Job Discussion Forums

[Just a guy]

I have to do EC 5 nights a week with a different group of students each of the nights,
Middle school students with fair English compared to my last school.
45 minutes each night

There are from 50 to 200 students attending & the school seems to think I can magically make everyone talk & have fun while doing so�..

They say to play a game or sing or���. `up to me....

I have never been one to sing so, Games it is.

What are easy games that involve a bit of English that can be played with Many participants?
There are 4 classes attending each night, Junior 1 one night, J 2 the next & so on so I can make each class a team against the other � J 1 class 2 against J 1 class 4��.

Simon says will get old,
I�m having some big blocks made with words on them for word scrable but that will take a week or so to do.
Just open discussion doesn�t seem to work�.. what are good topics that the students will enjoy enough to actually talk..?

What are some ideas.......


TIA for any help with this.

[Roger]

Rumour game:
Line up a handful of your charges in front of the crowd (are they seated?), then whisper a word or a phrase into the first person's ear; that one must repeat the same procedure, trying to remember what he or she heard (often they ask for a repetition, which I grant occasionally);
the last person has to say it aloud - and then you can check the various phonetic alterations the word or phrase has undergone!
It's always hilarious!

For other games, I would refer you to a book
"101 Word Games" by George P. Mccallum
Don't know where you might buy it except in Hong Kong!

[been_there]

Games:

1. I brought back a bunch of board games from the US, Life, scrabble, monoply (a favourite), chutes and ladders, hi-ho cherry-o (for the low-level students), Yatzee. Might try to get your school to invest $30 in a few games like that.

2. do you have a chalkboard/whiteboard? Pictionary is a fun game. You divide them into teams and get one student up front and whisper a word in their ear and they have to draw it (no writing words or talking or pantomime) and their team has one minute to guess the word. If they cant guess it, the other team gets ONE guess.

3. Fruit basket turnover. Set up the circle so there is one less chair than people. the extra person stands in the center and says "Everyone with (i.e.) black shoes!" and everyone meeting that criteria must get up and sit in a different seat. The person in the middle must also try to get a seat. One person is left in the middle and must state new criteria, like "Every one who's sister is a left-handed truck-driver." .

4. 20 questions. Think of a famous person and the group can ask 20 yes/no questions (only) to try and determine who you are thinking of.


And one thing that worked *very* well for me was that I copied a bunch of money (different denominations) and taught them how to play poker. Stud and Draw. Texas hold-em, anaconda, baseball, follow-the-queen. They LOVED to gamble and it became a regular casino night.

But that's just me. Find something you like to do, then figure out how to do it with a bunch of people.

[Buttercup]

Here are some ideas! In your case, many parlour games can be adapted to the class and make for fun practice in English. Of course, you'll need to split them into smaller groups for most of these activities.

Taboo is a fun parlour game that's excellent for language learners, if you can get your hands on the game - or make your own cards. Very competitive.

Guggenheim/Scattergories is a vocabulary game that you can easily prepare by just writing a word on the board, and several categories under it (i.e. fruit, furniture, colors, countries, etc.). They have like 10 minutes to find a word that begins with each letter, in each category. Even though they don't get to speak much, it keeps them busy racking their brains for words!

The "Lie Detector" game is fun too. There are many variations, I like to use this one: in each group, one person says two (or four) true statements and one lie, and then the other students have to guess which is the lie (by asking many questions). Make sure you give them time to prepare their statements in advance.

A type of discussion that can work well is a ranking activity: give them a list of 7-10 items (foods, professions, languages, singers, whatever) and ask them to rank them (in small groups) according to certain criteria (most delicious, most well-paying, most difficult, most beautiful, etc.). Everyone in each small group has to agree, so they must compromise (speaking, hopefully in English!). Then compare results. For more fun, ask them to come up with their own secret criterion, order their list, and then the other groups have to guess what the criterion was - lots of fun!

Most of my other ideas involve materials, which is not very practical with such large groups...

Of course, like Roger said, there are excellent books full of activities, and many with photocopiable pages that are ready to use. I guess your school doesn't have those... too bad. However, many websites offer great ideas for free! Check these out:

http://iteslj.org/games/

http://iteslj.org/questions/ (for conversation questions, like you asked)

http://www.bogglesworld.com/

Other ideas at Dave's:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=11702

Hope this helps! Good luck!

[lagerlout2006]

Sounds like they are just giving you 5 extra classes a week. The point of EC--if indeed there is a point--is that it is informal chat. You should not have to prepare anything. I agree with you about singing...I always refuse---end of conversation...

[Ruth]

No one wants my singing voice in their choir, but I had a blast at Christmas teaching a few fun songs. Helps if you have a CD player, so the singing isn't on you. Made lessons out of teaching the words to 'Rudolph', 'Frosty' and 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town.' The kids enjoyed the singing.

Currently working on lessons revolving around 'Imagine' by John Lennon, 'Cats in the Cradle' by Harry Chapin, 'I am a Rock' by Simon and Garfunkel, 'Puff the Magic Dragon' by Peter, Paul and Mary, and 'This Land is Your Land' (Canadian and USA versions - then the students can write a Chinese version). Tried to find easy singing songs with a message that is appropriate for high school students. Want to initiate thought provoking dialogue. Hope it works.

Another parlor game - hangman. I have success with this in my large (66 students) classes. Don't use the dead guy image. Divide into teams and play for points.

[Just a guy]

Puff the Magic Dragon was made famous by Peter & the gang but it�s not their work.

It was wrote by a group of acid heads frying on the north shore of Kauai,
`In a land called Hanalei��..

Elizabeth Taylor�s sister had a big chunk of land there & formed a commune back in the 60�s, Taylor�s camp. Hundreds of �hippy�s� lived there & had a grand ol time, till the state booted them out & burned it all down.

`I guess that�s high school materal��

oh yea, Thanks for the suggestions.
We�ve almost got the school to OK the EC to be optional for the students, that should cut down the size & make it more edutaining.

[Ruth]

Just a Guy - Thanks for the education. I had no idea Well, one of my goals is to provoke discussion. Think I'll lose my job over 'Puff'?