english classroom games part 1

Someone asked me a question, "what kind of English game you can apply for junior high level when the class you handle is quite big?"

Well this is a pretty common question for teachers who do want their students to have a fun English learning.

I do appreciate this kind of teacher.
They do want the students to improve their skills, not only merely 'clean out' the materials from the book without, I repeat,  WITHOUT the students getting the knowledge of what they are learning.
I hope you're not one of the last mentioned.

We have lots of games that we can apply both in small and large classes.
What you need is only to fit the condition of your class with the rule of the game.
For large classes you may divide your class into groups.
It is better not to have too many people in a group. The ideal number is 4 to 6.
Having too many people in a group will not make the game effective since you'll lose control on big groups.
If the students gather in a big group, they tend to chit chat and not following the instructions.

Well these are the games that I usually apply in my classes.

1. WORD SHOPPING or you may call it letter shopping

This game is mainly for vocabularies.
But you can modify this into listening practice.
This game is more like hangman.
If you have no idea of what hangman is, please visit this web en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangman_(game)
Yah, hangman is similar to a game called hangaroo. It is pretty much famous. I don't think you don't know.
Actually, I don't quite like the idea of hangman. For heaven's sake, why should you be hanged for just not being able to guess the word right?

And... word shopping works like that game I mentioned previously.
The difference is only WE GIVE CLUES TO THEM and THEY HAVE TO PAY for the letter they guess.

These are the sequences:

• Give each student/group $100 [fake money of course. it's fake. Don't worry]
• Draw a table consists of two rows. First row will be the name of the students/ name of the groups. Second row will be the amount of money that they have got. The number of the column will be the number of the students/ groups.

• Think of a word that you want the students to guess. For example word ‘HOUSE’. Then draw lines and numbers of the letters like this

• Give clues to the students. The first chance will go to the first student/group. For instance, clue 1. This is a building.

• Let your first student/group answer. The student can either directly answer all the letters or guess per letter. Each letter that the student guesses will cost him $5. He has to pay whether the letter is right or wrong.

• When the student guesses the letter wrong, e.g. ‘A’ for third letter. Then put it this way.

• When the student guesses the letter right but the position is wrong, e.g. ‘U’ for two. Then put it this way so that the students will have track of the letters they have guessed.

• Each student/group has unlimited chances to guess when it comes to their turn, but the clue is only one per student/group. When they give up, they may pass, but a pass without guessing even a single letter is strictly forbidden. If this is ignored, students will tend to pass without guessing so that their money will stand still [huh, stingy students].

• The student/group who completes the word is the one who gets the prize money. Each letter worth $10. So for that word above they will get $50 added to their account [okay, okay. I know this isn’t fair for other students/groups that have spent lots of their money, but it’s a game of tactic, man. Tactic].

Like what I said, this game is for the purpose of enhancing vocabularies. The origin of this game doesn’t have clues with it. So I modify it myself in order to make my students unconsciously learning to listen sentences in English. When stating the clues do not use confusing or difficult language for beginners unless you want them to hate this game.
That’s the gist of it.
If you want to make modifications in several places, that will be great. Let me know! So we can share thoughts.