Job Discussion Forums

[Sixerfan]

I thought it might be nice to swap ideas on ways to liven up the classroom atomosphere with tried and tested methods we've all used. I know I could surely benefit from the knowledge of others.

I'd like to mention that I've had great success in playing Tic-Tac-Toe and Jeopardy with my classes (using vocabulary and reading comp. as questions). Students seemed to love the break in monotony. I've tried Simon Says, which worked slightly, but other classes did not like it...and I myself admit it only works with the more "energetic" ones. Finally, I've had success showing pictures to the students and having them write about the things they see.

Anything else people would like to add?

[Badtomatoe]

Sometimes a simple song. Like "row, row, row you boat," or "Sunshine, you are my sunshine.....".
Those go over pretty well for me.

[jeffinflorida]

Teaching in my business marketing management class I was trying to get them to understand that in the USA and most countries celebrities do many commercials. I was standing on a chair yelling " I am Yao Ming, drink Coke" and that had them laughing very hard. They may even have gotten some learning out of it too.

It is very hard to get through to Chinese students.

[Ariadne]

I too like to use pictures in the classroom. There are many ways to have the students write about pictures. You can ask them to describe what they see and only what they see, or have them give their opinion about what they think is happening. It's also fun to have them write, and then read, a story about a picture. I often ask my students to make me laugh or make me cry (or both) when they write stories. They come up with some very tragic and comedic tales. I use any pictures I can find in newspapers or magazines, as well as postcards and snapshots.

[Guest]

After nearly two years at this School I was looking for something more interesting to do, so I got 9 SCRABBLE sets from Australia.

I found that Junior 1 classes were not that interested (or indeed not that good) but Junior 2 classes love the game.

I don't let them play the game every week, just sometimes to break up the monotony (for me mainly) and to make lesson planning a lot easier.

The School seems to have no interest in what I actually attempt to teach the students - and now I find it great to have a free hand.

[Sixerfan]

Another thing that works for me (I tried it today with success) is Pictionary. I have a Chinese English dictionary as the reference. I divide the students into teams, and then call them up. I show them a word, and have them draw it on the board. The first person to guess the word correctly gets a point for their team. They seem to like that.

[Sixerfan]

I wanted to thank you for the "Row row row" your boat suggestion. I tried it today in class, and the students LOVED it! Another song that seemed to work wonders was "Scarborough Fair". Who'd have thought it??

[Kurochan]

Have you played telephone yet? You know, you make the students get into several lines, tell the first person in line a sentence, have the person try to whisper it to the next person exactly, and so on until the end of the line. Then you see if the sentence at the end is the same as the one at the beginning. My students LOVED this, and they're all Ph.D. candidates -- so it appeals to a wide age range. You can use this to review/remind students of vocabulary when a test is coming up. On problem is that there are always people who will try to cheat, so keep a look out. The most interesting thing when I played this game is that I have one class with a student who's hearing impaired (virtually deaf when he doesn't use his hearing aid), and I asked him if he'd help me by policing the class, looking for cheaters. He couldn't do it because he was laughing so hard watching the other students! It was hilarious for him to see them in the same predicament he's in!

Another activity that works with middle school to undergrad students is "magic sunglasses." You bring these sunglasses into class, put them on, and say, "I have magic sunglasses that will let me see your future. When I wear these, I can see who you'll marry, where you'll live, what your job will be, and how many children you'll have。� Then DEMONSTRATE BY TELLING ONE KID�S FORTUNE。 ASK OTHER PEOPLE IF THEY WANT TO TRY -- IT HELPS IF FIRST YOU�VE GONE THROUGH THINGS LIKE DIFFERENT PLACES YOU CAN LIVE （HOUSES， PALACES， ETC。） FIRST。 IT�LL START OUT BEING RELATIVELY NORMAL， BUT IT�S JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THEY START SAYING WACKY STUFF LIKE， �XIAO QIN， YOU�LL MARRY LIU DE HUA， LIVE IN A TOILET， WORK AS A GAMBLER AND HAVE 14 CHILDREN。� THIS ACTIVITY CAN GET REALLY APATHETIC STUDENTS TALKING。

SORRY FOR ALL THE CAPS！ MY COMPUTER�S DONE SOMETHING WIERD ：（