Bomb Game
I've probably used the bomb game more than any other single English teaching game. I have seen the game played with actual sheets of paper on a big board, but it's far more convenient to carry the Powerpoint version around on a USB drive.
Looking at how many different Powerpoint versions of the bomb game have been floating around on Korean Elementary school file sharing sites, it seems like this has been a pretty successful game for a lot of teachers. The bomb game is a great way to have students practice the expressions or vocabulary they've been studying and have a lot of fun while doing it. Different teachers have made different kinds of bomb games, but the basic idea is similar throughout. The students are divided up into two or more teams, there is a grid of boxes on the screen. The students take turns saying a certain expression to select a certain box which may contain different point values, or a bomb. Points for each team are tallied on the blackboard. The game usually contains two kinds of bombs: one which will eliminate the points of the team who chose it, but another bomb which will eliminate the points of both teams, no matter who chose it. Because of the bomb element, the games often end up being nailbiters, with multiple changes in the leading score.
Looking at how many different Powerpoint versions of the bomb game have been floating around on Korean Elementary school file sharing sites, it seems like this has been a pretty successful game for a lot of teachers. The bomb game is a great way to have students practice the expressions or vocabulary they've been studying and have a lot of fun while doing it. Different teachers have made different kinds of bomb games, but the basic idea is similar throughout. The students are divided up into two or more teams, there is a grid of boxes on the screen. The students take turns saying a certain expression to select a certain box which may contain different point values, or a bomb. Points for each team are tallied on the blackboard. The game usually contains two kinds of bombs: one which will eliminate the points of the team who chose it, but another bomb which will eliminate the points of both teams, no matter who chose it. Because of the bomb element, the games often end up being nailbiters, with multiple changes in the leading score.
Invisible Present Game
(good class warm up)
Game Goal: To practice giving and receiving by saying "Here is a..." and also to stretch students vocabulary.
How To Play: The teacher starts the game with an imaginary object. I usually start by kicking around an imaginary soccer ball. Then I 'pick it up' and give it to a random student, but as I do, I say "here is a..." and then I change the object into a different object. The student then has to interact with the object if possible (for example, if it's an apple, take a bite out of the imaginary apple) and then give it back to the teacher and change it again. It's best to start the game by playing it like this, with the teacher continually giving objects to students and then having the students give them right back to the teacher. When they're still getting used to the game, it takes way too long if you have them give the objects to each other.
This game should have as much physical acting as possible. The teacher definitely has to try to overreact to everything to keep the students attention and to help them make mental connections between English words and real objects. Encourage the students to do lots of reacting to their objects.
After my students got more comfortable with the game, I started throwing the imaginary objects around the classroom. This is really fun cause you can't throw real objects but you can throw anything that's imaginary.
Since throwing the 'object' means the teacher is far away,
Game Goal: To practice giving and receiving by saying "Here is a..." and also to stretch students vocabulary.
How To Play: The teacher starts the game with an imaginary object. I usually start by kicking around an imaginary soccer ball. Then I 'pick it up' and give it to a random student, but as I do, I say "here is a..." and then I change the object into a different object. The student then has to interact with the object if possible (for example, if it's an apple, take a bite out of the imaginary apple) and then give it back to the teacher and change it again. It's best to start the game by playing it like this, with the teacher continually giving objects to students and then having the students give them right back to the teacher. When they're still getting used to the game, it takes way too long if you have them give the objects to each other.
This game should have as much physical acting as possible. The teacher definitely has to try to overreact to everything to keep the students attention and to help them make mental connections between English words and real objects. Encourage the students to do lots of reacting to their objects.
After my students got more comfortable with the game, I started throwing the imaginary objects around the classroom. This is really fun cause you can't throw real objects but you can throw anything that's imaginary.
Since throwing the 'object' means the teacher is far away,
Description Guessing Activity
Choose one student in the class to describe. Don't make any
motions which indicate who it might be. Then start describing the
student (i.e. "he has blue shoes", "he is tall") and students
will start looking around at each other to try to guess who it is. Let
them keep guessing until someone gets it right. This is a good class intro or review activity for reviewing appearance.
Alligator, Alligator
The best way to describe this is as an 'interactive chant'. I decided
to include it in the games section as well. This is really active, and a
great way to begin the class.
Game goal: Teach numbers, and the sentence "How many are there?" Best for Kindergarten through 3rd or 4th grade.
All the students stand up and walk in place. Then to the beat of the walk, they put their arms all the way out in front of them, one up, one down, and make an alligator chomping motion while saying:
"Alligator, alligator!"
(then put hands on hips and say)
"How many are there?"
(then some extra motion of your choice)
"There...are...3! Ahhh! (terrified scream)"
Whatever number is chosen, the students can alter their scream reaction accordingly. They REALLY enjoy this and so it's a great way to grab attention right at the beginning of class and also it's much more physically taxing than taking a test, so a good way for the gets to get some circulation going.
Tips: The first time I teach the Alligator chant, I have students practice the words of the chant first, while sitting down. If they do the motions right from the beginning, they may pay more attention to the motions and forget about pronouncing words. Have them repeat slowly at first, then build up a little speed. Again, the words are:
"Alligator, Alligator, How many are there? There are(is) (number)"
You could also teach the difference between "is 1" and "are 2. I haven't used it that way with my students, however. I decided to stick with only saying "there are" and avoid saying 1. Not many of my students were really interested in there only being one alligator anyway.
Game goal: Teach numbers, and the sentence "How many are there?" Best for Kindergarten through 3rd or 4th grade.
All the students stand up and walk in place. Then to the beat of the walk, they put their arms all the way out in front of them, one up, one down, and make an alligator chomping motion while saying:
"Alligator, alligator!"
(then put hands on hips and say)
"How many are there?"
(then some extra motion of your choice)
"There...are...3! Ahhh! (terrified scream)"
Whatever number is chosen, the students can alter their scream reaction accordingly. They REALLY enjoy this and so it's a great way to grab attention right at the beginning of class and also it's much more physically taxing than taking a test, so a good way for the gets to get some circulation going.
Tips: The first time I teach the Alligator chant, I have students practice the words of the chant first, while sitting down. If they do the motions right from the beginning, they may pay more attention to the motions and forget about pronouncing words. Have them repeat slowly at first, then build up a little speed. Again, the words are:
"Alligator, Alligator, How many are there? There are(is) (number)"
You could also teach the difference between "is 1" and "are 2. I haven't used it that way with my students, however. I decided to stick with only saying "there are" and avoid saying 1. Not many of my students were really interested in there only being one alligator anyway.
Double Card Game
Make (or cut out from the textbook) decks of cards with pictures representing at least 8 different sentences from the chapter. There must be at least two of each sentence card in each deck, but more is better. Like 50 or 60 card decks are ideal. Mix up the cards well, divide the class into groups, and put one deck, face down, in the middle of each group's table. The group can play rock paper scissors to decide who draws first, then take turns clockwise. To take a turn, a player simply takes the top card of the deck, and puts it down next to the deck, face up, and says the sentence. Students continue taking turns in this way until someone draws the same card as the previous student. When this happens, after the student says the sentence, he or she gets to keep all the cards which have been drawn up to that point. The player with the most cards at the end wins.
Please Game
Like Simon says, but more realistic. As an English teacher in Japan put it,
"Why do we use Simon Says in class? Do we use this phrase in the real world? Who says 'Hey man, simon says, get me a beer?'"
So in my classroom, we don't play 'Simon Says', we play "The Please Game".
It's simple. Teach your kids some actions. For example, 'stand up, jump, turn around'. Then give them commands with or without saying please. I've noticed that even my students with a short attention span do very well with this game. Korean students are all about solidarity. They love doing (or not doing) the same thing at the same time. They also love poking fun at the one student who didn't happen to be paying attention and goes off jumping as all the other students stand still.
This game has unlimited potential for learning vocabulary. Start with simple actions, but them build week by week by teaching sentences with actions. Such as "play baseball" (swinging bat motion) or "ride a rollercoaster" (hands-in-the-air-screaming roller coaster motion.
Hint: To make the students listen extra carefully, the teacher can do the motion whether or not they say 'please'. So students cannot depend on watching, they have to listen carefully to the words being spoken.
Jump
big jump,
little jump,
run,
run fast,
run slow.
Turn around,
turn around two times.
Turn around three times.
Monkey swing
Kangaroo Jump
Bird fly
Put on your coat
Put on your scarf
Stand up
Sit down
...You get the idea...
"Why do we use Simon Says in class? Do we use this phrase in the real world? Who says 'Hey man, simon says, get me a beer?'"
So in my classroom, we don't play 'Simon Says', we play "The Please Game".
It's simple. Teach your kids some actions. For example, 'stand up, jump, turn around'. Then give them commands with or without saying please. I've noticed that even my students with a short attention span do very well with this game. Korean students are all about solidarity. They love doing (or not doing) the same thing at the same time. They also love poking fun at the one student who didn't happen to be paying attention and goes off jumping as all the other students stand still.
This game has unlimited potential for learning vocabulary. Start with simple actions, but them build week by week by teaching sentences with actions. Such as "play baseball" (swinging bat motion) or "ride a rollercoaster" (hands-in-the-air-screaming roller coaster motion.
Hint: To make the students listen extra carefully, the teacher can do the motion whether or not they say 'please'. So students cannot depend on watching, they have to listen carefully to the words being spoken.
Jump
big jump,
little jump,
run,
run fast,
run slow.
Turn around,
turn around two times.
Turn around three times.
Monkey swing
Kangaroo Jump
Bird fly
Put on your coat
Put on your scarf
Stand up
Sit down
...You get the idea...
Role Play
Role play is a great way to get the students to use the expression in a
real life situation. Break the students into groups and have them
assign roles and memorize their parts for the script. Then clear a
space at the front of the class and have the groups take turns coming to
the front and doing a play. This will be ALOT more fun if there are
props and/or simple costumes. I've made lots of different things out of
cardboard boxes. The kids love it when you bring in some new foreign
object into class. I think it makes English more exciting to them.
In my experience, role play works best for 3rd and 4th graders. Sometimes 5th and 6th graders think they're too cool to go to the front and be expressive. However, a while back I attended another teacher's open class, she was teaching fifth grade and conducted an incredibly successful role play class with her students, where each group did a restaurant play, complete with a dining table, customer and restaurant server roles, menu, food props. The kids really enjoyed it and some kids acting skills were really impressive.
In my experience, role play works best for 3rd and 4th graders. Sometimes 5th and 6th graders think they're too cool to go to the front and be expressive. However, a while back I attended another teacher's open class, she was teaching fifth grade and conducted an incredibly successful role play class with her students, where each group did a restaurant play, complete with a dining table, customer and restaurant server roles, menu, food props. The kids really enjoyed it and some kids acting skills were really impressive.
How Old Are You?
http://www.howoldareyou.net
Age is very important in Korean culture and many Korean people really like trying to guess peoples' ages. This game is great for practicing talking about age, for practicing "he/she" pronouns and also for practicing numbers.
Divide class into two teams. Draw a chart on the blackboard three columns. Title the columns "Team 1 Guess/Team 2 Guess/Real age"
Bring up the howoldareyou website. Show the picture and ask the class "How old is he/she?"
Give the students a minute or so to talk about how old they think the person is. I had to give my students a time limit because they got so into the age discussions. One student from each team states their team's official guess out loud. One team cannot guess the same age as the other team.
The teacher writes the guesses in the appropriate space on the blackboard and have each team repeat their guess as a group, using the pronoun (e.g. Team 1: "She is 35 years old" / Team 2: "She is 29 years old")
Then click on the button on the site to find out the real age. If one team guessed the exact right age, they get two points. Otherwise the team with the closest guess gets one point.
This game is fairly simple, and doesn't need a lot of explanation, especially while studying a unit related to "How Old Are You" or other age expressions.
Age is very important in Korean culture and many Korean people really like trying to guess peoples' ages. This game is great for practicing talking about age, for practicing "he/she" pronouns and also for practicing numbers.
Divide class into two teams. Draw a chart on the blackboard three columns. Title the columns "Team 1 Guess/Team 2 Guess/Real age"
Bring up the howoldareyou website. Show the picture and ask the class "How old is he/she?"
Give the students a minute or so to talk about how old they think the person is. I had to give my students a time limit because they got so into the age discussions. One student from each team states their team's official guess out loud. One team cannot guess the same age as the other team.
The teacher writes the guesses in the appropriate space on the blackboard and have each team repeat their guess as a group, using the pronoun (e.g. Team 1: "She is 35 years old" / Team 2: "She is 29 years old")
Then click on the button on the site to find out the real age. If one team guessed the exact right age, they get two points. Otherwise the team with the closest guess gets one point.
This game is fairly simple, and doesn't need a lot of explanation, especially while studying a unit related to "How Old Are You" or other age expressions.
Dating Game (Guessing game)
Of course, I don't call it the dating game in class, I call it the guessing game.
This can be used with lessons which teach about personal preference. "I like (food, sports, seasons)" A simple powerpoint should be prepared with a dozen or so pictures of different things being studied in the lesson.
Divide class into two teams. Have one volunteer choose one teammate to play the game with, and then the volunteer goes outside. The teammate looks at the screen and says quietly says his or her preference. Then have the whole class call the volunteer student back into the class room (1..2..3..COME IN!!!") And have the student guess what his or her teammates preference was. If the guess was right, the team gets a point. If wrong, no point.
This can be used with lessons which teach about personal preference. "I like (food, sports, seasons)" A simple powerpoint should be prepared with a dozen or so pictures of different things being studied in the lesson.
Divide class into two teams. Have one volunteer choose one teammate to play the game with, and then the volunteer goes outside. The teammate looks at the screen and says quietly says his or her preference. Then have the whole class call the volunteer student back into the class room (1..2..3..COME IN!!!") And have the student guess what his or her teammates preference was. If the guess was right, the team gets a point. If wrong, no point.
Ground Game
(practice numbers, names)
Have all students write their names on a piece of paper and put it in front of them so the teachers can see. White sitting, establish a chanting rhythm with four beats and keep repeating it for the duration of the round. The rhythm goes like this
(stick out)
slap knees clap hands right thumb left thumb
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: "Hel - lo Hel - lo
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: Nice to meet you"
That's the introduction. After that the leader says someone's name and a number (number must be between 1 and 4) at the 3rd and 4th beat, like this:
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: "Minsu Two"
The student named Minsu has to say his name for the last two beats, like this:
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: "Minsu Minsu"
Now it's Minsu's turn to call out a name, so he says:
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: "Jina Three"
Now Jina has to say her name for the last three beats, like this:
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: "Jina Jina Jina"
The game continues like this until someone makes a mistake. If it's too hard, slow it down. If it's too easy, speed it up.
Have all students write their names on a piece of paper and put it in front of them so the teachers can see. White sitting, establish a chanting rhythm with four beats and keep repeating it for the duration of the round. The rhythm goes like this
(stick out)
slap knees clap hands right thumb left thumb
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: "Hel - lo Hel - lo
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: Nice to meet you"
That's the introduction. After that the leader says someone's name and a number (number must be between 1 and 4) at the 3rd and 4th beat, like this:
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: "Minsu Two"
The student named Minsu has to say his name for the last two beats, like this:
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: "Minsu Minsu"
Now it's Minsu's turn to call out a name, so he says:
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: "Jina Three"
Now Jina has to say her name for the last three beats, like this:
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: "Jina Jina Jina"
The game continues like this until someone makes a mistake. If it's too hard, slow it down. If it's too easy, speed it up.
Big Booty
Good for saying numbers and fast thinking in English. Can be changed to
letters or other objects to accomodate for different teaching material.
Good for 5 to 10 students.
One designate leader (such as the teacher) is called "Big booty". The player standing to the left of "Big Booty" is called "Number one". The next player is called "number 2" and so on, until the last player.
"Big Booty" establishes a chant beat, and leads the other players in chanting together, like this:
action: hit knees clap hands hit knees clap hands
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: " big booty big booty big booty
action: hit knees clap hands hit knees clap hands
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: " oh yeah big booty
after that, "Big booty" sends the chant to another player by saying another players number, like this:
action: hit knees clap hands
beat: 1 2
chant: " big booty number two"
at this point the "number two" player needs to say their own number and then someone else's number in the next two beats, like this:
action: hit knees clap hands hit knees clap hands
beat: 3 4 1 2
chant: " number two number 5"
And then the "number five" player must do the same thing, saying their own number in the next beat, and then another players number on the beat after that. Anyone who stutters or makes a mistake loses.
Also, the "number" players can send the chant back to the leader by saying "big booty". For example:
action: hit knees clap hands hit knees clap hands
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: "number two big booty"
The penalty for losing can vary, but I used one where the student who made a mistake had to stand in the middle of the circle and spin around fast 8 times. No one threw up.
Good for 5 to 10 students.
One designate leader (such as the teacher) is called "Big booty". The player standing to the left of "Big Booty" is called "Number one". The next player is called "number 2" and so on, until the last player.
"Big Booty" establishes a chant beat, and leads the other players in chanting together, like this:
action: hit knees clap hands hit knees clap hands
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: " big booty big booty big booty
action: hit knees clap hands hit knees clap hands
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: " oh yeah big booty
after that, "Big booty" sends the chant to another player by saying another players number, like this:
action: hit knees clap hands
beat: 1 2
chant: " big booty number two"
at this point the "number two" player needs to say their own number and then someone else's number in the next two beats, like this:
action: hit knees clap hands hit knees clap hands
beat: 3 4 1 2
chant: " number two number 5"
And then the "number five" player must do the same thing, saying their own number in the next beat, and then another players number on the beat after that. Anyone who stutters or makes a mistake loses.
Also, the "number" players can send the chant back to the leader by saying "big booty". For example:
action: hit knees clap hands hit knees clap hands
beat: 1 2 3 4
chant: "number two big booty"
The penalty for losing can vary, but I used one where the student who made a mistake had to stand in the middle of the circle and spin around fast 8 times. No one threw up.
Hammer Game
Split class into two teams. Teacher has “Will you help me” cards in hand. “Sure” cards are scattered around on the blackboard. Call one player from each team to the front of the class. Rest of class says “Will you help me?” and teacher pulls one “Will you help me” card from the stack and shows it to the two players at the same time. When the players see it, the first player to put their hand or hammer on the matching “sure” card and say “sure I can” earns a point for their team. If they use their hand, they get one point, if they use the hammer, they get two points.
Speed Quiz
Divide the class into as many teams as there are vertical rows in the
classroom. If the classroom is divided into group tables, make each
group a separate team.
The teams have to take turns playing the game. For a team to play, the team members stand up. One player from that team comes to the front and stands under the TV screen. Then the teacher shows a word and/or picture on the screen from the current vocabulary. The standing students must get their teammate standing under the screen to say what is on the screen, but they cannot speak, they have to use motions. If something is to hard, a teammate can say "pass" and sit down, and the teacher will click to the next word. There are ten words total. For the students doing the motions, they rotate from first to last, and then start at the first again until the teacher has clicked through all ten words.
This game needs very thorough practice before starting. Make sure all students are familiar with the motions and the words. It's also fun to let them suggest what motions would be good to do, instead of just telling them.
There are two ways you can play this game.
1. There is a 'speed quiz' flash program specially designed for this game, with a built in score counter and timer. It is accompanied by a text document which you can change according to what vocabulary you are teaching. The disadvantage is that you can't use pictures.
2. You can make and use a powerpoint presentation and use that instead of the flash program. The disadvantage is that you have to keep score and time the teams yourself. The advantage is that you can use PICTURES along with the words.
Below are the two files for the speed quiz flash program. Make sure they are both in the same folder on your computer.
The teams have to take turns playing the game. For a team to play, the team members stand up. One player from that team comes to the front and stands under the TV screen. Then the teacher shows a word and/or picture on the screen from the current vocabulary. The standing students must get their teammate standing under the screen to say what is on the screen, but they cannot speak, they have to use motions. If something is to hard, a teammate can say "pass" and sit down, and the teacher will click to the next word. There are ten words total. For the students doing the motions, they rotate from first to last, and then start at the first again until the teacher has clicked through all ten words.
This game needs very thorough practice before starting. Make sure all students are familiar with the motions and the words. It's also fun to let them suggest what motions would be good to do, instead of just telling them.
There are two ways you can play this game.
1. There is a 'speed quiz' flash program specially designed for this game, with a built in score counter and timer. It is accompanied by a text document which you can change according to what vocabulary you are teaching. The disadvantage is that you can't use pictures.
2. You can make and use a powerpoint presentation and use that instead of the flash program. The disadvantage is that you have to keep score and time the teams yourself. The advantage is that you can use PICTURES along with the words.
Below are the two files for the speed quiz flash program. Make sure they are both in the same folder on your computer.
speed.txt | |
File Size: | 1 kb |
File Type: | txt |
speedquiz.exe | |
File Size: | 653 kb |
File Type: | exe |
Line Quiz
This is a simple quiz for all the students. The basic goal is to check
their comprehension of the basic lesson content and give them each a
little bit of speaking practice.
Students make two lines. The teacher is standing at the front of the lines, so that the two students in front are both facing the teacher. The teacher asks a question from the chapter material, such as "Where are you from". The first student to answer "I'm from Korea" gets to sit down, or come into the classroom, or however the lines are arranged. The student who didn't answer has to go to the back of his or her line and wait for the next turn. This is good practice for the students, but it also can take a long time with over 30 students, so when I did this game in my class, we had two lines of boys at one door of the classroom, and two lines of girls at the other, and we were able to cut the time in half.
Students make two lines. The teacher is standing at the front of the lines, so that the two students in front are both facing the teacher. The teacher asks a question from the chapter material, such as "Where are you from". The first student to answer "I'm from Korea" gets to sit down, or come into the classroom, or however the lines are arranged. The student who didn't answer has to go to the back of his or her line and wait for the next turn. This is good practice for the students, but it also can take a long time with over 30 students, so when I did this game in my class, we had two lines of boys at one door of the classroom, and two lines of girls at the other, and we were able to cut the time in half.
Blanket Game
Two team
blanket game. Bring a large, thick
blanket. Make two sets of laminated A4
sized cards with pictures of the food names learned in class. Then,
hold the blanket up between the two teams and one student from each team
comes up to the blanket holding up one vocab card toward the blanket.
The two students are facing each other but there is a big blanket
between them and they cannot see each other at all, or the card the
other student is holding. When the teacher drops the
blanket, the first student to say “Do you want some more [other
student’s
food card] gets one point for their team.
Students must use the correct
article for singular or plural noun foods.
Students will most likely be familiar with this game since people on TV play it sometimes.
Students will most likely be familiar with this game since people on TV play it sometimes.
Apples to Apples
Apples to Apples is a really fun way to teach
English. If you have an extra class with some advanced students, teach
them how to play 'Apples to Apples'. It's great for learning the simple
connection between adjectives and verbs, and expanding vocabulary.
Blindfold game
You can use blindfolds for lots of games and activities. Here's just one idea.
I usually have one volunteer student put on a blindfold, have him or her leave the classroom for a second, quietly ask for a student to volunteer to "be" a location (e.g. school, library) and then have the blindfolded student enter the classroom and solicit single sentence directions from other students in the class until the blindfolded student reaches his or her destination. Of course, students enjoy giving the wrong directions so that the blindfolded student walks into a wall or something, which may seem counter productive, but remember, even if they're giving the wrong directions, they're still saying what they want to say in English, which, aside from avoiding injury, is the goal.
I usually have one volunteer student put on a blindfold, have him or her leave the classroom for a second, quietly ask for a student to volunteer to "be" a location (e.g. school, library) and then have the blindfolded student enter the classroom and solicit single sentence directions from other students in the class until the blindfolded student reaches his or her destination. Of course, students enjoy giving the wrong directions so that the blindfolded student walks into a wall or something, which may seem counter productive, but remember, even if they're giving the wrong directions, they're still saying what they want to say in English, which, aside from avoiding injury, is the goal.