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mts07
Joined: 01 Jul 2007
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 Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:33 pm Post subject: Public Middle School Games |
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Dear all public middle school teachers.
I am hoping you can help me. My school has requested that I focus less on teaching vocabulary and dialogues and start playing more games in the classroom.
I was wondering what games you could recommend that give all students a chance to answer, are fun, somewhat educational, and can control 40 students at once.
Any help would be appreciated. |
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nobbyken
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Location: Yongin ^^
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| Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:02 pm Post subject: |
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Hi,
I'm a high school teacher at an 'Information' school.
Same level as middle school, or thereabouts.
I can't use the powerpoint games I used to use last year, just blackboard this year.
I found a few simple games at the idea cookbook, in the STUFF FOR TEACHERS section of this site.
Have a wee look, you will find something which meets your desired dialogue level and preparation time.
Some good idea's, I used the Yes/No idea yesterday to good effect. |
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nomad-ish
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Location: On the bottom of the food chain
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| Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:42 pm Post subject: |
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there are some awesome powerpoint games at http://www.esnips.com/user/gepikteacher
jeopardy and bombs away are my favourites. teach a short lesson on stuff/vocab they need to know for the game, then divide them up into groups.
since st. patrick's day is coming up, you might want to make a sh ort 10-15min. powerpoint presentation on that (think lots of pictures, what we do, small small bit of history, maybe a youtube video of a st. patty's day parade) then "test" the kids using a powerpoint game.
lots of fun! |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:51 pm Post subject: |
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I'd love some feedback on a new game I just developed. Really wanted something to keep the kids anticipating and involved. It is called BAAM.
http://eflclassroom.com/pptgames/baam.ppt
You might try this flag game, I also have a baam version
http://eflclassroom.com/flash/flags.swf
Dozens, if not hundreds more games for instant play, download at EFL Classroom. but let me know about the Baam concept if you can. I made a TEFL acronym version for teachers also. But all are beta until I decide on some things and then I'll develop more themes/ games based on the concept.
DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com |
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BS.Dos.
Joined: 29 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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Here's something I posted a while back:
| BS.Dos. wrote: |
A few pretty simple exercises that I have been using of late. Great if you've 10-minutes to kill although I generally save this kind of thing for my conversation based lessons (HS 3rd Graders) or my club activity lessons. Split the class into teams and play about 3 or 4 of them as it gives it a good competitive edge and locks them in for the hour, especially boys if there's sweets/candy involved.
1. Sentence Jumble ~ write up some jumbled sentences, learners have to rearrange. e.g On playing he always computer was his ~ He was always playing on his computer
2. Sentence Correcting ~ As above only insert a mistake (tense etc) and ask students to spot and correct. e.g. I used to playing football / What are you doing last Thursday ? (were)
 3. Homophones Game Game ~ get students to explain the differences between these words:
Our ~ Hour
Eight ~ Ate
Be ~ Bee
Hear ~ Here
There ~ Their
To ~ Two ~ Too
See ~ Sea
For ~ Four
Right ~ Write
Meet ~ Meat
I ~ Eye
Where ~ Wear
Sun ~ Son
By ~ Buy
Red ~ Read
Some ~ Sum
Mail ~ Male
Lesson ~ Lessen
Not ~ Knot
Pale ~ Pail
Night ~ Knight
Accept ~ Except
Way ~ Weigh ~
Wait ~ Weight
Piece ~ Peace
Tale ~ Tail
Dear ~ Deer
Won ~ One
So ~ Sew
Oh ~ Owe
Flour ~ Flower
Week ~ Weak
Die ~ Dye
Hair ~ Hare
Great ~ Grate
Air ~ Heir
Him ~ Hymn
Site ~ Sight
Principal ~ Principle
Current ~ Currant
Council ~ Counsel
Mourning ~ Morning
Waist ~ Waste
Witch ~ Which
More ~ Moor
Prey ~ Pray
Sole ~ Soul
Read ~ Reed
Toe ~ Tow
4. Homonyms Game Instruct students to identify the different meanings of:
Can, light, room, left, pipe, like, ring, stick, rest, bank, fire, match, kind, iron, lie, type, grave, wave, cry, mind, beat, box, capital, order, cool, miss, well, mean, bear, case, general, bright, land, party, patient, cell, coach, civil, board, rock, sink, srping, found, even, succeed, concrete, figure, long, band, conduct, post, draw
5. Vocabulary Steps ~ Students have to decide the order that a given number of words shall go in e.g. Cold, Cool, Warm, Hot. Get them to list things like speed (fast, slow, quick etc), size, weight, dangerous animals etc, size of animals. Either give them the words to use or get them to think of their own.
6. Change the Word ~ Write a simple sentence on the board and instruct the students to change one word e.g.
The President said the situation was unstable
The Policeman said the situation was unstable
The Policeman said the situation was dangerous etc.
Obviously, the sentence must remain both comprehensible and grammatically correct.
7. Drawing Game ~ Tell students that you are going to transform the classroom into a zoo/hospital/office/restaurant etc and that you need to plan it first. Draw a big square on the board and ask the learners to come up and draw all the things that they'll need to open a zoo (animals, cages, food, toys, vet, customers, places to picnic etc.
8. Alphabet Letter Game. ~ Write up 3 (or more) letters on the board and ask learners to think of as many food/clothing/animals/vehicals/countries/cities/colours as they can e.g. P/B/R = Pizza, Bread, Rice etc
9. Word String Game. ~ Write a word on the board and get students to make a new word using the last letter e.g. Hat -> Teacher etc. Alternatively, make them stay within a theme/topic or, for higher level learners, instruct them to make a new word using the last 2 letters e.g. train -> inside -> decide etc.
Modify the above by getting them to think of a verb using the first letter of the last word. Make more difficult by choosing a particular tense.
10. Picture game. ~ Pictures are excellent for getting the learners perked up. Download some latest news pics onto A4 or display them on your classroom monitor or OHP. Flash up each picture for a couple of \seconds and illicit from the learners what they saw. After a few minutes, flash again and extract more information. Continue if neccessary. Eventually, hold up the picture so that they can all see it. Once they've seen it ask them things like where do you think this is, what are they doing, why are they doing it etc. The first part is very good for reviewing how we describe things and it may be useful to recap on the SVO e.g He is Holding a Gun etc. Additionally, tell the learners that you haven't seen the picture and that they have to describe it to you etc.
Another variation using news pictures (disaster and accident pics work well) is to get groups of learners to pretend that they are preparing a story that will go out on the evening news and that they have to explain what has happened. Prompt with Wh questions like:
What is happening?
Where did it happen?
Why did it happen?
When did it happen?
Who is responsible?
How many killed/injured?
How can this be prevented from happening again etc
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KYC
Joined: 11 May 2006
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| Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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| ddeubel wrote: |
I'd love some feedback on a new game I just developed. Really wanted something to keep the kids anticipating and involved. It is called BAAM.
http://eflclassroom.com/pptgames/baam.ppt
You might try this flag game, I also have a baam version
http://eflclassroom.com/flash/flags.swf
Dozens, if not hundreds more games for instant play, download at EFL Classroom. but let me know about the Baam concept if you can. I made a TEFL acronym version for teachers also. But all are beta until I decide on some things and then I'll develop more themes/ games based on the concept.
DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com |
I think I really like BAAM! I have to change it a bit to adjust to my students' level & what they're currently learning. It looks like a lot of fun and my students will enjoy it. It's similar to the bomb game & although they love that, they are bored with it. I'll let you know if it's a hit  |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:34 pm Post subject: Re: Public Middle School Games |
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| mts07 wrote: |
Dear all public middle school teachers.
I am hoping you can help me. My school has requested that I focus less on teaching vocabulary and dialogues and start playing more games in the classroom.
I was wondering what games you could recommend that give all students a chance to answer, are fun, somewhat educational, and can control 40 students at once.
Any help would be appreciated. |
How about telling them that you were hired to be an English teacher, not games master, and will focus on making the four skills as interesting as possible? That's not to say don't play games, but if games are your focus I think you'll only be cheating the kids who are capable of learning a great deal.
One of my favourite 'games', which I only do a few times each term to keep up its novelty value, is to borrow a stack of white boards and markers from the art teacher and do a 'sentence game'. The students start, complete, come up with, or unscramble sentences on the white boards, and the pair or group with the most points at the end gets a little prize. Little do the kids know but in some cases they're working on how to answer iBT TOEFL questions. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:42 pm Post subject: |
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| ddeubel wrote: |
I'd love some feedback on a new game I just developed. Really wanted something to keep the kids anticipating and involved. It is called BAAM.
http://eflclassroom.com/pptgames/baam.ppt
You might try this flag game, I also have a baam version
http://eflclassroom.com/flash/flags.swf
Dozens, if not hundreds more games for instant play, download at EFL Classroom. but let me know about the Baam concept if you can. I made a TEFL acronym version for teachers also. But all are beta until I decide on some things and then I'll develop more themes/ games based on the concept.
DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com |
The Baam game looks like it could be quite useful. It's pretty random but then I guess that stops the brighter kids from always winning. |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:12 am Post subject: |
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| ddeubel wrote: |
I'd love some feedback on a new game I just developed. Really wanted something to keep the kids anticipating and involved. It is called BAAM.
http://eflclassroom.com/pptgames/baam.ppt
You might try this flag game, I also have a baam version
http://eflclassroom.com/flash/flags.swf
Dozens, if not hundreds more games for instant play, download at EFL Classroom. but let me know about the Baam concept if you can. I made a TEFL acronym version for teachers also. But all are beta until I decide on some things and then I'll develop more themes/ games based on the concept.
DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com |
Deubel, I'm going to use it next week. I'll let you know how it goes. So far, the only problem I see is getting the kids for format their answers how you have them. For example, the "What time is it?" question may be difficult if the students haven't learned "It's time for bed" or "It's time to eat," etc. They may say, "It's 10pm!" But with any game, it can be changed when I use it or points can be given laxly. |
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ImInKoreaAintI
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:16 am Post subject: |
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[quote="Bibbitybop"]
| ddeubel wrote: |
I'd love some feedback on a new game I just developed. Really wanted something to keep the kids anticipating and involved. It is called BAAM.
http://eflclassroom.com/pptgames/baam.ppt
You might try this flag game, I also have a baam version
http://eflclassroom.com/flash/flags.swf
Dozens, if not hundreds more games for instant play, download at EFL Classroom. but let me know about the Baam concept if you can. I made a TEFL acronym version for teachers also. But all are beta until I decide on some things and then I'll develop more themes/ games based on the concept.
DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com |
I don't get it. BAM comes up every few slides. Everyone team is bound to go bankrupt. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:34 am Post subject: |
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| With these kind of games you can always change the rules to your liking. Make 'Baam' a 25% reduction and use it to teach them what percent and reduction mean. You can also require complete sentence answers or not depending on the level of the students. As long as you don't have an idiot co-teacher giving out answers (unless her English level is so bad she frequently gives out the wrong ones) you can always make these kinds of games fit your particular class. |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 2:04 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for anyone trying it and yes YBS is right, use it to your own liking....
That includes the questions - easy to edit. Just go in and change to tailor to your class. Same with the answers. Accept most answers,not one strict one. This is key to a good game and it should focus on achievement and not absolute accuracy.
About the BAAM always coming up. There are 6 Baams and they are meant to make it more likely that any one/group can win. Scorekeeper keeps track of the cash but any team may lose / go bankrupt right at the end.
I have a flag version also on EFL Classroom. Go to the Games page.
I used a somewhat similar template as I did for the murder maddness game I made last year. Teachers liked it but I thought it was a little too violent.....
DD |
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Sody
Joined: 14 May 2006
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| Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 4:17 am Post subject: |
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| Trying to implement a game for 40 students per class is a recipe for disaster. Just don't do it. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 4:31 am Post subject: |
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Instead of games, try finding plays/skit with 5 to 10 characters. Ranging from characters with very little dialog (one word range) to ones with dialog throughout the skit.
Or better yet, make them or get your students to make them. |
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nobbyken
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Location: Yongin ^^
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| Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:15 am Post subject: |
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Games are a good way to close the lesson and review what has been learnt.
I pm'd you a link to the ones I used last year. Also good if you have 10-20 minutes of babysitting, er camp, to fill.
Gets the kids excited and thinking and talking in English. |
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