Reading to write - boardwalking (running!)

We had an end of term kind of feel yesterday, and playing one if our favourite 'race' games went down well. Re-reading an old reader is never a waste of time, but my copy seemed to have lots of mistakes in it as I read it aloud!

When the children noticed a "mistake" they ran to the board to spell out the proper word. Lots of giggles and rethinking/double-checking. Silly teacher can't read - but the students can, and they can spell!

How hard can a game be?

It was a slow day and one of our trio was absent - bit pointless pushing on with a new project if we have to re-start & epxplain everything all over again next week.

I really like Junior Scrabble as a fall back for strong students, because it allows them to show off how well they can spell. "Seeing" words in ajumble of letters is a very difficult thing to do in a second language at any age; it os doubly tough when your culture does not involve playing games. Seriously, when was the last time a Japanese person told you they played Colditz, Kerplunk or Top Trumps at the weekend?

So, I would argue that not only is the actual game a bit hard, but the entire concept of game play something that needs to be taught...and that getting the 'perfect' answer is not strategy one! So, chill out players, and let the teacher (who knows what you know, so this actually works nicely as review, a test almost) supply you with hints - not the actual words you can make of course!

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Hinting - use your classroom language, naturally!

• A kind of ...
• The opposite of...
• It's big, and brown, and ...
• It sounds like...
• Use L1 if you are stuck/can do it eg "How do you say ******* in English?"

Making/doing crosswords is also something students are not often exposed to (and top > bottom spelling is something we avoid, right?!).

Anyway, that's my share. My lads really enjoyed their 'easy' lesson as they had to think their socks off! What kind of word/game play do you do with your students?

Aggressive spelling!

I really enjoy my noisy boys on Friday afternoons, as they bring a lot of energy to the end of my week, and challenge me to come up with fresh ways to keep them interested/give them scope to bounce off each other & call each other 'stupid' - very competitive issue!

The blackboard is a fine tool for these lads, last week demanding each other 'hurry up", "write more neatly", "learn the alphabet properly", etc. We were reviewing old vocab, but while we were up I wanted to see if they were ready for a 3 letter spelling challenge. On paper, they are OK but rubbing out too much. On the board, they made it a 'death race' - first one finished (with my 'ok') clouted the others. OK, not much of a game but satisfied & motivated them!

As you can see, the spelling is working out nicely, and the confidence from this will transfer nicely to more sedentary exercises. What I like most about this class is just how much one of the boys in particular has blossomed; he used to be extremely shy & self-conscious, and burst into tears at the drop of a hat - even if I looked at him funny...not these days, and I commend him for having the stones to stick with it. Strongest reader at his age in my classes :)

ABC waiting time

I found my smart Monday evening girls amusing themselves cleverly - spelling their names and other words they 'know' on our large carpet mats. Good for them! I despair of how little advantage is taken of the resources we have available for children & parents in the school.

• We used to leave a PC for free use - never touched.
• We left our games out on a shelf - thrown around, bent out of shape & broken
• BBC TV, Discovery Channel etc left on for free - volume muted
• Streamed BBC & Virgin radio (as was) into the school - asked to turn it off

Erm. As a school I think we have to be an oasis of English, and any opportunity to get more exposure likely to be welcomed. I think. "Silly daddy", Eleanor likes to say.Maybe she's right.

Anyway, I was delighted to see my super polite and hard-working crew challenging each other to spell stuff, including new words from their Story Tree readers, set for homework last week. Who cares if they had to double-check?! Excellent application & lateral thinking.