Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bish]

I am currently teaching YL's (the youngest of which are still learning phonics). I am looking at ways of improving spellings and would be interested in hearing of 2 or 3 activities I could use to do this.

At the moment I do spelling races (where there are teams with cut out alphabet letters racing to spell a word said by the teacher) and the occasional test to encourage reviewing of words at home but I would like some more (simple) things I could do in class.

Anything would be appreciated...

[soomin]

I like this site for lots of younger printables: http://www.tlsbooks.com/englishworksheets.htm

I also like fill-in-the-blank worksheets so students can see letters and make new words. Like...

_ox
_is
_ear

If you teach really young students, they love singing and you can find sing-a-long songs for spelling (especially if your boss will by you singing books/cds/tapes). You might be able to find some online as well~

You could also make games where you write a bunch of letters on the board and see how many words the kids can make from the letters. (Prizes for the most words, time limits and such will help the students get motivated). Also, for students who feel helpless and always say they don't know, have them work in pairs or groups so they can get more answers and feel like they're playing a game AND don't feel alone ^.^

Good luck!!

[some waygug-in]

I suggest a book called,"Teaching English to Children in Asia" by David Paul.

It has some useful game ideas (and some not so useful as well).

It does give you some things to think about when designing your own

activities.


People are going to hate me for this but here goes:


Team hangman. I'm sure you can figure this one out.

Pictionary: using alphabet picture cards.

Word slam: word cards are set randomly on a table. Students hold their
hands over their heads. Teacher calls out words and students slam their hands down on the right card. Can be teams or individuals depending on the class size.

[amnsg2]

A game I like is either noughts and crosses or connect 4. I teach them how to play the game first and practice a couple of times to make sure they understand the rules. Once that's finished, I call out a word and the first player has to write it correctly into the grid. Instead of marking noughts and crosses, they can claim a square by writing the word. If they spell it wrong, I erase it and the next player goes.

It works well with spelling (I've never played it with phonics level, but I think it could work) and also reinforcing an old vocabulary set.

Also, you could try the nunchi game or the clapping game. You probably already know them.

Write the word on the board, and then stand up and shout ONE! They already know this game for sure so the kids will stand up one at a time shouting 2,3,4,5 until there's one person left or until two people stand up at the same time. I use a scoring system of -5 if you lose but it doesn't matter. Then demonstrate it again by calling out the first letter. Instead of 1,2,3 they shout t,e,m,p,e,r,a,t,u,r,e. It also works with syllables (tem, pe, ra, ture).

Clapping game is basically the same, except it goes around without stopping. Each person calls out a letter in order, and it goes around the classroom until you reach the end of the word. t,e,m,p,e,r,a,t,u,r,e, CLAP, t,e,m,p,e,r,a,t,u,r,e, CLAP, CLAP t,e,m,p,e,r,a,t,u,r,e, CLAP CLAP CLAP until someone messes up. It's usually me.

Both very noisy games, but it leaves the kids feeling happy and that they had a positive class if you play it quickly at the end.