ABC with bottle caps games and a… Beanstalk !

Have your little ones just mastered the alphabet? Then it is time for a revision! And what could be a better way to revise than by playing a game? After searching online, I found this incredible idea: The ABC Beanstalk on this amazing blog! I tried it and it really worked! Why don’t you give it a try, too?

https://rockinteachermaterials.wordpress.com

I found this idea a great one, since it can also be used as an in-class project which can later decorate the wall of your classroom! Let’s take it step by step.

Firstly, make sure that your students are familiar with the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. Prepare the beanstalk and bring it to the class, but make sure that you haven’t glued the leaves. Give the leaves to your students and ask them to put them in alphabetical order. Then, you can glue the leaves all together.

Now that the beanstalk is ready, it’s time for a board game! Give each student a game piece and ask them to place them at the bottom of the beanstalk. Explain that they have to roll the dice and move forward the number they roll. Once they land on a leaf, they have to say/spell a word starting with that letter. If not, then they have to move one leaf back. The students who reaches the cloud first is the winner. Make sure you reward the winners! You can give him or her a big sticker. I often play this game in teams and not in pairs, using a big beanstalk poster on the wall. In this case, I award them one point, if they get the word right and a second point , if they manage to spell it right, too.

This is a fun and engaging way to revise the alphabet that your students will certainly love!

Bottle caps games

a)HOW TO PLAY the “Bottle Caps ALPHABET” memory GAME

(1) Make sure that all the caps are messed up so that they aren’t in order.

(2) Turn all of the caps over so you cannot see the letters anymore.

(3) Place them in neat rows.

(4) A player turns over 2 caps.

….. If there is a match, they put those caps in their own pile and then gets to take another turn.

….. If there is NOT a match, the player then turns the caps back over ( in the same spot that they found them) . The next player then gets to take a turn.

(5) The game is over when all of the matches are found. The player with the most caps wins the game.

b) The “Bottle caps ALPHABET” word game

(1) Make sure that all the caps are messed up so that they aren’t in order, on the floor.

(2) Divide the class in two teams

(3) Invite two students, representing the two teams,to come where the caps are

(4) Give them one word and ask them to try and write using the bottle caps, as fast as possible!

(5) The fastest student, wins a point for his/her team

(6) The game is over when all of the students have had their turn. The team with the most points, wins the game.

Let’s have a ball, with a ball!

I love trying activities, which I find online or hear about in Seminars and Conventions, in my classes, to see how they work! These amazing ball games ,which I read about here, few months ago, really worked !! So, I had to share!

By the way, busyteacher.org, is by far, my most favourite site!

With a database of 17,246 free printable worksheets and lesson plans for teaching English. BusyTeacher will save you hours in preparation time.

Highly recommended to all!

Sometimes, low tech is better! Even the most financially lacking classrooms or schools can provide fun, creative activities for their students!

So, here are some great activities for our English class that will only require a ball

Spelling Ball –This game is as simple as ABC. Have your students stand in a big circle. Say a word and toss the ball to one of your students. Student says the first letter of the word and tosses the ball to a classmate, who has to say the second letter, and then tosses the ball to another. Students who make a mistake must sit down and play starts again with the teacher. The last student standing is the winner!

Shoot for Points-Set up a trash can, bin, or any container that will serve as your “basket”. Students line up. Choose a topic or grammar point, for example Past Simple. Ask each student a question: Where did you go last weekend? If student uses the verb in simple past correctly, they may shoot for points: 10 points if they score; 5 if they miss, but answered the question correctly.

Choose Your Victim-This is a great way to make a Q &A session more “active”. Students stand in a circle. Give them a grammar point to practice through questions, for example, tell them to ask questions with “ever” so they practice Present Perfect. First student asks a question with “ever” (Have you ever been to London?) and tosses the ball to a classmate who must answer correctly to stay in the game and earn the right to ask a question. Those who make a mistake must leave the circle.

Freeze!-This game is ideal for little ones! Practice vocabulary with flashcards. First, teach students the meaning of “Freeze!” as stop. Students sit in a wide circle with a set of flashcards in the center. Students pass the ball around the circle. Tell them they can’t hold the ball for more than a second. Cover your eyes while they do this and say, “Freeze!” The student who has the ball must stop and take a flashcard from the pile. Depending on your students’ ages and level, ask them to either say the word or use it in a sentence.

It’s a bomb!-This is a great way for students to introduce themselves and learn their classmates’ names in a first lesson. Also a fun way to practice or review possessive pronouns! Have students sit in a circle. Give one of them the ball, and say, “It’s a bomb! The timer is ticking (use an egg timer!)” Tell them they have to say their name, pass the ball, and say their classmate’s name: My name is Juan. Your name is Maria. The student who has the “bomb” when the timer goes off, leaves the circle. Have students re-arrange themselves in the circle so they’re sitting next to different students, and start again.* I have also used this game to revise vocabulary! It works great with spelling tasks.

Description Dodgeball-Use a very light, soft ball for this game, as students will be trying to hit each other! Have students line up on one side of the classroom (if you can play this in the schoolyard, better!) One student stands in the front next to you holding the ball. Describe one of the students in your class: This student is the tallest in the class. The student you are describing has to run to avoid being hit by the student with the ball. If the student is hit, he/she becomes the next thrower. You may also have students wear tags with names of cities, animals, or places for you to describe.I have used the same game to revise parts of the body. The teacher or a student, describes one of the students standing in the circle and the student with the ball, tosses it to the student with that characteristic. He must then spell /translate/define etc a word to stay in the game. eg ” He has blue eyes-She is has long brown hair…”

Basketball Dare-Practice giving commands. Set up a “basket” far enough away for it to be a challenge, but not impossible for students to score. Students line up and shoot for the basket. If students score, they get to give you a command you must follow: “Walk like a monkey”, “Say something in Chinese”, “Stand on one foot for 30 seconds”, etc… Make sure you establish some ground rules, for example, students can’t give you commands that involve shouting, leaving the classroom, etc…

Mini Golf spelling game

The only equipment players need are a putter and a golf ball, which are supplied at the course.

There are two teams.

Players use their putters to hit the golf ball from the tee area and straight into the hole. The objective is to make it into each hole in as few strokes as possible. Every stroke taken counts as a point, although I limit players to a maximum of five strokes per round . The player with the fewest strokes at the end of the round wins those points for his team IF he manages to spell a word he/she is given by the opposing team or the teacher, correctly.

Enjoy! I am sure your students will just love them!

EASTER Hopscotch

I can assure you that, students remember and correctly spell about the same number of EASTER words after learning with HOPSCOTCH, as they do after a teacher-centered lesson.

Importantly however, they enjoy playing this game very much and they report better attitudes towards studying English after learning vocabulary with HOPSCOTCH and games in general, compared to traditional teaching.

All that is required for this fun game is a few Easter sight words and sidewalk chalk or masking tape.

On rainy days, consider using masking tape on a floor and write each Easter word on a piece of tape or index card – just make sure kids do not slip on the index card while playing the game.

You can also use the “portable” Hopscotch, like the one in the photo below…You can carry it with you to a different classroom each time, in case you don’t have your own classroom!

You can play with Easter pictures to help aid recognition or practice new words.

Add numbers to aid in number recognition and practice plurals. eg ” Seven eggs”
Add colors to help with color recognition, too.” Seven red eggs”
Play with spelling words. Have child read word, then look away and practice orally spelling the word.

With older students, play with vocabulary words –child tells you definition of word they land on.

Play with English words and mother tongue .For example, write an Easter word like “Church” and child has to tell me word in mother tongue..

Spell hopscotch:Give each student an Easter word to spell as she jumps through the boxes. If she spells the word wrong, she must repeat that word on her next turn. The first person to get through the entire board wins a point for her team.

8.Word hopscotch:Method: – Draw a simple hopscotch outline on the floor with chalk , use tape or use the “Portable” version of it.

– Children take turns to hop (walk or jump) from square to square – On each square they say an Easter word that they know. These may be words in general, or words associated with a particular Easter topic or theme, eg Spring, Food, Traditions etc. – When they run out of words they must ‘give up’ .

Variation: – Teacher puts pictures /flashcards of familiar Easter objects on each square -Children must name the objects as they hop onto the square…… More difficult: -Children must say something about the object in the picture.

ABC fun games

Learning the English alphabet is the very first step to learning the language and achieving fluency. And for our beginning students just learning how to use the English alphabet, here are some fun games I have tried, so far,to help teach and review the ABC in class.

Most of them I have found online and adapted for my classes.

I have been inspired to use several of them in ELT seminars and teacher development courses I have attended….

I have also included, few games I have come up with, while improvising in class…

I am also uploading some photos, taken in class this school year, of games that have worked and have been much fun!

Well, here it goes!

CUP HUNT

Write the letter of the Alphabet on the white sticker or directly onto the cups.
Model how to play in whole group or small group setting.
Have the children close their eyes.
Place a treat under one of the cups.
Chant, “Eye Spy, I Spy.”
Children open their eyes.
Call on students one at a time to guess which cup is hiding the eyeball.
Students read letter of the cup where they think the eyeball/treat is.
Students lift the cup to see if they are right
Game continues until the treat is found.
Repeat game again.
They can keep the treat, only if they manage to say a word which starts with it as soon as they find it!

These cups take up less room and work great for letters, words, and numbers too. The students can:

Say the letter.
Say the sound.
Name something that begins with the letter.
Put the cups in ABC order first.

LETTER MONSTER SWATTER

I was inspired to create this the other day and I thought I’d share it if anyone would like to use it. I just printed 2 copies (one for each team ), then cut out the different pieces and glued them together. Then I laminated it and taped it onto a fly swatter with the middle part cut out. It can work as a letter monster, a word monster, or even a number monster

LETTER PLATES and CLOTHES PIN LETTER MATCH

I have to thank my friend Andrianni Tsarkou for reminding me of this idea , during her EEPEK workshop , last November in Larissa.

I used a large paper plate and a medium size for this one. The first I simply took a marker and wrote the letters around it and the second I used my cool “Jumpo ” stickers (needed the bigger plate for the size). Then I took my clothes pins and wrote the letters on those too. I put them in a bowl next to the plate and there you go!

Kids match clothes pins with lowercase letters to uppercase letters on this paper plate.

You can also combine these two ideas ,like I did in the photos, below..

WRITING WITH BOTTLE CAPS

Make a set of “alphabet” caps to help students learn the letters. Write a letter of the alphabet on each cap . Make two or three caps for common letters such as A, E, I, O, U, C, D, H, L, N, R, S, T.

You can give the students words in capital letters to write them in small letters, and vice versa. They work in teams. The team which writes the word faster, wins!

More ideas:

Using the alphabet caps, help students to spell out their names. Are there other words they might be able to spell out with the caps, such as “mom”, “dad”, “dog”, or “ball”?
Place all your alphabet caps in a bag and shake them up. Ask a student to draw one cap out of the bag and read the letter out loud. Then she/he has to think of something that starts with that letter. Allow for phonetic spellings, for example if she/he says “phone” for the letter “f”.

Even more ideas, I have come across are:

Write letters or chunks on them and make words.

Colored circle stickers are perfect size for bottle caps.

Write words/numbers before you try to stick them on. Its hard to write once they’ve been stuck to the cap –

Write words (person, place, things, actions) on each color and pull out to use as a writing prompt –

Write letters and make a scrabble game –

Write high frequency words and have kids create sentences (color code by parts of speech –

Elkonin Technique for hearing sounds of a given word. Pull down caps as each sound is heard –

Compound Word Matching Game –

Write words on caps and put them in ABC order –

Write sight words on lids and try to stack them in towers up as you read more and more words –

Game pieces for sight word tic tac toe

ABC MINI BOOKS

For this you need: white paper & old magazines or simply ask your students to draw their own pictures. Each week we choose a new letter to work on. Write the upper and lower case letter on a piece of white paper, then go through old magazines with your Ss to find pictures that begin with that letter (or just draw their own pictures). Let them cut them out and glue them on the paper, which helps them improve their cutting skills too! The Ss love to look at it over and over.

For instructions about how to make a mini book, read here…

THE HAMMMER GAME

I found these hammers at JUMBO, after we had finished with our ABC and basic vocabulary.

I could have made some cards with words on them but, I finally decided to write those words on the board and play there, instead.But, it worked out fine, that way, too!

I called out a word and who ever hit it first with the hammer got to keep it for their team.

THE SNOWBALL THROW ABC GAME

I use the same game for word recognition, before we finish the Alphabet. If you wish to do the same after you have finished teaching the Alphabet and some basic vocabulary, you can ask the players to spell the word they hit, or you can spell a word for the players to spot and hit! The teacher could also, call a word in the student’s mother tongue . The players find and throw the snowball at the corresponding English word on the board, to win a point for their team.

If younger students don’t know the letter sounds yet, you can just call out a letter and they can throw a snowball at it once they find it on the wall. For a faster paced game, you can call out a letter sound and the players throw a snowball at the corresponding letter.

TOUCH AND KNOW

Blindfolds and oversized cardboard letters or magnetic letters ( I have bought them from JUMBO) help our juniors get a feel for the alphabet in this tactile game. Prepare several letter cutouts ( or use the magnetic ones, like I did) and place them in a box. In turn, have each child wear a blindfold as he draws a letter from the box, feels its shape, and identifies the letter by touch.We play this game in teams and it’s great fun!

ABC RELAY RACE

Have two students, one from each team, stand next to their team alphabet line, on the board . Explain to them that they have to run and write the corresponding small/capital letter , next to each one of the letters in their line .You can even work with letter sounds or ask them to write a word that starts with each letter they see. There are numerous variations of this game… The first team to finish, wins.

This is such a fun game! My students loved it!

Practice letter recognition and letter sounds with a fun game that gets kids moving.

A fun variation, can be watched here…

And for more ideas, you can read this …

THE SNAIL BOARD GAME

Well, if I am not mistaken, the original idea belongs to Papadeli Sophia but, I have seen several variations of it, online, so far!

I ask them to say/spell a word that starts with each letter.

An fun ABC board game, played in pairs.

DRAW IT, MIME IT OR SPELL IT

We play this game, with new words or vocabulary I wish them to revise.

Get students into groups of three or four and ask them to sit around a table. Put a set of picture cards face down on each table. Distribute the cards evenly among the group. Tell them their cards are secret! They must not show them or talk about them. Students now think of how they can draw it, spell or mime it. Give them time, but not too much. Students take turns in , miming, spelling or drawing, while the others in the group guess. The student with the fastest correct answer gets the card with the word. The winner is the person with the most correct answers.

THE ABC SONG PASS-THE-BALL GAME

To help my students remember the ABC song, I have them sing it several times, of course. This is a fun way to do so!

Children develop listening skills, and practice their ABC as they pass the ball around the circle in this cooperative musical ABC game. I tell the children that when they hear a “new” letter , then the ball is passed to the next student.

The last student holding the ball when the song finishes, is the winner and gets special stickers!

They just can’t get enough of this game! We get to sing the ABC song again and again….

If there is doubt as to who is holding the ball, for example half way through a changeover, then tell them to play “paper, scissors, rock”.

Insist that they only pass the ball, not throw it!!

The snowball throw Alphabet game and.. a Letter Monster!

Students love sports and any game that gives them the opportunity to throw or kick a ball at something is a win! This game, which I have come across on Pinterest, is a great way to bring winter fun indoors . Plus, it gives the students a chance to burn off their energy when stuck inside. It reinforces letter/word recognition and letter sounds while also developing gross motor skills like coordination. It is so simple and easy to set up too!

Materials

Package of ping pong balls (affiliate) –You can also make a sticky tape ball or a simple paper ball.

ABC or vocabulary flashcards

Tape

A marker or other writing utensil

Once I have all the flashcards taped to the wall,or letters/words written on the board, I explain the game to the kids.

They work in two teams. I tell them that they have to throw snowballs at the letters/words – pretend snowballs! They need to hold on to a snowball and wait for me to call out a letter.. Afterward, they have to locate the letter on the wall and throw the snowball at it.

Then, they tell me what sound that letter makes or what words start with that letter or the name of the letter in the Alphabet…. If they are right, they win a point for their team.

This is tons of fun! We have done most of the game variations above and my little ones enjoyed them all. Some of the letters were high up on the board, so he had the extra challenge of trying to hit those letters with the ball.

I love it when my students are happy! Games, make them happy, for sure! I am sure, your students will enjoy this play-based literacy activity, too !

A nice ABC variation that my students love, has to do with a….Monster!!

I was inspired to create this last year reading an interesting blog post and I thought I’d share it if anyone would like to use it. I just print a copy for each team . Then I laminate it and tape it onto a fly swatter with the middle part cut out. It can work as a letter monster, a word monster, or even a number monster. I also found a cute little rhyme to go with it.

Here’s the template.

This strategy is a fun way for students to get engaged. It teaches reading in a fun way. It helps students look at all the letters in a word one by one. This strategy also teaches blending. The students look at one letter at a time and blend them together to make a word. This strategy can be applied to all areas across the curriculum. Students will be assessed by using the letter monster swatter.

Vocabulary Hopscotch

Today, I would like to refer to the potential of HOPSCOTCH to engage students, as well as to facilitate the acquisition of factual knowledge (English vocabulary) and to improve the attitudes of students towards learning English as a second language. I can assure you that, students remember and correctly spell about the same number of new vocabulary words after learning with HOPSCOTCH as they do after a teacher-centered lesson. Importantly however, they enjoy playing this game very much and they report better attitudes towards studying English after learning vocabulary with HOPSCOTCH and games in general, compared to traditional teaching.

All that is required for this fun game is a few sight words -or anything else that we teach eg numbers- and sidewalk chalk or masking tape.

On rainy days, consider using masking tape on a floor and write each sight word on a piece of tape or index card – just make sure kids do not slip on the index card while playing the game.

Hopscotch activities I have found online and some of my own invention

INSTRUCTIONS:

What You Need:

chalk (multiple colors work best) for outdoor play

or use colored tape & bring the fun indoors

rock or bean bag

What To Do:

1. Using chalk make a hopscotch board.

2. In each square write target sight words, spelling words, letters, etc…

3. Child should throw rock or other item eg a bean bag,onto hopscotch board.

Whichever word the rock/bean bag lands in, is the word to be read.

4. Repeat until all words have been read/used, at least once.

Different Ways to Play:

We play this a few different ways aside from the basic way listed above.

Some rounds we read every word we hop on or

use the word in a sentence (this is especially useful for homophones)

Other times, we try to spell the target word after reading it.

Sometimes, we sing-spell the word she lands on to the tune of B-I-N-G-O.

Variations:

1. You can play with letters to help aid recognition

or practice letter sounds .

2. Use numbers to aid in number recognition.

3. Use colors to help with color recognition.

4. Play with spelling words. Have child read word,

then look away and practice orally spelling the word.

5. Play with vocabulary words –

child tells you definition of word they land on.

6. Play with English words and mother tongue

For example, write color words like red

and child has to tell me word in mother tongue..

7. Spell hopscotch:Give each student a word to spell as she jumps through the boxes. If she spells the word wrong, she must repeat that word on her next turn. The first person to get through the entire board wins a point for her team.

8. Word hopscotch:Method: Draw a simple hopscotch outline on the floor with chalk or use tape. Children take turns to hop (walk or jump) from square to square On each square they say a word that they know. These may be words in general, or words associated with a particular topic or theme, counting etc. When they run out of words they must ‘give up’ Variation: Teacher puts pictures /flashcards of familiar objects on each square Children must name the objects as they hop onto the square More difficult: Children must say something about the object in the picture

9.I sometimes use the class vocabulary dice,too.

Do you want to read more about how to play hopscotch? Here is goes…

One player goes first and begins by tossing his marker, e.g., a pebble or beanbag, into the first square. The marker must land in the square without touching the lines. If the marker does not land in the first square, his turn is over. If the marker lands in the first squares, he must hop over the first square and then continue hoping through the hopscotch pattern saying each sight word as he lands on that square. When he gets to the last square, he must turn around and hop back saying each sight word again. He must pick up his marker without touching the first square and then complete the course by hopping on it. If he successfully completed the course, he would proceed to the next square by tossing his stone to the second square and continue hopping as stated above. He must do this for each square.

A player must hop on one foot on the single squares and straddle the double squares. If a player does not hop with the proper foot, hops on the lines or looses balance while picking up her marker, her turn is over. She would begin her next turn on that square. The first player to complete the course wins the game. For younger players, consider adding a neutral square, e.g., home and allow players to rest at the end of the course. While resting they can recite the alphabet.

– See more at: http://www.sightwordsgame.com/sightwordgames/hopscotch/#sthash.kZ8ypggS.dpuf

An amazing language exchange project, with Taiwan

Spelling in Greek! How cool is that?? Language ambassadors in action…

My daughter Alexiana , holding her flashcards!

When an English speaker doesn’t understand something, he would say “It’s all Greek to me.” But have you ever wondered about the origin of that phrase? Why Greek? Why not, say, Urdu or Aramaic?

I have looked it up in a dictionary and found out that, it comes from the latin phrase Graecum est, non legitur or Graecum est, non potest legi (It is Greek; it cannot be read). Medieval Latin scribes in monasteries would write that phrase if they had trouble translatin

The Alphabet flashcards

The phrase probably entered modern English usage when William Shakespeare used it in his 1599 play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Here it is in Act 1 Scene 2:

Cassius: Did Cicero say any thing?
Casca: Ay, he spoke Greek.
Cassius: To what effect?
Casca: Nay, an I tell you that, I’ll ne’er look you i’ the face again: but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Caesar’s images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it.

Beautiful artwork!

In this context, an educated and wealthy aristocrat in the Roman Republic should be able to read and speak Greek. Casca, who speaks fluent Greek, is probably just playing dumb because he doesn’t want to repeat a remark that is unflattering to Caesar.

Obviously, when a Greek doesn’t understand something, he doesn’t say “It’s all Greek to Me.” Rather, he says, Αυτά μου φαίνονται κινέζικα, or “This strikes me as Chinese.”

Chinese is rated as one of the most difficult languages to learn.The Kangxi dictionary contains 47,035 characters!!!

Well, this language exchange was Annie’s idea ,with which I agreed at once ! Annie and me thought that, we could both try to….help solve this misunderstanding!! Or just, try to help our students get more familiar with another alphabet or characters which might have seemed weird to them till then…therefore, promote multilingualism and multiculturalism!

To start with, Annie came up with the idea of using flashcards, for our language exchange project! I asked my students to produce the flash cards for me. I gave each one an item to draw. I also asked them to make a second flashcard with the one letter of the Greek Alphabet and a third one with the word of the item they had drawn on their first card, in greek !They were all later mounted on card to make the set. There were 3 different piles: one with the alphabet , 24 letters, one with the words only and a third one with the words in picture cards, both in Greek and English.

We also, decided to send our partners in Taiwan ,one of the books teachers use to teach Greek language to the first graders in all Greek schools..she was asked to show it to her students and tell them it was our first graders greek language book!

Word flashcards

My partner teacher in Taiwan, Annie Tsai did something similar: She asked her students to make flashcards of some basic/interesting Chinese characters and they ‘ve recorded a few simple greeting language video clips. They also created beautiful and very artistic picture flashcards , and a sepearate pile of word flashcards for each one of the picture flashcards!The words on them, were written both in mandarin and english!

The activities we did in my class using the mandarin flashcards, were the following:

Memory Activities

Memory Tester

I placed a selection of word flash cards on the floor in a circle.

Students had five minutes to memorise the cards.

In groups, they had two minutes to write as many of the names they could remember as possible , on the board.Too hard to do for most of my students…but, working in teams, made it easier!

Matching Game ( old time classic)

I spreaded all the cards ( both picture and word cards ) on the floor . Students took turns flipping two cards and calling out the cards that they flipped ( in english) . If it was a pair then they kept it and got a point. If they didn’t call out the card then they couldn’t keep it.

TPR activities

Point or race to the flash cards

I stack picture flash cards around the class.

I showed their word flashcard match and students pointed or raced to the right picture card.

Again, we played this game, in teams.

Bring me

I placed a selection of picture cards and word on the floor at the far end of the class. Students stood behind a line at the other end. I shouted, ‘Bring me a shirt- one of the flashcards words, which was both written in English and in Mandarin!’ The first student who handed in both the word and the picture shirt flashcards, won the cards.

Search Game

I gave all students a word card. Then, I hid the picture cards around the classroom, on things, under things, and in things. I had the students look around the room for one or two minutes to find the word card that matched their picture card! I awarded stickers to all students who finally managed to do so. I made sure, the fastest students got bigger stickers…

This is what our friends sent us as their language delegates! Cute!

Spelling activities

Spelling Game

That was the last activity we did, on day two. I asked the students to take one pair of flashcards ( word card and its matching picture card ) at home.

They had to try to learn the mandarin spelling of that word and recall it, the very next day we had a lesson. In turns, students had to come to the board and try to write that word in mandarin without looking at their flashcards!

That was a team game , too! They got so excited that they asked me to play it , again and again…! Teams , were awared points and both winners and…not winners, special stickers!

Amazing delegates! My students, took them home! They were so excited!

Checking spelling…

The Search Game

The Matching Game..

The Matching Game..

The Matching Game..

The Point or race to the flash cards game

The Point or race to the flash cards game

Spelling Game

Spelling Game

Happy his spelling was right!

Spelling Game

The Matching Game

The Bring me game

Spelling Game

The Memory Tester game

Now, I’d like you to have a look at some of the photos from Annie’s class which show similar activities she did with her students, using our own flashcards! These photos say it all…I’ll ask Annie to comment on them later….

Our flashcards in Annie’s class! Soime of them are placed upside down!! They were as familiar with our alphabet as we were with their mandarin characters!..