Job Discussion Forums

[km618]

one of my students suggested that i play some "games" with them in class (they're university students from 18-19 years old). any ideas? the class has over 50 people in it and nobody wants to speak up in front of everyone so i have to do something different....games, breaking them up into small groups to discuss topics (or anything else they want) in english, etc...

[necrogodomega]

There is a section on the website just about games.

Also, I have played a VS. game with Japanese students of that age that they liked. I would take pics (either drawn or printed) of famous cartoon characters and have 2 (or groups depending on size) pull a pic from a pile. Then they would have to say who would win in a fight between them. They really loved it. Of course Japanese are really big in cartoons (for the most part) so it may not work as well in China.

[Lute451]

I have been playing a game in my classes this week. I teach Grade 2 high school students. I have 20 40-minutes classes a week. There are about 55 - 65 students in each class.

I break the class into two teams. Sometimes boys vs girls work, sometimes I just split the class down the middle. If you are doing boys vs girls, make them move to different sides of the room. Girls on one side, boys on the other. This will also help if you have sleepy students after lunch, which I do. I was hesitant about having the students move seats since they have assigned seating each week, but it hasn't been a problem in any of my classes.

It is the standard english word game. One student says a word then the next student has to say a word that begins with the last letter of the previous word. I write each word on the chalkboard after repeating it for them.

The students go in order of where they are sitting. I usually just go by rows up then down the classroom. This way each student should know when it will be his or her turn.

The student has 5 seconds to say their word. If they do not answer in time they have to stand up and sing a song for the class. If the student says a word that is already on the board then they have to stand up and sing a song.

The team with the least amount of songs sung wins. I give candy to the winners of my better classes.

This game has been great for me. I have three or four really good classes and about eight that don't care about English at all. I've had 29 students sleeping in my class before...with the Chinese teacher in the room. I played this game and only had 5 students sleeping. The teacher told me the class was a real success. Students that never opened their book in my class were looking for words for when it was their turn.

The class can get pretty loud, so it is sometimes hard to hear the words that the kids are saying. I have to ask them to spell them sometimes. It really helps them with saying the words clearly and then spelling them. Then they hear me say the words to them.

I thought that my lower level classes wouldn't get into, but all of my classes have had a good time. I thought more kids would have refused to sing, but most have been good about it. I'd recommend this game to any teacher that has large classes.

I've looked through the Activities & Games forum and really didn't find much to help with large classes. Even the sticky for large classes is mostly filled with stuff I can't do or use. So I'm looking forward to more replies here so I can use them in my classroom too.

[tom selleck]

Lute 451, seemed like an excellent idea. So, I got ready to teach it at this evening's classes. Didn't go over as well as I anticipated, though. The kids' pronounciation was so iffy, I couldn't make heads or tails out of what they were saying.

You are right, the kids did seem to get a rush out of it. Guess that's a big part of it.

Something I'd been tossing around kinda' fell together. I got them to do their reading and covered off the new words. They'll repeat choral drilling fairly enthusiastically -- to a point. Can't seem to rake in the class jackasses.

After they did 2 spells of choral drilling, I drew a bomb on the bottom of the black board. From the bomb, I drew a vetical line ascending to the top of the board. The line was segmented about 14 times.

Next, they individually read. For every grievous prounciation error, I erased one of the segments. Each row in the class comprised a team. By the time I got to the end of the row, there was usually just one segment left over, narrowly averting an explosion.

The team that didn't make it was treated to a hideous explosion noise.
As the segments became fewer and fewer the tension in the class was unbelievable. Kids were grasping their heads with both hands, hoping the class dunce could toe the line for his team mates. Kids that would sooner play class clown were subject to intense peer pressure.

To say that it worked out would be the understatement of the week. The kids asked twice to play again. I haven't walked away with the post class high in a long time.


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So, I was in a good mood. A lady in the foyer of the apartment I live in asked me the inevitable question: "What country are you from?"

"Wo shi Xingjiangren" I always wanted to see if I could get away with that one. Really, I'm too fair to make myself out to be a Uighar. But it seemed she was buying it.

"Oh you speak Chinese pretty well." Maybe she thought it was just some country she hadn't heard of. I thought maybe there was a chance she wasn't listening too carefully.

But when she asked me if they have tall buildings in Xinjiang, I thought yes! I sucked one in. It's the same thing when a Canadian meets someone from the N.W.T. Do you guys use cars up there, or just snowmobiles? Many roads?

My ex told me that Eastern Chinese are pretty much the same way towards Xinjiang. People asked her in Shanghai if they rode horses.

I'll try it again. I wonder how many times I can get away with it.

[smitten13]

Lute451

it sounds like a great game. I will give it a go as I have similar classes and the associated probs.

So I assume that you just alternate turns between the two teams.

How much cheating/prompting by fellow team members do you tollerate?

[sheeba]

I find Games quite difficult in class but you can try something I do if you like .

Draw an airballoon on the board that is about to crash into a mountain . Underneath the sea and some hungry sharks .

I like to introduce some famous people before I do this game . Introduce some famous people or get the students to think of some to put in the balloon . Normally get Chairman Mao, Beckham , Michael Jackson and so on . Put them all in the airballoon .

Tell the students the balloon is about to crash into the mountain so they need to chuck someone off . Who first ? In groups they decide and then get them arguing and debating about who should go first. Then explain the balloon is still going to crash so someone else has to go . You get the drift .

You can pull different parts of grammar in from this exercise . For example I had Superman in the balloon once and a student said 'throw him off because he can fly ' or 'Jackie Chan can climb the mountain' - 'Yao Ming can Jump over the mountain '

So for a low level class you could introduce 'can for ability ' with this game . There are other grammar points that can be raised too .

[Lute451]

Well, I'm usually pretty lax on the time. I let them have a few moments, then if it really looks like they can't think of anything I start counting out loud. Some of the classes will start counting for me...

I will only accept a word spoken by the person whose turn it is. Many students will yell words...even to the opposite team. I make sure that the kid says the word and I can understand him. Sometimes it takes a few minutes to get the students to be quite enough for me to hear the student. Then if I still don't understand I ask them to spell it for me.

And yes, each team takes a turn in rotation.

I usually let the students use their text books or translators. Whether or not you chose to is up to you. Some of my classes are pretty low level and have difficulty in thinking about English, so I let them use it. In some of the more advanced classes I wouldn't let them use it. It really just depends on the class.

However, if it's obvious that they don't know the word I won't let them use it. I've had students say Xandia when the student before said box. They couldn't tell me what Xandia was, so I wouldn't let them use it. You get some crazy words sometimes. I also accept some slang. Xmen, Xbox, XP...they really do try hard to find X words.

Also, I forgot to mention. After a kid has to sing a song I let them choose a new word to start the game again. If they are really smart they will choose a new word that will stump the other team. Box, fox, fix, six, etc. Some kids catch on and some don't.

[Shan-Shan]

Excellent suggestions above. My current university "tasks" have proven to be the least motivated I've encountered pretty much anywhere I've taught over the years, but I suspect that a game which only demands rudimentary effort -- and the threat of being imaginatively blown apart -- will go over well.

A good first class game (which could likely be adapted for many different themes) is "Introducing Screaming Numbers". As the title suggests, students are given a number which matches another's in the class with whom introductory questions must be asked and answered. However, the "match" will unlikely be the person beside the student -- it could very well be someone way on the other side or at the back of the classroom. Students must raise their meekish tones, and participate in an unavoidable cacophonous interview process (should you have the usual 30-40 students) before the compilation of answers is complete.

After finishing the asking and answering, students use the information to introduce others in the class.

The mayhem unleashed is intended to build confidence in hearing one's own voice -- and as we all know, many a student's greatest fear is the vibrations of his/her own vocal cords -- as well as practicing clarification phrases (these should be pre-taught).

In the few instances I've used this activity, the following weeks actually had a positive and constructive "din" of English speaking enveloping the group.

[sheeba]

[dajiang]

God. screaming students. its the one thing i try to avoid. drives me nuts. my voice already got worse because of the chalk dust i inhale, but screaming kids would definitely do me in.

anyhoo. some games i tried last semester...

The room: divide in groups (usually about 8 groups for a class of 50+, 6 or 8 ss each). draw an empty room in 3d on the blackboard. list a number of things you want to put in there. start with table, chair, window, door, bed. go on with empty bottle of wine, a letter, a picture of a woman, etc etc (i usually include a watermelon). the groups say in turn which thing should go where (preps of place) and i draw them in the place they suggested.

then write down 'dead man, knife, footsteps', and two empty spaces. groups put them somewhere too, and i draw them in. last empty spaces groups think of 2 items that make the picture complete.

finally, i tell the ss that im the head of police, and they are groups of detectives. groups think of what happened and make a plausible (or not) story of what happened. give 10 mins prep time. after that groups explain to the class what theyve found, and class asks questions.

ah its lunchtime now. ill put up some more later on.
seeya
dajiang

[dajiang]

Debates are good too.
Sheeba already mentioned the Balloon debate, and you can also try the Trip to Mars debate, or the 'Crazy debate'.

Trip to Mars is basically the same setup as the Balloon debate, with groups challenging each other. Groups make a list of things they want to take to Mars to a permanent colony. (water and air are already there btw)
They should agree on 10 things, and they will usually include some pretty useless stuff. You collect their lists and pick out the 5 silliest ones and write them under the group number on the blackboard. Have the class ask each other why they want to bring certain items.
After that tell em the rocket only has space for x items (about 10 less than there are on the board), and so they'll have to debate which items can be left on earth.

The Crazy debate is different (This is from the cookbook btw). Give out small pieces of paper to everyone. tell em each person has to write down 1 thing that we can use. it must be a countable thing that you can touch, like 'refridgerator'. 'water' isnt allowed, neither is 'government'. People usually sit in rows so everyone gives their word to the front of the row. You then tell them that there will be 4 groups (usually rows of two ss wide). collect the words in piles in front of the groups, each group has a pile of words. turn over a random word of each group and write them down on the BB. tell them that group 1 will have to debate group 4 as to why their thing is more important to the world than the other thing, and group 2 debates group 3. groups have 10 minutes to prepare arguments.
After that have two debates. first 1-4, then 2-3. Winners debate each other, and so do the losers, procedure the same as before. Good fun this.

Got class now.
Dajiang

[Lute451]

So I played another game in class today, but it didn't go over as well as the other game.

Again, two teams.

I write the letters of the alphabet on the top of the chalk board. I then draw a grid with four columns and two row. One row for each team. The columns are labeled "Place Food Thing Feeling".

Team 1 chooses a letter for Team 2. Team 2 then has to think of a place, food, thing and feeling that begins with the chosen letter. If they can think of a word then they get a point in their row for that column. I then cross off that letter from the written alphabet.

Team 2 then chooses a new letter for Team 1 to use. This repeats until all the letters are used.

I played this with one of my worst classes. Only about 5 out of the 55 students actually want to use English. The rest just want me to watch a movie in class...which I've been told I can't do. The interest level for the game was minimal at the begining, but some students were getting into it by the end. Maybe only 15 student in the class participated, but that is better than what I normally get.

I do need to add some variations on the game though. When it was each teams turn I would let everyone answer if they could. I didn't choose students or go in order like the last game. So it didn't force participation. I'm wondering if it would work if I did go in order so that more students might pay attention.

Also, I didn't really put a time limit on answering...I just gave them time until I was sure that they couldn't think of anything. I also didn't deduct points for giving a wrong answer...like saying "egg" in the "Place" category. Maybe more of the advanced classes can have more rules.

If anyone has any suggestions on some rules of this game, let me know. It took about 5 minutes to play the game and about 30 to finish...but again, this was a lower level class that has limited English vocabulary.

[dajiang]

Above game is cool, and I know it as 'Hitman'.

You can divide the class in several groups of 5 to 6 ss, and there will be 1 speaker in each group. the other ss should be quiet, but can help the speaker.

Have everyone stand up in the class, and identify the speakers. Write down the categories on the BB and call out a letter of the alphabet. Whichever speaker calls out a word starting with that letter can 'kill' another person from another group by pointing at him or her. This person has to sit down and is out of the game.

'Speakers' can also be killed, after which a group will have to choose a new speaker out of the remaining students. Continue untill several groups have been killed.

Good game, and in fact I think I'm going to do this one this afternoon.
Dajiang

[ChinaAndrew]

That game sounds good! I'll try it next week. There are some good ideas in the 'idea cook book' that I have used with some success.It really depends on your class.Sometimes a game can be a hit in one class and a complete flop in another, you just never know.Always have a back-up plan, just in case.
Some things I've tried that work: number the alphabet so 1 is 'a' 4 is 'd' etc. so, apple would be 1,16,16,12,5 read out the 'numbers' and they must work in groups to be the first to translate the numbers into words, or sentences for higher level classes.
Another one 'tongue twister race' write a tongue twister on the board give each group a set time (a minute) for them to recite one by one.Any pronunciation mistakes or mumbling they have to start again which team is fastest wins.
scrambled sentences: write a list of sentences with the words in the wrong order e.g The weekend? you over do did what becomes 'What did you do over the weekend?' you say the words, good for listening comprehension
another one I tried turned out to be pretty funny. Introduce vocab for describing a person adjectives like tall,short,fat,thin,handsome, etc clothing, facial hair, earrings, jewlery put them in pairs one is to talk the other is to draw exactly what they have described tell them one is a police artist the other is a witness.I start off by saying this morning I witnessed a robbery... This worked really well in one class were one of the students was really good at drawing so she came up to the blackboard and the students described this crazy looking person.
anyway hope this helps. I dread the words 'let's play a game teacher'

[patsy]

one thing that i did recently which worked really good was I had them make their own "commercials" in groups of four. I brought in like 15 or so "products". just simple things from around the house, like soy sauce, soap, etc. I told them to make it interesting and attract the consumers attention like on tv.. They had a great time and actually did a good job, it lasted almost 2 periods and i have 60 students the same age as yours. good luck.