ENGLISH Ratscrew

It's a lot like Russian ratscrew, as it means everyone is grabbing for cards at the same time.

review vocab 1st then introduce a deck of cards with the same objects on them.

examples:

"Let's play soccer. Let's go fishing"

"Can you play soccer? Can you fly?"

The students must listen to the two teachers' Q & A

If teacher 1 says Let's play soccer, and T2 says "sure!" the kids can grab for the soccer cards.

BUT!!!!!

if teacher says, "Sorry I can't" they must wait.

Kids who have reached for a card at this point are out for the round. they must put their hands on their heads and wait.

*I love this last rule because it gives the slower, but more thoughtful kids a fighting chance against the more aggressive ones. many times, The whole table has had to watch as one or two kids collects all of the table's cards!

*MIX IT UP! make the game more speaking oriented by giving speaking control to some of students in the class.

The student from each table with the most cards @ the end gets a reward.

There are many variations of this game, but I really enjoy playing it this way.

SLAP GAME

Easy Easy.

Use pics on a board (I have a felt board)

or make a large powerpoint page with different vocab-objects on it.

tow students come up with foam hands. after listening to the teacher make a statement, students must slap the correct object. Winning student remains up front, losing students switches to a new opponent.

example:

Pass the Cap

Okay this can be used for almost anything!

best when used for practicing key phrases.

Example is for lesson 4.6.4: Is this your cap.

I pass out an item to each group (cap, eraser, ruler, pencilcase...)

student #1 asks student #2, "Is this your cap?"

student #2 responds, "No it isn't!"

then turns to student #3 and repeats.

the last student gets the 'cap' and says, "Yes! it is!"
the whole group sits down.

fist team to shout "Yes it is!" together and sit is the winner!

What's on my head? Charades

Divide class into two teams.

I have paper hats with velcro & have attatched different verbs to them.

One student from each team comes to the stage and prepares to guess.

Students will ask "What are you doing?" and stage student will grab a hat

The group will act out the verb.

Stage student will guess, "I am flying?" "I am running?"

Students say yes! and the hat is added to a pile.

They will only get a new hat & word when group has asked, "What are you doing?"

...and it begins again.

When the all the hats have been acted out, we count hats and find out who is the winner.

The students really enjoy this game!

London Bridge Guessing game

the two kids acting as a bridge are blindfolded.

everyone sings or listens to the song, who is she? (to the tune deep & wide)

when the song ends or is stopped, the drawbridge copmes down and they capture someone. the blindfolded kids then ask questions

"How's the weather?"

"How old are you?"

"Are you okay?"

...and so on

when they think they know, they can guess, "He is Minsu!!!? then ask the whole group, who is he? "He is Minsu!"

I used this for the GEPIK lesson grade 4 lesson 5: Who is She?

But I think it can be used as a good review, too.

vocab & phrases could be changed depending on objective.

** can be a little messy getting kids set up, since everyone is getting out of chairs and moving around. make sure you have good control of this class before starting!

CHARADES-TELEPHONE

This game is played in small groups in front of classroom, and the onlooking groups participate, too.

One team comes to the front and lines up.

All but the one in the back of the line covers their eyes and waits for a tap on the shoulder.

• teacher reveals a flashcard picture. (example: apple)
• student #1 mimes apple to student #2, who turns around and taps #3's shoulder & mimes what he has seen. and on and on until last student.
• last student says out loud, "Would you like some/a ____?"
• if they're right, the class says, "Yes, Please!"
• if they're wrong, class says "No, thanks!" and then answers the appropriate response: "Would you like some/a ____?"
  

The students really seemed to enjoy this game. The entire class got to participate, and they loved seeing their classmates act silly trying to figure out what they were miming. I will DEFINITELY play this game again when vocabulary & key phrase make it a viable game!

P.S. my students are TERRIBLY AWFUL mimes! sometimes that made the outcome more hilarious! easy ones, hard ones here are some of my favorite ones:

Remembery*** very successful!

1) I show the students a picture with several items on it.
they can look at it for 30 seconds and try to remember as much as they can.

This example is from GEPIK lesson 5.9.4: Whose Boat is This?

2)then I turn it off and they write down as many as they can.
3) Students all stand up
4) ask a student to name one item
5) everyone who named that item can stay standing. if they do not have it written down, they must sit!
6) do this until you have a winner, or the whole list has been named.

(my classroom in in pods, so the winning table gets a team point. the winning students got a sticker)

The students really got into this game. regardless of how many they actually got, they all seemed to enjoy trying to get it right, and asked to play again. I expect I will used this game regularly. I want to see if doing more will improve their memory for vocabulary.

*after a while of playing this new game, I will comment again on it.

Morning/Afternoon/Evening

This is a version of rock-scissors-paper & red rover combined

morning beats afternoon
afternoon beats evening
evening beats morning

I use the motions from skinnamarinkydinkydink song. morning is a circle downward, afternoon at your belly, and evening is abote your head.

If you are the winner, try to grab your friends' hands before they pull them away
losers pull your hands away!if you are caught, then you go sit down at the winners' table

after the game, ask each table, "how old are you?"they will answer by the # of peoplelargest table gets to leave first!

Name GAME: Sheet Drop

Medium/Large Group
materials: a large sheet/tarp or other large foldy device.

use this for classes who are new together, or if they have just chosen English names; to get them accustomed to their new names. YOU COULD CHANGE IT INTO A VOCABULARY ACTIVITY BY GIVING EACH STUDENT A DIFFERENT PICTURE/WORD/or/MOTION TO DO.

Divide the class into teams of two.
Put the divider up and have kids hide behind it on either side.
One student creeps to the front of each side.
When the sheet drops, the first student to say the others' name is winner, and loser changes teams.
THINK RED ROVER without running.

GAME: Who stole the cookies?

Medium/Large Group--Circle game
(I'm going to tell the standard version, and then how I'd play it in a particular ESL situation)

Students sit in a circle. there are NO extra chairs.
One Student stands in the middle of the class with no place to sit.

They must go up to another student and ask, "Who stole the cookies?"
Sitting Student, "I don't know, ask my neighbor." (points right or left)
This continues with standing student asking, sitting student telling.

While behind his/her back, the students must make eye contact with their classmates and switch chairs. When Standing student notices, they will try to steal a seat.

If they are successful in getting a seat, there is a new standing student who must continue with the "interrogation."

MODIFICATION:
*change the conversation to fit your skill level needs.
*have one student ACTUALLY have some cookies, flowers...whatever got "stolen" if they find that person, they must say, "I did."

EX) RIGHT/LEFT using the modification above...actual hiding...you could have the students say, "Ask to my left," "Ask to my right."

GAME: LIPLESS Conversation

You can really use any kind of subject for this game. It's a good way to get them all talking to each other in small groups with little or no interference from the teacher.
I used Lipless Conversation when we were learning feelings and "How are you?"
Therefore, I will use that for my example.

Students tuck in their lips and speak. S1 says to S2: "How are you?"
S2 to S1: "I am happy/sad/thirsty...etc...etc"
If either student shows their teeth or laughs (or, as h happens in Korean classrooms, covers their face), then the student is out and must sit down.

It goes around the circle like this until only one student is standing.
If there's time and you're feeling ambitious, make the winner from each group come to the stage to challenge each other for the title in the classroom. Reward accordingly!

GAME: Musical Mystery Bag

Put flashcards into the your mystery bag.
They could be anything!

Turn on the music.
Pass the bag around, hot-potato style.
when the music stops, the student who has the bag in hand must reach into the bag and pull out a card.
If he/she gets the phrase/vocab. right, they are rewarded.

A few reward ideas:
-give a sticker?
-give their table a point?
-student gets to keep the card (add them up at end and give 1 prize @ end of game..)?

I have also played this using pretend telephones when teaching telephone etiquette.
Pass around two phones and make the students have a conversation when the music stops.

GAME: Where is My Chair? It's Right There! Blind Directions!

This is a mish-mash of a few camp games I love-love-love. The closest and most familiar are the challenge game, MINEFIELD and the circle dance game called RIDE THAT PONY/orGOING TO KENTUCKY

Materials:
3-4 blindfolds
a chair for each student

Vocabulary:
Go. Stop. Turn. Around. Right. Left.
Straight. Reach. Up. Down. Forward
--Depending on your level/objective, you can change the end catch phrase;
You can't miss it!
It's right there!
Sit down!

Pre-Gaming Directions:
Situate the students in a large circle.
Review the vocabulary.
I do this by testing them.
(You could make a simple powerpoint to help your demonstration if possible, but rely mostly on the kids actions) They all do it at once, so it's funny to watch, if they get it wrong, they'll figure out how to correct themselves quickly.
1st, Right hand/Left Hand.
Turn around.
combine vocab:
Turn to the Right
Turn to the Left
etc...etc...etc..
Demonstrate what the blindfolded kids will have to do, by doing it yourself.
How to play:
Kids walk in a circle singing..."Where oh where is Namdaemun...(see songs)" when they stop, kids will sit down. blindfolded kids (who were dancing and spinning in the middle) stop and point to someone outside the circle. THIS PERSON IS THEIR DIRECTION GIVER. The must tell the walker how to find a chair and sit down.
When everyone is sitting...the DIRECTION GIVER stands up and takes the place of the walker, and the fun begins again!

My students LOVE this game to pieces.

GAME: Zip...Zap...Sorry?

It's a good warm-up/review activity
Simple game. but it's a lot of fun.
I used it during 5.5 lesson when learning what to say when you didn't hear someone.
could be used for teaching "This is...(gr4)
or in a Special Class (gr6 review)

Pepare three very different objects.
ex) an orange, a spoon and a plastic pineapple

Students sit in a large circle.
Demonstrate the game with co-teacher.
"This is a ZIP."
"Sorry?"
"a ZIP!"
"Oh! a ZIP!"
Ten you pass it around the circle. let them get used to saying it. some will be embarrassed, some will do it well. (I rewarded the best speakers with stickers) when it gets back to you and you have everyonje's attention, you ask them is this REALLY a ZIP? NO! It's an orange...but just for fun we call it a ZIP.
What is this?
Whole class/Teacher:
(...a spoon!)
"No, it's a ZAP!"
"Sorry?"
"a ZAP!"
"Oh, a ZAP!"

Start by passing the ZIP around the same way...
After a few kids get it going, send the ZAP the other way around...
It gets funny when the ZIP and ZAP cross paths and one student gets both at the same time.

---IF YOU REALLY WANT TO CHALLENGE THEM, TIME IT! THEN SEE IF THEY CAN DO IT FASTER.

--For added fun, add a ZOP. (that's my pineapple) and toss it in without anyone noticing.

The game results in lots of English conversation going around and tons of fits of giggling.

Game: LEMONADE

This is a fun racing game. It requires a little space, and is best played outdoors or in a hallway.

Use the week's vocabulary as the motions.
examples)
How are you? well, happy, sad, excited, hungry, thirsty
Who are you? man, woman, teacher, student, boy, girl, mouse, elephant
two teams line up accross from each other, on opposite sides of the classroom.
team #1: "What's your name?"
team #2: "Lemonade"
team #1: "ask the question"
team "2: does a motion.
when the team #1 guesses correctly, they chase team #2, and whoever they tag switches teams.

GAME: Ship to Shore! Re-invented for the classroom

The idea is simple. kids run from one side of the classroom to the other. I set this up by drawing a picture on the board. most lowish level students have learned the word, SHIP in their phonics classes, so they imagine they are running from the ship to the shore.

one at a time I introduce the commands.
I've made different motions for each command, some need 1 person, others require 2 or three. If the move requires three, and there are two people without a third, those 2 kidsmust sit down and wait for the next game.
it's a fun game for any size, from 3 to 103!

The week's vocabulary makes up the commands:

Stand up!

Sit down! (two people: one sits on the other like a chair)

Stop! (same as freeze. students can't move till I say OKAY. if they move when I say ANYTHING else, like ship, shore, listen! then they are OUT and have to sit down)

Listen! (three people: they get together and whisper in a circle)

Look. haven't gotten to that one yet.

some of the classics i might add in are SEASICK, CLEAN the FLOOR, and SHARK ATTACK, if they got the hang of the standard ones.

If I had the option, I would take my students outside and play on a field, but it works okay indoors, too.

GAME: Fruitbasket Upset

--large/meduim groups
This game is the same regardless of how you use it, with placecards or without. It’s great to use for word-symbol identifiction and can be used with a group of mixed skills to get different results.
great for a hot day when you need the kids to get up and move around.

Here’s the idea: With all the students sitting in a circle, and one student in the middle, the middle student will shout out a word, or description. example) “It is an eraser!” the kids sitting on an eraser card must stand up, change seats. the student in the middle will try to steal their seat.

another example, to make it harder is, “It is red!,” “It can write!” “It is in the classroom!”

I always try to make as many kids as possible stand up at one time. in the classroom usually gets EVERYONE.

You can use it for any kind of objective from vocabulary/spelling.... (Long a, capital B) to conversation (“My name is Susan and I like to swim!” (I’m wearing stripes!”).

Students must pay attention to what their signs on their chairs say, as they’re always changing seats. or they must listen to see if the statement is true for them.

***Don’t take a lot of time to make the cards. I draw on post-its, the kids love to see me drawing in class! also it gives the kids who finish paperwork quickly something to do while waiting for the slower students.