The Four-letter-word Game

Title: The Four-Letter Words

Skills: Vocabulary mastery (Environment Theme)

Control: Free

Level: Any level

Time: 30 minutes

Preparation:

You may like to prepare chocolates or candies like M&M’s, NIPS or Mentos and a list of 4-letter vocabulary of different genres (verbs, adjectives, and nouns).

Procedure:

Group work.

The students will be divided into groups of 4 or 5. Each member will be given some amount of chocolates/candies (random mixed colours). You will give code to every colour of the chocolates/candies for a word class.

For example:

Blue – Verb

Red – Adjectives

Yellow - Nouns

Every group will be given a word consists of four letters (related to environment) by drawing lots (from the list of four-letter words you have prepared). Each member in the group will take turn to generate a new word by replacing one letter. Only one letter can be changed at a time but not at the same place consecutively.

For example;  

Teacher: ROPE

Student 1: COPE (blue)

Student 2: COPY (blue/yellow)

Every word generated by the student will get one candy/chocolate based on the colour coded word. Students should make a word with the colours of chocolates/candies they have so that they can have them. Students who are able to make words related to the theme of environment will be awarded triple candies/chocolates instead.

Variation:

The time has to be set for 30-45 seconds for each member so that the member who can make the most words will be chosen as a winner after 5-10 minutes of the game. Also, if the student takes more than the time given, he will lose his turn. Students can change the group and start over using different four-letter words after 10 minutes.

References

Juarez, P. O. (2001). ‘Four-Letter Words’. The Internet TESL Journal:http://iteslj.org/games/9928.html

Comments:

I chose the 4-letter word game because it is flexible to be played regardless of the students' level. Also, I believe that it's important for the students to realize that a word can be changed endlessly by just one letter different. This might make them think again when they thought English is hard. Of course, the candies and chocolates are to motivate them to gain more after every achievement.

Prepared by:
Siti Nur Fadhilah binti Zulkaply
A11PP0034

Guess the Idioms

Hi. I'm Aliya Khairuddin. Each of us has been assigned to prepare a lesson plan for a language game of our own choice. While choosing the games, I recalled the games that have been carried out during my teaching practical and during micro-teaching sessions in UTM. I considered doing Bingo, but since that have been carried out once, and most of my friends are familiar with it, I thought of getting other alternative. I googled for some language games on the internet and found several games on idioms. This reminds me of my school days, where we played a lot of language games in during Language Month. Therefore, I had the idea to adapt one language game from one of the game sessions in my English language class.

Here is the lesson plan of the game that have been adapted:

Guess the Idiom

Language: Idioms, Vocabulary
Skills: Speaking
Control: Free
Level: Beginner (Year 5 and Year 6)
Time: 30 minutes
Materials: Paper strips with idioms written, five (5) small boxes, whiteboard/sketch book   and marker
Theme: Nature

Preparation:
A list of 50 idioms is prepared. Each idioms are written in a paper strip. The idioms are then put into boxes, with 10 paper strips for each boxes. The boxes will be given to each groups.
Before the game started, the students will be given a list of idioms with its meaning. They can read the idioms first to familiarize themselves with the idiom, to help them guess the idiom better.

Procedure: 
Group work
The game is played in two rounds. For both rounds, each groups are given 2 minutes. When it is a group’s turn, one member of the group will have to draw one paper strip from the box, read the idiom silently and illustrate the idiom on the whiteboard. The member may illustrate the idiom word by word. Then, the other members need to guess what the idiom is. If the idiom is correctly guessed, the paper strip will be taken out of the box. If it’s wrongly guessed, the paper will have to be put inside the box again.
This procedure will be repeated for other paper strips of idiom until the 2 minutes have ended. Then, the next group will do the same. After the first round have ended, the first group will start the second round again, followed by the other groups. For the second round, the game will only be played for 1 minute and 30 seconds for all groups. At the end of the second round, each groups will count how many paper strips are put outside of the box. The group with the most paper strip out wins.

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Basically, in this games, the students need to draw out the idioms. In the original game, the students need to act out the words from the idiom. There is one important thing to do before playing this game in class, which is to expose the students to the idioms in previous classes. This is because idioms are difficult to remember, hence using unfamiliar idioms in this game will make this game difficult.

That is all from me. Thank you :)

Sentence Relay

Good evening everyone, this is Chang Jia Jen.  This is my game lesson plan. Basically about constructing sentences. 

Title: Sentence Relay

 Language: Constructing sentences related to environment verbally based on students’ vocabulary and grammar knowledge

Skills: Speaking

Control: Free

Level: Intermediate and Advanced

Time: 30 minutes

Materials: Projector, LCD and PowerPoint slides

Preparation: Write a word using PowerPoint. Every words should be separately typed in each of the slides.

Procedure:

Arrange the students into several groups. Each group should consist of eight to ten students. Every group is required to form a circle. In each circle, assign a student randomly to be the captain of the group. Display a word to all students by using projector. The captain in each group will build a sentence by using the word given as the first word of the sentence. The sentence must be constructed using at least four words. Then, the next student will start a new sentence using the last word of the previous sentence constructed by the captain as the first word of the new sentence. The steps will be repeated until the last person of the group. The turns taking sequence will be in a clockwise pattern in the circles. The first group that complete the round is the winner. On the next round, another student will be selected as the new captain in every group.

Example: The word given is “clean”

First Person (Captain): Clean the aquarium now to save the fish!

Second Person: Fish lives under water.

Third Person: Water in the river is dirty because it is polluted.

Fourth Person: (continue)…………….

Note: Some words that end a sentence cannot be used to start a sentence. It has to be replace with another word that has the same definition to ensure that the sentence is grammatically correct.

Example: Provided that if the last word of the sentence is ‘him’. The next person will have to start the sentence using the word ‘he’ because starting the sentence with the word ‘him’ is grammatically incorrect.

Variation: None

Acknowledgement/references: None

Comment:

This game is selected primarily to enhance students’ vocabulary and grammar knowledge. To enhance vocabulary knowledge, students will be asked to use the last word in the previous sentence to start a new sentence. Through constructing the sentence, students are able to understand more on the definition of the particular word used because they can use the word to construct a sentence which is relevant to the context of the word. Thus, it enhances students’ knowledge on vocabulary. As for the grammar, students are required to construct sentences with at least four words. Therefore, students can polish their skills on SVO structure. The reason that I chose this game is because I find this game quite challenging and interesting. First, it require students to understand the meaning of the word, only then, they can construct a sentence using the word given. The most challenging part is the word has to be the first word of the sentence. And also, it is suitable for their age because this is their right time to learn constructing sentences.

Comment

Basically, this game enables the students to brainstorm some ideas in order to answer the different category given to them. Perhaps, students just need to recall what they had learnt in their previous class or they might also experience it in their daily routine. Since the students are arranged in several groups, they may able to share and exchange their ideas with each other. Thus, the teamwork spirit can be promoted among the group members which is important in making the game become successful. Besides that, while the students perform the game, they can seek for the clues from the surrounding of the environment in order to answers the given category. Hence, teacher’s role is to assist the students when they face the difficulties in answering the questions. Moreover, the different example of the category prepared in this game is suitable for all level of the students where all of the students by hook and by crook should take the opportunity answers the questions bravely.  

Lesson plan:

                              BRAINSTORMERS

Language	Practicing the words based on the category given
Skills	Speaking, Listening and Writing
Control	Free
Level	Any Level
Time	20-30 minutes
Materials	A4 Paper/Drawing Paper/Pencil/Pens/Markers/Stopwatch
Preparation	Write different categories to brainstorm on the drawing paper

Procedure:

Group work.

Students are divided into several group. Each group will sit in a circle. Each group choose one student to be the runner. The runner go to the teacher’s drawing paper and read the category. The runners go back to their group and discuss the category with their group members. Group members will have to brainstorm the answers for the category. Once they finish the task, they will shouts “STOP”. The group will call out their answers and teacher will give one mark for each of the points under the category. Meanwhile, if there are two or more groups that shout at the same time, teacher will mark for both of the group, however, the winning group will be decided based on the highest points achieved by the group member.

Students will proceed with the next category and so on. At the same time, students may also brainstorm the category by writing their answers based on what they see, feel, touch, listen or think/experience about the surrounding environment. For example, the category “If you had an animal as a pet, which animal would it be? Their answers could be a wild creature such as the squirrel, worm, or insect.

The game will proceed with the next category and so on.

Examples of the Category:

1. Five wild animal that you wish as your pet.
2. Seven things to do on holiday.
3. Five words that start with alphabet letter “P” in the pollution.
4. Five ways to reduce pollution in our country.
5. Three ways to keep fit.
6. Five reasons for being late to class.
7. Seven things you do before you go to bed.
8. Three activities you can do in the jungle.

References

7 Great Outdoor Activities for your ESL Students: How to have Fun in the Sun and Teach English. Retrieved 2015, November 28 from http://busyteacher.org/19874-7-outdoor-activities-teach-english-esl.html

BRAINSTORMERS

 PREPARED BY: Dolly Anak Johnicol 

Comment

Through this game, students are given the opportunity to brainstorm on the knowledge regarding the nature. Students can seek for the clues from the surrounding of the environment in order to answers the questions given by the facilitator. Hence, teacher’s role is to assist the students when they face the difficulties in answering the questions. Apart from that, the different example of the category prepared in this game is suitable for all level of the students where all of the students by hook and crook should take the opportunity answers the questions bravely. BRAINSTORMERS also promote the teamwork spirit among the team members which students able to work as a team in order to make the game successful. BRAINSTORMERS also allow the participant to share and exchange the information together. 

Below are the game that are included in my lesson plan:

Language	Practicing the words based on the category given
Skills	Speaking, Listening and Writing
Control	Free
Level	Any Level
Time	20-30 minutes
Materials	A4 Paper/Drawing Paper/Pencil/Pens/Markers/Stopwatch
Preparation	Write different categories to brainstorm on the drawing paper

Procedure

Group work.

Students are divided into several group. Each group will sit in a circle. Each group choose one student to be the runner. The runner go to the teacher’s drawing paper and read the category. The runners go back to their group and discuss the category with their group members. Group members will have to brainstorm the answers for the category. Once they finish the task, they will shouts “STOP”. The group will call out their answers and teacher will give one mark for each of the points under the category. Meanwhile, if there are two or more groups that shout at the same time, teacher will mark for both of the group, however, the winning group will be decided based on the highest points achieved by the group member.

Students will proceed with the next category and so on. At the same time, students may also brainstorm the category by writing their answers based on what they see, feel, touch, listen or think/experience about the surrounding environment. For example, the category “If you had an animal as a pet, which animal would it be? Their answers could be a wild creature such as the squirrel, worm, or insect.

The game will proceed with the next category and so on.

Examples of the Category:

1. Five wild animal that you wish as your pet.
2. Seven things to do on holiday.
3. Five words that start with alphabet letter “P” in the pollution.
4. Five ways to reduce pollution in our country.
5. Three ways to keep fit.
6. Five reasons for being late to class.
7. Seven things you do before you go to bed.
8. Three activities you can do in the jungle.

ACTION FABLES

Prepared By: Nurul Ain Binti Abdullah (inspired from https://www.ecu.edu/cs-hhp/exss/upload/MSE%20Language%20Arts.pdf )

Skills            : Speaking skills, Grammar

Controls       : Free

Level            : Intermediate

Time             : 15-20 minutes

Materials       : A Mahjong paper/white board

PREPARATION:

Various sentence parts along with the corresponding physical activities for each sentences should be listed earlier on a mahjong paper or whiteboard.

Procedure

 The teacher reviews various sentence parts.

The teacher lists various sentence parts on the chalk board, along with corresponding physical activities for each sentence part:

a.       Article – clap their hand 3 times

b.      Noun – hold their friends’ hand

c.       Verb – hold their nose and said ‘krik krik’ 2 times

d.      Adverb – show ‘peace’ symbol and say ‘cheese’

e.       Adjective – lift up both of their hands

f.       Pronoun – clap both of their cheeks 3 times

g.      Preposition – do a star jump

h.      Conjunction – stand up and sit down simultaneously (3 times)

      The student who sits in the first seat on the first row of desks says one word to begin a sentence (i.e., “The”).

       All students complete the corresponding activity for that sentence part.

      The 2nd student in that row then adds another word (i.e., “green”) and students complete the corresponding activity for that sentence part.

      This continues going down each row so that the class creates their own silly story, each student adding one word at a time to form a sentence.

      

      COMMENT:

       This game is actually build to enhance students creative thinking skills and students knowledge on part of speech. I choose this game because it is not just a sit-and-think game, instead they have to do some gestures while thinking. It was aimed to make the students being active and at the same time learn something. 

We Go Together!

Objectives:      -To enhance students’ thinking skill

-To pair the students up based on the objects they pick up and have them say why they are together

Skills: Speaking

Control: Free

Level: Basic and above

Materials: Picture of objects or things that related to nature and environment.

Preparation:

Prepare as many pictures of things that related to nature and environment. Choose the pairs of things that have connection with each other.

For examples: water, fish, soil, worm, tree, sun, flowers, bees, cat, dog, etc.

Procedure:

Demostration: 5 minutes

1.      Facilitators explains the rules of the games

2.      Facilitators show the examples and practice it with the students

Playing the game : 20 minutes

1.      Display the pictures on the desk/wall.

2.      Each students need to choose one of them and hold it.

3.      When all the students have the pictures, they need to show to the group.

4.      The students need to form pairs based on the connection existing between their objects.

5.      After form a pair, students need to tell the group why they are together and why they need each other. They may create their own story or situation in order to strengthen their reasons why they need each other.

6.      The pairs that come up with the most creative reasons will be the winner.  

Debriefing : 5 minutes

1.      Students are asked on what they have learnt from the game.

Variation:

To make this activity more challenging, come up with the concept of the recycling. For example, pen and  empty mineral bottle. Students will come up with the ideas to use the bottle to make pencil case. Other than the concept of recycling, ask the students to come up with an unsual purpose for the object. For example, horse and house. So, they can say, in order to save the environment, they will use the horse to ride home.

Comment:

This is just a simple game. Actually this game is suitable for the warm up activity that will also pairs the students up for what will come next. However, this game will train the students to think creatively and to think outside the box in order to create a reason on why the need should be together and need each other. Other than that, this game also create students’ awareness on our real life situation that is sometimes we need to depend to others in order to make our life more comfortable.

Reference/Acknowledgement:

Thelma Peres and Elton Carvalho from www.gamesinclass.blogspot.my

Bang Bang - Vocabulary Game

Bang Bang – Vocabulary Games

1)   Introduction:

Assalamualaikum and evening everyone. The game that I have chosen is “Bang Bang”. Why is it called “Bang Bang” is because through the game the students have to be in a cowboy character where they will have a duel with their opponent group. Basically, this game aims to identify the students’ vocabularies. The lesson plan is as follow:

2) Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, students should be able:

a) To enhance students’ vocabulary skill.

b) To enhance students’ thinking skill and immediate response.

3) Level: Low to Intermediate 

4) Language Skill:

a) Vocabularies

b) Speaking 

c) Listening 

5) Duration: 30 minutes

6) Materials: 

a) Flashcards, 

b) Toy Guns, 

c) Cowboy hat, 

d) Mini-Whiteboard, 

e) Whiteboard Marker.

7) Preparation:

Prepare around 30 Flashcards that are related to nature and environment such as animals, plant, and environment. Create a mini-whiteboard by laminated A4 papers.

8) Procedure:

       a) Briefing (3 minutes): 

1. Students are divided into two groups.
2. Facilitator introduces the game "Bang Bang" to the students.
3. Students are needed to sit in rows according to groups and number themselves. The student sitting in front will be number one. 
4. Facilitator explains the rules of the game to the students.

       b) Demonstration (2 minutes)

1. Facilitator demonstrates the game to the students so that the students would be clear about the game. 

       c) Playing the game (15 minutes) 

1. Facilitator explains to students that they are cowboys and they are going to be involved in a duel and each team will be given a toy gun and cowboy hat.
2. The first students from both groups will come to the front holding the toy gun and wearing the cowboy hat and facing each other. 
3. Between the students there will be a table and on top of it there are a mini whiteboard and whiteboard marker. 
4. Teacher will choose one card and say “How do you say this?” and show the flashcard to them. 
5. To answer the question the student will have to shoot their opponent first and say “Bang Bang”. 
6. Only then, the student could answer the question. If the student answers the question correctly, he/she will have to spell the answer on the mini-whiteboard. 
7. The student who has been shot will be out of the game and have to sit down. Meanwhile, the student who wins will remain standing until he/she is “killed” by other student from the opponent group. The next students from the loosing team will come to the front and play against the students who win.
8. However, if the student gives the wrong answer, then the other student will have the opportunity to shoot and say the correct answer. 
9. The game will continue until there is only one group who remain standing and this group will be the winner.

       d) Debriefing (5 minutes)

1.     Facilitator asks students on what they have learnt from the game.

2.     Facilitator summarizes the lesson from the game. 

9) Rules

1. Students have to wait for their turn to be the cowboy and the other students who are not the cowboy at the moment will have to remain silent.
2. For the correct answer 1 point will be given and for the correct spelling 2 points will be given. 

10) Comment

This game is suitable to enhance students’ vocabulary. I believe this game is appropriate as the “appetizer” for a lesson or we could say it as set induction since this game is casual and leisure where the students could prepare themselves first. Besides, I’ve chosen this game as I believe this game would be fun and interactive for primary students who are at low or intermediate level. Students nowadays are active, adventure and highly impatient and they want to be involved in what, where and how they learn. Thus, this game is suitable as it enhance students’ motor skills as it requires students to think and act fast. Moreover, in this game, the students are required to moves a lot. The students would learn better in a fun and competitive environment.

11) Reference: iTesl Journal

Prepared by Fatin Nursahira binti Saiful Azni (A12PP0025)