Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Axl Rose]

What's the best - the very best - game (or games) EVER for class? I mean 'game' generally - not just language games.

i have 2 overtime classes (90 mins each) and all these kids wanna do is play Mafia (it's a great game; and because they use English while playing and have fun I really don't mind). They refuse 'study' of any kind. I can hardly play Mafia any more - it's getting silly.

Kids are middle school age.

Games do not have to be language-learning-based. Can be absolutely anything! As long as they use English and have fun, I don't care. Keep ideas straightforward please - none of this "grab 3 empty bottles, have 2 kids take 1 bottle and a fly swat, write sentence on board, show flashcard, have 1 kid stood at back of class blindfolded with hands on head" stuff. Simplicity is genius. No board games.

Thanks.

[schwa]

I dont know mafia. How do you play it?

[buymybook]

You ask for help and give instructions on how to help or how not to help. You did what you don't want. What is the point? If you want simplicity try Hangman/Twister.

Details can help when explaining games. You don't have to include everything, you are the teacher. But why tell us how to help you, or attempt to make a rule on giving instructions?

There, you just created your own game with my help. Call it the "Instruction Game." Any attempt to sell or profit from this game without my permission will have serious consequences.

Have each kid create their own game and give you simple instructions. They probably won't be able to give you detailed instructions so you have your perfect audience.

[Axl Rose]

[Axl Rose]

[C.M.]

I stumbled across a good game. I did a Google search for games and found a list which included the old "Backs to the Board" game....a student comes to the front and his team tries to get him/her to say the word written on the board. The difference is that instead of standard vocabulary, I wrote Korean words in english; things uniquely Korean: Dong Chim, Boshintang, Mogyoktang, Jim Jill Pang, "OLD BOY"; I had a list of about 40, (and it included Korean phrases from a book I had). The kids loved it and that includes late elementary up to final year high school. Be creative; think distinctly Korean things ("Tae-han-min-kuk!!"...."Hwaiting!" Myeongdong.....Bi Bim Bop....."Ni Jukja Nae Jukgo!" [sp.?]) The kids all had a blast....the action hints for Ddong Chim still make me laugh...
[/i]

[ddeubel]

I've taught enough years to know a game a few games that work. ....

But unfortunately Octopus and Dodgeball are really not suited for "in class".

But one game my grade 4s and also grade 7s would play all day long if I let them is ZAP.

Kids form a circle and one person who is IT, is in the middle. The IT person, swings around the circle, pointing his finger (gun) and as he/she's twirling, says some phrase. "Gonna get ya" When he/she stops , they say ZAP. The person shot, bends down or steps back and the two people on either side have to draw their gun and shoot each other. The one shot, sits until the game is finished. The IT person is GOD and makes all rulings. Ties are allowed. Play until two people standing and then they go back to back and on the ZAP commend, turn and shoot.

I don't know why but kids will play this game allllllllllllllllllllllllllllll day. It's that addictive.

DD

[adventureman]

[some waygug-in]

I've never been able to get that game to work. The students always cheat and ruin the fun of the game. No matter if I deduct points from their team or not....I just have had no luck with "password"

Typhoon is useful sometimes...with the right group, but I have yet to find a game that everyone likes.......other than UNO, because it's mindless and they don't have to speak.

Crazy 8's is alright, but the stock cards are a bit boring. It works better if you make your own cards with more useful categories like:

Verbs, adjectives, places, feelings, weather, etc.

Of course, this depends on the level and age of the group.

Go fish is still a winner with the younger crowd, as well as word bingo.

I'd like to play more movement games with them, but our classrooms are too small.

Pictionary is OK, but can get boring if you do it too often.

20 questions is OK for higher levels, but it's sometimes hard to get them interested in it.

[flotsam]

[Axl Rose]

Some Waygugin,

[Axl Rose]

[blunder1983]

I gotta lotta games I find go over well...

Shipwrecked

This is ideally for advanced students but you can do it as low as middle school with easy items and a good coteacher. They get a list of 20 or so items they can choose to take on a desert island, there is a "right" order so you mark them off of that score. Things like a can of oil might be useful for a fire, filling with water once it is empty and polishing and using like a mirror to signal a boat. Normally I go round the room miming out the uses and it works well. I am nice and also give points to silly answers if they still show thought. One group decided a beachball could be used in the same way as a bottle when sending an sos. Not very feasible but its no mean feat to write that in english so they got the points.

Shipwrecked 2

Another idea inspired from numerous interview games. A plane crashes in the ocean and is sinking fast. You have 15minutes to decide who lives and who dies, there are 10 people on the plane and the inflatable only seats 6.

Typically you have: an old man/woman with a miracle cure to an illness (aids, cancer), a disabled young person who is very clever, a family of 3 etc. etc.

This is much harder than the first game so its only really for high students. Due to its nature I'd keep it in the realms of uni or adult teaching.

Making Money

Stolen from Daves Idea Cookbook, explain the kids are making money. Each 3cm square square they make is $1, each circle with a 3cm diameter is $2 and each equilateral triangle with 3cm sides is worth $5.

Give one group a ruler, 2 pencils and 3 sheets of paper. One group a compass a pencil and one sheet of paper. One group a compass, a ruler a protractor and one group 10 bits of paper.

They have to trade to make much money, and if they use Korean fine them Then talk about the different countries they represent. Superpowers with a bit of everything. Highly technical countries dependant on resources and highly resource rich countries living off their exports.

I'm considering offering real money to the winning group with this game for my kids, with $1 = 100won. That'd raise competition to epic proportions.

Tell a story

Stick 6/7 sentences of a story on the walls outside class. In groups of 4 have two people seated as the writers, two people reading and relaying the information. The fastest to complete the story and get it in order wins.

Variation: Who's who?

Same drill only instead of reordering a story, they use the information they obtain to complete a logic puzzle.

Alibi

Easy peasy, have 3 students leave the room, and separate the remaining kids into 3 groups. The 3 outta class are trying to cover up for a crime they committed and they are interrogated by separate groups. They have to say what they did between 7-9pm (3 things). The kids get REALLY into it. Middle schoolers were asking me how to ask the kids if their waitress at the restaurant was right or left handed!? One teacher preps the kids outside one teacher preps the interrogators.

Top tip: (If you want to be the teacher who wins) Keep it simple, tell your convicts to say the same for all similar questions, i.e always use the number 3. What table did you sit at? : 3. How long did the food take to arrive? : 3 minutes How much was the bill? : 3won. The idea is to find mistakes in testimony not question its factual info.

They are a few games I use with varying success. Hope they help.

[flotsam]

[schwa]

Re: Zap. Sounds like good mindless fun for the end of class to send the kids home happy. But I think I'd adapt it & let the student zapped by It stay in the game. That way all the kids get eliminated fairly, based on their own actions. Not arbitrarily, which I could see leading to hurt feelings.