Teaching English Toolbox

Games and Getting Started

From Dall E: a surrealist painting of a cute cat playing games with mice in an elementary school classroom
  • ESL Kids Games (also check out their You Tube channel for examples)
  • There are SO many useful sites - your best bet is to google "ESL games" or "Scout Games" and you will find many (the old MacScouter website offers a wealth of ideas)!
  • This is a link to board games on the ELT Forum website, but do use their search function to find more games and ideas!

When you start with beginners in English, you will find that many of them are false beginners!! Third graders listen to music, travel and play games - their exposure outside of the classroom is often quite good! Keep in mind to get from A1 to A2, you should consider:

  • always working on a sentence level, not just a word level. 
  • speaking English in language lessons.
  • staying away from meaningless language activities such as coloring.
  • writing in English - don't neglect it!

There are many good starter units at your disposal, such as the First Choice Starting Out Pack, online materials, and more, but generally, just start with something YOU are excited about. Keep in mind that the learners already know each others' names and where they live and what color eyes they have, so you might want to start with some CONTENT point, like creative cooking or a song!
Try to set up a good routine as well so your teaching (and learning) becomes efficient. Think about:

  • Doing a diagnostic test such as the Oxford Placement Test to see where your learners are when you get them;
  • Starting every lesson with a bell ringer (e.g. copying a tongue twister into their notebooks and saying it 5 times);
  • Having a quiet reading time for around 10 minutes each week;
  • Playing lots of games or using lots of brain breaks (GoNoodle or Kid Power Up, anybody?);
  • Even third graders can handle some "controlled" open tasks or projects (a poster? A mini book?) because that is part of what school is about - learning to manage one's time and work;
  • Introducing a weekly plan so they learn to work like this and then you meet the needs of different learners;
  • Setting up stations so you don't always have to do listening practice with the whole class (if there are stations, then learners who need to listen twice can do so without you having to think of alternative "while listenings" for the faster/stronger kids if you were to do this in class).

Learners are excited to learn English so don't take the fun away by using the local language for the wrong purposes and think about something (like a Readers Theater or a Class Breakfast in English) that might get the parents involved and enjoying these new skills!

New Ways in Teaching with Games - TESOL

These videos are part of the New Ways in Teaching with Games book and accompanying website which is available at the TESOL bookstore. The accompanying website is found here and there you have access to 100 games!

Nurmukhamedov, U., & Sadler, R. (2020). New Ways in Teaching with Games. TESOL Press. Available from: TESOL International Association.

Boggle

Compliments

Suggestions for getting learners from A1-A2

Below is a list of suggestions for getting primary school learners from an A1 to at last an A2 level during their primary years. Discuss these points: What might be a challenge for you as a teacher? for the learners? How might you overcome the challenge? Is anything missing?

–Oxford Young Learners - DIAGNOSTIC test

  • Do a diagnostic or placement test such as the Oxford Young Learners test
  • Focus on soft skills in English lessons, they are the focus on the foundations of any local curriculum
  • Teach content and language, use CLIL
  • Be a bit skeptical of your local curriculum, use official measures, e.g. https://www.englishprofile.org/ and the CEFR
  • Use books from larger publishers (e.g. Global Stage by MacMillan or National Geographic series)
  • Have a focus on independent work and projects and use adaptive tools (e.g. Epic, Newsela, etc…)
  • Don't use large tests, use projects, frequent pop or small quizzes, observations, …
  • Technology ≠ Technology so consider how you implement tools such as DeepL
  • Mediation ≠ Translation so consider when the local language makes sense and if it does at all
  • Strategies ≠ Strategies - if highlighting or finding parallel words are not effective, what might be?
  • Use authentic resources
  • Keep up with changes in the English language (on foot or by foot?)
  • Focus «Can Dos» - “chunks” or “Multi-word expressions” – not just single words!
  • Embed routines, rituals and chit chat, and always give instructions in English but don't translate them
  • Teach all four skills in every lesson, don't over-focus on one or the other for a longer period of time and write from day 1
  • Speak English
  • What are important elements of first lessons in English?
  • What are good habits from the beginning to help learners get from A1 to A2 and to manage your lesssons?
  • What do you have to consider if you are the English language specialist teacher?
  • Can you describe at least two games and what they help learners develop on a linguistic level? Be more precise than "vocab" or "grammar"!
  • How can a game be made sustainable - what can learners do AFTER the game to consolidate and profit from having played?