Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Peter Jackson]

I've got a few classes of 1st year high schoolers and as the year goes by they have gotten less and less interested in studying. They weren't that motivated from the get go and now its just like pulling teeth. They are very low level (country school) and most will not got to university. All they want are games now and that seems to be all that will motivate them.

I have done some good circle games with them and they had great fun (and learned a little too!) They keep asking to do them again but I've gotten bored of them. I've been scouring the net for similar types of games and have come up blank.

Does anyone have ideas for good, engaging games for high school? I need some that work with about 30 students. Unfortunately they cannot be too complicated as they have a hard time understanding English instuctions and I have no help from a co-teacher. Thanks for any help.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Yeah, stay realistic. If they're really not going to have much need for English in the future, don't sweat it too much, but remember that some of them will still be surprisingly keen to learn.

I find that trivia games work really well, and there are so many varieties one can do. Another I like is one I made up called sentence bingo. I draw a 6x6 or 7x7 bingo grid on the board. Across the top I write six places:

the restaurant / the library / church / my house / school / the park

Down the side I write six times:

tomorrow
this afternoon
next week
next month
in May
next year
some day


Then to get a square they have to make a sentence using a verb in a certain tense, in this case the simple future. E.g. I will go to school next week. I divide the class into three teams and make each team recite the sentence to get the square. To get a point they have to get four squares in a row. One can do many varieties of this, such as weather (e.g. it is rainy in Russia, it is snowy in China, etc.) It can last for about 10-15 minutes and is a good way to reward a class that has worked hard on their lesson.

[Peter Jackson]

A good idea. Cheers.

[Ya-ta Boy]

If yours are like mine, many of them can't distinguish the 40s and 50s. Play number games with them.

a) count by 2s, 3s, 4s as fast as you can, pointing at different students in random order

b) count backwards by 2s etc...

c) play simple bingo with numbers from 0-60

d) play addition/subtraction bingo with numbers from 0-60 (What is 3 + 12? They circle 15 if they have it on their grid.)

e) Fast/Slow. My watch says 2:00 but it is 3 minutes slow. What time is it really? (2:03)

[ajuma]

"Connect-the-word" game is good. Divide the class into as many teams as makes sense (usually 3 or 4...by rows). Choose a random word. Each letter = 1 point.

applE-ElephanT-TelescopE-EducatioN.....

apple=5 points, elephant=8 points...

If they're low level, you could let them use their English books to find words, but set a time limit. All students can help, but one student (a different student from each team each time) must give the "final answer". Good vocab review!

I used to play this on Friday's with my 4th grade hagwon students. They'd go home and study their dictionaries to find the longest "y" words (yellowjacket...yellowbelly...)!! After a while, I made them give a definition too...especially after they came up with "echoencephalography"!! [/b]

[Colorado]

Stop the Bus!
Students work in teams of 4 or 5 to find words in catagories that are written on the blackboard, such as: "animals, places, body parts, food, verbs, etc."
Teacher announces a letter: "A." Teams must find (and write down) a word for each catagory that starts with "A". (Ant, Africa, Ankle, Apple, Ask). First team to get a word for each catagory must have a team member stand up and shout "Stop the Bus!" Teacher verifies. Team gets a point.
My kids love it.