Korean Job Discussion Forums

[peppermint]

What's the best game you've played with a class?

For elementary schoolers, the elephant game is a huge hit and it's great for vocab. I put a pile of pics of new vocab on the velcro board at school, and made sure the kids knew what it was.

Then, I picked two kids, had them assume the elephant position( one arm held up near your face, and the other wrapped around it and holding your nose- not sure why they like this part). The two kids have to turn around a few times, til I say the vocab word.

The first kid to find the pic, and give it to me gets a point for their team. It's a little loud, but popular and effective

[joe_doufu]

Awesome!
I just bought two flyswatters at the 1000-won store in kim's club to do a more violent version of the game, but the elephant trunk idea is even better! LOL, if only i could get some adequate flash cards around this joint....

[kermo]

The best game I've played in the classroom is in the Dave's cookbook under the name "Typhoon". I call it Monster because I started playing it around the time of the tsunami this year.

It's a little hard to explain but it can be adapted to virtually any content, and played with enormous classes or as few as two students.

Prepare two identical blank grids, labelling the rows and columns with numbers and letters so the students can choose a square using A-2, or F-3, etc.

One grid is to be shown to the classroom (maybe drawn on the whiteboard), and another is only accessible by the teacher (a small slip of paper works well). On the teacher's copy, fill the squares randomly with numbers from 1-5, and sprinkle a few M (for monster) throughout.

Put the students into 2 teams (I find that preparing slips of paper with X or O is a quick way to randomly divide the class and avoid whining.) Alternate between the two teams, asking questions (grammar, vocabulary, spelling, whatever you want) to one student at a time.

If the student answers correctly, he or she can choose a square on the board. Check your own grid to find out the number of points to award to that team. If the student answers incorrectly, ask the same question to the other team, or just skip it.

If the student chooses a square containing M for Monster, then all the points of the OPPOSING team are wiped out. Great will be the wailing and gnashing of teeth. The excitement factor is quite high, and you can use this to test their knowledge on a subject before you test, to determine whether more teaching is needed. Tons o' fun.

[OiGirl]

That's pretty cool. I can't wait to try it with a class!

[schwa]

Thanks for posting that Kermo.
Simple & it puts a fresh spin on quizzes. I can tell already my kids will like it.

[Ya-ta Boy]

That Monster idea of erasing all of a team's points is GREAT. I use the tic-tac-toe grid for several of my games and have always had success with it, but this adds just that extra little bit that will really make it fun. The variable points part is also good. Thanks.


One of my favorite games is a pronunciation game. I select a series of minimal pairs that we are working on: sheep/ship; beat/bit; feet/fit etc. and write them randomly on the whiteboard. Divide the class into teams. A member from each team stands at the starting line and I say one of the words on the board--they race to the board to circle (or slap) the word.

As they get better at pronouncing the sound, I have students take turns saying the target words.

[kermo]

Aww, shucks. One good turn deserves another, I think. Here's the other favorite game my students ask for all the time:

It's a variation on "Taboo":

Organize the class into two teams. I like to have the students "draw straws," that is, pull pieces of paper that I have marked with an X or an O. Once the teams are divided, have the students write their names on each piece of paper.

I give both teams a small stack of papers, with the taboo word at the top, and room for 3-5 more words. At this point, each team must try to anticipate what words the other team will want to use when describing the taboo word, so if the taboo word is "shoe," they might write "foot," "exercise" and "lace."

When both teams are done, collect the lists and the names. If you make stacks on your desk, with Team X's names and Team O's words, and vice versa, then you are SORTED. Randomly select a name and a topic. Agree on a time limit.

Set up the teams like this, with both teams facing each other, perhaps with a desk dividing them:
ooooo
x
________
xxxx

This way, the opposing team can look over the player's shoulder to make sure he/she has not used the taboo word, nor any of the acompanying forbidden words. If the player's team guesses the taboo word, or the time is up, the round is over.

Scoring is totally up to you. You can give extra points for speed, or award points to the team who catches the other saying the forbidden list words. Hope you have fun with this game.

[schwa]

You all know the "change chairs" game, right? Academically near-useless but my grade 5 kids love me when I let them wind up an occasional class with it.

Make a circle of chairs with one less than the number of participants. The leftover student stands in the middle & says "Are you wearing ..." (socks, glasses, a t-shirt, a watch, something blue, whatever) & everyone it applies to has to stand up & quickly scramble for an empty chair to sit down on. The student left standing, its their turn.

Thats it. They all know & like this game, mixed levels too. Its fast & fun, show-offs can show off but low-level kids enjoy it too, & boys & girls can bump in innocent flirtation. I play too. Always sends them home happy.

[ilovebdt]

My little ones like this one.

Teacher writes vocab on the board.
Split the kids into two teams give each team a board eraser.
Teacher shouts out a word the first person in each line has to run up to the board and erase the correct word.
Best done at the end of the class, can get a bit violent if the students are v enthusiastic.

[eamo]

Phonics Bingo.

For all levels!! Just adapt the vocabulary as required.

Hand out regular, blank bingo sheets with around 20 little squares of paper.

Start writing enough words on the whiteboard to fill each box on the bingo sheet. Make sure each kid writes each word in a random box.

The trick is......all the words should be those which are easily confused by Koreans/Asians. You know,

Rock Lock.
Pull Fool.
Ham Pam.
Rap Lap
Past Fast

etc...

Make sure you include these and suchlike pairings. Have the kids fill all the boxes with words like these.

Then start the game. Call out a random word and have the students identify that word on their sheet and cover it with a square of paper.

Standard bingo rules apply.

Or you can draw a matching bingo grid on the board and set 4,5 or six particular squares which must be covered to get bingo.

They love it!!

[calypso]

draw game or touch game or alphabet tic tac toe

[Bulsajo]

[OiGirl]

[OiGirl]

[gang ah jee]