Job Discussion Forums

[rivers]

hi all,
i'm teaching an 11 year old korean boy and his 13 year old sister separately. i've been looking for games to play with them which are fun and helpful. They especially like card games so any links / suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,

[kev7161]

"Go Fish" can be fun and you can use it with a variety of subjects - - simple: colors, numbers, shapes, etc. More complex: countries, geographical locations (do you have a Yangtze River? Go fish! - - but not in that river, please), historical figures, spelling words . . .

Any sort of match game like concentration can be played in the same context. Not only do they have to match two items, but they have to use the word in a sentence after matching, perhaps.

[MeiYu]

yeah, Go Fish is very good. and memory as well....word and picture. as an extra task, have them make the cards with you.

i've also adapted some board games, like snakes and ladders....also, try bogglesworldesl.com. they have loads of board games. you may have to alter them for levels, but i've played them with my private lessons.

i also printed off a few sets of the alphabet and cut them up and played a scrabble/crossword or just plain spelling games. the kids loved it.

[saint57]

I tutored a 15 year old Korea student. Most of the time he tried to bite my arm. I would try to defend myself. Somtimes I'd let him win just to keep the game going. I tutored him for nine months and he never got tired of that silly game. That was the best job I ever had. Actually, one time his dad burst into the room drunk as hell and took out a large bamboo sword. I thought he was going to beat the sheet out of me. Since neither the father or the son could speak a word of English, it took about thirty minutes for me to figure out what was happening. I looked at the student's report card and he was second last in his class. Something like 264/265. The father wanted me to beat the son with the sword any time I saw him get a bad mark in English. Luckily for me, his English mark was by far his highest.

Administering the nightly sword beatings almost brought tears to my eyes, but the pay was so good I couldn't refuse.

[Shan-Shan]

And the only disciplinary device that I ever received in Korea was a "sword" made of several editions of the local newspaper tightly bound together with glue and tape. Though not very threatening in appearance, it was light, and stung like hell. Worked wonders.

Just a whack on the desk was sometimes enough to bring order to my little kingdom.

[saint57]

I believe that the sword was a family heirloom.

[AliNZ]

I like games as a teaching tol. Keeps them interested and re-inforces (if you design it to) the lesson points.

I like scrabble

Story telling - he says a sentence - you say the next etc.

20 questions on a topic

Find a pack of cards and have 52 topic starters on them.e.g. Hearts could be questions that start with "Tell me about" Diamonds could be "Describe"
basically any sets of questions that have to be answered in 3 or more sentences.

Finish the sentence... I use this one a lot with students .... take something from the lesson and build it in a fun way

board games - make your own - there's one called Say 4 things...I think from either ABC teach or Booglesworld . print it out - paste it on card board...throw the dice and go...

crosswords are good - make your own or printables from any of the great esl sites. I make my own using information from the lesson of the day to reinforce vocab and it helps with their spelling too

students of many ages like 'wordfind' games - even some of my adults ask for them after seeing the kids - again good for spelling

I use bingo with groups too

I like to use conversation starters - I write these out on cardboard and they must pick a random one

"Guess Who" is a good board game if you can get your hands on it
If not, try and make one

Check out all the esl teaching lesson plans and games - some great ideas to use or adapt to suit ythe age and stage of your learner