June 19, 2018, 01:32:18 AM

Author Topic: What are your best SIMPLE games?  (Read 3106 times)

Offline dubfrost

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What are your best SIMPLE games?
« on: May 10, 2017, 03:04:22 PM »
So I've been inspired by this site and have made some really in-depth Powerpoint games.  But the problem is, my games get more complicated and I think that translates into being more fun for the students, but it really doesn't. 
I've found my kids often really enjoy the simple games.  The Color Touch game (name a color, and students have to run and touch something that is that color in the room) and the Nunchi Game (Students count off, or go through a list of vocabulary, one at a time, if two students go for the same number they are out and they start over, if they make it to the end the last student is out).  These games are great, and there's always Pictionary, Hangman, and Charades, but those get a little stale.
So I'm wondering what simple games you have found to be really useful? 

Offline BBetz1985

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Re: What are your best SIMPLE games?
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2017, 03:14:14 PM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F85Mh8Yz3E4&t=7s

Scoot! is a whole-class educational game that your students will love. Place a question card on each desk in your classroom. To play, students move around the room, from desk to desk, answering questions or solving problems.

Offline antoniusk

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Re: What are your best SIMPLE games?
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2017, 05:45:58 PM »
My go-to games when they become available for recycled use (about four to six weeks):

Bingo (pictures only with Elementary 3rd and 4th graders, words otherwise)
Bingo with a dice (using six vocabulary/expressions and assigning a number to each one; the younger kids especially enjoy throwing the dice and sometimes kicking them around...  :rolleyes: )
Rock-Paper-Scissors game (speaking activity in which the winner speaks Part A and the loser speaks Part B, or vice versa, however you want to roll with it; mostly as the first or second lesson of the chapter to encourage speaking)
Pass the Ball (self-explanatory, and you can use two balls if there are multiple speaking parts, like a question and answer type, i.e. When is your birthday?/My birthday is September 1.)
Connect 4 (encourages speaking and my students generally really get into it; best to explain it as a two-team bingo and the first to make a line of four wins)
Speed Game (kinda like a Speedy Gonzales game with English vocab)

I usually save the Bomb Games, Word Lottos, Telepathy Game and Jeopardy games for the end of unit/multiple lessons review, as well as other PPT games I haven't mentioned.
Gyopo Status

Offline yirj17

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Re: What are your best SIMPLE games?
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2017, 07:54:53 PM »
What grades are you teaching?

Simple games often entertain both my middle and elementary school kids.  Stuff like:

Pass the ball
Musical chairs
Bingo
Bingo w/a dice
anything involving RPS
Matching card games
Go Fish
Board games (using vocab cards from the current chapter)
Flip cup (middle schoolers went kinda nuts over this one)
Cup pong (not as loved as flip cup but the kids still had fun)
JENGA (either tape/write a phrase onto each block or have them draw a card w/a key expression on it before each turn)
Flyswatter games

Younger elem. kids get pretty into "coin flick" and slap [the card] games as well. 
« Last Edit: May 10, 2017, 10:54:49 PM by yirj17 »

Online oglop

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Re: What are your best SIMPLE games?
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2017, 08:07:26 PM »
i usually just put my first/second grade students into 2 big teams.

they rock scissors paper me after answering a question, if they went hey get a team point

i also bought 2 plastic hammers and they hold them above their heads, and the first to hit it on the table when they see the target language/pic/etc on the ppt and say the correct thing gets a point

fly swatter game works well, as does telephone


Offline maximmm

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Re: What are your best SIMPLE games?
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2017, 10:24:17 PM »
check out my PPTs -

cheers

Offline lifeisgood6447

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Re: What are your best SIMPLE games?
« Reply #6 on: May 11, 2017, 08:48:18 AM »
There are some good ones here. As for me, here are some that I have found to have worked:

Musical Chairs: Do target language quickly, then set up two sets of musical chairs, one for girls and one for boys. Play music, when the music stops one girl and one boy will not have a chair, and there is your A/B for the practice dialogue! I keep doing this without taking away chairs, and if they have done well, you can play an actual game of musical chairs at the end. Rules to go by (tell the boys in particular), move quickly as it is more fun, no touching chairs, no pushing, and keep an even distance between people. (A variation of this is to have more questions, and use dice to determine which one they must answer.

Word Grab (no idea of a real name): Print the English or Korean words on papers, cut them out, and have each team spread them around the table. Read the translation, and they must grab the word in the other language. Best played in teams of 4, the person with the most words at the end wins. Translations could easily be changed with definitions, but they may be difficult for low level students.

PPT Bomb Games: If a teacher uses this, I encourage them to play in a way that all teams play at the same time. Give all teams a small white board, and they quietly answer the questions while the teacher counts down from # (any number, I use a slow 10). The teacher says "boards up" and all teams raise boards and the teacher checks all answers and then allocates the correct number of points. If there aren't points but rather mystery box or something, then all correct teams have a representative compete in rock, paper, scissors to find a winner.

Bingo: Using numbers or vocabulary or time. Give the students blank cards and go through each item on the PPT. Tell them that they should choose any location for their item. After they are all set up the teacher should use pre-made cards in order to draw to play bingo. Note* for vocab there are many ways to do it as you can just read the word, or read the translation, or read the definition.

Pass the Ball: I agree, it works fairly well, but students will get tired of it quickly.

Cup Pong: I tried it a while back, and it works really well with classes that are a bit smaller. I had 3 groups, 2 teams per group, and 3 students per team. For lower level classes I put a different flash card in each cup that had the English word and the Korean word. When a team made it, the opposing team would read the Korean word, if the team got the English word correct, they could take the cup away, if not the cup stayed. For higher level classes I had a mission in each cup, for example, you have 30 seconds to name 7 words that end with 'ch'.

Flip Cup: The same as above but with flip cup.

        PS. The 16oz cups can be found at Diaso, but they are clear, not the red solo ones.

Eraser Grab: Put the same number of erasers in the center of the table as there are students on the team, minus one. Play music, and when the music stops they grab. The students without erasers must to the A/B target language.

English Jenga (as another poster suggested): It works well. I have been using English Jenga for 8 years and it hasn't failed. I have easy sets and more difficult sets. This requires a bit of time for set up prior to class. I have sets with words, whereby when a student pulls a block, they must make a sentence that has the words in it, and they get one point for each word in the sentence. I have easier sets that have letters instead of words, and students must make a word starting with the letter on the block, and they get a point for each letter in the word.

Taboo
Pictionary (for smaller classes is best)
Hot Seat
Hangman: a great site for hangman is Hangman.no
Memory



Offline debbiem89

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Re: What are your best SIMPLE games?
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2018, 01:53:00 PM »
Stop the Bus always kills for me. I give mine 4 categories...Animal, Food, Hobby/Sport, Country. Pick a letter they have to write something in each category beginning with that letter. First team to shout Stop the Bus gets a bonus point and everyone must stop writing. I give two point for unique answers that no other team has and one if it's correct but another team has.

I never imagine they would love it but they do surprise you sometimes. There's a map on the wall so when it's a tricky letter they leg it to the map and start searching for countries. You get some pretty funny/creative answers under "hobbies" too.

Also mine love Word Wall 9 letters, 3 minutes to make as many words as possible. Any word is ok just no names of people or abbreviations (they alwayssss try to do SKT, LG, CEO etc). If the class is lower level I let them work in teams. Saves the really low level students the embarrassment of getting like two words and knocking their confidence.

Someone mentioned Hot Seat again this is killer. My students beg for it all the time.

I know this is a really old thread..but I'm sick to death of bomb games and would love more simple ideas.

 



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