Korean Job Discussion Forums

[blunder1983]

Hi guys,

For winter vacation we're having a strong focus on fun. (as its more fun for me too that way).

One of the things I'm hoping to do is to teach the kids some magic tricks using cards, as I am a bit of an aspiring magician meself. Not only is there a decent amount of vocab based around the tricks themselves but setting them up requires speil which will be done in english too.

However in the summer I had a friend in a Hagwon who had taught their students a few card games and had got into trouble for promoting gambling. They were told NEVER to do card games etc. in class.

Wondered if that was the norm or the exception to rule.

[some waygug-in]

I think it depends on what kind of cards and what kind of games you're talking about. I never use poker cards, but I often use Crazy 8's, Uno, or Sorry cards in my classes. When I first started here, I was told no cards.......but that was before they realized what can be done with cards.

I also make my own cards so that the kids can practice a lot of different vocabulary.

I made a lot of different sets of Sorry cards, which are useful for other games as well. (go fish, pictionary)

I made a game which is sort of a combination of Crazy 8's and Uno. I made cards that can be grouped according to phonics word families.
(cake, lake, bake etc.) and then add a couple of crazy cards, a couple of take 2's and a couple of reverse cards to make the game interesting.

I understand schools' reluctance to allow card games, because it is easy to see how teachers might become very lazy and just play cards all class.
So I never allow a card game until the classwork is done.

I hope this helps.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

School rules state that my students aren't allowed to play with "woncards". An English camp teacher who taught some of my students gave me two sets of Canada playing cards to give to two of her favourite students when she went home. I'm not quite sure what to do with them.

As mentioned above, UNO cards woud be all right.

At my old hogwan I taught my middle school kids to play poker, using school coupons as gambling chips, before I knew better. Thinking back to the place, if I helped soil their reputation, great.

[JacktheCat]

Tarot cards go over very well with advanced classes.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[ddeubel]

[chest rockwell]

heh, we had a great old time playing hold em with my middle school class of five students for cotton buds. In fact, thats been the most fun two classes Ive had all year with them.

[joe_doufu]

By "woncards" do you mean western playing cards?
My kids play a game like "Uno" with western playing cards that they call "one card" (makes sense, "uno" is spanish and we're teaching English). Is that what you mean by "woncard"?
I don't like the game because the kids won't speak English while playing. I use it sparingly and only as a reward, not as a time filler.

I do like to use the game Go Fish as an icebreaker when we add a new student to a class. It's great for shy kids of all ages. All they need to know is "do you have a(n) ...?" and the numbers/letters. The littlest ones can start in Korean and quickly learn the English numbers from it. Most importantly, it gets them speaking and it helps them learn people's English names.

[jacl]

[jacl]

Big Two rules. I can teach y'all how to play. No prob.

[ajuma]

Blackjack can be a good game for older students...especially for teaching/reinforcing conditionals and past tense. "If I would have held, I would have won!" "If I hadn't said "hit", I would have lost." You can use chips for betting and decide what the winner and loser has to do. For example, the loser has to erase the board or clean the trash from the classroom. The winner can leave first, choose the game for the next "game day" or whatever is appropriate.