Good Wordgames as warmers / fillers or coolers from your English class.

In need of a quick warmer / filler or cooler for a lesson? Don't turn your nose up at word games, they are quick, easy and give students vital spelling and word practice.

Make words from these letters
This is an old favourite. Find a long word like 'democracy' and draw all the letters in a box like this:

d	r	c
a	e	o
c	y	m

Now get students to make as many words as they can from only these letters. You can use almost any long word you like

Make sentences from this box
Just the same as the above, but rather than using letters you use words and get students to make sentences. Like this:

jumped	fox	fence	fit	because
to	lazy	he	wanted	get
the	over	white	The	brown

The sentence is :  The lazy brown fox jumped over the white fence because he wanted to get fit.

Put the sentences in the correct order
Another old favourite is putting words in the right order in a sentence. Even though this quite dry and boring -lots of language students, especially those who use a different written script, need to practise their handwriting - even just forming the letters. An activity like this allows students to do this as well as testing their sentence skills.

Here's my sample PowerPoint for arranging mixed up sentences, save it and change the words to whatever you like http://chrisspeck.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/arrange-the-sentences-directions.ppt

Online wordgames to show on your IAWB
Of course, the internet is abound with word games you can play in your browser. Send these to students as homework, play them in the computer room (in pairs is best) or play them together in the classroom on the interactive whiteboard or projector.

BBC Skillswise - many great word games here http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/spelling/

Blocks with Letters on 3 - Amazing game to play with the class http://www.gimme5games.com/play-game/blocks-with-letters-on-3

Bookworm - make words from letters - very nice - http://www.popcap.com/gamepopup.php?theGame=bookworm
 

Using Text Messages to teach English - Part 2 'Following Instructions'

The lesson

In this lesson I used 'text messages' to give students questions that they had to answer in pairs. They left the classroom and went out into the surrounding environment and received messages from me at three minute intervals. I made sure that each group got a different message. I managed this, in the business sense, by writing down the numbers of each question, one to eight, next to each team name and crossing out each number as I sent the messages.



The Rationale

Yes, it's nice to send text messages that students read on their phones but it wasn't so much the technology that I wanted students to communicate with, rather, each other. Students had to talk to each other in English to accomplish many of the tasks, and actually answering the questions correctly was not as important as talking to each other to find it.

Here are the rules

-         You must stay together.

-         You must answer all the questions

-         You can find out the answers anyway you like.

Here are the questions that were sent

1. Go and find a book from the library with the word ‘fish’ in the title, write the name and author.


2. Find a joke in English. Write it down.


3. Get onto the internet. What is the temperature in your country today?


4. Find out what films are on the TV tonight. Write them down.


5. Tell each other something you’ve done that you’re proud about. Write it down.


6. Have a chat together about something. Write down what you chatted about.


7. Teach each other an English word that you didn’t know before. Write them down.


8. Find out the principal of your institution. Write their name down.

How did it go?



- students loved the tasks. By putting outgoing students with slighly more shy students they were able to complete the activities well.

- Some quick students said that three minutes was too long to wait between each text message.

- There was a lot of cheating, which for us was good. My students live in the target language and so any speaking with local people they means they are improving their English. This might not work so well where students live in a country where people don't speak the target language.

Using a PSP to teach English - Flash Games

Putting Flash Games onto the PSP

To get flash games onto a PSP you need to somehow rip the .swf files from the websites that host the games. I used firefox to download the games and capture the them. More gifted and tecnically minded wizards explain this better than I can here http://www.lancelhoff.com/how-to-download-embedded-swf-files-using-firefox/

Using Flash Games on the PSP

Although playing flash games is a lot of fun (depending on the game of course); exploiting them for language learning is more difficult. I've blogged about using them before, but for really creative ways of using flash games in the classroom look no further than Digital Play http://digitalplay.info/blog/ where there are ideas on using individual games and wider links to education through video games. Digital Play has had  a real influence on my ideas and teaching.

The Lesson

I used this lesson with a group of intermediate students from various parts of the world.  Students were given one PSP between two and each PSP had a flash game pre-loaded onto the memory card 'Who killed Angela Spelling?' from the fantastic www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise. 

Students had to play the flash game together and fill in the worksheet which I also downloaded and printed off one between two - you can download it here

So, why not use a normal computer or laptop to do this activity?

- With a bunch of PSPs you can do these activities without an expensive IT suite.  Just pass out the PSPs and you can start.

- Students really focused in on their PSP and becaue they had to work together to see the tiny screen, it helped them work together on completing the tasks.

Problems and pains in the neck.

- Putting the same file onto twelve PSP memory cards is a hassle. Charging them up is even worse. This lesson took too long to think about for  simple  flash game.

Blocks with Letters - Simple Flash game for IELTS / ESOL / ESL

Here's a great game written by Martin Sears that really gets your brain working.

It's a simple game that hinges on moving blocks around the screen and making sure that words are spelled correctly.  I'm not sure I'd use this game with a class , but I might set it for homework and ask students how the got on in the next session. Although the words are quite simple to start with, they get tougher so I'd suggest using this with at least a pre-intermediate / Entry 3 / B1 class.

You might like to pre teach your students some of the vocab needed

Replay

Reset (very important - you can put things back to the way they were at the start if things go wrong)

Clue

Gimme a hint ( it should of course be 'give me')



Play the game by clicking here or the picture above.

Let me know how you get on.

Low Level English - Flash Games for ESOL

...just discovered a wonderful site for low level ESOL and ESL learners, you need an Interactive Whiteboard or a projector.



http://englishflashgames.blogspot.com/

Loads of different vocabulary games and presentations aimed at low level learners.

Flash Games for ESOL / ESL / IELTS part 2 - The Gorillaz Website

Cartoon Band The Gorillaz were a breath of fresh air when they landed on the music scene a few years ago. With Blur front man Damon Albarn handling the music and legendary 2000AD artist and writer Jamie Hewlett , they created four distinct members of the band, Murdoc, 2D, Noodle and Russell.   Their first album, Clint Eastwood was released as an enhanced CD featuring a short flash movie and access to Murdoc's Winnebago which fans can explore, you can visit this today by visiting Kong Studios. Not afraid to use the internet to promote themselves, flash technology provided Hewlett with the perfect place to let fans explore the fictional lives of the band and the studio they worked in, Kong Studios is entertaining, informative and well designed and therefore perfect for students learning English.

The Lesson Plan.

I've never used this lesson as I felt that my students and institution might not be ready

Download the lesson here Gorillaz Reading Lesson

Flash Games for ESOl / EFL / IELTS - Just a bit of fun

You can find some really good games at

www.superduperflashgames.com

Desktop Defence

Click here to play Desktop Defence. Defence games involve you building towers to defeat hordes of enemies. This one is quick, easy to learn and difficult to master. Desktop Defence is easily the best out there. Say goodbye to break time.

Fancy Pants 1 and 2

Click here to play Fancy Pants 2 This is a well animated and very simple platform game with added depth for more serious gamers. It's got a great feel to it and the humour is nice. Try Fancy Pants 1 as well...

Flash Tennis

Click here to play Flash Tennis. Simple and yet demanding, this is a quality tennis game. With after hit control on the ball and a tight serving regime needed this quickly become maddeningly addictive.

Dino Run

Click here to play Dino Run Stylish retro gaming, guide your dinosaur at top speed in front of the crashing boulder of extintion. Fast and engaging, the multi-player option lets you race other gamers from around the globe. Simple and fantastic.

Dolphin Olymipcs 2

Click here to play Dolphin Olympics 2 Swimming around as a dolphin and performing tricks to earn points seems fairly amusing, but if you get really good at this game then you can get much further. Pointless, engaging fun.

Could you use these games in your ESOL/ESL or EFL classroom. I've got a few ideas... would love to hear how you would use them.

for more great games get on down to www.superduperflashgames.com

Flash Games for EFL/ESOL/ IELTS students #1 - Hapland - Reading Instructions

Hapland - Reading Instructions

This is a very frustrating flash game.  I used it with my Level 1+/B1+ students to help them read for meaning.

Basically the idea of the game is to get the little man to safety byclicking on different parts of the picture in the right order.

hapland.swf

 How I ran the lesson.

1. All students had a computer. I directed them to the 'Hapland' website. Click here http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rallen/hapland.swf I asked the students to play it for two minutes. Then I elicited their opinions, did they think it was a good game? Would they play it?

2. Now I handed out the instructions (below) . They had to read carefully following these to complete the game. I encouraged them to help each other.

Instructions

a)    Open all the windows and turn the red arrow around.

b)    Open the hatch on the right, click the yellow arrow to get a man out.

c)     Click on the man to fire one round in the low position to drop the bridge down.

d)    Click the cannon to move it up. Fire the second round up at the bell and click the spear thing so it goes the other way JUST after the round hits the bell

e)    Fire the next two rounds at the bridge, but click the bridge to as they hit it to knock them in the air and explode without causing damage.

f)      Click the light bulb a few times next to the man at the bottom to get him to smash it.

g)    Fire the last round in the low position, and the bottom man will pick it up and open the door with it.

h)    Now click the man by the machine so he gets in it, and click the yellow arrow to get another guy out, get him to fire the other man up at the bell.

i)      The man by the bell will move the tower over if you click him. Then click the spear thing. Now keep clicking the bell till it falls. No more land mine.

j)        Click the door in the bottom left so the man comes out and JUST as he goes in the door on the right, click the man at the bottom. A dog tries to chase him, but the falling concrete stops it.

k)      You did it!

How was it successful?

- students generated a lot of natural language when trying to help each other. 'What do I do?' 'You don't do it like that' 'How do you do that again? etc. This kind of helping language is really useful, asking for clarification or explaining is also vital in speaking English is a real context. Maybe I should have made that more the focus of this lesson.

- They really had to read the instructions to be able to complete the game. It was a good test of their comprehension skills. 

What went wrong?

- some people don't like video games and without my help and explanation might have confused this task with- 'having a bit of a laugh'.

- it was just too hard for some of the students although they were encouraged to ask for help from other students.