Last Letter July 25, 2007
Posted by serenden in review, vocabulary-any.add a comment
Materials: ball
Last letter of a word must be the first letter of the next word. You throw the ball to one student and say a word, such as “dog”. The student must answer with a word that begins with “g”. When they do, they throw the ball back to you and you throw it to the next student. The sequence can be, for example, “girl, look, king, go, octopus, student”, etc. You can have the students throwing to each other, but be careful!
Vocabulary Race / STOP! July 25, 2007
Posted by serenden in MIDDLE SCHOOL, review, vocabulary-any.add a comment
Materials: board, chalk
Draw 5 columns on the board. Each column is a letter of the alphabet. Say “Go!” and the first student to fill in all the columns with a word that begins with that letter shouts “Stop!” You can go through the whole alphabet this way.
You can also use word beginnings like ex, sh, sp, ch…
More difficult: Assign each column to a general category like food, clothing, emotions, office items, things in the house, etc. You then call out a letter from the alphabet. students have to fill in each column with a vocabulary word that begins with the letter and pertains to that category.
Tic Tac Toe July 25, 2007
Posted by serenden in MIDDLE SCHOOL, review, vocabulary-any.add a comment
Materials: board, list of vocabulary
Draw a 9-square grid on the board and put one word in each box. Divide class in half, assign one team X’s and one team O’s. Each team must work together to come up with grammatical sentences using the vocabulary in each box. When they use a word correctly, they mark that square. Good for reviewing vocabulary, parts of speech, verb form.
Make an English Book! July 25, 2007
Posted by serenden in review.add a comment
From Genki English
Materials: paper, crayons, scissors?
This activity is especially good for 5th or 6th graders as a culmination / review activity at the end of the year. Go to this activity »
Broken Hearts Game July 25, 2007
Posted by serenden in HOLIDAYS, review, valentines-day.add a comment
From Genki English
Materials: pre-made heart cutouts, cut up into pieces with pictures on each piece.
Students try to match their pieces of a broken heart together into themed hearts. Go to this activity »
String Game July 25, 2007
Posted by serenden in review.add a comment
Materials: many different lengths of string.
Review lots of vocabulary. Fill the blackboard with flashcards. Split the class into groups of 4-5 students. They janken to choose first, second, third players. First student from each group stands up and takes a string from you. The longest one gets to play the game and comes to the front.
Can also play criss-cross game to choose who comes to the front first. That student then winds the string around their finger while speaking English. They can only wind while they’re speaking! They can say any words they know on the board or anything else.
Elementary School Review – Jeopardy Questions July 25, 2007
Posted by serenden in gameshows, review.add a comment
At the end of 6th grade, many Japanese students have learned a wealth of vocabulary in English, sometimes without even realizing how much they know!
I played jeopardy with 2 6th grade classes last year, and when I first put the activity on the board, all the kids booed and sighed, and said no way, they didn’t know enough English to play. Well, I proved them wrong!
By making the questions easy enough for everyone to participate, but keeping the high scorer slightly challenging, the game can really boost the kid’s confidence. I picked the words for the 500-point questions based on what I had seen where difficult at the particular school I was at, so you could surely do the same.
Feel free to use these sample questions:
Basic English Vocab Jeopardy (PDF)
Basic English Vocab Jeopardy (Open Office Doc – editable)
Skit Expressions July 25, 2007
Posted by serenden in review.add a comment
This activity was put together with myself and a Japanese Elementary school teacher this last year, and it’s the most fun I’ve had with 5th and 6th graders so far. If you’ve got a bit of an actor in you, which you likely do if you’re teaching English to elementary school kids, then give this one a try! Just be sure you have everything you need before you start, and start with a bang!
Materials: none / large newspaper rolled up / actions written on small cards.
Start with a warm-up game to get them going. Then teach “What do you say?”.
You and the JTE act out each skit and then ask the students “what do you say in Japanese?”.
Then teach the expression in English. Have them repeat several times, using actions. Don’t let katakana writing appear on the board!!
Then, after they’ve had enough practice, have them form groups. You and the JTE draw a scoring table on the board, and get a timer ready. One of you watches the time and tallies the answers. The other teacher acts.
Groups, one at a time, come up and stand in a line facing the actor. They have one minute to respond correctly to as many actions as they can. They take turns, then go to the back of the line and the next person goes.
Good fun.
Expressions:
“Watch out!” <Try to attack someone>
“That’s not fair!” <Cheat at janken>
“Bless you!” <Sneeze>
“Help me!” <It’s a stick-up!>
“Are you ok?” <You’re hurt!>
Variation: Write each ACTION on a small piece of paper and choose 5 actors in the classroom. If you approach it well, you’ll hopefully get 5 volunteers. Then, have them act out their action and teach the expressions that way. Good fun, and they can take over after a few rounds of the game. Best to have 2 people acting so they can take turns.
