I teach two ESL (English as a Second Language) classes, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: one with two older students, and the other with five younger students. Friday comes, and I am so ready to be DONE! So, on this particular Friday, we played (learning) games in my ESL classes. Here’s my picture for day six of The Gypsy Teacher Photo a Day.
This is the younger class. Four out of five of the students are in the combined second and third grade class. And I had a hunch (okay, I heard from their teacher) that they really liked to play hangman. So that’s what we did! It is so funny to see them play- because they guess the odd letters that are most likely NOT in the word! They are a fun bunch, and it’s a great way to get them speaking English too!
I played a game called Mastermind with my older students. but with a twist. I started out by thinking of a four-letter word, and writing four x’s on the top of the board. Then, I would give them a hint, such as a category, and they would have to guess four letter words related to it. With every guess, I would mark another set of symbols on the board. X’s unless the letter in their word was in my word. If the letter was there but in the wrong place, I would put a slash (/). And if they correctly got the letter in the right spot, I would write a check mark. Whoever guesses the word right gets to think of the next word. Here’s an example:
Let’s say my word is LEAF. My hint was something in the classroom, as I have a giant leaf hanging from the wall. Since I don’t have a check mark symbol, the symbol for getting the correct letter in the correct space is a *. My game might go like this:
XXXX
XXXX- BOOK
X*XX- DESK
X*XX- PENS
/*/X- FELT
****- LEAF
It”s a really fun and challenging game! It would be great for any upper elementary students, especially great for ESL!
What are your favorite lessons or activities for ESL students?
Much Love, Allie
