ESS Club
Yesterday I spent some time after school helping the foreign exchange student from Oak Park write his college application essays. Wow! That really takes me back. Hard to believe I was doing the same thing 10 YEARS AGO!
As we were working, one of my second year students, also a member of the English Speaking Society (ESS), came up to me. She had, obviously, prepared what she wanted to say before she came into the staff room.
“ESS club wants to invite you to your welcome party,” she said.
“Oh, really?! That sounds lovely. When is it?” I replied.
“Now. The party is right now,” she said.
And so, off I went to my welcome party. It ended up being a really good time. They brought snacks and drinks. We sat around drinking and snacking and learning more about one another. I played a name game with them that I had played many times with my students in America. Now, hopefully, I will remember their names, and not just the funny thing about them.
Towards the end of the party, they invited me to come again to ESS club next week. I am excited that I will have a regular opportunity to hang out with these twelve young ladies. They were really quite something. They also asked me to bring a game to play next week.
So, dear readers, do you have any good ideas? I need simple games that can be played by a group of 12 girls. Something that makes them talk in English, preferably, without being too difficult or demanding. Games that will get them to laugh, have fun using English, and realize that it really isn’t as hard as they thought. Stop lurking around and give me your ideas, Please!
The first large-group game that comes to my head is Spoons. It’s great fun. All you need is one or two decks of playing cards and a spoon for everyone playing minus one. I don’t think it’s condusive to speaking English. I mean, you could play the game just laughing and not really talking, but it’s so much fun. Another thought would be Pictionary with a rule to speak in English. How about a classic game of Telephone? Or what about that game where you write out identities on an index card and tape them to everybody’s back. Each person doesn’t know who they are, but everyone else does. Everyone goes around talking to each other, giving hints and such, until everyone guesses their own identities.
These are just off the top of my head. Personally, for large groups, I’ve always liked the ice-breaker game — Human Knot. Everyone huddles in a group, sticks both their hand in the middle and takes hold of someone else’s hand. The rest of the game involves everyone trying to untangle themselves without letting go of each other’s hands. There is a lot of talking, but you’re basically repeating stuff like, “Now, step over our arms and then so-and-so walks under our arms, and you guys have to twist around to your left.” There’s not a lot of verbal variation, but there is a lot of laughing.
We played a game with Marc and the kids (and it drove him crazy on the last 5 hour trip to St. L.!) You may remember it.
I called it “the apple game”. Basically it starts with a statement like “I like apples but I don’t like fruit” and the remaining people have to figure out why. But, they can only do so by creating another sentence in the same format.
“I like grapes but I don’t like strawberries”–(which would be wrong) and you would say, “No, I like strawberries but I don’t like grapes.
or “I like baseball but I don’t like games”–(which is correct). (The answer is that you “like” anything with a double letter in the word, but don’t like anything that doesn’t)
They can’t state what they think it is. They can only use sentences in the format. It may be possible to work in pairs also, if vocabulary is limited.
You keep offering sentences to get them to figure it out and they offer them back to see if they got it. It’s very conversational and can work with all sorts of manipulations (words with no “e”, even/odd lettered words, only 6 lettered words, etc.) Once they get the premise of the game, everyone is on an even playing field.
I would be interested to see if it works well in your new group.
You can’t ask direct questions. Once someone figures it out, they can participate by offering sentences too. The object is to get everyone to figure it out.
Maddening and probably a bit too difficult for those not versed in the mysteries of spelling in English. Though this was one of the first ones I thought of as well…
I think that the memory game would be fun for the young ladies. You start the game by saying something like “Yesterday we went on a picnic” and the second person needs to repeat what you said and add something of their own like “and we ate watermelon” and the third person would have to say “Yesterday we went on a picnic and we ate watermelon and then we played baseball” etc., etc. Each time the story is repeated it gets easier to remember but at the same time it gets longer. By the time you go through all twelve girls it will be a hilarious riot.
I got this one from a German teacher. She called it “Pressure Cooker.” All the class stands up. The teacher starts the story “One day I got on the bus and was surprised to see. . . ” (or some such story line.) Then the first student must speak in english only as fast as they can for 45 seconds. What they say does not have to make sense, but it must be in English. If anyone hears any Japanese being used, they clap or shout or ring a bell and the student sits down. Then the next student continues the story for 45 seconds, all in english and sits down if any Japanese word is used. The goal is to be the last one standing.
The Apple Game. Excellent Idea!
I remember playing that game in the car, and getting totally frustrated! I think that once I explained the game and gave some examples, especially if I wrote them down, they would have no problem!
Thanks for the idea!!
I think your ideas of spoons and the human knot would be good ones. They wouldn’t require terribly much English, but they would encourage team building and fun. I think if I can get this group to think that I am fun, that is half the battle. The more comfortable and relaxed they will be with me, the better.
Thanks for the help, Rollergirl!!
Marc,
I was similarly frustrated by the game, but I think with a solid visual component, like writing all the words on a list on a blackboard, it would be made easier. I will let you know what happens when I try.
Memory Game also sounds good. I can imagine that the girls could have a lot of fun with this one.
Pressure Cooker! I had never heard of this game before, but it really sounds like a good one. A fun way to get them talking, for an extended time in English. I can’t wait to try it!
We are off to a great start on ideas, anyone else have any more??