Job Discussion Forums

[Mydnight]

Working in a school that has some fine students; well, according to what everyone says. Then again, even dim stars can shine out in darkness. I'm off point.


This fine education establishment has done such a poor job in making me feel like I am actually a teacher, by paying me late, making me jump through hoops to get the pay, disrespecting me in front of students, showing me not an inkling of care in times of need and even the FAO changing his number and refusing to give it to me, the usual drag... that I just don't care anymore about doing that fine a job for them. Yes, yes, I know, WHAT ABOUT THE STUDENTS? Well? So what? I don't want to waste my time preparing lessons anymore for a school that treats me like a dancing monkey. Yeah, so what? I am thinking only of myself. So what? You work in this city long enough, you will BECOME ME.

I'm looking for some games that will kill a 40 minute class period like a case of the Clap; not that I had it, but it seems like it should probably feel like going to this school.

Don't bother me with the integrity argument, please; I'm not a greenhorn fresh off the boat.

So, this week we are doing past tense/participle...as they have been for the last 3 or 4 weeks. You fine folks got any games for that?

[vikdk]

This is an appropriate game - find the teacher - if the school treated me in such a way that I didn't want to work there anymore - I'd leave.
The malaise you find yourself in seems to be all to do with a lack of job-satisfaction - where the actual task of teaching English takes second place to your personal dispute with the school. Contract or no contract - you shouldn't be a slave to their system - but as an experienced FT you know that already.
Anyways summer hols are here soon - so happy job hunting.
And the game - well you can always ask them to act out a stupid half-wit romantic fairy-tale (even the most mature students love those soppy boy meets girl situations) through a script riddled with the tense grammar mistakes you are intending to teach!

[Mydnight]

Middle school level. English levels in the same class, as usual, varying from nill to decent.

I need games that can guage the interest of some impossible to manage classes. Less prep work would be nice because I don't care anymore. I have other jobs that pay better currently, and I need to put my effort into the ones that matter.

[vikdk]

[Mydnight]

Money.

Maybe I should become a drug dealer.

[clark.w.griswald]

Mydnight, what about trying some simple logic riddles.

You know the ones. Like the father and son in a car accident, the father dies, and the surgeon says I can't operate on the boy as he is my son. So who is the surgeon?

This one above is a bit morbid but it is a good one to follow up after a class on relatives and in-laws etc. as the students would then tend to overlook the more obvious answer on the assumption that it must be related to the new material.

There are much better ones than that out there. You can change the language to fit your students level or the topic that they are studying. You can divide them into groups to compare notes and then compete to get the most answers right. The group work can be in either English or Chinese depending upon their level, but they should present their answers to the class and give their reasons in English.

It takes a bit of time, but it gets their brain ticking and is not so focused on the language as it is on the problem solving aspect. You may find that they will be more encouraged to use the language to communicate a point that they want to make.

[tw]

[vikdk]

[Voldermort]

Heres a game that my kids love, the tongue twister race. Divide the class into teams, choose about 10 students from each team and have them repeat a tongue twister. I time the students and write the time up on the board.

Another game I sometimes play, but it only works after a few months of teaching, the spelling challenge. I make a big list of the new words I have taught them in the past. Take a student from each team and stand them in front of the board, shout out the word and the first to spell it correctly earns their team a point. They can earn an aditional point for giving a definition of the word or using it in a sentence.

Hope that helps.

[Sonnet]

[patsy]

I totally understand you, and i like reading your posts, you have a good understanding of teaching in china. I can't think of any good games at the moment, most of the students won't play my games, maybe show a movie with a lot of past tense statements, my classes are movie marathons for these last few weeks. good luck.

[vikdk]

[Lobster]

You could head over to www.greeneclipse.com and download the free crossword maker there. Make the clues the present tense forms of irregular verbs and the answers the simple past or past participles. A crossword with about 35-40 words should keep 'em busy for the class if you have them read the clues and spell the answers aloud after they've finished. This actually works for any type of vocabulary review. Divide the class into teams of four and have them compete to see who can finish first with an error-free crossword. Buy some cheap prizes for the winning team.

RED

[sheeba]

try www.puzzlemaker.com

I sometimes do crosswords or wordsearch exercises from this site but I don't see these as games . They are learning (presenting language) activities .

I find that I simply can't play 'games' with mine . There's too much that needs to be taught and any game I've tried has been harder work than actually doing something useful .

[InTime]

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