Sometimes the simplest ideas work the best. Yesterday we played freeze dance at ASP, and it was a huge hit.
One thing I've learned is when I announce, "okay, everyone, we're going to play a game called freeze dance!" (or whatever the activity is), I get a lot of groans. No matter WHAT the activity is. But if I just start it, with one or two kids, more are sure to join in if they want to. And if they don't, they are the ones missing out. That is how it worked yesterday with freeze dance.
I turned on a Pandora Kidzbop station on my phone and plugged it into my loud speakers. I started the music, and grabbed the two kids who were buzzing around me with nothing to do, and we just started dancing. Within seconds, most of the group was dancing, too, including the middle schoolers and the boys. One of the kids shouted, "what are we doing??" and I said, "Freeze dance!" and then I went and paused the music. During the pause I said "we're playing freeze dance! Anytime the music is on, dance! But when it stops, you have to freeze!"
You can call kids out if they move during the freeze time, but I didn't really, because I didn't feel the need for an elimination game. I would just say, "Ishrak, I see you moving!!" but the moving kids could keep dancing when the music came back on.
Honestly, they liked it so much, they asked if we could do it again today. Freeze dance! The easiest thing!
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Making words with Banagrams
I have done this activity with children and adults, newcomers and intermediate/ advanced English speakers. It is always a hit.
Open up a banangrams and dump the letters on the table. Have a race between students to see who can make a word correctly first. For one-on-one, just have the student make the word, then they can give you a word to make, and you can take turns.
Some ideas for what words to make:
Content-specific vocabulary. For example, we were studying clothing in adult ESL. Every student had their vocabulary list in front of them, and I would pick a word from the list. ex: "shoes". Students race to make 'shoes' out of the letters.
Content specific could be ESL related (verbs, parts of the body, animals, colors, etc) or subject related (words from a science text about types of rocks, words from a story you have just read together, words from a math unit).
Spelling lists.
Sight-words. You could give each student a stack of sight-word cards, and challenge them to make each word then move on to the next as quickly as possible, so they are making lots of words. Just check their spelling after each word.
For non-Latin alphabet learners and non-literate learners, say the name of just a letter, or the sound a letter makes, and see who can find it first. Ask them to repeat the name of the letter, or the sound, or both. When you say the name or sound of the letter, show a flashcard with that letter, so the student knows what to look for. Extensions are to name things that start with the letter (or name the picture on the flashcard, for example A- apple), talk about capital and lowercase letters, and spell their name and the names of other proper nouns that should be familiar to them (Colorado, Denver, etc.)
In my adult ESL class, I would have the 'winner' of each word spell the word for me, to practice saying the names of the letters. Then that person would get to pick the next word for the group to try and make.
Note: I believe there is only one "J" in bananagrams, so words using J, give some students an I and tell them to pretend it is J, or write J on the backs of some tiles with a sharpie.
Open up a banangrams and dump the letters on the table. Have a race between students to see who can make a word correctly first. For one-on-one, just have the student make the word, then they can give you a word to make, and you can take turns.
Content-specific vocabulary. For example, we were studying clothing in adult ESL. Every student had their vocabulary list in front of them, and I would pick a word from the list. ex: "shoes". Students race to make 'shoes' out of the letters.
Content specific could be ESL related (verbs, parts of the body, animals, colors, etc) or subject related (words from a science text about types of rocks, words from a story you have just read together, words from a math unit).
Spelling lists.
Sight-words. You could give each student a stack of sight-word cards, and challenge them to make each word then move on to the next as quickly as possible, so they are making lots of words. Just check their spelling after each word.
For non-Latin alphabet learners and non-literate learners, say the name of just a letter, or the sound a letter makes, and see who can find it first. Ask them to repeat the name of the letter, or the sound, or both. When you say the name or sound of the letter, show a flashcard with that letter, so the student knows what to look for. Extensions are to name things that start with the letter (or name the picture on the flashcard, for example A- apple), talk about capital and lowercase letters, and spell their name and the names of other proper nouns that should be familiar to them (Colorado, Denver, etc.)
In my adult ESL class, I would have the 'winner' of each word spell the word for me, to practice saying the names of the letters. Then that person would get to pick the next word for the group to try and make.
Note: I believe there is only one "J" in bananagrams, so words using J, give some students an I and tell them to pretend it is J, or write J on the backs of some tiles with a sharpie.
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