Korean Job Discussion Forums

[inthewild]

Anyone know of anything clever to do related to ESL using playing cards?

[dulouz]

I always have UNO. Not much English skills but you can have quality time
when they get to see a grown man deal and shuffle.

[inthewild]

Yeah, I wish I had UNO. But I only have playing cards. It's for upper-intermediate level.

[I_Am_Wrong]

I have a pretty good game for intermediate conversation using just a deck of cards.

Uno is also really good and you can pick up some different versions at any half decent ESL book store along with other card games and such.

[Grotto]

I use the old maid card deck as well as crazy cards.

Old maid good for teaching alphabet and some vocab

Crazy cards works for teaching fruit, insects, sports, flowers, insects and vehicles.

Students love them.

[some waygug-in]

I've never used playing cards for teaching, but I suppose it would be possible. I've heard of teachers playing 21, poker, and other such gambling type games. The English aspect is explaining and understanding the games.

I really don't feel comfortable with teaching gambling games myself.

I use Crazy 8's for the basic game and also makes a great guessing game. You write the categories on the board and then choose a card.
Students have to guess what it is. Is it a fruit? Is it a sport? etc.


I play a similar guessing game with Let's go cards or sometimes I use them to play Pictionary. The cards give the students enough visual clues to try and draw some things.

Divide the class into teams. One person from each team comes to the board, give them each a marker. Show them one card, but only them.
They have to try and draw what they saw, and their team members have to try and guess what it is. One point per correct guess. Players rotate on each team so everyone gets a chance to play. It gets a bit rowdy sometimes.


I also play a game called Sorry. It has matching picture and vocabulary cards. (one card has the picture - the other has the word) The students have to try and get matched pairs.

Give each student 5 or 6 cards (depending on the size of class etc.)
Remaining cards in the center.

First student asks - Do you have a train? (he/she can only ask 1 student)
If the other student has it, they must surrender it.
If not, the student asked says "sorry, I don't have it" and first student must draw a card from the center.

Students take turns.

I know these games sound childish, but it's amazing how many of my adult students get into them sometimes.
It's also amazing how many of my teenage or adult student can't read one word on a card.

Good Luck.

[Zenpickle]

A favorite with my kids is Go Fish. It helps them with numbers and saying phrases like, "Do you have any ____?"

[inthewild]

[manlyboy]

Here's a good one for four players:

Each player gets a category of some sort (a vocabulary category is the simplest, but you can mix it up with others like grammar or pronunciation if the level is high).

Player 1: Lee Ki Bum - animals
Player 2: Mi Bong Suk - weather
Player 3: Dong Ki Kong - food
Player 4: Lip Sip Suck - clothes

Deal out all the cards face down (no looking at your cards).
Players flip their cards over in turn, one at a time (not in the same pile; one pile each)
As soon as two players have flipped over cards with the same suit, they must yell out a word from the opposing players vocab category.
Whoever gives a correct answer first gets a point, and the word they used cannot be used again (you could also have the loser pick up all the flipped over cards, and whoever gets rid of all their cards first is the winner)

Lee Ki Bum - *flips over hearts*
Mi Bong Suk - *flips over spades*
Dong Ki Kong - *flips over diamonds*
Lip Sip Suck - *flips over hearts*

So, it's Lee Ki Bum(animals) vs Lip Sip Suck(clothes)

Lee Ki Bum: "crotchless underwear".
Lip Sip Suck (a little bit slower): "three-toed-sloth".

Lee Ki Bum wins.

[Manner of Speaking]

I play Blackjack with adult students, especially guys who like to play poker. Ajumas love it too. I start off by explaining the origin of the western deck of cards, then introduce the vocablulary words "suit", "deck", "hearts", "clubs", "spades", "diamonds", "points", and "face card". Since each card in the deck is unique, it's a chance to practice using the definite article ("the nine of hearts", "the ace of spades", etc.)

Then I teach them the verbs "shuffle", "deal", "pick up", "play", "cut" (the deck) and the expressions "Please shuffle the cards" and "Please cut the deck." Then we get right into a game of Blackjack and I explain the value of each card ("this card is worth 5 points", "face cards are always worth 10 points") and I get them to explain to me the value of each card. Then we learn the expressions "Hit me", "I hold", "I'm dead", "Do you want another card?" If we have time I teach them how to do a split.

Do it right, you have a fast, fun, 20 to 30 minute lesson. The thing to do is to do everything quickly, don't give them time to start explaining everything to each other in Korean, get right into a game fast. Deal a hand and immediately turn to the person to your right and say, "how many points do you have?" "Do you want another card?" Get them listening and thinking right away.

[hellofaniceguy]

On the Uno...
I use it this way...
draw cards....make them either draw 2 or draw 4..the players choice and they can give 1 card to any of the players or all the cards to one player. If a player has let's say one card left...he/she could get a draw 2/4 and then can't go out.
I also have students use 2 cards when playing....if the card on the pile is a green 4 for example...the next player could use an 8 and a 4 for minus/subtraction to equal the 4 on the pile. Or use a 3 and a 1 for addition. Students have to say..."green 1 plus red 3 equals 4." Use addition, subtraction, division or times.
On the reverse cards...I have them also say clockwise or counter clock wise.
If a student gives a player a draw 2/4 card and the player getting the draw 2/4 has a draw 2/4 card in their hand....they don't have to accept the draw 2/4 and can add their draw card to the person who gave it to them. Another words....someone gives me a draw 2...I lay down my draw 2 and they have to now eat it and draw 4.
When the person gets a draw 2/4....the game continues going in the same direction from whoever got received the draw card.
I use different variations in getting students to speak.
When it��s their turn and they make a mistake��let��s say on the pile is a 4 and the player puts down a 1 and a 2 by mistake��the other players call out ��mistake�� and that player has to take 2 cards for the mistake.
Get the students to say complete sentences��
Green 4 plus red 1 equals 5. (the 5 is already on the pile.)
If they don��t say Uno��mistake��take 2 cards.
I use the skip cards also.
I try and have them think fast and speak fast.
Let��s say for example that I have 2 cards in my hand. One of them is a draw card��.I give the person next to me the draw card��because it��s my turn again once the person plays their card��and I��ll go out! Unless they have a draw card��in which event��I end up drawing 2/4 and can��t win because you know who the player will give the draw card to! Me.
Come up with different ways to play Uno! Use your imagination. The idea is to have the students speaking. Just playing Uno using the normal rules��not very much speaking. My way��lot��s of talking.
Each player gets 5 cards. I also teach them that card games��the dealer starts passing the cards clock wise. I teach them the words deal, dealer, shuffle the deck, pass the cards out, cut the deck, etc. I also use two sets of Uno cards. I laminated the cards and they last longer.
Another added twist is making 2 of the cards��jokers��if you have a joker and a player gives you a draw 2/4 card��you lay the joker down and don��t take any cards but the person who gave you the draw card now has to take the cards he/she gave you plus an additional 2/4 cards.

[buymybook]

I tell the students I have some magic to show. Really, they are only very good tricks that I know. The few people I have shown "how," can't do the trick unless they practice very much or are very talented. I do tell the students "why" I can do the trick and that is because my hands are quicker than their eyes. However, before I begin I use a special deck of cards that shows a ski resort where I once worked in the mountains. I tell them a story about the place and ask them questions about what they see and ask them additional questions about the travel or tourism industry. Then, I show them some magic! I have been known to play 21 myself. I learned the Korean game "lutte" or something like that during Lunar New Year, I'm not sure of the spelling but the game is played with 3 sticks that are partially rounded. I played with "Christians" and they gambled a few bucks, so what!

[jajdude]

There are hundreds of card games.... I don't know many, but they exist. Some must be good for classroom use. I guess if you wanted you could take the time to learn more.

[mindmetoo]

Not playing cards per se but print out a set of zenner cards:

http://www.paranormality.com/zenner_cards.shtml

You've seen these cards in Ghostbusters. The idea is to get people to test their psychic abilities. But they're also good for teaching kids the english names for basic shapes. Circle, square, etc. I find English terms for basic shapes fall between the cracks. Too many kids call a circle "soccer ball".

Anyway, test their psychic ability by getting them to try and read your mind. The repetition locks in the knowledge but the "game" feature cloaks the rote nature. Now here is where the fun comes in. Corner one kid before class and teach him some subtle signs. When you're touching your forehead you're looking at a wavey line. When you're rubbing your eyes you're looking at a circle. Etc.

It totally freaks them out when one kid keeps getting hit after hit. However, the smart ones eventually figure out your signal system if you're not subtle. Tricking the kids this way is also a good way to teach them a level of skepticism, how easy it is to pass off a simple stage magic trick as psychic ability.

[mindmetoo]

Here is also a fun "magic the gathering" like game to teach S-V-O sentences. It's a bit complicated:

http://www.geocities.com/seattlecindy80/game.htm