Korean Job Discussion Forums

[akcrono]

Often I'm left with 5-10 minutes to play games with my students (ages 7-12). This week, however, I will have a full 45 minutes for each class. Are there any recommendations for games to play? Fun is the most important, while having educational value is good as well.

So far I've been playing hangman, as well as "the word search game" where i generate a word search online for that lesson's vocab and project it onto the whiteboard.

[isisaredead]

i don't want to sound like a snide, arrogant know-it-all, but i REVIEW.

review the lesson, review the subject, review SOMETHING. in my opinion, if i have time to play games, i have time to teach.

it works for me. i'm just offering a suggestion.

[curiousaboutkorea]

[curiousaboutkorea]

And to answer the OP: Simon Says is awesome. It may take a few tries for the kids to learn it, but they'll catch on quickly enough.

[8 years down]

[Xaiko]

The bingo game is a good one that involves learning and fun and can be used with many things. You can make a 4x4 or whatever u want box and put whatever they are learning. On the left you can put I, he, we, they and the top something like candy, rice, pizza, steak. Than they make a sentence whichever box they want. Ex: I like pizza. Or he likes pizza. One team is x the other is o. 3 in a row is a point.

I did jobs today using I am a student, he is a student, we are students, they are students, dogs, boys, girls and so on.

Sorry I can't explian too well I'm on my phone

[akcrono]

[ttompatz]

[kiwiinkorea]

I find games are a good way to get students to use the language you have just taught them. I usually play a game for the last 10-15 minutes of class. Some good games are:

bomb game - students answer questions and get random points. My kids go nuts for this game. I use +1,2,3,-1,-2,-3 points, a bomb = lose all points, a typhoon = other team loses points, change points with another team, steal points, and very occassionally candy. You can play this using ppt - just use hyperlinks from the question slide to the points, or just make a points list in advance and have the students choose a number for the question. I also play it with ping pong balls in a bag and the students answer the question and pull out the ball for their points. The good thing about this game is that you can use it for any target language, reading and spelling and writing as well. The only thing is that they go crazy so you have to exert lots of control to make sure they are using the English correctly.

writing game - shiritori (sorry I don't know an English name). Write a letter on the board and the students take it in turns to write a word starting with the last letter of the previous word. You can give extra points for words in a particular theme - e.g. double points for animals and depending on your students ability you can be strict about spelling or just correct it afterwards.

flyswat game - can be used for pictures or words. Just call out a phrase and the first student to hit the correct one gets a point. When I play this game, I usually call the first couple and then have the students take it in turns to call out the next ones so they are practising speaking as well.

whisper game - have the students whisper a word or sentence along the line and the last student has to circle, draw or write what was said. I find it is better to do this one not as a race, but to give each team a different phrase and they get a point if they are right.

bingo - they love bingo and it is easy to do. I have them fill in the sheets and then ask the first question, the student who answered then has to ask the question to another student. Sometimes if we are asking a yes/no answer question (e.g. can you ...) I tell them that they can only cross of the bingo square if the person answers yes and they can only answer yes if they have it on their sheet - this means they have to listen to the answer as well as the question.

Guessing games are also good for getting the students speaking. They have to guess the answer using the target phrase (e.g. It's sunny). If they guess right they get a point. I usually have the rest of the class ask the question so they get practice at the question too. Just make a ppt of pictures of the topic or if you have flashcards, pick a card and have them guess - then show them the card and give out points.

Board games are also good for the students to play in groups. You can make them yourself or there are a couple of good websites (like MES-english) where you can print they for different topics.

I am not really a fan of hangman as a game except to use up a couple of spare minutes.

For all my games, students are only allowed to answer once until all the students in the class have participated and then they are allowed another go. The good ones always want to go first but you will find that the more reluctant students will happily volunteer once they see what is going on.

I agree with ttompatz that action songs are also good for students up to and including 4th grade.

Drawing is also a good activity. Describe a picture to them and have them draw it. Then have them draw a picture and describe it to you. This is an excellent activity for teaching prepositions (on/in/under) and I find it engages some students who don't usually participate so much in English.

Hope that helps. If you need a better explanation of any of the games let me know.