K-Classes

 

 

• Drawings – While teaching flashcards, put them up on the board and draw a few other things to hit with the hammer, such as hands, up arrow/swirl/down arrow, and a lion. When you hit the hands, students clap. When you hit the arrow/swirl/arrow, they stand up, turn around, and sit down quickly (first to sit gets a point). When you hit the lion, they act like a lion. This gives students a chance to be a little goofy, get points, and have some fun. This helps keep them focused. These are some other things you can draw that they have fun with: tiger, elephant, dinosaur, fish, bird, butterfly, smiley face (they “show me good”), feet (they stamp their feet), turtle (this ones funny because they go really slow), rabbit, tree (it’s silly, but they think it’s funny as long as you do. You can also imitate a gust of wind and have the kids lean like trees blowing in wind), shark, alligator, cat, or dog. There are so many other things you can do! Have fun and create some of your own!

• High Five/Flashcard Hit – This one seems simple, but the kids like it. When going over flashcards, you can take a little break from the whole class and quickly check if individuals understand the flashcards. Go to each student one by one and have them say one of the flashcards while hitting the flashcard, head butting the flashcard, or giving the teacher a high five. For whatever reason, they like it. It also is a check to see what kids are paying attention.

• Flash Flashcards – This one is pretty basic, quickly show the flashcard and let the students figure out which one it was. You can also prepare a piece of paper that covers most of the flashcard and only give them a peak at what flashcard it is.

• Charades – Act out whatever the flashcard is and let students guess. Feel free to throw old vocabulary into the mix! This helps them review and keeps them on the ball! If you feel the students are old enough, you can let them act it out!

• Ninja – Put the flashcards up on the board with magnets. Then you do “karate chops” in the direction of a flashcard and students have to say the flashcard you motion to. Let the students get up and be the ninja. They like to watch each other and it keeps them more focused, usually.

• Pictionary – For certain units, like “What is it?” “What’s this/that?” you can play Pictionary and have students ask or answer. You can also let them draw, and let them say the grammar points.

• Teams – Have the teams ask each other the questions and practice answering each other. This helps them understand that this is an ask-and-receive-a-response situation.

• Let’s GO! – For the unit “Let’s go to the ___!” A good way for them to practice and hear the grammar point repeatedly is to have them race around the classroom and touch what you tell them to go to. “Let’s go to the door!” They run to the door. “Let’s go to the zoo!” You can have them run to the flashcard or you can bring stuffed animals to class to represent going to the zoo, just make sure they understand what it represents. You can also end it with “Let’s go to our chair!” which they then race back to sit down and “show me good.” Thus getting them points. However, if you do it this way, remember that they should be in a location that makes it a fair race.

• TPR – Once you’ve gone over the grammar point enough for the students to get it, you can simply go through the motions of what you are teaching and have them say the grammar point without any word prompts, just visual. Better yet, let the students do the motions as well. This is a good method to use all the time to conserve your voice for teachers who struggle with this, plus it helps reinforce comprehension.

• Copy the Teacher - Students must watch the teacher and copy exactly what he/she does. The slowest to respond is eliminated. Try not to have the children lie or sit on the floor as this may cause complaints from parents. Also, be careful of your motions. Don’t make the students accidentally hit each other!

• Puppets – Have the puppets of Calvin and Claire and any others you’d like to act out the grammar point. The puppets are fun and keep kids paying attention, especially if you do voices as well! It also helps to make sure they understand that there are two people talking, not just one.

• Counting – Have them count either on the flashcards, or objects around the room.

• Hammer Hit – Write the numbers on the board or post the flashcards and hit them with a hammer for students to say.

• Hammer Student Count – Hit the space in front of the student to prompt them to say the next number. Walk around the classroom hitting the hammer in a random order to give some spontaneity to the game. 

• Clap Count – After they know the numbers pretty well (later hours) and can count fast, you can clap your hands X amount of times. They have to count quickly in order to say the answer. You can reward the fastest student with a point, roll the dice, or an orange card, but usually just recognizing them with some positive words is enough!

• Guessing Game – Write one of the numbers you are working with on your hand, then let them guess which number it is, crossing out the numbers they’ve guessed. This works better if you are working on more numbers as opposed to only a couple. Otherwise the game is too easy.

• Finger Count – In China, you can count to ten on one hand. Depending on where you are in China, this might change. Ask a local how to do it!

• Dice Addition – This game is for higher levels that can add. You roll two dice and the students have to add up the total and say aloud.

• Dice Pass 10- Have 4 students stand in a square. The distance between them will depend on the level of the class (K1 for instance will need to be fairly close together). Students must simply throw the dice to each other around the square. Have the rest of the class count with you as they throw. If they get to 10, reward each student with cards or points. If the dice falls to the ground at any point, the 2 students involved in the drop (regardless of whose fault it actually was) play paper, scissors, stone to decide who is eliminated. Once one student is eliminated, begin the game again with the 3 remaining students in a triangle shape. If another is eliminated, begin again with 2 students on diagonally opposite sides of the square. If only 1 student remains, have him throw the dice above his/her head and attempt to catch it 10 times. For low level classes this is a lot harder than it sounds. It really does need the teacher to determine the distance between the students correctly or the game will be too easy or too difficult.

• Dice and Posters – If you have the posters for the dialogues, they have the words, though the kids can’t really read it yet. They should, however, show the image for what is being said. Therefore, if you number the dialogue 1-6 for each line (this only works if it has 6 or less lines), have students roll a die and they all say the line for the number the student rolls. If there are less than 6, you can make one of the numbers do something else, like in the game “Drawings” where they pretend to be cats or something for a little while. You can also roll a second die that has them say the line that many times. This allows good practice, and the kids are willing to do it if they get an extra chance to roll the dice! Make sure they understand the story before doing this activity. Use this in your later practices, like hour 3 or 4.

• Radio – You can either draw a radio on the board with these instructions, but usually your motions will be enough. Have the students sing or read quiet, loud, slow, fast or any other variation you can think to add. Drawing a long triangle to represent volume helps.

• Funny voices – Draw an alien, boy, girl, monster, whatever you want and they have to read or sing mimicking that image. This can be a lot of fun!

• Left or Right – This is a game designed to take a short break while teaching a grammar point to keep the kids engaged. Hold a small magnet or marker cap in your hand and hide it behind your back in one of your hands. Choose a student who is well behaved to guess which hand it’s in. If they get it right, they get points. This also motivates the students to be really good!

• Where’s the sticky ball? - Give the class one sticky ball. They pass it amongst themselves while you close your eyes and count down from 10. They put their hands behind their back and you search for who has it. If you can’t find it in three tries, they win an extra orange card. Have your co-teacher help to prevent students from cheating, because they will try.

• Go Go Stop - Draw a line on one side of the room. When you aren’t looking, students can move towards the other side of the room, but when you turn and look at them, they have to freeze. This is fun, because then you can mess with their hair, or try to make them laugh when they aren’t supposed to move. First student to the goal wins.

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Y-Classes

 

 

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TOJ-Classes

 

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