I had a class of lower level students this afternoon, oh, I’d say around 8 to 10 years old. There were 11 of them in the class today, and it was getting a bit rowdy at times. It was loud, there was a lot of Chinese speaking going on, and students were up and walking around.
To tell you the truth, I really hate this class. I’ve had it about 4 months now, and they’re just rubbish. And the reason they’re just rubbish is because of their behavior. I can’t begin to count how many times I have to say, no yell, “sit down” during each class, it happens so often. Students don’t have their books open, and notebooks are often forgotten at home if they even exist at all. Several students routinely don’t bring a pencil.
Well, I was starting my second hour, and I didn’t really know what I was going to do. I decided I would try one of my warm-up games, but with a little twist today to make it seem new, and more exciting.
How It Works
I write all of the students’ names on the board, numbered down. I then pull out one of my dice. Today it worked well because we had 11 students, so I could add myself and get 12. I used my 12-sided dice which I brought with me from America, but you could easily use two 6-sided dice, or come up with some sort of variation on the spot if you have more or fewer students.
I rolled the dice and got a 4, so that was Lily. I moved her name to the center of the board and then pulled up the online-stopwatch. I explained that they would have one minute to write as many words as they could using the letters in Lily’s name. They could only use the first letter, and had to write downward.
I also explained that they would get 1 point for each letter, so it’s better to have the longest words that you can think of.
After the time is up, I ask them to count their letters and I put them on the board next to their name. Students were getting into the high teens and low twenties on each name, so their words were long. I would usually ask them to say what words they wrote down and then put them up on the board as well, but I was feeling lazy today so did not do that great exercise.
It’s a really simple game and we played three rounds. I could have kept going because the students wanted to, but you learn to do a limited amount so students don’t get bored of it. I would recommend this if you need to kill about 15 to 20 minutes of time in your next ESL class.
To tell you the truth, I really hate this class. I’ve had it about 4 months now, and they’re just rubbish. And the reason they’re just rubbish is because of their behavior. I can’t begin to count how many times I have to say, no yell, “sit down” during each class, it happens so often. Students don’t have their books open, and notebooks are often forgotten at home if they even exist at all. Several students routinely don’t bring a pencil.
Well, I was starting my second hour, and I didn’t really know what I was going to do. I decided I would try one of my warm-up games, but with a little twist today to make it seem new, and more exciting.
How It Works
I write all of the students’ names on the board, numbered down. I then pull out one of my dice. Today it worked well because we had 11 students, so I could add myself and get 12. I used my 12-sided dice which I brought with me from America, but you could easily use two 6-sided dice, or come up with some sort of variation on the spot if you have more or fewer students.
I rolled the dice and got a 4, so that was Lily. I moved her name to the center of the board and then pulled up the online-stopwatch. I explained that they would have one minute to write as many words as they could using the letters in Lily’s name. They could only use the first letter, and had to write downward.
I also explained that they would get 1 point for each letter, so it’s better to have the longest words that you can think of.
After the time is up, I ask them to count their letters and I put them on the board next to their name. Students were getting into the high teens and low twenties on each name, so their words were long. I would usually ask them to say what words they wrote down and then put them up on the board as well, but I was feeling lazy today so did not do that great exercise.
It’s a really simple game and we played three rounds. I could have kept going because the students wanted to, but you learn to do a limited amount so students don’t get bored of it. I would recommend this if you need to kill about 15 to 20 minutes of time in your next ESL class.
