When to fit games alongside an ESL curriculum

[eslpotato]

I'm sure we've all been there. It's the first day on the job, either you haven't taught in a while, or nervous about what to do. Your new school hands you their "specially designed, world first" curriculum and... somehow you've got to teach it.

At least I find this difficult anyway. After teaching at a few schools over the years I still find it hard making a lesson plan that I like, work around the strict confines of an ESL curriculum based lesson, like Headway, Practical English, Giraffe or any other.

Usually such curriculum lessons cover the right material, but I've never figured out which games to flesh out each part and/or been totally comfortable with the way each chapter/lesson flows - i.e. no presentation, (isolation), practice, production, review.

Now, I haven't studied education or applied linguistics, but this is just the feeling I get and I wonder how others think? Mainly, I struggle trying to figure out ways to flesh a lesson out with extra practicals or games that fit in with the way coursebook lessons are structured.

Given the wealth of 'lesson plans' and resources available on the internet, what do other people think about the restrictions/advantages of coursebook curriculums and how do you go about tailoring them to fit your class?

Thanks heaps,
eslpotato

[Mdream]

In my elementary age classes I use a textbook for a foundation, but I supplement it with many other activities and exercises. For me using only a text book is pretty limiting. I've found certain games that work really well, and my students really enjoy and I cycle them depending on the material. I rarely use the games that the text book suggests.

There are also all kinds of resources available online to help you supplement, many of which are free. Here are a few sites I recommend. You can probably find teaching materials, and game ideas, on these sites that will fit in with the curriculum you already have.

http://www.123listening.com Free downloadable listening test audio and worksheets.
http://www.dreamenglish.com Free downloadable songs for kids
http://www.mes-english.com free downloadable flash cards and games.

Full disclosure, the first 2 sites are mine (well the second is a collaboration with MES English) but I make materials that I use in my classes, so I think you will find them useful. good luck!

[Sheila Collins]

Being a private teacher, I have the luxury of refusing to use just one curriculum; I have never found one which covers all the needs of all the students. I put together a curriculum from several texts, lots of story books and novels and magazines, many games and activities, and a fair amount of music.

If there is something boring we must cover, and I can't arrange a game to accommodate, I take a few minutes at the end of the class to play a game which is entirely unrelated to the boring subject but reviews something we've been working on.

All my students like the games on http://www.vocabulary.co.il/. You can adapt Hangmouse for a chalkboard by just having the mouse move 7 spaces towards a plate of cheese.

Simon Says is also a good game, as you can adapt it to the subject: Simon Says, "Use the past progressive tense in a sentence involving Smarties and Gummy Worms".

Remember that doing everyday-things like reading stories and talking about what the Olympic athletes are doing also constitutes "review".

[barryfun]

I have been lucky to be working at an elementary school where they are not very strict about following the curriculum exactly. I have just used the school's book as a guideline and developed a lot of different materials that I use in my classes.

I started out by making hangman game that I wanted to be able to use with the words my kids were studying at that time. Over the last 2 years I continued to make more things to really make my class as fun as possible without sacrificing the learning experience.

I just recently decided to put everything on a web site to share with everyone. The site is very visual and designed to be easy to use. On my site, you can view all vocabulary in a vocabulary viewer, play fun flash games for the classroom, print customized flashcards and worksheets, and there are also some fun teaching tools. Best of all, everything is free.

http://www.barryfunenglish.com

Here are a few screen shots:



The site is still new and I still have tons of ideas, so I plan on adding to it as fast as I possibly can.