Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ajuma]

I'm teaching some fairly high-level uni students, and as we all know, most Korean students are woefully unaware of any countries outside of the basic ones like China, Japan, USA, Canada and Australia. Last week, one student guessed Quebec as an American state!

Does anyone have any good geography games? Something with maps, maybe? I found a great site for printable maps, but can't come up with any good ideas.

Thanks!

[vdowd]

Hi Ajuma,

I know it's a children's story but I am using the book, Flat Stanley and my grade 6 students are sending Stanley out to various schools - maybe you could do something with another university.

Also even though it is for also for kids, the interactive game "Where is the World is Carmen Diego" helps with geography.

[ajuma]

Thanks vdowd. I'll use the "Where in the World" some other time. I have only 3 classes left with them so I need something easy and fast!! I should have been more clear!!

[crazylemongirl]

I play this with my middle school kids and they like it. It's called around the world in 80 days.

First you write a big story about where you are going and what you will see. You can also add in days, how much you spent etc. Then you break up your story into parts. For each part the students need to calculate the days and money spent. How many countries. And maybe answer some reading comprehension questions. Once they have the first part, they can then go on to the next part.

Each part contributes to the whole. And you should have a puzzle/code for them to work out from their answers from each different part.

Nice and competitive and gets them thinking.

[vdowd]

Sorry I couldn't help but thanks to Crazylemongirl - I'll try something like that next year with my students Grade 6 students. I can also see trying to adapt your activity with a "Great Race" format.

Adjuma - have you tried Googling "Great Race activities?" I'm off to try that now.

[ddeubel]

I love geography and other than language, knowing cultures and geography is the biggest part of education (as oppossed to schooling, in the sense that Twain spoke about it.).

One lesson I think is great, is to have students guess with the Where the hell is Matt video. They only have to guess the continents if you wish. Continent 15 points, countries 10 points , cities/place 5 points. Pause the video at the beginning of each "dance" segment and then ask. I have two videos on the audio / video segement of my website.

Just by watching the videos it opens up the world to students. I also have students after they answer each scene in where the hell is Matt, go to the map of the world and put and X or pin on where he is ..... then play and review with students erasing the X or unpinning....

I also have a very good geography project on the teaching part of my site. Students are given a country. They read about it and either do a presentation for the class, design a travel poster or make a book to share with the class. Geography is a great way for students to do projects, learn English "laterally / immersively" and become just better, more aware citizens.

DD

[heydelores]

Here's an activity I've done with students age 11 through adults.

Print a map of the world with no labels.
Put numbers on the following areas: North America, Central America, South America, Atlantic Ocean, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Southeast Asia, the Far East, the Indian Ocean, Australia, Oceania, the Pacific Ocean, Antarctica, the Atlantic Ocean.
Write all of those words on a handout or on the board (in a different order) and have the students match them with the numbers on the map.

Then have the students name a country in each region. Have them name the nationality for that country and the language spoken in that country. Depending on how much time you have, you could also have them share what they know about that country.

If it's a high level class, you could explain where the terms "Middle East" and "Far East" come from and discuss alternate names for those regions.

[ajuma]

ddeubel: WHY do I always forget your site??!! It's so great! That's for the idea. Since I don't have the time to get this set up (getting a computer set up in my room takes at least a day or two notice), I'll pass on the Matt thing this time, but keep it in mind for the future!!


heydelores: Yeah, I'm thinking something along these lines, but more with countries than just continets.

Thanks to all!!

[some waygug-in]

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but this is something I've done.

I bought a world map from the local Kim and Johnson's.

some stickers , various colors, some card paper, a die and some thingys to use as game pieces.


On the map I made a course that goes back and forth across the world.

I started from the bottom and worked to the the top (eventually) but you can do it any way you like.

It's basically a suped up version of snakes and ladders, but a bit more interesting. Every few positions on the route, I put large stickers that say "pick a card" or "go back 5" or "go ahead 10" or some like "go to Botswana".

On the cards I put things like,

You like camels, go to Egypt.

You want to go fishing, go to the South Pacific.

You're on vacation, go to Thailand.

You like beer, go to Germany.

You want to climb Mount Everest, go to Nepal.

etc.

You can make it more complicated if you want, it is probably a bit boring for adults, but anyway I hope this helps.

[ajuma]

some waygug-in: This sounds great! I'm going to spend some time making a game like this!!

[Hyeon Een]

You could play a geography jeopardy.

With categories like:

Capital cities (100 - What is the capital of Japan, 500 - What is the capital of Peru)

Numbers (What's the population of.. How many provinces/states are there in.. etc..)

Food (where do people eat [famous food name]

Industry..

Where is.. (Rome, Jakarta, Ottawa, Wellington etc..)

[ajuma]

If I would have more time to prep, I probably would have done something like that. Like: What language is spoken in____. What countries border _______?

So...what language is spoken in Angola?? (For 1000 points WITHOUT googling!!)

[Hyeon Een]

[ajuma]

Believe it or not, it's Portugese!!! (Trivial Pursuit question tonight!!)

[Cerriowen]