Today I had my second day at Okuganaya Elementary in Ikuno. It was also the first time I had to drive there by myself, and I couldn’t find it. I did manage to find the town hall though, and when I asked directions the guy called the vice principal to come get me. When I finally got there I spent most of my time working on lesson plans for the three classes I will be teaching. Basically the lessons will all go like this: slideshow introducing myself mainly with pictures, and then a game. It doesn’t sound like it should be that hard, but considering the number of students in the classes are 20, 13, and 5, they don’t speak English, and the teachers don’t speak English well enough to explain a game makes it pretty tough. The class with 5 students is especially hard to plan for, because most of the games that are popular with Japanese students are group based. So if anyone has any suggestions I’d be very appreciative. Keep in mind that they basically only know the alphabet, numbers (to 100?) and maybe really basic phrases (Hello. How are you? Nice to meet you). I did, however, only have to work until noon which was pretty nice.
August 24, 2007 at 3:00 pm |
is the game meant to show more about you so they can get to know you better along with the slideshow, or to teach them more english?
August 24, 2007 at 3:25 pm |
teach them more english
August 24, 2007 at 11:55 pm |
well i don’t think i’d be very good at coming up with games…it seems like you made up some good ones though so i’m sure you’ll get more ideas…
)
in the meantime this site has examples of games for helping elementary school aged kids learn english and all the games have japanese translations (so at least you can save some energy using the translator
http://www.genkienglish.net/games.htm
August 25, 2007 at 12:08 am |
Hi Drew,
I play tic tac toe a lot with my students (I teach French). You draw the squares on the board and put a letter or number (later you can use other words or pictures) in each square. Divide them into two teams (even with 5 kids). Choose a volutneer from Team A. He/she says a letter. If he says it correctly, put an X in the square. (If incorrect, too bad, go to the other team.) Then choose someone from Team B and put an O. I’m sure you know the rest, but if not, email me.
Also you can play bingo, They can make their own cards if there is no game available. You can even skip the free square and the letters at the top, if you want, just have them make a 16 square grid (or you can do it and photocopy it) and they fill in numbers from 1 to 10 or to 20 – you decide – then you put all the possible numbers on little cards, shulffle them and you are the caller. You can do it with letters of the alphabet, too. I use bread tabs for bingo chips. You can use little pieces of torn paper. Don’t let them write on the cards because then you can’t use them again. I give candies to the winners sometimes, but sometimes I let the winner be the next caller, if he/she is capable.
You can also play concentration (Memory) with either a real deck of cards or make some up with either letters or numbers. You, know, all cards face down, player chooses two, if it’s a pair, he keeps them and goes again. If not, he turns the cards face down again. You could probably try that with all 5 kids. Hope that helps.
August 25, 2007 at 12:16 am |
Hi Drew!!
Hi Drew!!
A couple of ideas for a game. The games that I know all involve keeping the kids quiet!!!! (needed for supplies especially!!) but could be adapted.
The kids love “Mum” Ball – you need a SOFT ball so no one gets hurt. All the kids scatter around the room or sit on top of their desks and GENTLY throw the ball to each other. IF you drop the ball you are out. Rules: No hard throwing (at heads especially!!), if the throw is way off target the thrower is out but if the intended recepient drops the ball on a good throw or makes an unsuccessful attempt at an inaccurate throw they are then out (for inaccurate throws they should not attempt to catch it). The big rule in mum ball is that anyone who makes a noise (laugh, snicker anything) they are out – hence Mum Ball. Last person standing wins. Doesn’t sound like much but they all love it – grades 1 to 5!!! You could adapt it to incorporate English – perhaps a successful catch combined with counting in English – you would have to catch it plus give the next number in counting from 1 to 100 or the next letter of the alphabet. If they caught it but didn’t have the correct English answer they would sit out. However, it they are noisy and you need a break the silent game is great!!! Oh, and most importantly let them know that you have the final say on outs – otherwise they argue. If someone doesn’t want to play I let them be my assistant judge.
Kids also love 7-up. All the kids put their head down and then 7 people who have been chosen go around and GENTLY tap them on the head. Once tapped they keep their head down but put up their hand to indicate they have been touched. Once all of the 7 have touched someone they come to the front and you say “Heads up 7 up” and everyone puts their heads up and those touched stand up. Then the ones touched try to guess which one touched them – if they guess right they go to the front, if they guess wrong they sit down. After everyone has guessed the 7 tell who they touched and you do it again. For smaller classes choose less than 7 to come to the front. I’m sure you could figure out some English to add it – even do the guessing in English sentences.
I’ll try to think of some other games. Been off for awhile and the memory is going!!!!
Glad that you are having such a good time – all your pictues look amazing.
Lisa
August 25, 2007 at 8:30 am |
Thanks for all the suggestions. I remember playing some of those games when I was in elementary school, so I’m sure the kids here would enjoy them.
August 25, 2007 at 9:23 am |
Hey Drew!
I’ve got an awesome solution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YwoP0thR1k
Let me know how it works out.
August 25, 2007 at 11:33 pm |
Another game is “I spy” – you might just say “i see” . It’s just you against the kids and they like it. You should make sure they answer in a sentence (or question).
My students also love to play hangman. I choose the word and they guess letters. I sometimes let students come to the board and choose the word, but it isn’t always successful as they might not have spelled it correctly.
For numbers, you can play “ten”. All stand in a circle. The first person says 1. THe next says 2, and you go around the circle. BUt the person who says 10 is out. You continue with the next person saying 11, and so on. To make it interesting, the player is allowed to say one, two or three numbers, (exampe 7,8,9) so he or she can try to make someone out. Last person standing wins.
August 26, 2007 at 12:10 am |
Those games sound like they would work pretty well too, and are much like some of the games I have heard of previous ALTs using, with the exception of Hangman. Apparently the abnormally high rate of suicide by hanging, especially among bullied students has made the game pretty unpopular…
August 28, 2007 at 9:24 am |
i played pictionary with the kids in india…
we gave them a list of words and we wrote them on the board in english and indian and after they copied them out and then they closed their books, we divided them into two teams and we played pictionary.