hi
i am a fan of mes-english as an english teacher (working mainly with kids)...
having a look at the numbers topic i found the concentration and go fish games, but i can not find the description of them...
could you help me...?
keep on doing this superb work... all the best...
mikel

Mikel - Welcome to the forums! I'm really glad you like the site.


Concentration - is also known as 'Memory'. You need two sets of flashcards so that with each vocabulary word you can make a pair. You'll put all of the flashcards out face down in the center of a group (2-6 students.)

- The first student will turn over two cards.
- If the cards are the same, the student keeps the pair as a point and goes again.
- If the cards are not the same, the student returns the cards to the face down position and then it's the next player's turn.

Each time they turn over a card I have all the students in the group say the word(s) associated with the card. With more advanced students they will make a sentence with the vocabulary, ask a question to another student using the vocabulary, give the opposite meaning, or any speaking task you can associate with the card.



Go Fish - is a game where again, students are trying to get 2, 3 or 4 of the same card. The more the students need to collect to make a set, the longer the game will run (and the more fun it is for older students.) Depending on how many of the same card you want the students to collect you'll need 2, 3, or 4 sets of small flashcards per group (3-6 students/group.)

- set all the cards face down in a messy pile in the center of the group. This is your 'pond.'

- tell each member to take X number cards. Somewhere between 5-7 is a good number. You want about half the cards left in the 'pond', the center.

- to start student 1 asks another student, anyone in the group, for any card student 1 has in his hand, "Kenny, do you have a lion?"

- Kenny looks at his cards and if he has a lion, he gives it to student 1

- If Kenny doesn't have a lion he says, "No, I don't have a lion. Go fish." and student 1 takes a card from the 'pond' ending his turn.

- Then the next student can ask someone for a card.



- When a player gets 2, 3, or 4 of the same card, they put the cards down in front of them and those are their points.

- At the end of the game, the player with the most points is the winner.

Kids love this game. You can really do a lot with the question. You can just ask for an item or you can make it more elaborate.

- "Do you have a boy that works at a gas station?"
- "Have you ever been to Brazil?" (if they have a Brazil card, they answer yes. If not, they answer no.)
- "What happened? Were you stung by a bee?" (if they have the 'stung' card, they answer yes. If not, they answer no.)

and so on...

Does that make sense?

Here's an example of Concentration:
http://www.marks-english-school.com/gam ... re_02.html

Choose the 'game' option and and then choose 'game two' I couldn't program the game to reset after you turn over two cards, so it's not exactly like the game as described above, but maybe it will give you a better idea of how to play.

I play concentration with a set of cards with half having a picture, and half have the vocabulary word. Students place either the pictures all face down, and draw from a pile of vocab, or vice-versa. A more difficult version is to make them put both sets face down.

I also give them a copy of the pictures on a page and have them take home index cards to create thier own flash cards by writing the word on the back.

thats a very good idea!

I often spice the game up by assigning extra points for some cards and you can even have 2 sets (ie 4 in all) of pairs. If any person (or group) gets the whole set (both sets of pairs) they get extra points

and just for fun I throw in an animal or anything really (only 1 not a pair) and if they pick up that they get an extra turn or points

it all adds to the fun [/quote]

I just tried the 'go fish' game, but I'm not sure if I understand the rules.
If a students asks for a certain card and the other student has 2 or more of this card, does he have to give all of them or just one?
And when exactly does the game end? When the pond is empty?

I always say they have to hand over all of the cards, otherwise the game would take far longer than i'd like it to ~

well, yes, the game is normally finished when the pond is empty.
So get the kids to count the pairs.
.... but you as the teacher, so you can change the rules etc to make it more interesting (if you want to)

... for example, lets keep it simple and say its a ABC go fish game. I often use play money (they seem to love it) but you could use points too.

Either assign certain amounts to special letters / cards or even better, work with the kids to do this
ie if teaching in Tokyo, ask the kids what letters are there in Tokyo and give these pairs $5. ie if the "T,t" pair is collected/fished they get $5 and the same with "O,o" etc

You could assign a few letters at $2, example the name of the school,( use these letters in the same way)

I also assign $5 for every 3 sets they collect (just an idea, optional)

so, while still playing the same basic game there is more fun and at the end the one with more cards might have less money

Kiwione

That's a really great idea. Think ill give it ago next time! Nothing like paper money to give the game a bit of motivation ~

yes, I have found it works very well, even with my adult classes

If the students are just learning the game make sure they inderstand that they have to have one of the cards they are asking for ibn their own hand.

I usually walk around monitoring or if I am playing with them I might have them show the card to the other student.(This is good when first learning the vocab. However, you don't get to assess if all the students know the vocab.

What happens then if a student ends up with no cards in his hand? Is he dead or does he have to take a card from the pond?

The way i've always played it, that mean's they win, but i guess it's really all down to you.

But then a student could win without having any points at all. Some students lose all their cards because others are taking everything from them. So Lisa has collected many sets (points), but Jimmy who has no sets at all wins because he has no cards left. That sounds very unfair to me. How are other teachers playing this game?

I don’t really play for points either. Rather I just keep it super simple. Four cards make a set, get rid of all your cards first and you win.
I don’t really think it’s unfair – if you know your opponent has say two dog cards, but nothing else then it stands to reason not to say “do you have any dog cards?” – Because you know he’s going to win if you do!

Again, i think it's really all down to the teacher and what's going to work for the students. I'm teaching either pretty young kids, or private one-on-one students - so it pays to keep things quick and simple.