In the Classroom part 2 (Brain Exercises)

Hello,

            My name is Wintermute and this is Dumbr, it’s a look on my life and experience in South Korea teaching English as a second language among other things. I was going to talk about Discipline today, however after writing it all out it was about 5 pages long. So I will make Discipline its own segment. Instead I will change the topic; I got a lot of request to learn more about brain exercises to do with your students. So I will share you more of mine.

Acrostics

              Pick the first word, and let’s say something corny like SHARING. Write it vertically on the board and have the kids raise their hand and come up with a word for each letter of SHARING. My children loved this; they were literally begging to do more. Kids seem to really enjoy the simple games; their favorite gym game was the “sit down game.”

Story Game

             I would have the kids tell a story one word at a time, one word for each kid. Depending on their age and skill level you can have them repeat all of the former words said prior to that student, or if not say them yourself. Generally speaking I hardly ever got a real story out of them; it was just for fun. Things took an odd turn when a student spouted out the word panties; I allowed it as it made them laugh like no bodies business. 9 times out of 10 however, the story was “Wintermute teacher wears panties!!!” This helps them construct simple sentences, if it does not flow they must come up with a new word.

Memory Game

             I would draw a 4X4 grid (or such) on the board. I would place the 16 numbers in the grid, one number for each square in a random order, not numerical. I would have the kids look at this for a minute, then erase the numbers, then ask them where each number was on the grid. Good game for helping with their numbers and memory.

Tic tac Toe

             I’d draw a tic tac toe grid on the board, and play with one student. BUT, they could not draw or point to where they wanted their X. Instead I would put my finger in the middle; they would then tell me left down up right depending on where they wanted the X. This is a great game for helping them with their directions.

            There are plenty more games like this that you can play with your kids to help reinforce what they have already learned. I highly recommend it as it helps demonstrate and relate practical uses for what they learned. Come back tomorrow where we will talk about Art/Music and some other class tips.

Your teacher,
Wintermute