[Valll9]

Hi! I am a new ESL teacher (part-time during my studies) and I have to do activities with a small group of students to enrich their english. I have 2 groups: grades 1-2-3 and grades 4-5-6. Do you have any ideas of simple games i could do with them? (between 5 and 10 students in each group) Thank you!!!!

[mesmark]

Valll9 - I have a list of general games to play with small groups here www.mes-english.com/games/gamestoplay.php

If you like to listen to your information, you can try www.eslteachertalk.com there are general games of the week for every show that might be helpful.

There is a games forum here on eslHQ
http://www.eslhq.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=17

I hope that helps.

[Valll9]

Thank you a lot!! Sorry.. i didn't know there was a games forum !! Thanks again!!!

[mesmark]

No problem.

A lack of games is definitely not a problem.

Happy teaching!

[simplyesl]

I have a bunch of games and lesson plans aimed at young learners over at www.simplyesl.com.

[Valll9]

Hey!! I had my first ESL class today!! Even though it is only an extracuricular activity with a small class, I was reallly stressed! I'm still a student you know!! haha.. Anyways it was just to say thanks for your ideas for games and stuff! It really helped! So did the flashcards and bingo games on this site! If anybody has any other ideas.. I have to teach them all year so..!!! Also, the principal asked me to have a theme for every class. It's easy for grades 1-2-3 (like food, halloween, body, etc) but for grades 4-5-6.. any ideas??

Thanks again!! This site is the best!!!!! Really!!

[mesmark]

For older students you just need more complicated themes. Usually themes involving actions, a science experiment, cooking, using you senses (looks, smell, touch ...) making something, a play, etc. You can use a lot more writing in class for reports on what you did, made, ate, smelled, built.

[livinginkorea]

Anything involving action is always good. Students love to get out of their seats and play because they spend all day sitting down at school. Also if you show a lot of excitment and enjoyment with the game, that will rub off on the students. Don't worry about being nervous. It's more important to show that you are NOT nervous to the students as they will naturally look up to you

(and they don't know if you are new to teaching or not!)

[Valll9]

okk!! thanks !!

Would going outside be a good idea or would that distract the kids to much? And would it be good and fun for the older students to make a recipe? Learning food and quantities in english is challenging, is it?

Thanks for encouraging me everyone!

[Eric]

Having class outside is a great reward for students. If your class is small and you can find a nice, quiet spot go for it. its nice to change it up a little. just make sure you and the students can be comfortable outside.

making recipes/food is a blast. make sure you pre-teach cooking imperatives like, 'cut the tomato into slices', etc... when i do recipes, it takes a class or 2 to get the recipe perfect and then i let the students make their recipe. even just doing peanut butter & jelly sandwich recipes is fun!

[Valll9]

Ok Great!! if anyone has other ideas.. don't hesitate!!! THANKS =)

[mesmark]

You can always set up an outdoor scavenger hunt as well. "See how many colors you can find? What were the items?" You can also do that with insects, birds, animals ... Then go back in and talk about what everybody found.

Outdoor activities are generally really loose, but with a small group you should be able to monitor them. I would definitely put a time limit on the scavenger hunt activity, though.

[Valll9]

Ok!!

[livinginkorea]

A treasure hunt is a good idea but be careful of the kids!!

[Valll9]

hahha ok!!!

[Pix]

Hi,

Here's are some ideas that I like to pass along:

One of my favourite writing activities (which can be adapted to virtually any theme you've decided to go with) is to have the children complete an add-a-sentence story. You can do this in a variety of ways: One way would be to have all the students write the same sentence on the top of a sheet of paper.

Another way would be for you to write a different sentence on the top of each sheet of paper and hand them out to the students.

A third way would be to have the students write their own starting sentence.

All you need to do is have the students write one sentence and pass their paper to the next person. Then, when a student gets a paper, he or she reads the story and adds a sentence. Once everyone has their own paper back they can read the stories aloud to the class. This is a great activity because it involves reading, writing, speaking.

I also like putting the class in teams and playing games against the clock to add excitement to the task.

For example, check out this fun idea for small classes. This exact example was given to me by one of my customers who is using and adapting my games.

Have your pupils start about 4 feet from their "a/an" worksheet. Have three rows with 16 words in each row. On the desk where the children start they have a piece of lined paper. Have pencils at both ends so that they aren't running with them. The words in the list should be words you have already introduced and had some speaking practise with. On "Go" the pupils run from their desk to the worksheet and write the appropriate "a" or "an" in front of the word. They then run back to their respective desks and write it out in full. For example if they put down "an" in front of egg, then they run back and write, "an egg". The fastest person with the highest accuracy is the winner.

Of course you can play down the competitive element, and with the younger students, don't let them get so frusterated over the competition that they aren't learning from the game.

This idea can be adapted to all sorts of writing ideas – spelling, fill in the blanks, verb endings…anything as long as it does not involve writing out long sentences.

[Valll9]

Thanks!!! great ideas!!! I had my first class with grades 4-5-6.. they were only 5 though.. but it was great!!! I did many games I found on this site, with flashcards and board games and action games.. anyways i love doing this job!!

[musica]

Using games and songs as well as chants with kids is always a great way to engage them. Some of the chants and finger rhymes can really let them get rid of some energy if they have been sitting for too long, eg.One Finger One Thumb Keep Moving.
Others can help you to calm them down and get their attention in a gentle way, such as Here Is a Ball for Baby.

These chants and many others can be found on Pams ESL Classroom, where you can listen to the songs and download some of them for free.

I just added some song packages that enable you to download the mp3 as well as the lesson plan, flashcards and worksheets in pdf format. I am putting more up all the time and hope these help you.
As well as the free mp3 downloads there are also lots of lyrics for songs and games that would suit
preschool and primary age kids.

Good luck
_______________

[Valll9]

Oh Great!! There are many lyrics that we can find on the internet, but I was having trouble trying to download songs.. to learn the beat and HOW to sing it!! thanks it's really helpful!!

[musica]

I am so glad you found them useful. It is nice to know that the mp3s make it easier to learn the melody and rhythm, as you said.
Also I really appreciate getting feedback from people who use the songs from my site. Then I can work to keep making it better and more useful to ESL teachers around the world.