more games!

A webpage we found:

http://www.funenglishgames.com/

With  many games and activities, for example:

Who Wants to be a Millionaire? You can probably guess from the title what this ESL activity is all about. Split your classroom into groups (I use 4 groups of 10 but it can be easily changed to suit how many students you have) and then have them take turns answering true or false questions until they choose to stop and 'bank' their money or until they get a question wrong and lose everything. If you have a full class of 40 (4 x 10) then write the following prize money scale on the whiteboard (if there are only 32 (4 x 8) then take out maybe the $500 and $500000).

$0 $500 $1000 $5000 $10000 $25000 $50000 $100000 $250000 $500000 $1000000 Ask the first student a question (usually very easy) and if they get it right then move on to the second student in the group and ask if they would like to continue or 'bank' the $500, the questions I use slowly get harder but in general they are relatively easy (it's more fun that way, plus they're 50/50 so they always have a chance). During these questions they aren't allowed any help from other students (unless they're using a lifeline, which I'll get to soon). A few examples of the easy questions I use (for Japanese students learning English): Doraemon has no ears - True There were 5 members of the Beatles - False Anpanman's weakness is water - True I have 4 arms - False We live on the moon - False The sun is hot - True I have around 50 ready to ask them but I don't find it hard to think of new one's on the fly if I run out during the lesson. To add to the fun, give them 2 lifelines that they can choose to use at any stage during their team’s turn (they can only use each lifeline once per round). Phone a friend - Call someone else in the team and ask them for help (feel free to make them pretend that they're actually talking on a phone for laughs). Ask the group - Let the team discuss what they think is the best answer. That basically wraps it up, with 4 groups it takes around 15mins to get through 1 round. Keep track of how much money each team puts in the bank and you can add it up to see which team wins. I've had a lot of fun with this game as the students really get into it, they put pressure on each other to try just one more question and it’s always funny when they play it safe and 'bank' money rather than taking a risk. Have fun and enjoy this ESL classroom activity!

the activity can be played in groups, for a greater efficiency.

An activity we watched, developed and adapted  for classes :

Original activity: Rhythm

The children make sentences without pausing. For example, one child touches her bag and says this is my bag, and the next child touches her hair and says, this is my hair, while keeping a natural rhythm. The children continue to make sentences without pausing. Individual children who lose the rhythm are out. If the game is played in teams, the team is out.

-Adapted Activity:

The teacher begins talking about the rhythm and music. The game can be played with music and dances, so the children must keep the rhythm while they say their sentences.

If a word is repeated, the person who said it is out. The teacher plays too.

If a player delays saying the sentence, he/she is out.

An assistant writes the words which are said in the blackboard.

The winner chooses the next song.

Later, the class makes sentences with all the words, written in the blackboard, trying to link, if possible, the sentences in verses which will create a poem. That poem shall be sung and danced in class by the children, with a music chosen by them.

For example:

Words: head, eyes, arms, nose, mouth

The head has two eyes

The eyes are over the arms

With my arms I use my hands to scratch my nose

My nose smells the food which will enter in my mouth.

Anyway, if it is too difficult, the main objetive is to create phrases, using the words in their context and imagining.

-Level: fifth grade of primary; where the vocabulary is more extensive (for speaking and writing), children are able to create sentences and even rimes with the words.

-Learning objectives:

-Listening and understanding messages in different verbal interactions, using information for making tasks of their level and experience.

-Speaking and talking in simple situations, with known contents

-Identify phonetic aspects of rhythm, accentuation and linguistic structures.

-Outcome-based learning objectives:

At the end of this exercise the children will be able to:

-Improvise word and simple sentences

-Acquire new vocabulary

-Improve the rhythm and action

-Being introduced in rimes, poems and creations

-Using the Bloom Taxonomy:

Remember: A previous overview of the vocabulary

Understand: Making a previous testing of the activity, with examples.

Apply: Making the activity

Analyze: Observing the class and the development of the exercise, anticipate and correct errors; note improvements for future sessions

Evaluate: Seeing the vocabulary, speed, improvisation, imagination and creativity

Create: The last part of the activity, where children make sentences and rimes.

-Time:

Allocated time: One session (45 min.)

Instructional time: Explaining the exercise (10 min.)

Engaged time: Do the activity (20 min.)

Academic learning time: participate actively in creation of the phrases and being successful in learning activities (15 min.)

still with fairy tales

In the previous poll we talked about fairy tales, in particular, about the talle of the "little red hen" in which Disney inspired to create his short film from 1934 "The wise little hen", where Donald Duck appeared for first time.

We know about how interesting and useful is using tales in class. In the exercise where we had to tell a story in voxpop, most of us used fairy tales.

In this webpage http://storynory.com/archives/fairy-tales/ we can find a lot of stories with their lyrics, from different books and writers.

About the main page: http://storynory.com/ we find there many material in audio and writing.

As they say about them:

About Storynory

Storynory has published a free audio story every week since November 2005. All our stories are delightfully read by professional actors.

In the section "educational stories" http://storynory.com/archives/educational-stories/ we find many didactic material for class and exercises.

The Wise Little Hen

We have talked about the usefulness of fairy tales in elementary education, and even had a conference by a swedish teacher about it.

In that conference, we talked about how the tales are a good way to give children vocabulary, use of the languaje and feedback in which they talk and repeat from the very begin.

And we saw some examples of tales: one of them was the performance of Pie Corbett telling the tale "The little red hen" to children:

There we saw how he, using his particular tones and with the help of a map, made the children enter in the story and living it. Tales with repetition of action sequences are very good for little children because reinforces their previous knowledge and introduces new vocabulary and sequences.

About the tale of "the little red hen" we take this opportunity to provide a historical curiosity about animated cinema which will like the children: "The wise little hen" a 1934 short cartoon by Disney where Donald Duck makes his very first appearance:

The character the character was not yet configured or had defined their personality traits but we can see his classic sailor suit and his particular voice, created by Clarence Nash, who provided Donald Duck's voice in original english and in spanish doubt till his death in 1985.

Donald's function is only to play the role of one of the lazy friends of the hen, with the final lesson about the importance of working.

The character became so popular than appeared in next Disney shorts, like "The band concert" (1935):

His personality was redefined and his physical appearance evolutioned to the actual character we know. But the begining was "The little red hen" whose lyrics are this:

Wise Little Hen Lyrics

Chorus:
There once was a wise little hen
Who worried now and then
For fear that she'd be found in need
When winter came again

With a basket full of corn
She started out for more
She could go get the friends she met
to help her plant her corn

Who'll help her plant her corn?
Who'll help her plant her corn?
Gay Peter Pig who's strong and big
Might help her plant her corn

Wise Little Hen:
Will you help me plant my corn?
Will you help me plant my corn?

Peter Pig:
Who, me? Oh, no
I have a bellyache

Chorus:
Who'll help her plant her corn?
Who'll help her plant her corn?
If Donald Duck has any pluck
He'll help her plant her corn

Wise Little Hen:
Will you help me plant my corn?
Will you help me plant my corn?

Donald Duck:
Who, me? Oh, no
I got a bellyache

Chorus:
Who'll help her plant her corn?
Who'll help her plant her corn?
She might have known that she alone
Would have to plant her corn

Who'll help her harvest corn?
Who'll help her harvest corn?
Perhaps her friends will condescend
To help her harvest corn

Wise Little Hen:
Will you help me harvest corn?
Will you help me harvest corn?

Peter Pig:
Who, me? Oh, no

Donald Duck:
We got a bellyache

Chorus:
Who'll help her harvest corn?
Who'll help her harvest corn?
She might have known that she alone
Would have to harvest corn

Oh me oh me oh my

Just look at what that little hen's got
Mmm, does that look good
There'll soon be muffins and cakes galore
Cornpones and fritters by the score
More cornbread than I've seen before
Mm-mmm do I feel hungry
Yum yum yum
Oh me oh me oh my

Corn on the cob with gobs and gobs of melted butter oozing round and round
Corn soup enough to feed and stuff an army
Boy oh boy

Who'll help her eat her corn?
Who'll help her eat her corn?
Perhaps her friends will condescend
To help her eat her corn

Wise Little Hen:
Will you help me eat my corn?
Will you help me eat my corn?

Peter Pig:
Who, me?

Donald Duck:
Oh boy oh boy oh boy
And how

Chorus:
She'll eat the corn herself
She'll eat the corn herself
Fa la la la la la la la
She'll eat the corn herself
She'll eat the corn herself
Although her friends now see the light
They've nothing but an appetite
While they repent with all their might
She'll eat the corn herself
She'll eat the corn herself
She'll eat the corn herself

........................................................................................................................

We can use this material to class, giving children the lyrics and using short cartoons to teach them, making the class more funny and interactive, and using media and different exercises to it.