Job Discussion Forums

[JZer]

Hi everyone. I will be teaching at a summer camp in China this summer and was wondering if anyone could recommend some games that would be good to play with ESL students. I have a book of games that I am looking over but just wanted to see if any of you experts had any great suggestions. Thanks for your help.


Peace!!!

[Henry_Cowell]

Here on the ESL Cafe:

Teacher Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Activities and Games:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/viewforum.php?f=1

Dave's ESL Cafe Idea Cookbook: http://www.eslcafe.com/ideas/

And loads and loads of games are available on other Internet TEFL sites. Here are only a couple:

http://bogglesworld.com/

http://www.johnsesl.com/templates/teachers/

[JZer]

Henry_Cowell, thanks for the help.

[anthyp]

Here are a few specific ideas I have tried out with my own Chinese students:

Pictionary
Two teams, students come up one at a time and their team has 30 seconds to guess what word you gave them. Easy stuff like "dog" or "school." Takes about 10 -15 minutes.

Spelling Race
Any number of teams, you give each student a number. They have to come up as you call out their number (so it's random). You call out a word and whoever spells it correctly first gets the point. 15 minutes.

Scattergories
Divide the students into small teams. One student gets a pen and paper and, when you call out a category (like "Animals" or "Food"), they get one minute to write down as many words as they can. After they're finished, you collect all of the papers and tally up the points. You can give them 2 points for correctly spelled words, 1 for incorrectly spelled words, and 5 for any word no other group uses. 15 - 20 minutes.

Spelling Race 2
Sorry, I can't remember the name for this one. You divide the students into 5 or 6 teams and partition the board into an equal amount of spaces. One student from each team goes up with a piece of chalk, and when you call out a letter, they have 30 seconds to write down as many words as they can think of starting with that letter. 1 point for correctly spelled words, incorrectly spelled words don't count. 10 - 15 minutes, if you play a couple of rounds.

Well, if I think of any others I'll be back later. Consider yourselves warned.

[dajiang]

I found music works well with any class, so also summer schools.
If you play any instrument, take it.
Then I don't know if you have lots of freedom with your classes, but if you could take them outside there's heaps you can do.

Especially with kids it's nice to keep them moving, playing, or making stuff. Think about fun things you do outside like: egg tossing (see which pair can throw and catch eggs the farthest), slow bicycle race (which bicycle is slowest on a straight track without stepping off), puzzles and scavenger hunts are great to do too.

In the summer school I saw the emphasis was on fun, rather than on learning English. Most of the kids were very young anyway, and in the end they did learn something I think. We had heaps of fun anyway, although it's really tiring.

Check out my weblog, it's got some links you might find interesting:
http://eslmaniac.web-log.nl/


Seeya,
Dajiang