Korean Job Discussion Forums

[billyg]

... besides hangman, that don't require anything other than the books and a chalkboard. i taught at a school for the last two years that did not want me playing any classroom games with the kids... now i'm at a school that wants me to do nothing but... i know there's tons of ideas and websites online... just curious what's working for people around here.

any help would be appreciated. they are elementary aged, grades 1-5.

[thatwhitegirl]

-Scrambled sentences (or words for the younger kids/lower levels)

-Pictionary

-Spelling races

-Word Association

-Blockbuster/Tornado
[Draw a 5x5 grid on the board, label A-E across the top, and 1-5 down the side. Ss chose a box by calling the letter-number and then answering a question (mark the box with an X). Points are awarded by linking 3 X's or more in any direction. So you get 3 points for 3 X's in a row, and then the next team can add one more X to that row and get 4 points. Near the end of the game they can get 12-15 points per X, depending on how good they are at logic. I've played this game with all ages, even 1st graders. You don't need to explain much, as they pick up the scoring system very quickly. Oh, and if they answer the question wrong, the other team has a chance to answer for the points.]

Another version is the UK Blockbuster game, with a letter in each box, and the answer to the question begins with that letter.
[Ex. Box labeled 'F'. Question: 'What home appliance can kill you if you don't open a window?']

And Tornado can also be played by pre-assigning +/- points to the box. The fun of the game is that some of the boxes subtract points, others add, and some of them are 'tornadoes' that switch the points of one team with the other.

We use blockbuster/tornado to review past lessons. When I taught elementary kids, they were always asking to play Blockbuster. They got such a kick out of trying to get the most points possible.

-Sentences [possible to play without pre-made cards, but I made a bunch of cards with nouns (animal or person), verbs, adjectives and objects (nouns-thing). A S picks a card from each pile, and then makes a sentence with them. They will have to add a preposition and 'the/a/an'. Or just write words on the board, and have them try to write a sentence. First one wins a point for their team.

-Charades with verbs. S acts out 'dancing', other Ss have to use a complete sentence, "She is dancing", to get the point.

There are loads, but that's all I can think of at the moment. They are easy to do, and you can usually pull them out of no where. Even the Blockbuster/Tornado questions can be as simple as answering questions, or reviewing vocab.

Oh, more more that the younger kids really liked was writing Math problems. For example, a S from each team comes up to the board, and you tell them a simple math problem they must then write down and the answer. [Ex. "2 +2 = __"] or with higher levels, they must write the answer in English. [Ex. "two plus two equals five".] Or have them write out a number you say. [Ex. "thirty five" or "1,982"] I've played that with all ages, and they all seem to enjoy it.

Oh yes, and one more...
When doing 'Routines' with elementary kids, they loved to act things out. I drew a morning side and an afternoon side on the board, and then I would draw basic routines [with stick figures] that they all learned. I'd review by having two kids come up and act out the routine I said, while running to either 'morning' or 'evening'. For example, "wake up", "go to school", "do my homework", "take a shower".

Sorry for the novella!

[billyg]

thank for taking the time... very nice of you. appreciate it very much.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Todd Vercoe has just completed a thesis about games theory in the Korean classroom and it's really interesting to see what he has to say about how the background of games research relates to young learners. He has some great suggestions about specific games, as well as a lot of good advice about how to present games to young learners, especially about making them as random as possible so that everyone who participates has an equal chance of winning. Unfortunately the Asian EFL journal site (where he's published some articles) seems to be down at the moment; here's a link to a KOTESOL presentation he's made.

http://www.kotesol.org/?q=toddvercoe

[ddeubel]

Just to give you an idea of the thousands of games out there.....

http://www.scribd.com/people/documents/1005075/folder/34482?secret_password=muaopdh5oiarkanctpm

Start reading and spend some time looking for quality games and ones you will feel comfortable with.

2 fundamentals for language games.

1) there should be communication - cooperation and some level of "thought" beyond mere choosing/guessing.

2) there should be chance / expectation

Wordsearches / Hangman and other "single word" activities are not effective use of class time and usually show a teacher that is very uncomfortable or untrained or who just wants to fill / kill time. Use class time effectively!

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[EricaSmile84]

My students beg me for hangman. It's never in my lesson plan, but once in a while we'll play it instead of having free-time.

[spliff]

Is "free time" a game? How do u play it?

[IncognitoHFX]

[crusher_of_heads]

For middle school, on the games section here on Dave's, the KABOOM game is a surefire winner, as opposed to fromtheuk. The good thing about that is, you can put any phrases in there and work in a subversive review-and if you're in a mixed school, boys against the girls.


If they [usually the boys] start chanting Kaboom, they like it-just don't use it all the time.

[bogey666]

[Easter Clark]

I'm more of an "activity" teacher than a "game" teacher. For me, it's better to focus on having an interesting class instead of having a fun class...but that's my personality. If you're an Isaac-Durst kind of teacher, then I guess games are right up your alley!

bogey666--don't feel bad. My tech HS students don't like games either. They think they're too "mature" for them! I do play games with the ajumma class every now and then because they can appreciate their usefulness. But nothing too hokey; maybe a card game or something along those lines.

[lorenchristopher]

My experience in playing games with students who are not motivated or interested has been that I really have to "sell it" to them. Convince them it's the best freakin game ever invented before you start playing. I do this by being really excited when I tell them the rules, it's important to use the proper voice and hand motions even. If you do this properly for the few minutes before you actually start playing, I think it will help a lot.

Some days I'm tired or don't feel good, but I know if we're gonna play a game then I've gotta suck it up and fake the energy....it has always paid off.

The best games I use are:
Scattegories. They love this one and get really competitive. PM me if you'd like the printouts and teacher directions. It's a word game that's a lot of fun!

BAAM!. This is a powerpoint game I found off of ESL Classroom 2.0, which has lots of other good games as well actually. BAAM is a lot of fun though and you can really tailor it to whatever lesson you're doing.
http://eflclassroom.ning.com/resources/topic/show?id=826870%3ATopic%3A47425

Mafia. This one is really exciting for them, especially if you teach night classes then it's fun to turn off the lights and use a flashlight when they're "sleeping". There's not a whole lot of speaking in this, and it's difficult to tailor to a specific lesson, but the kids go ape-sheeyat for it so we play if every once in a while. Here are the directions from from Dave's ESL Cookbook: http://eslcafe.com/idea/index.cgi?display:952329976-25633.txt

Human Dartboard. This is one I invented myself (or at least I haven't seen it anywhere). It's incredibly easy to set up, you don't even need to explain the directions cause the Ss will understand as you set it up. Split the class into two teams A and B, one student from each team stands with their backs to the board.

Draw a circle around their heads and write +100 in the circle. Draw a larger circle outside of that and write +50 in it. Then get a two post-its and write -100 on each and stick them to the kids foreheads. Teams must answer a question correctly and then throw a ball at their teammate, trying to hit the +100 circle. Also, if either of the students moves while the ball is coming their way, it's -200. Get a soft cushy ball and make them throw underhand so no one gets hurt!!

I have many more, as I like to play games with my kids and my hagwon encourages it, but these are a few of the ones that my kids ask to play most often.
[/b]

[bogey666]

[maingman]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/games/