Creative Ideas for
Young Learners
Presented by
TEFL Peace Corps Volunteers
Classroom Supplies
• Scissors
• Glue Sticks
• Markers, Coloured
Pencils, Crayons
• Pencil Sharpeners
• Rubbers (Erasers)
• Rulers
• Paper (plain and
coloured)
• Stapler
• Stickers
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Flash cards
Pictures
Alphabet letters
Alphabet puzzles
Books with pictures
Language Focus
Vocabulary for things
in the classroom and
asking questions:
Vocabulary for
imperatives:
• May I have the
scissors?
• May I have the
glue?
• May I have some
markers/crayons?
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Cut
Paste/glue
Colour
Erase
Write
Draw
Alphabet Pages,
Create Supplemental Material
• www.kindergarten.com
• www.learningpage.com (free clipart)
Make a Book
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My Alphabet Book
My Book of Colours
My Book of Numbers
My Book of Shapes
My Book of Opposites/Adjectives
Arts & Crafts
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Alligator
Frog
Spider
Bookmarks
Cards
Puzzles
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www.bogglesworld.com
Make your own crossword
Word Find
Word Discovery (e.g. snowflakes)
Word Shapes
Total Physical Response
(TPR)
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Alphabet
Numbers
Role playing / drama
Charades
Games & Songs
• Bingo (colours, numbers, shapes,
etc.)
• Hangman (vocabulary, spelling
practice)
• Charades (flash cards—adjectives,
adverbs, verbs, jobs, etc.)
• Songs (Hokey Pokey—vocabulary for
the body, Old MacDonald—
vocabulary for animals, alphabet
song—military style)
Why Teach Using Games?
• Games keep life interesting for the
students and the teacher. They allow
the students to interact more with
the material and with each other in
real language situations, making class
time more productive and making the
material more memorable.
Myths & Realities
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Myth: It takes too much time to plan and prepare for games.
Reality: It takes a little bit of extra time, but only in the beginning. Put
your students to work. Often they can do the work in one class hour or
for homework and use the material in the next hour for the game.
After that, recycling is key. Once you build up a stock of games, you can
modify them for many situations.
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Myth: There’s too much textbook material to cover, so there’s no time
for games.
Reality: There is too much textbook material to cover, but it can be
covered at a deeper level and in a more interesting way through
adaptation to games. Many textbook activities are better given as
homework. Focus on planning games, not planning homework – let the
textbook do that for you.
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Myth: It’s more important for students focus on grammar drills and
mastering certain grammatical structures.
Reality: At the elementary level, it’s more important that students
have a good experience with the language and that they learn to be
comfortable speaking.
Fundamentals of Using Games
1. Remind students that games still involve learning –
write the topic on the board, as well as a textbook
page number. Give homework based on the game.
Make the game part of their learning, not something
outside of it.
2. Teach students the basic procedures of gameplaying.
a. Explain and demonstrate the game.
b. Have them tell/show you how to play.
c. Each member of the group must participate.
d. Each group will be expected to demonstrate
some aspect of the game.
3. Make sure the games are content-based and that
the students are producing something with the
language. The important thing isn’t the game itself
but how the students use the language.
4. Monitor the whole process – checking in with each
group once is not enough.
5. Save time at the end of the class hour for a
summary of the topic – have groups demonstrate
use of a grammatical structure or word.
6. Noise and chaos are part of group work. The best
way to keep the noise level down is to stay close
to the students by moving from group to group,
checking on their process.
Ideas For Games
1. Vocabulary
a. Ball (also works for sequences – numbers, days,
months,
alphabet, etc.; also verb conjugations or
tense changes)
b. Bingo (can give words in native language or give
definitions)
c. Charades (works best with verbs)
d. Group races (works best for reviewing categories of
vocabulary)
e. “I’m going on a picnic ...”
2. Grammar – mostly verb tenses
a. Tic Tac Toe
b. Five in a Row
c. I Know Everything (for questions)
d. Board game
e. Time game
Motivation
Games are a good way to motivate students -- use them more often
and find other ways to motivate students:
• Sticker charts: Reward/penalize students individually. This
works better with younger students. They get a sticker next to
their name on a chart if they are on time, have complete
homework and aren’t disruptive in class; after 10 stickers they
get a little reward – stickers, an eraser, etc. You can do it
without stickers and without material rewards – the reward
could be library/reading time, or a special game, or having class
outside.
• Points plan – Reward/penalize students as a group. This works
better with older students. Here’s an example: A class starts
with 20 points. When they reach 250 points, they get to watch a
movie during class time. Write the points on the board each day
(but also keep track of them in a notebook).
Resources
Websites:
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www.kindergarten.com
www.learningpage.com
www.bogglesworld.com
www.eflcub.com
www.enchantedlearning.com
www.abcteach.com
www.btinternet.com/~ted.power
www.englishbanana.com
http://iteslj.org/links/
http://www.LessonPlansPage.com
www.theholidayzone.com
Interactive Websites:
• www.lisaexplains.com
(website for kids for web
design)
• www.discovery.com
• www.starfall.com
Song Book:
• Old Favorites For All Ages
by Anna Maria Malkoç