JALT’s (The Japan Association for Language Teaching) annual conference is just around the corner–from October 31-November 3.  We’ll be there talking about Super Simple Songs and taking in some of the other presentations.   Looking forward to it!

I seem to recall playing this game on a train to youth orchestra weekend somewhere in New Brunswick.  I was in university at the time so as much as this is a great game for kids, its also very entertaining for adults.  I would recommend playing with 1st graders on up to any age and it best played in a group of 3-6 or 8 people.  The more people, the more difficult it gets, so only attempt 6-8 players if they are older students.  It works great for an animal topic or check the variations below for some other ideas.

You’ll need:  One deck of playing cards.

1.  Sit in a circle.

2.  Each students decides on what animal they are.  Then go around the circle and talk about what sound each animal makes.  You could make an entire lesson out of it, getting students to draw the animals on the whiteboard, spell the words, or perhaps assign the animals to each students by giving hints that they have to guess at.

3.  The idea is to remember everyone else’s animal sound, so spend some time practicing each other’s sounds.

4.  Divide the deck of cards among the group. Each player places their pile face down in front of them.

5.  On the count of three, everyone turns over one card.  Continue on like this.  When two players have matching cards (i.e. two Jacks or Two fives) they each have to say the other players animal sound.  The first one to say it, gets the other player’s cards and adds to their deck.

6.  When a player goes through all their cards, they turn them back over, and continue playing.

The game continues as players eventually lose all their cards.  You might want to say at one point, “one more minute” then at the end of the minute, stop the game and count the number of cards each player has.  The one with the most is the winner.

Variations:

It’s so much fun to see everyone trying remember and blurt out animal sound but it also works well with:

1. Languages: Students decide what country they are from and how to say, “Hello” in the language of that country.

2. Halloween: Decide on Halloween characters and the sounds or gestures they make.

3.  Not quite as fun because it doesn’t involve sounds but….any vocabulary that involves likes, dislikes, abilities, etc.  The goal being to remember everyone’s favorite foods, sports, colors, etc…

4.  Add a gesture.  For example, if it’s everyone’s favorite sport, in addition to saying the name of the sport, the students must stand up and gesture the sport.

You can either turn this game into a part of your lesson by tieing it into your current topic or it makes a great quick and fun 5 minute game to end a class on a positive note with plenty of laughs!

Halloween is the one time of year where I feel like I need three months to cover all of the fun stuff possible in class.  And it’s just about here.  This year we decided to start Halloween/Emotions topics a week early at Knock Knock English, just because there is so much to do, and it is so much fun for the kids.

We put together all of our songs, flash cards, worksheets, mini cards, games, party ideas, and lesson plans in one place this year-the Halloween page!

It just launched today so if you have some time, common’ over and take a look around and get started on preparing for your Halloween classes and parties.

Knock Knock Trick or Treat is once again available as a free download.  This year I illustrated some characters to go along with the song.  You can find them hiding in the flash cards, mini cards and games.

I kind of like the not-doing-a good-job-of-trying-to-look-scary-in-a-blue-monster-mask boy–as you can see by the new blog banner.

We queitly released Super Simple Phonics before the summer and now we’re officially launching the activity book/CD along with a huge collection of support materials in the Support Pack.

We’ve been developing Super Simple Phonics here at Knock Knock English for the past few years and we’re very happy with the final product.  If you like Super Simple Songs, and are looking for an easy-to-learn, easy-to-teach introduction to the ABCs for young learners, I think you’ll love Super Simple Phonics.

You can hear samples of the songs, and take a peak inside the activity book at the new website.

Happy Singing!

Our second and third graders are getting into some True and False activities in their workbooks this month, so I started doing a simple warm up game to introduce them to the concept.

Simply put a bucket of marbles in the center of the group (or any small objects that you have a lot of will do).  Then, make a true or false statement about yourself or someone in your family.  For example, I might say, “My mother’s name is Maria”.  Then, ask the students to take a guess if your statement is True or False.  When everyone says what they think, tell them the answer, and then those who guessed correctly can take a marble from the bucket.

I really enjoy this activity because it gives us a chance to talk about things we might not normally talk about in class and learn new things about each other.  Also, I really like to toss out some statements that might challenge the children’s views of certain things.  For example:  “I can’t use chopsticks” usually gets a big unanimous “True!” and an even bigger unanimous surprise when I say the answer is, “False”!

At the beginning of our classes there is usually some kind of greeting/warmup routine that involves simply passing a ball around the circle and asking each other questions based on the topics we’re studying at the time.

Lately I’ve been passing a small drum around and encouraging the students to beat the drum to the rhythm of their answers.  I usually demonstrate first and then have the students try.

Students can often sneak by in class only mumbling words and phrases and never really get to hear things broken down clearly. Breaking things down rhythmically with a drum may not be teaching the natural rhythm of English, but every once in a while I think its beneficial for students to hear it.

And, most importantly, it’s fun–and a great way to mix up your usual greetings and warmup questions.

I think Japanese children had this figured out long before Wired magazine did but if you’re having trouble winning your students in endless games of Rock-Paper-Scissors, here’s what Wired recommends:

1. Play paper first. Rookies tend to lead with rock, so paper is the safest opener. (A savvy opponent will try the same, causing a tie.) If you win, claim victory; if not, start the next throw right away, because of course it’s two out of three.

2. Exploit copycats. Casual players often switch to the object that just beat them. You can encourage them to do this by shouting, “Paper wins!” when you defeat their rock. Then throw scissors on the next round.

3. Watch for doubles. People rarely throw the same hand three times in a row; if they play scissors twice, your next move is paper. Also, keep up the pace so they have less time to think and instead fall into patterns.

The original article is here.

I wish I could say we had a song on Super Simple Songs for St. Patrick’s Day, because if any day deserved a fun song that everyone could sing, this would be it…but we don’t. I think there is “green” in one of the color songs on Super Simple Songs One…but don’t quote me on that….we’re in the 12th month of classes so the color songs came and went 11 months ago.

As a kid, it was my dream to learn to play the bagpipes. I wanted it more than anything…for about a year. I don’t know why I never did it. Maybe it was the whole kilt thing.

This shot from the Tokyo St. Patrick’s Day parade today got me thinking I should have just put on the kilt and learned to play the thing.

But that bagpipe dream was soon replaced by a short-lived dream to learn to play the sousaphone. I wasn’t sure about that one today.

Maybe if he had had a green mohawk?

But anyway, long story short….I think I’ve decided that I want to learn to play the bagpipes again.

But that could just be the Guinness talking….

With the help of our friend Sujeong, Super Simple Songs can now be purchased in Korea.

Sujeong is the founder and Director of the Arts in Education, International Center (A.I.E) and MILK English (Moving, Imagining, Laughing Kids) and we’re very excited to be working with her to help make Super Simple Songs available in Korea.

So if you’re in Korea, please take a look at her site and all of the wonderful work she’s doing!

This is an activity I pull out once in a while that gets plenty of “one more time pleaseeeeee!” from the students. And the great thing about it is that it can tire out even the genkiest of classes before you need to sit down for some quiet work.

There are a few ways you can do this:

Numbers

Write the numbers 1-10 (or 1-20) on the board with your students. You write, they write, a combination of both, etc. Select a number and erase it or cover it with a frog. Then tell the students we’re going to pretend to be frogs. Everybody crouches down and gets ready to jump. Then, go through the numbers again, pointing to each one. When you come to a frog, everyone jumps up and back down. Then continue on through the rest of the numbers. Next you can erase another number, have a student choose or have a student erase. It gets silly and a lot of fun by the end when you have 6 or 7 frogs or more.

Other ways you could do it….

ABCs in groups of 9 or so.

Phonics/sight words.

Vocabulary review with flashcards.

Days of the week.

Months of the year.

I made a pdf file with some jumping frogs. Feel free to download and use it.

Jumping Frogs Printable