MORE GAMES

Missing Word: Flashcards or some word cards. 10 cards are lined up on the board and repeated. One is taken away as the cards are put together. Then they are displayed again. Students can always get the missing word, even up to 20 cards. Reinforces memory.

Disappearing Sentences. 7 sentences (short) are written on the whiteboard. The whiteboard is then turned around before they realize it, and surprise, the students are asked what sentences, or words were on the board. This exercise can be repeated thrice. Improves attention span.

Simon Says: This game worked great in grade 3 after appropriate training of basic commands. I tried it in grade 2 but not every student understands the commands. It’s interesting but needs more work.

Alphabet Chain: Grade 1 & 2. More fun at Grade 2 level. 26 letters are given to 26 students. A word is shown and the students must stand up and form the word in the proper letter order. I did one word from the entire alphabet A-Z in one grade 2 class. They all co-operate forming the proper letter order, rushing to the front of the class to display the word to everybody. I change owners of the word card so everyone has a chance to participate.

Musical Chairs: Grades 1- 4. (though I hear it can also be fun at 5 & 6). 12 students and 11 chairs. Students sitting have a color name card or a letter of the alphabet. (Maybe grades 5 & 6 could have a word because they are learning how to read). The student in the center ( who also has a card), calls out 2 or 3 cards. Those students with that card must change seats, and the student in the center standing, must sit down. Often hilarious and sometime even helps to teach a lesson content i.e. colors, letters, or numbers 1-10.

Throw a ball ? Catch! Can be used to teach numbers 1 ? 40, as there are many students. In grade 1 & 2 it can teach “What’s your name?” Two teams of 5 students stand facing each other. The student with the ball says “My name is Sumi. Minho, catch!” then throws the ball to Minho. If Minho does not catch it, the team wins a point. I still have no definite reward system for winning teams or students. I would exhaust my supply of Canadian “coins”. Stickers work wonders but I have not tried, probably because my classes are not that routine and I would be swamped with student hands asking for stickers if I started to stick them on their foreheads. They are used in grade 3 English ) classes are twice a week) as group rewards. I saw this method used on an EBS English program. Each time a student got a right answer, a sticker was put on the student’s forehead.

Numbers Bingo! I used to teach numbers 1 to a billion in grade 5 & 6 by sheer force of repetition and writing on the boards. It’s sometimes a little dull. A number circling game could follow to test their memory. In grade 4, I played numbers Bingo, numbers 1 ? 30. After hammering in the sounds and shapes of these numbers, groups of 3 are given a card with 10 numbers. I call out a number and they circle it. First to complete a card, wins. Few students can effectively hear the difference between thirteen and thirty, ( including teachers). I wrote all numbers 1 ? 30 in English on the boards, suggesting they might have to know this later. Indeed, these numbers must be practiced a lot before the game is played.

Suggestopedia: This means to give to “airy nothing” a shape and form. What I did most in this method was write the transcripts of the 16 English videos on the boards. As the students in Grades 5 & 6 watched the video, I would point to the sentences being spoken. After viewing once or twice, we would often repeat the sentences on the boards. I highlighted words and concepts (with chalk). Very often the video lesson was directly related to the Textbook lesson. This means I would not stress the meaningfulness of the transcript using it only to suggest the form and content of the textbook lesson. They are supposed to be beginning to learn how to read and write so I am asking them to pay attention to the spoken word, and the written equivalent. There are more sophisticated uses of this theory but I am not sure how to use them.

Body Squares and Animal Squares: Body parts and concept words (nod, tap, shake etc.) are jumbled, hidden together in a square, in upper case letters. Lower case letters of the same word are given below. The objective is to find the word and circle it. The square is twelve letter squares by twelve and the word is circled vertically or horizontally. The same game for types of animals is played. Grade 4, 5 & 6. Grade 4 will play the game longer. I go around the class kibbitzing as they progress. Photocopies given out 1 per every 2 students.

Chinese Whispers: The way I played this was to use about 25 animal flashcards. I put them on the whiteboard with a magnet. After reviewing them, I formed teams to pass the whispered animal word. Last student points to the word card. Great interest in this game in grade 2, 3 & 4.

Blindman’s Bluff: Students blind folded and turned around several times. 2 teams. Asked to go to the whiteboard where there are 2 circles representing a face, where they will draw what is asked of them i.e., eyes, nose, mouth, ears. Very funny in grade 2, but a dud in grade 5, almost. This game can be elaborated but it’s a little dull for English learning.

Information Survey’s: I use a family questionnaire in grade 6, but lost heart using in grade 5. There were 10 questions about aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, etc., how old they were, and where they live. It related to the textbook lesson on “This is my Family”. Nobody could read the questions or conduct the survey. Some managed to do it so I continued for all grade 6 classes. In grade 4 a teacher devised a survey of 3 questions to ask 10 students in the room. “How tall are you?” “How much do you weigh?” “How old are you?” It was a busy time watching students conduct the interview. Surveys, interviews, and questionnaires ought to be used more extensively. My survey on the family was not that successful, though it was interesting. Most students could not read the nine or so sentences, and it was difficult to get them to ask these sentences to 4 or 5 other students in the class. The grade 4 survey was better. I only used these 2 surveys so far, but it’s basic for developing conversational English skills.

Drawing: I like to see drawing in grae 1 & 2. In the grade 1 class we drew four flashcard words and pictures every class. First we review the alphabet on a warm-up poster. Grade one likes to draw. Sometimes they have problems “drawing” the letters in a word or the letters themselves. For a grade 2 class, we drew members of our family and made masks. “Who am I?” “this is my father.” In all grades I just wanted to teach the word “draw”. I would use classroom English commands like “stand up, come here, draw a cat” On the whiteboard students would draw very cute dogs, horses, cards, buses, all kinds of things. Sometimes the English or Hangul was written under the drawing. “Can you draw a fish?” :”Who can craw a fish?”: In one grade 5 class I tested students comprehension by saying “draw 3 circles, draw a cat, draw a straight line, draw a house, underline your name, write a “V”. This was suggested by the Korean teacher. Many students had difficulty because even in grade 5 this year there are new learners of English. Some of these commands had been covered by me only briefly. Surprisingly, some could do some of it. When garde 1 is drawing, I go down the rows complimenting their effort. “Oh, very good boat” etc. I repeat letter sounds for them. I will ask every student “What’s your name?” or, “How are you today?” (fine, thank you). It’s very gratifying to hear them answer. I pat their heads only in grade 1. “Good work, Sumi”. The textbook had a page at the end of each lesson where students could practice writing words and letters and coloring a picture of the words. It was also a way to test their memory as they were to draw a line from the picture to the word.

Miming: I did not use miming per se, but sometimes I mime in order to convey the meaning of an English sentence or word. “I am swimming”., for example, can be mimed. Some students like to mime (or try to) pictures on the flash cards. In grade 3 there is a video with a game that requires a student to mime an English expression and the rest of the class to guess the expression, i.e. “I am playing soccer. What’s this? I am eating.” This was a great way to review the lesson and it was interesting for me to watch them. The Korean teacher was effective in communicating to a student, the action/expression to be mimed. Most students knew the answer because this lesson material had been drilled. All their hands were up, they were standing up and shouting in English, the expression mimed. Younger students can mime animals.