[emile]

'Guest's posting was so good that I wanted to start a new thread, more generally.

Having been through several excruciating sessions of 'teambuilding' and 'motivation' and 'leadership' skills where they made us carry out the most pointless and immature activities and then claimed later that we had 'strengthened our bonding' , what games ARE and ARE NOT suitable for adults?

[emile]

I'll be the first to answer my own question. I don't like any kind of games where people get their paws all over me or I have to hold hands with someone. Yuk!! Or am I too obsessive-compulsive?

[mesmark]

I think you're OK there. I'm not very touchy feely.

I think as long as the game has a valid language aspect, it's good for adults. Adults can appreciate the fun and learn.

Obviously a little bit more low key.

[Eric]

I find that adults still like to have fun like kids. I'll get them to do a lot of games that I play with my young students unless involves a lot of moving. For some reason, I think they feel like they are acting too childish if they are "getting into it".

One thing I have also noticed about adults, at least Korean adults, is that they are a little more sensitive than children when it comes to keeping points. So if I keep points with adult students, I don't highlight the winners or losers and even the score. I'll just use it to create a little bit of competition but that's it.

[livinginkorea]

I feel the same about the touchy feely stuff. It's very much a part of Korean culture and it's very difficult for some native English teachers. It was a big shock to me!

Having said that I find it very acceptable to "play" with the younger generation especially shaking hands and giving hi-fives. When doing TPR I always demo with a kid in the class and the kids get a huge laugh out of that. However I can't see myself doing that with adults much. (Adults are a lot heavier than kids )

The game that I mostly use is Scrabble where the students put in some money. They love it but that's probably 'cas I was used to teaching men in company classes.

I teach mother's now every Friday and I know that they would find it boring if I did that to them so I have played some games especially with a sponge ball. They have to ask a question and throw the ball to another person who answers the question and then asks another. Simple enough game but the loved it. I bought in a couple of extra balls (depends on class size) and they had to use all the balls at the same time which proved to be very funny. Again I can't see me playing this game much with 50 year old managers but I will give it a try.

Especially for adults it's a bit of hit and miss. But bring along a sponge ball or some board games and it can be interesting

[emile]

I'm off to buy a 'skoosh' ball!

I agree, using a ball to keep their attention and provide a physical response (albeit not a total one), is just right for adults. I think if you squeeze or hold a ball (please, no dirty thoughts here) while speaking, you will actually come up with more creative responses. I'm sure there must be a fancy name for it.

[emile]

What about singing songs?

[livinginkorea]

I advise listening to the Teacher Talk show about that presented by Mark and Eric.

[mesmark]

http://www.eslteachertalk.com/2006/0...the-classroom/


I think singing songs can be fun but sort of like I said before, there needs to be a point. Why are you singing? Why did you choose that song? Should they actually sing the song? Should they be trying to understand the lyrics?

There's a site called flocabulary where they teach English through hiphop lyrics. Goes to show there are people out there doing all kinds of stuff with music. Basically, if you are excited about it and believe it to be helpful, it probably will be exciting and helpful.

Students will ride your momentum.

[jenniferp]

With some of the adult classes that I took in Korea, they were keen noraebang'ers and that stimulated their interest in using songs in class. I think they were keen to show off their pronunciation skills on a Friday night at the microphone.

[emile]

What the bleep is a noraebang'er?

Is it some kind of Korean Hip Hop?

[livinginkorea]

Quote emile

What the bleep is a noraebang'er?

Is it some kind of Korean Hip Hop?

A noraebang in Korea is a singing room like the Japanese karoke. It's pretty big in Korea and many people go there to sing their heart out after a few beers

[ruthwickham]

I have found that "Alibi" works well with adult groups. This is the one where you say a crime has been committed, and a person matching the description of one class member was seen at the scene. That person and some others in the class then have to establish an alibi. They leave the room (or go to a corner) for a few minutes to discuss in detail where they were and what they were doing during those hours. Then they return and the rest of the class is put into groups, one for each of the suspect group, and they question each person in turn, moving them around after about five minutes.
I find they love being the police, especially if they have previously had a turn at being questioned - the second go at this game us usually more lively than the first.
They are permitted up to five "mistakes" or discrepancies in their answers.
It always amuses me when the suspects start digging in their pockets offering money to the police ...

[Mr. E English]

I went from the best teaching job I ever had - teaching 6 to 10 year olds, to the second best teaching job I ever had - teaching 16 to 100 year olds, and I found that all the games I had played with kids were loved just as much when they were played by the adults - the only difference? I didn't tell the adults it was a game - but they still loved it!!

[simplyesl]

Something that gets them speaking. If the game can provide a lot of speaking practice then it's all good!

[tefler]

Quote ruthwickham

I have found that "Alibi" works well with adult groups. This is the one where you say a crime has been committed, and a person matching the description of one class member was seen at the scene. That person and some others in the class then have to establish an alibi. They leave the room (or go to a corner) for a few minutes to discuss in detail where they were and what they were doing during those hours. Then they return and the rest of the class is put into groups, one for each of the suspect group, and they question each person in turn, moving them around after about five minutes.
I find they love being the police, especially if they have previously had a turn at being questioned - the second go at this game us usually more lively than the first.
They are permitted up to five "mistakes" or discrepancies in their answers.
It always amuses me when the suspects start digging in their pockets offering money to the police ...

I love this game too and have used it many times in class. With lower level students I give them the attached worksheet to get them thinking about their alibis and to practice forming questions.

[ruthwickham]

There is one game that I have found works with every class, every level, every age group - and that is "Typhoon".
When I first read about it, the suggestion was to have a set of cards which were attached to the board in a grid with the score on each card facing the board. The students must answer a question for their team, and if correct they choose a card by grid reference and get a (fairly random) score for their team. The fun comes in the fact that some of the cards have a 'T' for 'Typhoon' which gives them no score but the right to 'blow away' another team's score.

This was great for all kinds of subject matter, and transformed even the dullest revision session into an exciting competition.

But I had trouble with the cards, and getting them arranged onto the board unseen etc.

Now I just draw a grid on the board, and the same grid on a piece of paper, and I fill in the scores on my paper (which I refer to when they choose a box, and write the score onto the board grid).
Some other changes and variations:
1. The axes of the grid are labeled with vocabulary words rather than just numbers/letters - although numbers and letters (and bigger numbers) are great practice for elementary students to read when they choose their box.
2. I often let one or two students run the show - draw up the grid on the board and paper and choose and fill in scores and axis labels. Then I just ask the questions.
3. You need at least three teams / players to make the 'T' 'choice of victim' exciting.
4. The scores can be varied greatly, using numbers in millions, decimals, money values, smaller or greater range etc.
5. Once the class has learnt the game I add other possibilities: 'S' for 'steal' - steal another team's score. 'D' for Double - double your own score. 'Swap' - you must swap scores with another team ... to name a few possibilities.

There is a lot of excitement when a team gets an answer wrong, or takes too long to answer. Sometimes I use a boring worksheet or workbook page as the basis for the questions. Our lessons here are four hours long, and many of my classes demand Typhoon as a fourth-hour activity.

Hope this works for you too.

[cabst90]

I have used most of the games that I play with children with adults. It depends very much on the group of adults.
1. I have played run to the board to choose one of two word games.

2. I have played a game with first conditional that can be adapted to certain other grammar. First split the group into 3 teams (5, 7... it works best with 3 but any odd number will work). Each team starts with 3 points. If I have 3 groups, I start with two pieces of paper. I write a first conditional sentence on the top of the paper (something simple, for example: If it is sunny, I will go to the park.) The students must take the independent clause, make it dependent and start a new sentence. In other words, they must take "I will go to the park" make it "if I go to the park,..." and finish the sentence. As soon as they finish the sentence, they pass the paper to the next team. If one teams ends up with both papers, they lose one point. Continue until only one team has points left.

3. Jeopardy, Soccer (from mes-english.com)

4. This is not a game, but many adult students enjoyed this. I wrote questions from Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom (I-TESL-J) on index cards or strips of paper. I started off every class by giving each student a different question. They then had to pair up and talk about their questions. If possible, I tried to use questions that reviewed the grammar of the previous class or previewed the grammar of the current class.

5. One student comes to the front and sits with her/his back to the board. I write a sentence on the board. The students in the front cannot turn around and look. The other students must communicate the sentence on the board without using any word that is on the board. For example, I write "I eat pizza every day." Most adult groups go in order of the words. Starting with "I," they give hints such as "not you," "you, name of the person in front," "the letter between H and J," etc. They get very creative!

[bread_baker]

I have had good luck with a spongy ball. There are many ways to use this. You can pick any grammar point or structure (but I avoid present continuous). All students stand. I tell the students what grammar point we are using, such as simple past. One person throws the ball to another, and asks a question in the target grammar. The person who is the object of the ball answers in the target grammar, and throws the ball to another person and asks a different question in the target grammar. After a person has a turn, he or she sits down.