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Your favourite filler lesson/activity?

 
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I_Am_Wrong



Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Location: whatever

PostPosted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:52 pm    Post subject: Your favourite filler lesson/activity? Reply with quote

My Middle School originally told me that I would have no class May 1st because midterms were starting may 2nd. Midterms have given me the opportunit to get all my classes to the same point in lessons so I really don't want to do the next lesson with my classes on Monday and then with the other classes after midterms. I don't want the Monday classes to get ahead a week. I already played review jeopardy with them this past Monday because I thought that I wouldn't see them again until after midterms. Got any good ideas?
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Yu_Bum_suk



Joined: 25 Dec 2004

PostPosted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A pop song and a trivia game should work. Showing them photos from home is always a good way to kill time while keeping everyone's attention.
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Yo!Chingo



Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Location: Seoul Korea

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My kids are absolutely wild about BINGO. Whatever subject or subjects you're teaching use the vocabulary words and create bingo. Bring candy and just have a blast!
Check out this website for the gameboards and calling cards: www.dltk-kids.com You can do all kinds of stuff with this site BTW. If you don't want to spend the time printing out the cards however play HANGMAN. Gets them up and happy everytime.
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zinc



Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Location: Now in Japan. But Korea, I'll soon be back!

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:28 am    Post subject: Re: Your favourite filler lesson/activity? Reply with quote

I_Am_Wrong wrote:
My Middle School originally told me that I would have no class May 1st because midterms were starting may 2nd. Midterms have given me the opportunit to get all my classes to the same point in lessons so I really don't want to do the next lesson with my classes on Monday and then with the other classes after midterms. I don't want the Monday classes to get ahead a week. I already played review jeopardy with them this past Monday because I thought that I wouldn't see them again until after midterms. Got any good ideas?


An activity I like doing with the kids is a kind of Treasure Hunt:
a) You hide some objects, picture cards, or photos in your classroom, and a few candies too (keep some extra candies in your pocket for the students who won't find any...)
b) Tell the students that they have to find the hidden things and that there are also candies hidden out there!!
c) Have them describe the objects/photos/picture cards that they find (depending on their English level)
Have fun!!!
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Jeonnam Jinx



Joined: 06 Oct 2005
Location: Jeonnam

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yo!chingo,

That site for the bingo game is the best one I've seen. Thanks so much for the link.

You rock!
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ajuma



Joined: 18 Feb 2003
Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can play the "connect the word" game.

housE-ElephanT-TiE-E....


Make it more fun by dividing the class into several groups. One person (a different one each time) is the "speaker". The rest of his/her teammates can help, but the speaker MUST say the word. Each letter equals 1 point. You can give candy to the team with the highest score. Decide beforehand if you're going to let them use their books/dictionaries.
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seoulsista



Joined: 31 Aug 2005

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I take any topic that we are working on that day and I write a big grid on the board and number each box. I break the kids up into teams or individually and give them each a symbol (star, question mark, smiley face etc.) and ask them a question on the topic.

Example:
Me: I walk to school. Change to the "now" tense.
Student: I am walking to school.

Then I draw their symbol in the box they choose. The first student or team to get four in a row in any direction win. Of course another student can block them. This is where they have fun.
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Ya-ta Boy



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is a game called Monster Bingo on the activities page here at Dave's. It works like gangbusters with high school kids. The monster part refers to being able to take points away from another team.

I use parts of speech--verbs in different tenses, adjectives, whatever...to fill in a grid of 25 squares. Teams have to make sentences to win the square. I vary the required sentence length depending on the level of the class. I hide 5 monsters in the grid: each monster is able to take a different number of points away from another team: one monster can take 2 points, another 3, 4, 5 and all points.

It would also work with trivia questions.
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crazylemongirl



Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Location: almost there...

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 4:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My altered version of boggle. Draw up a 4 square by 4 square grid and put random letters in it (sometimes I'll put in hidden words like my name, or english)... they have to make words using just the letters in the grid. Give them between 3 to 5 minutes. The champion is the one with the most words. I usually play it in teams and can get 3 rounds in during a 45 minute class.
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SeoulShakin



Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My middle schoolers absolutely love writing "one line stories". Basically I start off writing one sentence on a piece of paper, and it gets passed around to each student, and they add a sentence to the story. Usually it ends up being about one of the teachers being "in love" with another, but it's middle schoolers, and it's in English so I go with it. Usually it's quite funny, and they all whip out their dictionary's to get the sentence they want to write exactly how they want it. It passes the time well and the students love hearing the end result of their story.
They've never paid so much attention.
Give it a shot!
Smile
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mindmetoo



Joined: 02 Feb 2004

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like giving them a drawing assignment. Draw a food you don't like, but make it funny: cat sausage, bundaegi ice cream. Take two animals and make them one animal: a bird + a snake. Give your animal a name "snird". What does it eat?
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flotsam



Joined: 28 Mar 2006

PostPosted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SeoulShakin wrote:
My middle schoolers absolutely love writing "one line stories". Basically I start off writing one sentence on a piece of paper, and it gets passed around to each student, and they add a sentence to the story. Usually it ends up being about one of the teachers being "in love" with another, but it's middle schoolers, and it's in English so I go with it. Usually it's quite funny, and they all whip out their dictionary's to get the sentence they want to write exactly how they want it. It passes the time well and the students love hearing the end result of their story.
They've never paid so much attention.
Give it a shot!
Smile


I found this to be great when I worked with high school students, but if you are teaching at a public school it might be kind of tough: I know about 30% of my students wouldn't understand the concept and could never be able to write a sentence in English. But for smaller leveled groups or older kids it's great.

I have to go with YBS on the photos idea. On filler days, I break the kids into groups and tell them each to assign a secretary and get out pen and paper. Then I walk around and distribute 5 or 6 old photos to each group and the students get 5-10 minutes to write 5 questions to ask me each. When this time is up, the groups take turns asking questions and I answer them in English as a listening drill. Any group that can paraphrase what I told them in English gets two points; if they can do it in Korean, they get one point. They love the photos of other countries like India and Myanmar but they go nuts over the photos of me as a long haired teen or in my prom tuxedo(which was white with a pink cumberbun--my date SUCKED). This whole exercise is a guilty-feeling-but-not-that-guilt-deserving pleasure: it requires zero prep and zero stress but has lots of great practice and the students love it.

But on the days I am feeling REALLY lazy, an absolute sloth, I break the class into two massive groups, hand out little sheets of paper to each pair
and tell them they can play pictionary(which they love) but they have to write the prompts for the other team. This is an absolutely guilt-worthy pleasure as not only does it require zero effort, but it also affords tremendous pleasure watching a middle school first grader trying to illustrate words like "sometimes" and "bacteriological weapon" in a manner perceivable to their teammates...
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