Who Am I? Where Am I? and What Am I? are well-known games with a couple of variations. I've revised previous materials I made to save reinventing the wheel, and have further simplified the language so that (except for names, numbers and fillers, e.g. Ah, Hmm, Oh), 94% is A1 and rest is A2 vocabulary (according to Word Kitchen). The materials are designed for students to use in a self-access (language learning) centre and play out of class.
In-Class Use
After students have had a tour of the self-access centre and start to get settled into the 1st semester, I introduce a selection of games like this in class (which is part of an oral communication course with a focus on fluency development).
Students choose which game they want to play and I am there to help if they wish to ask any questions but are generally able to figure it out amongst themselves. You can find more games here:
http://www.konan-wu.ac.jp/~espace/games.html
Out-of-class Use (Self-Access Centre)
Between classes, they have to complete a self-access centre 'challenge'. For the week in question, they must choose a different game and then answer a short online Reflection & Evaluation questionnaire. (Feedback on the games has generally been very positive - see comments below.)
They usually play during lunchtime or between classes in a free period or at the end of the day. If they need help or want to play with someone, there is always a Learning Advisor in the centre and sometimes a Student Volunteer Staff or International Students speaking English. However, as materials are photocopiable, they can also take a copy and basically play anytime, anywhere.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a0kPu_NUgRmH4xhLqYLSe5IvGZO7_Rs9/view?usp=sharing
Feedback on Games 1/3
ReplyDelete100 student responses (2013-2014)
46% used English for 0-10 minutes
41% used English for 11-20 minutes
Given that almost all students previously used no English out of class, this was an excellent start. When the 'challenge' was introduced, it was expected that it would take them about 5 minutes to find and figure out how to play, then they would play for 5-10 minutes and then spend 5-10 minutes to answer the survey.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/yHfm4OH9ut56O3qzIeCaZ4ATJ0TyNTdStHddiPufl-FvR-HmDU1nhAOR4gcWlefAGyGZGm1TxVyddYsl9E6qD9TAEhMDLrdqxQc=s0
Feedback on Games 2/3
ReplyDeleteThe overwhelming majority of students only played with their friends, partly due to the high ratio of students to the Learning Advisor and limited availability of Student Staff or International Students.
(It would be interesting to find out how things have changed over the past few years since I left.)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/X6MrjRkKoZi-Voof0gGO-f2FF_6OwA5tf0VGPbg-Al__T40CRurlMmmN6aOqGvMBvfkv9fFJfH6UvmR3zzXuAWm4MQfdwyY9jxk=s0
Over 80% of students agree that it was fun/interesting, whilst the majority agreed it was easy to understand and useful, motivated them to use English, and they would not only try it again but recommend it to a friend.
ReplyDeletehttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_6vgc_8fCUqoJq7sVSLaSlB6Jmf3vdEgKyxEj6fiwqDGlGLCl5oc5zskB3kS_M7rHD3PxooC48BmxlfLIgykSK7Z_qzOk9vKRoE=s0
The following year, I'm very happy to report that there was a massive increase in the number of student staff to cover the most popular times just before, during, and after lunch:
ReplyDeletekonan-wu.ac.jp - English Zone
Phil Brown It´s wonderful how a survey can give us a huge feedback about our work!
ReplyDeleteDanielle Sales Yes. Since we were setting up a new centre, we really wanted to find out if what we were doing was effective and being well-received by our students. We also needed to be accountable to the university due to the investment.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the team I worked in also agreed that we didn't want to just give the students 'yet another survey' for other people's benefit so we worked hard to ask questions to promote reflection, learner development and autonomy.
Hi Phil,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your materials and for the background info. I love the fact that your students tried these materials out and I was able to read the feedback – and your survey results. How cool is that? Thanks for adding the link to the other games too. I think you should write a games book!
Here are some comments on the pdf (Who am I?)
In my experience one of the most difficult things to write are instructions for games (or more complicated activities). You’ve done a good job here and the example is an ideal way of showing what to do.
I think the photocopiableshet could be improved with a few small tweaks. Ask yourself: Who is Reading this? A teacher? Students? And change a few small things. I think having a quick look at some published materials of this kind could help.
E.g.
Title (as you have)
Brief description … This is a game for two or more players. The object of the game is to …
The example (as you have) – but maybe stating it’s an example. Something like: See the example below.
So, rather than having numbered tasks, you could just imagine this game wasn’t for a class and imagine how it would look in a real world situation.
I love the variations.
Katherine Bilsborough Thank you for the constructive feedback and encouragement as always.
ReplyDeleteA Book of ELT Games might not be such a bad idea for a long-term project :-)