I work for a small, family-run English school in Japan. I have a few classes where I teach one-on-one. I've researched the activities and games on this site, but what I need are games fun for one student (or games we can play together). Also, for some of my classes the only resources I can use have to be able to fit in a bike basket as I teach at a shrine away from my school once a week. Usually I just bring along vocabulary flashcards and have the student guess the missing flashcard or memorize the order before doing a coloring or writing activity in the textbook.
My students are low level. I have them for one hour a week, and I try to teach them vocabulary. One student can crank out actual sentences. I haven't been working here for too long and I've already exhausted my ideas for games for one student. I'm thinking more simple flashcard games would be best, but any advice would be appreciated!
Activities for one with no resources?
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Sally Olsen
- Posts: 1322
- Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 2:24 pm
- Location: Canada,France, Brazil, Japan, Mongolia, Greenland, Canada, Mongolia, Ethiopia next
You can play match with the flashcards - have a picture for the word to match or match similar words or words in a family.
You can play lots of games with a small soft ball - I like a coosh ball because they feel nice. You throw the ball back and forth as you do some activity like saying the alphabet, days of the week, months of the year, or spelling a word.
I like hiding flashcards so they have to find them with directions - go to the left, back, forward and so on.
You can alphabetize the flashcards for another review of them.
Have extra flashcards that help to make a sentence with punctuation cards as well.
They can have a drawing book which you can write in to make sentences about their drawings.
We had a passport with the vocabulary for one lesson on one page in some kind of picture - train and train cars for the boys with a word on each or a path through the forest with animals along the way with word on them and so on. When the child knew each word we gave them a sticker or check for that page. We left the opposite page blank so they could make sentences out of the words and eventually stories. When they had done 10 pages we had a certificate and they got a new passport - Level 2.
The passport had our school logo on the front and their name in fancy letters. The certificate came out so they could frame it. Most of the children coloured the pictures for homework and their parents tested them on the words to see how fast they could say them. The older ones spelled them as well and used them in a sentence.
You can play lots of games with a small soft ball - I like a coosh ball because they feel nice. You throw the ball back and forth as you do some activity like saying the alphabet, days of the week, months of the year, or spelling a word.
I like hiding flashcards so they have to find them with directions - go to the left, back, forward and so on.
You can alphabetize the flashcards for another review of them.
Have extra flashcards that help to make a sentence with punctuation cards as well.
They can have a drawing book which you can write in to make sentences about their drawings.
We had a passport with the vocabulary for one lesson on one page in some kind of picture - train and train cars for the boys with a word on each or a path through the forest with animals along the way with word on them and so on. When the child knew each word we gave them a sticker or check for that page. We left the opposite page blank so they could make sentences out of the words and eventually stories. When they had done 10 pages we had a certificate and they got a new passport - Level 2.
The passport had our school logo on the front and their name in fancy letters. The certificate came out so they could frame it. Most of the children coloured the pictures for homework and their parents tested them on the words to see how fast they could say them. The older ones spelled them as well and used them in a sentence.
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Sheila Collins
- Posts: 46
- Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:20 pm
For millions of years, humans have taught languages without "resources"; try to take your mind back a few hundred years and think of what a teacher would have done then.
Pretend you're sitting by a fire or heating stove, and tell simple stories. You can translate common Japanese folk myths, and the children will understand what you're talking about.
Bring a book with good pictures (can you get Eyewitness books in Japan? Superman comics?)
Draw simple pictures, and have the kids turn them into stories; have the kids draw pictures and *you* turn them into stories.
Go for a walk: draw pictures in the dirt; count leaves on trees; talk about the shapes of cars.
Play Simon Says, or hand-clapping games, or Cat's Cradle.
If you can get a simple tape recorder, have them talk into it, so they can work on their pronunciation.
If you have a teacher and a student, you have resources; if you have a tablet of paper and a pen, you have more resources than you need.
Pretend you're sitting by a fire or heating stove, and tell simple stories. You can translate common Japanese folk myths, and the children will understand what you're talking about.
Bring a book with good pictures (can you get Eyewitness books in Japan? Superman comics?)
Draw simple pictures, and have the kids turn them into stories; have the kids draw pictures and *you* turn them into stories.
Go for a walk: draw pictures in the dirt; count leaves on trees; talk about the shapes of cars.
Play Simon Says, or hand-clapping games, or Cat's Cradle.
If you can get a simple tape recorder, have them talk into it, so they can work on their pronunciation.
If you have a teacher and a student, you have resources; if you have a tablet of paper and a pen, you have more resources than you need.
Here are a couple of sites I can recommend that have a lot of simple materials-free activities you can use:
Genki English
http://www.genkienglish.net/games.htm
Three Wise Monkeys
http://www.edochan.com/teaching/
You can find more webpages with activities like these here:
http://www.geocities.com/allhou/lessgames.htm
Genki English
http://www.genkienglish.net/games.htm
Three Wise Monkeys
http://www.edochan.com/teaching/
You can find more webpages with activities like these here:
http://www.geocities.com/allhou/lessgames.htm
Well, yes, but they also didn't have cars. I don't think you need to walk to the lesson if you can ride a bike, take the train, fly in a helicopter ...Sheila Collins wrote:For millions of years, humans have taught languages without "resources"; try to take your mind back a few hundred years and think of what a teacher would have done then
...
If you have a teacher and a student, you have resources; if you have a tablet of paper and a pen, you have more resources than you need.
Sites with free ESL resources:
www.toolsforeducators.com (worksheet makers and game makers with images)
www.mes-english.com (flashcards, phonics materials, printable games and more)
www.123listening.com (free listening tests and free downloadable audio)
But, you can walk if you want ...
Game Ideas
Here's some ideas that take little to no resources. Just make sure to have paper on hand.
Here is a game for practicing perfect tenses that is good for a group or an individual:
My Amazing Imaginary Life
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... html?cat=4
This game can also be adjusted for a small or private class
Fun with Verb Tenses
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... html?cat=4
Another one for practicing daily routine
Diary of a Superhero
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... html?cat=4
Here is a game for practicing perfect tenses that is good for a group or an individual:
My Amazing Imaginary Life
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... html?cat=4
This game can also be adjusted for a small or private class
Fun with Verb Tenses
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... html?cat=4
Another one for practicing daily routine
Diary of a Superhero
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... html?cat=4