Sumo: A Body Parts Game

Image courtesy of Cforums

Sumo is a really fun game to play with kids, especially in Asia where they are probably familiar with the sport.

How to Play:

1)  Draw a circle on the floor with a whiteboard marker or make one with a long rope or string.

2)  Call a student up to demonstrate with.  Step into the circle like a sumo wrestler would by putting your hands on your knees and stamping your feet into place.  Be overly dramatic here.  Motion for the student to do the same.

3)  Call out a body part.  The two students in the circle must then touch the respective body part on their opponent (probably the all time funniest one to do is “back”)

4)  You can do king of the hill style where the winner always stays in or break the students into teams and have them get points for the fastest.

Note:  Remember to make a student the ref who calls out the body parts after a while.  You can also get more than one sumo circle going at time.  Be careful with body parts like “eyes”.

This game is always a hit and kids thoroughly enjoy it.  If you can, show a youtube video of some sumo wrestlers before playing.

Have fun!

Capture the Flag: A Vocabulary Review Game

Image courtesy of KidzWorld

Capture the Flag is a ton of fun and great for listening practice with reviewed vocabulary.  Also, many kids will be familiar with the game from popular iterations in my video games.

How to Play:

1)  Split the class into 2 teams.  Have the teams line up on opposite ends of the classroom facing each other with nothing in-between them.

2)  In the middle between the two teams, put a flag (any soft toy will do)

3)  Assign a vocabulary word to pairs of students across from each other.  So, for example, a student from team 1 will have the word Egypt and so will the student from team 2 exactly opposite him.

4)  Demonstrate the game/explain the rules.  When the teacher calls out one of the vocabulary words, the students assigned that word must run (or hop if you want to slow them down) to the middle, grab the flag, and bring it back to their team.  The first team to do so gets a point.  Also, once a student grabs the flag, if the student from the other team touches them, they don’t get the point (this prevents fighting over the flag and also makes students more careful when they run to grab it).

Tips:  Rather than just calling out the words, change it up so the students have to think and pay attention more.  For example, if all the students have been assigned countries as vocabulary words, you can say sentences like “I speak Arabic”, “I’m Egyptian”, “I live in Cairo”, etc.  The students who the sentence applies to must go for the flag.  Notice that you might even have more than one country run up with sentences like “I speak Arabic”, which makes it more fun.

Remember to have students take the role of the teacher after a few rounds.

Other Vocabulary Review Games:

Bonk!

Vocabulary Tennis

Stop the Bus!

Stop the Bus! – A Vocabulary Review Game

Image courtesy of Dream West Embroidery

Stop the Bus! is the same as Scattegories if you are familiar with the family-fun US board game.

How to Play:

1)  Split the class into small teams.

2)  Draw three columns on the board and write a different category above each column, for example, countries, fruits, and colors.

3)  Write a letter of the alphabet in the upper-left corner of the board.  Students must then write a word in each column corresponding to the category and starting with the first letter written on the board.  For example, if the letter is “B”, students could write Brazil, banana, and blue.  When teams finish, they need to shout, “Stop the Bus!”  The first team to shout, “stop the bus” and have correct answers scores a point.

After each round you can ask for more examples of words starting with the chosen letter in a given category to review some more.  I’ve found this to be a really good game to start off lessons with, especially for lower levels.

Other Vocabulary Review Games:

Bonk!

Vocabulary Tennis

Capture the Flag

Vocabulary Tennis – A Vocabulary Review Game

Image courtesy of Bimboosoft

Vocabulary Tennis is basically the same as last week’s Bonk! but with more of a team element.

Instructions:

- Set up students in two rows facing each other.

- The teacher decides which team starts first and shouts out a category.

- The first person in the row needs to call out a vocabulary word from that category. If it’s correct, the person across from them must shout out another vocabulary word from the same cateogry. This continues on down the line bouncing back and forth between teams until someone makes a mistake or repeats a word already said.

This game has advantages over Bonk! in that the whole class is involved and they have to listen to each other. If they don’t listen to the words others are calling out, when it comes to them, they might repeat one and so lose the match for their team.  It’s engaging, competative, and fun!

Other Vocabulary Review Game Posts:

Bonk!

Stop the Bus!

Capture the Flag

Bonk! – A Vocabulary Review Game

Image courtesy of U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

With my current job I’ve found I’m simply far too busy for long posts.  Instead, I’ll be posting short and fun activities to do with kids.

One of my favorite games to play with kids is Bonk!, not least of all because it involves hitting students on the head   For this game you’ll need two chairs and something soft to hit students with.  A big inflatable bat is ideal, but plush animals work just as well.

How to Play:

1 – Form two teams

2 – Set up two chairs in the front of the class and call a member of each team up to sit in them.

3 – Say a category like colors, animals, clothes, or whatever else you want to review.

4 – Students must alternate saying a word from the category.  If a student repeats a word already said or takes too long to think of a word, you hit them on the head and say Bonk!.  The other team then gets a point.

This game is great because it challenges students to recall as many words as possible from a given category.  It also works with any category, so is great for review.  And students find the getting hit on the head part hilarious.

After a few rounds I usually call a student up to choose the category.  Just be careful which students you give the bat to though

Other Vocabulary Review Game Posts:

Vocabulary Tennis

Stop the Bus!

Capture the Flag

Guest Post by Thomas Christie: Talking to Tourists

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Image courtesy of Akorenliyiz

This post is by an old teacher of mine named Thomas Christie.  When we worked together in Turkey he used to do a really cool activity with tourists and I asked him to write it up for the blog.   Tom has worked in Korea, Turkey, Spain, and the UK and is a strong advocate of dogme principles in ELT.  Here is Tom’s post:

Do you teach English in a city where there is an abundance of tourists? Have you ever considered having your learners compile a survey and taking advantage of this? Well, you should for the excellent practice it offers your learners. I am going to explain the many reasons why it’s fantastic and a few reasons that I found which caused challenges.

When I taught English in Istanbul, some of my most memorable classes were when we hit the streets to talk to tourists. Istanbul is a great city to do this. In Istanbul, most general English classes are 3 hours long so even when I worked at a school which was 30 minutes from the tourist beat; it was still possible to have enough time to meet plenty of English speaking visitors. This 30 minute journey also proved to be productive as the learners practiced their questions and wrote new follow up ones as well as enjoying the valuable thinking time. In a different branch for the same school, all we had to do was walk out onto the busiest street in Istanbul. This had the advantage of being able to literally point at the school and say where we came from. If there are tourists in your city within a reasonable distance, go for it. Just hit the tourist beat. Most of the preparation can be done as homework to save time.

So, why is speaking to tourists so spectacular for your students? Well, the bottom line is that it offers real communication, the kind of which is enforced when the students leave the classroom. The tourists were genuinely interested in what the learners had to say. They appreciated the advice and suggestions offered by local people with experience of the area and places that weren’t always frequented by outsiders. This also motivated my students to converse as they were proud to talk about their city and show hospitality. Both sides were usually really happy to benefit from the exchange. What a great way to find out about the area, from locals who aren’t in it for commercial reasons!

Your students will encounter many different accents. Many people often overlook the fact that English learners often spend most of their time talking in their L2 to other people who have learned English. There is often a focus in the TEFL world of sounding like a native speaker. However, the wide range of accents encountered provides great listening practice, particularly as I ask my students to take notes on answers to report back later. The conversations are so intriguing that your students and the tourists will be intent on trying to understand, offering intensive listening practice.

Another plus is the chance to really get to grips with some functional language such as politely getting someone’s attention, greeting people, thanking people and apologising for any inconvenience caused. I once took a class out without practicing this well enough and it caused problems as tourists are sometimes like a fish out of water and feel that they are being harassed. So, having learned from this experience, I would practice the language extensively through role play in the classroom. Things like “Excuse me, I wonder if I could take a moment of your time to ask a few questions” as well as “Excuse me, we are studying English at such and such school. Would it be possible to ask for a few minutes of your time?” and “Would you mind answering some questions for a survey?” are essential for making the encounter a success. Don’t worry if this sounds too advanced for a lower level class, there is enough context to make it understandable after some practice in the classroom. It’s also worth noting that some tourists (very few) will want to ignore the questions and continue in their headed direction. However, this provides more language learning opportunities with a quick “I’m sorry to bother you” and “Thank you for your time.”

One thing that I have noticed when taking learners out onto the streets is that the quieter shy students tend to take a leading role in initiating and maintaining a conversation. Confidence levels are increased with such an exchange between your students and people on holiday. I once came back from completing a survey with an elementary class. As we were in the lift returning back up to the classroom, there was a real buzz of excitement in the air. The class rapport had changed for the better and most students were really confident taking hold of their language learning. They realised that shyness is just an obstacle and that their language skills had improved to the extent that they could offer advice to fluent speakers of English.

I haven’t explicitly noticed in any of my classes but there is always the chance that someone in the class might have their confidence level diminished. Be wary of this when monitoring the exchange between your students and tourists and jump in when you feel that meaning has become confused. However, for any student who doesn’t feel like participating, there is always the opportunity to listen and take notes.

To top it all off, what are the two main advantages of this cultural exchange? Firstly, the students utilize the language learnt in class through a tangible format. When making a list of questions, the students and teacher can incorporate so many grammar structures. Some obvious questions could be, “How long have you been in Rome?” or “If you came to Seville again, would you stay for longer?” You could even make the questions more advanced “Would your opinion of Kyoto have been the same, if you hadn’t come to visit?” or simpler with “Is this your first time in Italy?”

An example set of questions that one pair of pre-intermediate students provided.

1)      Where are you from?

2)      Why are you visiting Istanbul?

3)      Have you been to Istanbul before?

4)      How long are you planning to stay?

5)      What are you doing today?

6)      What has been your most memorable moment so far?

7)      What do you think about Turkish food?

8)      If you came to Turkey again, would you think about visiting a different city?

9)  Have you been to the Palace?

10)  What do you recommend visiting in your home town?

As you may have realised, most of this language will arise in the classroom at some point for this level.

You may have also noticed that some questions provide excellent opportunities for more conversation through offering advice/suggestions/recommendations such as “If I were you, I’d recommend taking the train to the park” or “The palace is (really) worth visiting.” I had my students make a list of recommendations beforehand that they could refer to.

The second big advantage is taking the cultural exchange back to the classroom for reporting, discussion and to work on any language that came up during the exchange. All students will have noted (a great skill) what the tourists had said. In the classroom, pairs or groups of 3 can report their findings, make presentations and compare them with others. This offers a chance to use statistical language and reported speech as well as setting up a really insightful discussion about tourism in the area.

So, unlike your learners who have the added problem of making themselves understood, don’t be shy! Get outside and practice all the language from the classroom in a truly communicative setting.

But how can we find the tourists???? You might ask.

Don’t worry! They are actually the easiest people to point out. Just look for maps, cameras, guidebooks and confused facial expressions.

DO’S AND DON’TS!!!

***   DO’S   ***

-          Thoroughly practice language in the classroom before leaving.

-          Have students approach tourists in pairs or groups of 3’s (anything more could be a bit intimidating).

-          Have learners explain to the tourists properly what they are doing and where they are studying. Some sort of documentation from the school would really help or just a leaflet.

-          Give students clipboards. This will help the feeling of professionalism.

-          Give students leaflets to offer the tourists to reinforce what they are saying.

-          Give students maps to show the tourists where they might be talking about.

-          Help your students identify tourists.

-          Obviously, check all questions before you leave.

-          Think about some follow-up activities – maybe an article or video about tourism in the city.

***   DON’TS   ***

-          Have learners congregate in large groups.

-          Stay far away from your students. You have to be there in case there’s a communication problem.

-          Leave your students unprepared when they hit the streets.

-          Don’t forget the importance of encouraging your learners to note answers and comments.

-          Ignore the language that comes up during the exchange! Most of it will be extremely rewarding and memorable for your learners!!!

Interesting Homework

Image courtesy of Discovery Education

Scott Thornbury’s recent post on homework reminded me of some ideas I have been wanting to share on this blog for quite some time.  While I’m a great opponent of homework in traditional schools, I think the more you use and interact with a language, the more your language will improve.  As Scott pointed out, a few hours a week is generally not enough to learn a language very quickly.

The main thing is to make the homework fun and interesting.  Also, as most students don’t have a lot of time, it’s best to give them something easy that can be done quickly but which can also be expanded upon if they want.  Here are some cool homework ideas I’ve used in the past:

1)  Students go home and research their favorite band, movie star, film, etc.  They then come and share the info with the class.  These activities are easy to build lessons off of as well.

2)  Students must go out and find someone to follow.  They should follow this person for 5 minutes.  Afterwards, they should write up a quick description of the person, their activities, and make guesses about the person’s personality and life.  Students always have a lot of fun with this one.

3)  Interview an older family member about what life was like X years ago and report back to the class.

4)  Googleganger – This is a fun one from Karenne Sylvester.  Students must research their name online and find out about the lives of other people with the same name.

5)  English Raven’s Wizard English is a fantastic idea.

6)  Show and tell always works well.  My favorites are the few students who always forget and end up presenting their pencil

An Ethical Dilemma

One effective way to spark conversation in a class is to start a debate on ethics.  One lesson I occasionally use for this is based on this article about the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and a lone photographer who took pictures of the soon to be tortured and killed prisoners.

This is a lesson I only use occasionally with high level classes because a strong command of English is needed to get across one’s ideas on such a charged subject.  This particular article has sparked some of the most heated debate I’ve ever had in a class and best of all for Turkey, it circumvents local politics and religion so it’s ultimately a “safe” topic.

Another reason I like it, and the original reason I created the lesson, was it strongly encourages use of 3rd conditionals repeatedly, which is something many Turkish students have a lot of problems with and which isn’t practiced much.

I also really like the posing of an ethical dilemma.  It’s a lesson a class can really dig into.  A lot of standardized EFL material tends to skirt such polemical and serious issues and students often view it as incredibly refreshing to deal with such a serious topic.

If you’re looking for something that will really challenge your students, I recommend giving this lesson a try.

The original article can be found here.

The lesson plan can be found here.

Conspiracy Theories – A Conversation Starter

If anyone has lived in the Middle East for any amount of time, you will bhttp://turklishtefl.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1165&action=edit&message=1e familiar with the love of conspiracy theories.  The Manichaean worldview that there are powerful forces constantly working behind the scenes to control the world is mainstream.  Here in the ME, everything is believed to happen for a reason.  There are no coincidences.  The really crazy part is that sometimes they’re right

One of the difficulties of living in the Middle East for foreigners and residents alike is that you simply are never 100% sure of what’s going on.  What you see is never what you get and there is always something deeper and then something deeper and on and on.  Just try following the Ergenekon case or ask about the Deep State (derin devlet) here in Turkey for a taste of the complexity involved.

So if you ever have a conversation class or need to cover a class on short notice, conspiracies is a great topic that has always worked for me.  Students will start arguing about the validity of the various theories and constantly propose alternatives.  Here is a video on the New World Order that I often use to introduce the discussion.  Can you make sense of all the connections?

GOVT conspiracy – New World Order
Yükleyen 911prod. – Güncel haberleri izleyin

Connections made: Kennedy assassination, sacred geometry, the Masons, Jewish Kabbalah, the US government, transnational corporations, Satanism, Christianity, the Knights Templar, Ancient Egyptian religion, Ancient Greek religion, 9/11, Crop Circles, Da Vinci, Nicholas Tesla, El Salvador, the Illuminati, the Pope/Catholicism, Tarot Cards, Capitalism

I bet you didn’t know that was all connected under one big conspiracy.  Consider yourself enlightened. 

After showing the video, you can ask, “What did you see and do you agree or disagree with it?”  That usually leads to about a 1 to 2 hour discussion without even needing to feed the convo in any way.

Other Interesting Activities:

1)  I like to talk about conspiracy theorists in general and their characteristics.  This is a good video because of the text.  It shows the seeker mentality:  “The truth is out there” but you have to find it.  It’s hidden, but for those with access to the hidden knowledge – i.e. the theorists – the evidence is everywhere if you make the effort to search it out.  You could create a profile of a conspiracy theorist and even compare theorists from different countries and discuss why they may be different.

2)  Creating a list of other conspiracy theories.  Aside from American standards like the Kennedy Assassination, Pearl Harbor, the fake moon landing, 9/11 n such, there are tons surrounding Turkey and, of course, the Jews.  Some of my all time favorite theories I’ve heard from students are:

- All suicide bombers in Turkey are hired by America.  We know this because when we examine the pieces we always find Tommy Hilfiger underwear.  (Note:  Tommy Hilfiger is sold in Turkey and can be bought as a knock-off or the real thing in almost any city.)

- Israel causes earthquakes in Turkey like the big one in ’99 by detonating nuclear bombs deep under Turkish soil.  Alternatively, I’ve heard that this is done by a super secret satellite in the sky that shoots some special seismic rays into Turkey.

- Greenpeace is a secret British organization that infiltrates countries to find out their nuclear capabilities.

- Turkey buys most of its grain from Israel but Israel secretly genetically engineers the grain so that it doesn’t produce seeds.  This forces Turkey to re-buy the grain from Israel every year.  (Why Turkey doesn’t buy from another country instead is never explained.)

- China, Europe, Israel , or America put some poisonous chemical in some type of Turkish food or clothing that gives people cancer.

-  The Masons are actually a secret group of Jews who believe that they are specially chosen by God and will become the Mahdi.

-  The last Turkish plane to crash in Europe was actually engineered by Denmark to make Turks look like bad pilots.

Do you have any favorite conspiracy theories?  Maybe they are your own or maybe you’ve heard them from others.

3)  Do an interview with either yourself if you’re a non-believer or another teacher who doesn’t believe in certain conspiracy theories.  Often I’ll focus on 9/11 for this one.  As the majority of the populace here believes 9/11 was perpetrated by either the U.S. government or Israel, this is a real interesting one.  Just make sure you or another speaker researches the subject heavily beforehand as you’ll find you need to know quite a bit of detailed info.

3)  Take a more academic look at these beliefs and why they persist.  I use a short piece on the persistence of super conspiracy theories by Michael Barkun – a leading academic on the topic.

4)  It’s great for homework or research.  Pairs research evidence for and against various theories and present it.  This can be done debate style as well.

A final note of caution:  While I love these kinds of lessons, the few foreign teachers I’ve shared it with before have always cut their lessons short as they become quite surprised and even overwhelmed by some of the beliefs here.  You really have to be able to keep an open mind on this one if you’re not familiar with this kind of thing.

Remember, I can only show you the door, you have to step through it.

Update:  Just after putting up this post I came across an article on Turkey’s Tattoo Politics about many young people now getting tattoos of Ataturk.  When one women is asked about her new tattoo standing as a symbol against the current Islamic-oriented government, her friend says, “These people want to want to divide Turkey.  That’s because they’re Jewish agents.” I think this is a perfect snapshot of the casualness with which conspiracy theories are accepted here.

The article goes on to make some very insightful points.  I recommend giving it a look if you are interested in Turkish culture.

Related Articles:

Why the Whole World Conspires Against Turkey

Sowing the Seeds of Paranoia

Turkish and Conspiracy Theories - a Turkish students take on the reason for conspiracy beliefs.

How Conspiracy Theories Spread – from the Turkish Daily News

Six Conspiracy Theories in ELT

The Tough Love of Turkish Political Blogging

If you scour the net for blogs on Turkey, they fall into three main camps – ex-pats living here documenting their lives, food blogs, and political blogs.  These can often be used in your classroom as great source material or discussion starters.  They’ll also help you familiarize yourself with the country if you’re new to these parts.

Political blogs are far and away the most interesting and usually serve as the best for lesson fodder.  Today I’ll give you a list of all the ones I know.

The interesting thing on foreigners writing about politics and life in Turkey is that they are all very critical.  Turkey is constantly criticized on topics such as democratic values, human rights issues (especially women and minorities), and religious issues.  This is important to keep in mind if you want to use their posts and share the blogs with the class as students may take offense.  I’ve always been interested in the pointed nature of the criticism leveled at Turkey and would be happy to hear any readers’ opinions as to why that’s the case in the comments below.

The Political Blogs:

Kamil Pasha by Jenny White – This blog is probably the most suitable for the class as she writes very short and pointed blog posts without too much difficult language.  Her posts can often be used for intermediate levels and above and cut to the heart of some major issues in Turkish society.  She had also lived in Turkey on and off since the 70′s and now serves as a professor of anthropology specializing in modern Turkish history at Boston University.  A post I recommend is Retouching Turkish History which goes into Turkey’s often revisionist stance towards history.

Istanbul Calling by Yigal Schleiffer – Probably the most insightful blog on Turkish politics although he sadly rarely posts.  He works as a journalist and has very nice pieces published in a number of international magazines and periodicals.  His views are often spot on.  He has a familiarity with Turkey that allows him to pick up on trends many others miss.  One of my favorite recent posts is Sowing the Seeds of Paranoia on the head of Turkey’s Higher Board of Education promoting conspiracy theories.

Istanbul Notes by Aengus Collins is a bit of a newcomer.  He writes on the same issues as other political bloggers, but will include some pieces on economics, which is nice for me as I haven’t a clue.  His pieces also tend to be really long and so rather unsuitable for class.  I liked Turkey has a Kurdish question, a headscarf question.  Why no women question? which digs into the status of women in Turkey according to some recent studies.

Changing Turkey in a Changing World is run by an editorial board of scholars.  Occasionally it has some good pieces, but more often than not simply lists conferences in Turkey or short author interviews.  It is very scholarly and objective, but can be a bit dry.  I found on Turkish Neoliberal Economy and Politics interesting.

Turkish Politics in Action by Ragan Updegraff.  Ragan is actually an old roommate of mine from the Izmit days and studied Turkey extensively during his undergrad and then maintained his interest and came back here on a Fulbright and stayed two more years.  He is currently back in D.C. and has stopped blogging for the foreseeable future, but he’s still got some very good analyses worth looking at in the archives.  His posts are generally far too long and complicated for classroom use.  Protecting Turkey’s Soy is a quick look at Turkey’s law criminalizing artificial insemination with other than Turkish sperm so as to protect the Turkish bloodline.

The Istanbulian by Emre Kizilkaya, and the cheif editor of foreign news at Hurriyet.  It is one of the few political blogs on Turkey actually written by a Turk and in English.  Emre is great because he gives a Turkish side of the story to the English speaking world.  Often critical of the current government, he also takes a hard look at many European and American policies as well in regards to Turkey. A number of his posts are short enough to be used in class.  Maybe Turkey Can Be an EU Member, One Day is a nice look at some double standards held in the EU to Turkey’s detriment.

Last but not least is The White Path by Mustafa Akyol, a Turkish political writer and commentator.  Although Turkish, he is probably the most controversial blog of the whole lot.  Akyol is really not liked by a large number of people and I can’t even show his writings to many Turks without them starting to swear and is therefore unusable in class.  However, I absolutely love they guy.  Not because I agree with him (although there are a number of things I do agree with him on), but because he has the courage to say things publicly, on his blog and in the newspaper that no one, I mean no one, is generally willing to discuss.  The guy has guts, especially in a country where journalists still occasionally get imprisoned and murdered for unpopular views.  A couple of my favorites are Why Do We Have Children’s Day Really about the personality cult around Turkey’s founder,  Turkey’s Real War:  Fear vs. Fear on the deep suspicions and divisions in Turkish society, Why is it So Easy to Insult Ataturk on the prosecution of a Kemalist that made a biography about Ataturk, and Why the Whole World Conspires Against Turkey digging into the obsession with conspiracy theories against Turkey.

Those are the ones I know of.  If anybody is aware of others I missed, I’d be happy to hear about them.  Give ‘em a look, see if anything interesting for class pops up or just learn a bit about Turkey.  However, remember that these blogs take a look at the more negative aspects of living in Turkey.  If you’re looking for something more positive or uplifting, I suggest blogs by retired expats living on the Southwest coast.

What about you?  Do you follow any blogs related to your country of residence?  Do you ever use them in class.  Why not share a list on your own blog or in the comments below!