Oct

Speaking Games – Hot Potato

As ESL students get older, they tend to clam up. Try teaching a book called “Speaking Tutor” to two mute fifth graders. Isn’t puberty fun?

Unfortunately I don’t have access to any sort of technology in the classroom. I came across a (flash I think) speaking games that reminds me of hot potato. In this game music played while students passed a ball of paper (personally I’d use my beach ball). When the music stopped (controlled by the teacher), a question came up in the game. The person with the ball had to answer the question.

I think I’m going to replicate this with just paper. Print a question on a piece of paper, and ball it up. Use your CD player with music of your choice. When you hit pause, the person has to unball the paper and answer the question.

I can actually see this being a great icebreaker game with higher level classes or even small adult classes.

Try it in your classroom and let me know how it goes. I’ll be sure to try it with target language (younger kids) after our test week is over.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Games,Speaking and have Comment (1)

Oct

New Theme

This is a theme for October in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s been nearly a year since my best friend lost her fight with this disease. My grandmother was a breast cancer survivor.

Ladies, please do self exams. And gents, though it’s rare, men can get breast cancer too. Be aware of your body.

RIP Melanie. You were loved by your students and your teaching career was cut short. I thank you for all you taught me and I put it into practice every day.

posted by Kathryn in Musings,Reality and have Comments (2)

Oct

Board Games

Yet another way to have fun in class. No need to commercial games. A big piece of paper and a meandering path from “your school” to “home” is all you need. Add a few jump forward and jump back spaces and you’re on your way. I use magnets to attach the board to the errr, board. I also found “pool” magnets that have numbers on them. Perfect markers for teams. Add a die (or dice depending on how big your game board is) and you’re finished.

Now what to do. Higher level students, questions and answers. Lower level students, vocabulary (picture or word flashcards) or target language. Be creative. Only you know what your students need.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Games and have Comment (1)

Oct

Teacher May I?

Remember the old game “Mother May I?” This is a variation on the game. I use it primarily as a spelling game, but it could be used as a speaking or question and answer game. I have three bags. Easy questions (typically review) are “baby steps”. Normal questions (generally current material) are “regular steps”. Then I have a bag for “giant steps” that are things that might be just above the students’ current level. We all know you always have one or two students in a class that are more advanced.

I start the game with a round of rock, scissors, paper to determine order. Use your favorite method. The first student says “Teacher, may I take N ____ steps?” Where N is a number and ____ is the type of step. My only ground rule is the most giant steps a person can take on a round is 1 and the most regular steps is 2. This gives less confident students a chance to keep up. If the student is correct, they move forward. If they are incorrect they have to move back 1 step of the size they chose.

I’ve tried it with a small class and it worked well. I don’t know how well it would work with a large class unless you divide them up into separate groups.

If you try this, drop me a line and let me know how it works.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Games,Phonics,Spelling and have No Comments

Sep

Happy Chuseok

Today is Chuseok, which is roughly equivalent (sort of) to Thanksgiving. Koreans travel back to the homes of their ancestors and honor them. I spent the day reflecting on friends and family I’ve lost in the last year. Melanie, my best friend, whose body was eaten by an aggressive form of breast cancer and my Grandmother whose mind was eaten by Alzheimer’s disease.

As I watched Gidgette and Ivory play, I remembered Jeepers, The Best Cat in the World Version 1.0.

I wish everyone a peaceful Chuseok.

posted by Kathryn in Holidays,Korea and have No Comments

Aug

Balls

I see a beach ball as an essential tool for games. So far I haven’t had any accidents and even if a kid gets bonked in the head, it’s an air filled ball. It isn’t going to hurt too much. I used to use a smaller nerf type ball about the size of a baseball. It worked okay for the older kids, but the little ones didn’t have the manual dexterity to throw and catch it.

Any how, back to using a ball. Currently we use both the “Let’s Go” series and the “Tops” series with the majority of our students. I’ll write a future post on how I use a ball with “Let’s Go”. I generally don’t use it with “Tops” because it’s more grammar and writing focused.

On to games. One is just asking open-ended questions. It’s best for mid to upper level students who have a good vocabulary and good grasp of how to form questions. The questions can range from the mundane such as “What’s your name?” to the complex such as “If you could be any animal, what would it be and why?” You can also practice specific sentence structures. With a lower level class one day, I did “I like _____.” where they could fill in the blank with anything. I was trying to practice using the plural form (yes, I know there are exceptions) for things you like.

All of these things are really boring activities on their own. But add in the fun of throwing a ball around the classroom and suddenly they’re the best things ever.

My ball is on the smaller side. I’d be surprised if it were a full 6 inches in diameter.

If you try it in your classroom, let me know how it goes!

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Fun things,Games,Language,Speaking,Teaching and have No Comments

Jun

What Is He Wearing?

I was at HomePlus one day and I found markers made for writing on glass. What could be more fun? I bought two sets. Phoenix Class was studying clothing and the question “What is he/she wearing?” Usually I have students do this on paper and then we go though it orally. Now don’t get me wrong, the kids love to color. But when I told them they were getting to color on the windows, they almost flipped their little minds.

In a way, it works better on the windows because it’s easier for other students to see and they can use other students’ pictures in their speaking.

So I present, Phoenix class (Martin, Jenny, Julie, Stephanie)…