EAL warmers, games, and activities (part two).

A lot of the ideas I wrote in the last post on this topic were class activities, rather than warmers, which was the request that originally encouraged me to write in the first place. So, the following activities are intended to act as warmers to get the students thinking, perhaps at the beginning of class, or in the morning, etc. A lot of them DON'T have clear educational outcomes but I have found that they can get people thinking and work particularly well with children and teenagers.

Zip Zap Boing
Ok, this isn't going to be easy to explain... Firstly you need to get your students into a small circle in the middle of the room. I don't recommend more than 12/14 students in one circle so you may have to divide the class if it's bigger than that. You need to let them know what a 'zip' is, what a 'zap' is and what a 'boing' is. Put your hand into the shape of a gun and point to the person to your RIGHT and clearly say, 'zip!' The student should do the same to the person to their right and so on until the 'zip' goes around the circle and comes back to you. Then you need to explain a 'zap'. Clearly point your 'gun' at a student ACROSS the circle and say, 'zap!' That student must then 'zip' the student to their right and so the game continues. You need to make it clear that you cannot 'zap' a 'zap' - only 'zip' to your right. Finally, you need to explain a 'boing'. Send a 'zip' around the circle and when it comes back to you, face the person who 'zipped' you and shout 'boing' while doing a star-jump. That student should then send the 'zip' in the opposite direction. You need to make it clear that you cannot 'boing' a 'boing'. You can either 'zip' it or 'zap' it. Have a couple of practice rounds to get the students used to the rules but the best way to learn it is simply by doing it. Students are 'out' if they make a mistake or hesitate. The aim of the game is to have it as fast as possible and ensure that the students' movements are big. The best way to do this is to lead by example. The last two remaining students are the winners.

Splat Bang
This warmer is similar to Zip, Zap, Boing in that the aim is to get the students going both mentally and physically. At first, you should be 'it' but after the students understand the activity, one of them can do it and you can simply adjudicate. Again, arrange the students into a circle in the middle of the room. Whoever is 'it' should stand in the middle of the room, and put their hand into the shape of a gun. That person will choose a pupil at random, point the gun, and shout "splat!". The student who is pointed at should duck (to avoid the 'splat') whilst the two students either side point their guns and shout 'bang!' at each other. The student who was slowest to 'shoot' the other student is out. You can also be out if you are 'splatted' but fail to duck, or make another mistake. Again, the two students remaining at the end of the game are the winners. This game tends to get better the more you do it, as students get smarter about how they can catch other students out. If you want to decide a winner between the final two, you can have them stand back to back and give them a count. With each count they should take a step apart (back-to-back) until the moment you choose to shout 'splat!', at which point they try to outdraw each other.

Numbers Game
I can't think of a better name for this one... Very simply, have the students walk around the class at a brisk (but safe) pace, constantly changing direction and avoiding contact with each other. Tell them that when you shout 'one!' they should touch the ground (and then continue walking). Try this out a couple of times until you're sure that they understand the basic premise of the activity. Then introduce other numbers (in order, up to five), and corresponding actions. It can be a good idea to review some things you have been doing in class (verbs, body parts, etc.). Some things I usually say are, 'do a star jump', 'change direction', 'shout a color', 'twirl around', etc. I don't usually turn this into a competition but, if you wanted, you could eliminate pupils who make a mistake. The main aim is that the students keep moving around and that the numbers you call out are suitably random and muddled out to get them focused and concentrating before the start of the lesson proper.

That's it for today but there's plenty more where that came from. Please share any ideas you have or give me feedback on the suggestions I have already made.

Bit of a Catch Up

My days have been pretty full recently so I have been neglecting my wee blog, and never did get around to putting up the aforementioned EAL activities follow-up post. I will, perhaps after I get over my recent teaching slump and don't feel like such a hypocrite suggesting approaches to others. Let's get everyone up to date on the 'important' things in life; work, football, music, reading and the old social life.

My ex-girlfriend, Annie, was visiting Korea last weekend. It was the first time I had seen her since we broke up in Buenos Aires in 2008 so there was obviously some trepidation involved. Added to that was the fact that I'm now seeing someone else, and this visit was probably something she'd rather hadn't been happening. All the same, Annie was the same old Annie and it was fun having someone back amongst us who was a big part of our big crazy first year in Korea. Back then, everything was new, we went out far more than we do now, we did things we simply couldn't even consider these days (well, maybe Stephen still has it in him). It was a crazy weekend by recent standards in that we went out on both Friday and Saturday nights as well as having an FC Seoul game to go to on Sunday (with accompanying beers and galbi, of course). I was glad to find that Annie is doing well, that she's happy and that she had a good visit. I'm also glad that everyone I knew back in 2007 has moved on from the people we were back then. Otherwise, we might look like a certain bar-owner in Itaewon by now...

Work has been tough enough of late and, as I mentioned, I've had a few lessons recently that weren't exactly my best. In this job, it's important to get the balance right between keeping the lessons creative and interesting whilst covering the material that is necessary to allow the students to improve and be prepared for their TOEIC Speaking test. That involves constantly coming up with new ideas and approaches to covering, quite often, fairly dry topics. This week, I just haven't had things come together the way I'd like, although I may just be being too self-critical. I don't have night classes on Wednesday so I'm looking forward to a good full night of sleep so I can come at it from a new angle tomorrow. Amazingly, I only have three more classes with my DDE2 girls. Nearly there...

And now to the wonderful world of football... The new 'The Outside View' podcast is up and available here for an overview of the past weekend's K-League action. There was a great crowd in attendance for FC Seoul's 2-0 victory over Incheon United last Sunday. It was a line-up that I have been espousing of late (including all of Lee Seung Ryeol, Choi Tae Wook, Ha Dae Sung, Dejan and Djeparov) and followed a pattern we're becoming accustomed to seeing at home. Lee and Djeparov scored the goals (check out the Djeparov celebration - another reason I'd like to see him score more often) so we remain four points behind Jeju United with a game in hand. This weekend's home encounter against third-placed Gyeongnam is a must-win fixture if we hope to secure the top spot that puts us straight into the play-off finals (with the second leg being played at home). Derry City slipped up away against Wexford Youths to put their promotion hopes into further doubt, whilst Man Utd continue to stumble as Chelsea march forth. My hopes are all pinned on FC Seoul for football glory this season. Come on boys! I'm not forgetting Ireland. It'll be a late Friday night for me coming up with a home tie against Russia and then an away match against Slovakia next Tuesday. Hopefully I can find good online streams for both.

The band is still stuttering along whilst getting there slowly but surely. We had a bit of a communication breakdown with Cheon the Saturday before last, as three of us turned up for rehearsal but he hadn't heard anything about it, apparently. We got some work done but there's only so much you can do at 75% capacity (with me singing bass-lines - not recommended...). We have a monster four-hour session booked in for Saturday and we're hoping that'll put us in a position to play a low-key set at Woodstock (Itaewon) the following Friday night. I hope it comes together because some of the songs we're covering should go down really well, I think.

I started the dissertation section of my MA earlier this week so I won't have much time for 'fun reading' anymore. In saying that, I've been reading 'Hard Times' by Charles Dickens and, although it's not in the same league as 'David Copperfield' I've been enjoying it and finding it interesting how it crosses over with some of the big debates in education. The MA is going to be tough this year, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. Also, if I'm being honest, I now really want to go all out for the 'first'. I'm in a good position and I'd be left kicking myself if I let it slip at this stage. Still not 100% sure what topic I'll write about but I have a few decent ideas in mind...

Oh! You'll be glad to hear that THIS IS THE LAST I'LL EVER MENTION OF 'THE KNEE' ON THIS BLOG!!! Well, I hope so anyhow. I saw the doctor yesterday who gave me the all-clear. One more physio session tomorrow and then I just need to build the leg back up at the gym. There'll be some pain for a few months but, crucially, I won't need surgery. I'm glad that episode is over. Please let me not be speaking too soon! Now I'm looking forward to a few fun activities over the next few weeks; Seoul V Gyeongnam this weekend, boys trip away for the Ulsan match the week after, possibly a Placebo gig on Thursday 21st before the Korean Grand Prix that weekend (assuming the circuit is passed safe before then). I'll get the other EAL ideas up during the rest of the week and reply to comments when I have some spare time. Remainder of the day = General English (second of the day), Writing Lab, Language Exchange, class preparation for tomorrow, and a well-deserved early night.

PS

CATHERINE MC GUINNESS!!!

EAL warmers, games, and activities.

An old friend emailed me yesterday asking about a few warm-up activities we used to do together whilst working at Pilgrim's Language Summer School at Bradfield College in Berkshire way back in 2006. This prompted me to finally resolve to get together a selection of warmers, games and other activities I use in my EAL (English as an Additional Language) lessons in one place, in order to share with other teachers, encourage other ideas/approaches, and to avoid constantly forgetting them myself! Let me say from the off that I'm totally against the idea of filling lessons with games just to distract students and kill time. I know teachers who favour that, out of laziness, but I obviously don't concur. There is undoubtedly, however, a place for warmers at the beginning of lessons to focus or relax students, games to reinforce learning points in a creative way, and non-traditional classroom activities to appeal to different learning styles as well as adding variety to lessons and stimulate interest.

Most of what I'm going to write, you'll probably have heard of before in some form or another. I just want to have it all in one place and encourage others to offer their ideas and suggestions. Here's an outline of just some of the activities I have used (to varying degrees of success) over the years, and in no particular order:

Tongue-twisters
This can be a fun activity that usually leads to a fair bit of laughter and confusion whilst encouraging students to practice sounds that might not be common in their native language (the 'r/l' problem in Korea, for example). You need to be careful not to shatter their confidence and there's no better way to do so than attempting (and probably mucking up) a tricky one yourself so tat they see how difficult it is even for a native speaker. There are plenty of examples to be found online but, as I already mentioned the 'r/l' sound, here's one I use from time to time:

A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.
Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Trivia Quizzes
Another obvious choice, but an activity I use from time to time to review material covered in a group activity which encourages a bit of healthy competition too. The problem can be that it doesn't encourage as much speaking (from students) as I would like, and they can easily slip into conferring amongst themselves in their own language. A way around that is to run a few rounds as quiz-master to give them a feel for the format of the activity before turning over the responsibility of creating and asking questions to the students themselves. Instruct each team to choose a topic (sport, movies, music, etc.) and create 3-5 questions that they will later ask the other teams. Advise them that the questions shouldn't be too obscure and that THEY MUST KNOW THE ANSWER. There are potential pitfalls in this, but I've always had it work out (so far). You just need to supervise the activity closely. At the end of the day, if you make it clear that it's just for fun, they tend to not get too competitive. I have recently started doing quick-fire buzzer rounds for spot-prizes/points. I give each team some kind of buzzer (a bicycle bell, squeaky toy, etc.) and it always turns out to be pretty amusing.

Crossword Puzzles
Word-searches seem to be pretty popular amongst teachers of EAL, but I'm not sure how helpful they can claim to be for anyone other than the very lowest-ability students. They smack of 'time-fillers' as far as I can see. Mind you, sometimes there really is a need for some of that. Crosswords, on the other hand, can act as a means by which to review past vocabulary or (if a selection of possible answers are provided) introduce new words. You can create your own crosswords online (for example here) and easily white out any unwanted ads in the printed version before photocopying for students. I always do this as a pair activity to encourage conversation and the sharing of ideas.

Running Dictation
This is a VERY fun activity that involves reading, speaking, listening, writing and should be carried out as a team activity. One student from each team should volunteer (or be selected) as the 'runner'. You should have a sentence (I usually use a proverb such as, 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.') printed clearly on an A4 piece of paper (best if it is laminated). The aim of the activity is for the runners to go to you (all the runners together) and dash back and forth to their team, reporting the sentence to their team-members, who should write it down. The teacher should only display the sentence for 3-5 seconds at a time, so that the students can't simply read it all at once. To make things more interesting, I tend to move around the classroom so that the students are never sure where to run to. The winning team is the one that can tell me the correct sentence without ANY errors. You need to keep an eye out that the runner doesn't write anything and, of course, that a team-member other than the runner is the one who repeats it back to you. You can then ask the students if they can explain the meaning of the proverb, and tell them if necessary. If you do this activity with only paper then I think you'll figure out why I suggested that you laminate. Many a piece of paper I've had torn out of my hand by overly-competitive students...

What did you do?
This is a VERY common activity among teachers but one that can be used to settle students between activities or at the end of a lesson to award team points, etc. Very simply, one student comes to the front of the classroom and spins around so that the others can have a good look at him/her. The student is then instructed to go outside the door and change ONE thing about his/her appearance. You should offer one or two suggestions (such as rolling up/down a sleeve, removing jewelry, etc.) but encourage the students to be subtle and creative so that it's not too easy. The other students guess what has been changed when the volunteer returns. You can do this by putting up hands or simply calling out, but I require the students to use full sentences. Otherwise, they tend to just shout out, 'hair!', 'buttons!', etc. A variation is sending one pupil out of the room before changing something inside (removing a bin, rearranging desks, etc.) and requiring the student to ask yes/no questions to figure out the change, although I don't use this very often.

I have never...
Most of you may have done this activity before, but as a drinking game! It can be used very effectively to revise the present perfect tense. Start by telling the students something about yourself that will be false for at least some of the students. For example, in Korea, I would say, "I have never been to Jeju Island". Then ask students if they have been to Jeju. If they have, they should stand up. Those who haven't visited Jeju Island will remain sitting down. Offer a few more examples until you're confident that the students understand that they should stand up if the statement is false for them, and remain sitting if it is true. Maybe try a more daring sentence, if you feel it's appropriate. Then, instruct each student (or in pairs) to write at least one statement beginning, 'I have never...'. Elicit a few responses from random students and continue the activity. This can be a good way to encourage new classes to get to know each other better toward the beginning of their time together with you, and can reveal some funny and interesting information if you're students are inquisitive enough! On the other hand, it can sometimes be a bit bland, so judge the time you allocate to it carefully.

Hot-seat
Introduce your chair as the 'hot-seat' and indicate that one student will soon be sitting there, facing the class, with his/her back to the whiteboard. You will write a word on the board (preferably something you have covered in class, but not something that's too easy to explain) and the other students need to explain it to the person in the 'hot-seat'. Once they have arrived at the correct answer, I usually ask them which student gave them the most helpful information, and that's the student I give the point to and invite into the hot-seat next. A variation is putting up a picture of a famous place/landmark (for example, the Statue of Liberty) and requiring students to describe it. You need to make it clear that you want them to describe the picture, not what's on it. For example, I want them to say, 'It's a tall woman holding something in her right hand', rather than, 'This is a famous landmark in New York' because the latter is simply too easy most of the time and the activity is over as soon as it begins.

Taboo
This is a well-known game that works really well in EAL classes of virtually any ability. A volunteer will come to the front of the class and you will give him/her a card. On the card will be one word underlined and in bold above three or four other related words. The aim of the game is for the student to explain the top word (underlined in bold lettering) without saying it or any of the other words on the card. For example, the student may be asked to explain 'garden' but without being allowed to say, 'flowers', 'grass', 'outside' or 'lawn'. You can vary the difficulty according to the level of the students. I usually offer points to the student who guesses correctly and invite them to do the next word. Simpler variations of this involve giving the student a card containing only one word, which they must explain either in words, mime or by drawing, according to your preference.

Alright I think that's quite enough for one entry but I have tonnes of other activities so I'll add to this with a similar post tomorrow, if I have time. Please offer any suggestions and other ideas as you see fit. I know some of the ideas I outlined aren't exactly revolutionary so please don't think that I'm insulting your intelligence as teachers. I simply want to bring a range of ideas together for my own and others reference.