Teaching Ordinal numbers (ie. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.)

[Manny3]

Hi Everybody,

I am looking for ideas on teaching ordinal numbers (like 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) Any games and ideas would help. I have thought of maybe a handout asking about today's date, your birthday,etc., but I have given myself a rule of "No turd lessons allowed." These students are fun and I like them and want to keep it that way.

I am dealing with jr. high school students with a beginning level of conversational English. I would appreciate any ideas.

Thanks.

[Sally Olsen]

How about races held either inside or outside the classroom with specific places assigned - you are in 25th place. Prizes can be determined by pulling a place out of an envelope and it should vary instead of the normal 1st, 2nd and 3rd so they have to count or line up in order of finishing. They can be normal running races or funny races putting on clothes or putting things in order to get double the content. They can construct something that has been numbered - a Lego building or a puzzle which has been distributed randomly.

[Manny3]

Hey Sally,

Thanks for your advice, but I found another was that was effective. I gave out a questionnaire, asking about some of the Japanese holidays and also asked about Christmas and their birthday. Afterwards, I asked the class about the holidays. Then, I asked each student their birthday and wrote it on the board. From there, I played a bingo game with them. When they get bingo, they have to call out their dates. It worked well.

I look forward to more of your ideas. Thanks Sally and everyone!

Manuel from Japan

[woodcutter]

I like to ask them to guess a list countries in order of size or population, or world languages in terms of native speakers. Then, what is the second biggest country in the world?, etc.

It's not a great method, but as I said, I like it.

[jef]

I practice the game of "Bingo".It's very easy(yes, i have understood the rules!)and attractive to the youngsters.

[woodcutter]

We generally use cardinals for that, don't we? How do you adapt it?

I used to work with a teacher who was utterly obsessed with bingo. On finding that he had to teach the vocabulary item "scary", he devised the activity "Bingo in the dark"!