teacher is in the middle. Comments such as "I have black hair" are given. The students who have black hair must get up and change chairs. There will always be 1 extra student in the middle. They again give a statement. In this game, you can practice clothing, daily activities - I went shopping this weekend, and others.

Memory Game - Use the letters of the alphabet. Teacher gives one item - Apple. The next student remembers 'Apple' and give another object 'Banana.' The next student remembers the previous 2 objects and gives and object with the letter 'C' and so on.

Chain Game - This is known by other names, but begin with a word such as 'house.' Write this on the board. The next student must give a word with the letter 'E,' the last letter in the word 'house.' Continue the chain.

Stop the Bus - This is the game with catagories such as 'Food,' 'Animals,' 'Countries,' 'First Names,' etc. Use the first three letters of the alphabet, A, B, & C in a row across the top and the topics on the left. Students have a few minutes to come up with words in the category. For example, Food - Apple, Banana, Cake. Stop the bus after 10 minutes or so. Students get a point for each correct answer they have so they want to have popular answers. Go around the room and ask each student the answers they have for each category.


Feel free to post your fun classroom games here.

[crazylemongirl]

I've actually pinched or adapted most of my games from the ESL Cafe's Idea Cookbook

CLG

[kiwioutofthenest]

Just thought of one
Make a whole lot of words such as entertaining, passionate etc anything that suits their level then put them all in a box, divide the class into teams. Each team has to select a word and use it in a sentence, points for using the word correctly

[matthews_world]

I also thought of another one I play - 20 Questions.

In this game, think of a person, place or thing. Give the students a category that will help them. If I thing of 'tiger,' then I'll give the category of animals. Then they have to guess by asking questions, i.e. 'Do you...?', 'Are you...?' Teach the students some vocabulary beforehand.


Anybody heard of a classroom game called Baseball?

[Juggertha]

for young kids (learning phonics or just past that) i often "change their names" on the board. My students have neglish names such as Bill and Ted ( ) and i'll get the students to roll/flip and the losers change the first letter of their name.

Now its "Kill and Ked" for example. The kids think its funny as heck



Also, pick up a big bouncy dice from E-mart. They can be used in a number of ways.

[Mr. Pink]

For the little ones, the "I spy" game is sort of fun.

"I spy with my little eye something that is (color here)"

IT is something in the classroom, and they have to answer:

"Is it _____________" IMO it's great for beginners, as they get to use their limited vocabulary, and little kids think it is funny.

I have actually used the game a few times in my highschool teaching career...however I pick something that they might not guess, such as braces on some kids teeth, or a tooth etc. If you throw some kind of reward into the mix, such as candy or chocolate, the kids are yours!

[Son Deureo!]

Pictionary - Pick a noun that's from the vocabulary they've been learning, one student draws it, and the rest have to guess what it is. All questions and answers have to be in complete sentences ("Is it a __________?" "Yes, it is."). The person who guesses correctly gets a point and can be the next person to draw. Spelling the word correctly gets another point.

Charades - Similar idea as above, but using verbs and the students act them out. All questions and answers in complete sentences ("Is he _______ing?" "Yes, he is."). One point for guessing, one point for spelling.

Both of these games require no prep, so they can be played on the spur of the moment, and they're pretty popular with my students. Especially charades.

[FUBAR]

Not sure how much I can help you on this, but here goes

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Try Sam, Yuk, Ku Z(3,6,9)

The students start saying the numbers in order.

First student says 1
Second student says 2
Third student claps their hands at 3

Basically, the students say the number unless it ends in a 3,6, or 9. In that case they must clap.

It acts as a good warm up for some classes. But you don't wanna play it for too long.
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Simon Says is always a good one if the class is enthusiatic enough.

Simon says touch your head
Simon says touch your toes
Touch your knees.

The peson who touchs their knees is out of the game b/c they can only do what Simon says.

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I will post some more later, have some classes to teach... our class schedule is all messed up b/c of the University Entrance Exams

[Blue Flower]

A good hangman variation, is to have the kids do the words themselves on the W/B, rather than the teacher. They love the control and power they get. I've even had them fighting over whose turn it is next.

[wormholes101]

This game totally rocks... My kids are totally mad about this game...

I call it the "Worm Game". The beauty of this game is that you can practice any conversation or vocab or anything! Eg. How are you? I'm fine. Whats the capital of Korea? It's Seoul...etc. What's this (show a picture card) Its a ... etc. Where is the dog? etc etc etc...

1). Teach the students (Ss) how to play "Scissors, Rock, Paper" (In English!!). (S.R.P)

2). Draw on the board a worm and three other animals increasing in complexity and finally a human. Make sure they know the animal names.
eg. worm>snail>cat>monkey>human

3). Rules are as follows. Ss are all worms to start. Ss then mingle around the room and ask the conversation to be practised. They then SRP and the winner advances to the next stage eg. worm>snail. Only like animals can play with each other. If Ss loses SRP they drop down one level eg. snail>worm or monkey>cat

4).Preteach "What are you?" and "I'm a snail" etc. otherwise they will do this in Korean. You can even make this the first conversation to be practiced.

5). When they are humans, they must play with the teacher and if they win they are "Aliens"!! Aliens should finish their written exercises

NB. This can be an incredibly noisy game. Make some extra rules to keep the noise level down and that they speak English at all times. Eg. Running, shouting, speaking Korean go down a level.

Try it out! I'd love to hear how it works for you...

[rapier]

Matthews world: "Touch game" has long been one of my staple activities. Just write different vocab or pictures on the board. Line the kids up in 2 teams, the front 2 have to run and be the first to touch the word you call out. Easy really. if you want to jazz it up, make them hop to the board or run around a chair first before they touch it.

The simplest games are the best...

[waterbaby]

I call it the "password" game... kind of like celebrity head (if you know that one) but not limited to celebrites.

I have one student sit in a chair in front of the board. I write a word or place a flashcard above their head or (eg monkey) that they can't see and the other students can only use English (no Korean & no actions) to help the student in the "hot seat" to guess what they are... eg... animal, likes bananas! I've found kids get really creative with their English while playing this game.

Getting them to not use actions is really difficult. Sometimes I make them sit on their hands!

Sometimes I make it a team thing with two students in front of the board and the first to guess correctly, wins a point for their team. Sometimes I choose a student to write the word.

I usually use words from their recently learned vocabularly. It's really good to see them try to explain "concepts" rather than verbs or nouns... something like "time" or "death" always produces interesting descriptions.

[waterbaby]

[matthews_world]

Thanks for the ideas. I've got upper level and upper-aged elementary and middle school students.

Anymore games that could be used.

A Tic Tac Toe board can be used to judge mastery of vocabulary and grammar.

Draw a 3x3 grid. Make sure you've reviewed or studied the material and explain the game of Tic Tac Toe. Write the selected vocabulary or grammar into the squares. One of the two teams of students then select a box. They then have to use the contents in a sentence. Connect three boxes with a line. It's okay for a box to be used by both teams. This works well with upper level students.

[Eazy_E]

I've tried a game called "Around the World" that works well with younger classes. You need some flashcards of vocab items (make your own cards if you like: you need about twenty but the prep time isn't too bad). The cards just need a picture, not a word.

Assuming your class sits in a circle, have two students stand up and show them both a flashcard. The first one to yell it out stays standing up; the "loser" sits back down. The "winner" then challenges the next kid to his/her left. If any student can make it all the way around, then he/she has gone 'around the world'.

This game really gets the kids excited, and you can get quite a bit of mileage out of it. It brings out their competitive instinct.

Hope this helps.