Math Circle- Tick Tick Think Quick PPT Game

Can you think when you hear tick tick?

Times Table: PowerPoint Game
Whilst numbers were one of my first things to conquer whilst learning a second language, I've noticed that many of my students really struggle with them in on the spot mental arithmetic situations...especially in situations when they don't have time to think about the answer... How to remedy this problem? Take a little look at this idea, the Tick Tick Think Quick Math Circle Game.

Considering that we often use numbers and math in everyday life situations...it's an important skill to get a grip on. I took the concept of the Tick Tick Think Quick Categories Game (a suspense filled circle game) that I designed, and noticed it worked perfectly for basic math practice. Check out this video to get an idea (remember its a circle game, in which students will go around the circle, each answering the next number in the sequence).

Included are two slides which all have different timed count downs (in each square) before the bomb explodes ending the round. I have also included a BONUS SLIDE which puts students to the test of reciting the times tables within a 32 second time limit.

A suspense filled, super fun way to revise and learn simple maths. It's amazing what a ticking clock can do to the way your brain functions :)

You can buy this game now at my TpT store.

Tick Tick Think Quick - Category Game

Category Game: PowerPoint Games

Circle games are always a huge hit in my classes. I wanted to create a game that took the best elements from a couple of other games that kind of work in class but need a little extra to really succeed. I'm pretty proud of the latest game I have just finished working on. It's now available in my store and is a suspense building, exciting way to work on vocabulary, critical thinking, word revision or just all out have a great time. Kind of a hybrid mix of Scategories x Bomb Word Game. Have a look for yourself.

As you can gather the basis of Tick Tick Think Quick (whichever variation you play with), is to say words that fit into the revealed category. Whilst students are saying the words, the clock is loudly ticking and getting closer to an explosive end. Will you be the student to get caught holding the bomb when it explodes? (I do suggest that you have some kind of item that the students physically pass around the circle as they speak...just to add even more excitement...it is however just an added attraction and not necessary)

Every category has a different length of timer, so the kids really don't know how long they have.

The game has 24 categories (2 slides of 12) for the students to work their way through - Animals, countries, sport, vegetables, winter, school things, food, things at the beach, fruit, musical instruments, things in the kitchen, colors, in the garden, words ending with "N", what makes you smile, things you do everyday, birds, boys names, jobs, furniture, things you wear, transportation, girls names and shapes.

4 ways to play

Circle Action - Individual or group play in one big circle.

Collaboration - Team play in seated groups.

Tennis Game - Two or four players hit the answers back and forth (printable score sheet included)

List It - Individuals play, to list as many words as they can from each category before the bomb explodes (printable lists included)

Longer instructional demo video also included in download.

Available for download at Clever Fox Lesson Box

The Cup Game 2 - How To Make A Shaker Cup

The Cup Game 2: New Cup Game

The Cup Game 2 brings you an all new rhythm, an all new shaker cup (which I'm going to show you how to make further down a little in this post), new play along original tunes, a new sound that is something to really get your groove! Specially designed for all who have passed "The Cup Game" basic "Clap Clap, Tap Tap Tap" and want to move on to something a whole lot cooler...Have a look at the video and see for yourself just how the shaker cup shakes up the cup game with new flips and slides and a cool new original tune.


Of course you can use the shaker cup for the original cup game rhythm and any other beats you make up or know. It adds a new dimension to cup drumming and I'm going to show you the cheapest easiest way to deck your students out with their own designer shaker cup.
So lets have a look.

HOW TO MAKE A SHAKER CUP

Materials Needed :
Paper Cups (each student will need 2)
Rice
Thick Double Sided Tape
Regular Tape
Paint (or whatever you choose) for decoration

Step 1 - I decorated the cups with base colour first but you may possibly want to switch the decoration to the last step.


Step 2 - Add a strip of thick (spongy) double sided tape around the circumference of the cup(about half an inch down from the thinner base end of the cup). This will secure the second cup on top, adding strength and a space between the two cups for the ingredient that turns it into a shaker cup.


Step 3 - Add no more than a teaspoon of rice into the small of the base of the cup (with the tape around it) and lower the second cup into place over the double sided tape (remember to peel off the tape protection so that it can stick)

 NOTE - If you can't find the thick spongy double sided tape, you can substitute it with two or three layers of regular double sided tape. It possibly may not be as effective at making sure the rice stays in the cup though so as in the picture here to the right, you may also want to add a layer of regular tape around the outer circumference of the two cups...just to be sure it stays together.



AND there you have it your own shaker cup which sounds awesome. Your students can go crazy with their designs once the base colours are dry..







How does it sound...lets have a little look at step one from the cup game 2 interactive PPT and have a listen.

The Shaker cup not only sounds great but is awesome for doing cup tricks like flips, throws and slides because it has a little weight in the base from the rice

Here's a little information about the cup game 2 interactive PPT pack which I wrote and designed especially with the shaker cup in mind.

The Cup Game 2 interactive ppt activity can be purchased as a singular item at TpT store Clever Fox Lesson Box.
It incorporates, flips, slides, two great tunes to play along with, the previous instructions on how to make a basic paper cup into a designer shaker cup, 10 step video lesson incorporated into the PPT, built in Metronome after each step, to practice first at 80 BPM and then up to speed at 100 BPM and a demonstration video of how it looks (spectacular) and sounds (super cool). There is also a bonus tune from Cup Game 1, for those who want to re visit it and jam out the basics to a cool song.

The Cup Game 2 Complete Music Pack is also available which includes the fully interactive PPT lesson, AND also includes a separate folder of MP3 files of the tunes from cup game 2 and 1. These are for you to use in performances (great for school concerts where the kids can really show off their Cup Game skills in a totally original new way) put onto your smart phone, USB Drive etc. and impress your friends wherever you are... or maybe use as a ringtone if you like. They are Copyright© 2015 Susan Yuill, All rights reserved and can't be used in any manner for re sale or re use in projects  nor freely shared. Extra licences are available at massively discounted prices if you want to buy for your students, colleagues or friends.

That's 4  tunes... "Creamy Soda" and "Coffee Cup" from Cup Game 2 and "Ticki Taki" and "Uppidy Cuppidy" from Cup Game 1.

The 4 Mp3's can also be purchased as a separate download exactly for the above mentioned purpose.

Cup Game 1 is still also available for those starting the Cup Game journey and can be purchased as stand alone PPT or in a bundle with Cup Game Two (due to the large size of the files however the bundle is in two separate downloads)

If its to stand out from the crowd with the all new CUP GAME 2 or jazzing up the original cup game with cool tunes...We've got you covered!

I'll leave you with a quick video demo of the Cup Game MP3 Files you can purchase here

3 Quick Circle Games

Today I will tell you about 3 quick circle games that you can use all together for a frenzied circle game lesson or split up individually and use them as warm up's or time fillers. They all have very little to no preparation and are all tested successfully in class with great results.

Quick Circle Game #1- Name Tag

Name Tag is a useful game not only for the obvious task of learning and remembering names, but it can also be utilized to learn pretty much any vocabulary you wish. It also works great as an adjective describing name game... such as "Super Sue" or "Bad Bob". The Name Tag game is also a great icebreaker for new classes.

1. Split the class into groups ( I recommend no more than 10 people per group)


2. Get the groups to stand in a circle


3. One student must start in the middle of the circle as "IT"


4. Students standing in the circle should clasp their own hands together and hold them out in front of their body pointing towards the student in the middle. Don't make the circle too big otherwise it becomes impossible.


5. One student who is standing in the circle should call out the name of another student who is standing in the circle (not the person in the middle)


6. The student in the middle must quickly try to tag the hands of the student whose name has been called.


7. The student who had their name called must quickly think of and say the name of another student standing in the circle before their hands get tagged by the student in the middle.


8. This carries on this way until someone finally gets tagged and then becomes the new "IT" in the middle.

This game is extremely fast and furious fun. My students were in fits of laughter and did not want to stop playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Qtw9AhltI

Quick Circle Games #2 - Name Three Things

Name three things is pretty self-explanatory and is basically a "think quick" vocabulary builder. It's very easy to set up and makes the students think.

1. Organise the students into circle groups, again I recommend no more than 10 people.


2. You will need one object per group (preferably something like a soft toy, so no one gets hurt).


3. One student sits in the middle of the circle (with their eyes closed) whilst the other students pass the object around the circle.


4. The student in the middle can sing, talk or stay silent but eventually must call out STOP.


5. When this happens the person holding the object must say a letter of the alphabet and immediately start passing the object around the circle again.


6. The student in the middle must name three things beginning with the letter the student stated...BEFORE the object gets back to the first student who said the letter.


7. If the student in the middle can't think of three things before the object gets back to the start, then they must stay in the middle and try again.


8. However, if the student in the middle is successful, the student who called the letter must now become "IT" and move to the middle to try their luck.

You can omit the really difficult letters if you like, but you'd be surprised, apart from maybe "X", it's not really that difficult. The pressure of the time limit with the object being passed around the circle, can make it harder than it really is.

Obviously this game also adapts well to setting specific vocabulary...for example, only nouns or adjectives.

You can also change it so the student doesn't say a letter, but says a category instead...for example, animals or sports.

Quick Circle Games #3 - Whoosh Ball

I have to admit, I was sceptical about whether this game was going to work in my class. I was thinking...maybe the kids will feel too stupid or think it's too young...but, I was glad I went ahead and tried it, because it really rocked. The vocabulary is a little, shall we say...alternative, but students seem to like things a little out of the norm' when it comes to learning new vocabulary. Don't be fooled by the name, no ball is actually needed for this game...well no physical ball is needed anyway...just an imaginary one, which helps to make this one of the most enjoyable circle games you can play in class.

Before you start this activity you will need to run through the vocabulary and if possible show them the following video to demonstrate. Ok, so here's the vocabulary.

Whoosh - this is the word the students must say to pass the imaginary whoosh ball around the circle to the people next to them. Students must pretend to pass the ball as they say this word.

Whoa - You can explain that this is the word we use when we are riding a horse and want it to stop. When a student is passed the whoosh ball but they don't want it they can say the word "Whoa" and this directs the whoosh ball back to the person it came from. They must also hold their hand like a stop sign whilst saying whoa. A person can be "double whoaed" which is when the person to the left of them whoas them and then the person to the right of them also whoas them. If this happens it's a great time to use the next word which is "Zap".

Zap - If you are in possession of the whoosh ball, you can choose to say "Zap". Whoosh passes the ball to the person on either side of you, but "Zap" (which must be said whilst holding your hands together like a laser gun and pointing to a person who is not next to you, but somewhere else in the circle) can alter the general movement of the ball and catch people unawares.

Boing - At anytime of the game, if you are in possession of the whoosh ball you can choose to use the word "Boing". Yes, that is boing... like the sound of a frog jumping. If a student says boing, he and everyone one else in the circle must jump up and down like a frog 3 times whilst saying "boing, boing, boing... Then they must whoosh the ball back into play.

Freak Out - If a person has the whoosh ball, they can call "Freak out". If this happens everyone must do a little screaming and yelling, wave their arms around a bit and run around into new and different positions in the circle...in other words, change places...excitedly!

Super Freak Out - Similar to freak out but also calls for the person who says super freak out to state some kind of action. For example, the person in possession of the whoosh ball may say "Super freak out like a chicken", and everyone must change places in the circle whilst doing their best chicken impersonations.

Note: "Boings, Freak Outs and Super Freak Outs" apparently are not supposed to be called by a person whilst they are caught in a double whoa, but this is the one rule that can be a little difficult to explain. I personally don't think it really matters too much.

It sounds super confusing doesn't it? but don't worry, it's actually easy and becomes even easier if you can explain and then show this great video from "Ultimate Camp Resources" of the game being played. The students catch on quick and really have a blast with this particular activity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fwTFC-oQFo4

I'm sure you and your students will enjoy these quick circle games, and they will soon become favourite "go to" lessons to help you if you are stranded for low preparation ideas.

Brianfit via Compfight cc">Photo of "kids in a circle".

Thomas Leth-Olsen via Compfight cc">Photo of "Hose Circle".

The Human Knot: Team Building Exercise

Team work is always a good thing to teach your students, and the Human Knot is the perfect way to get the point across. Another good thing about this activity, from an ESL perspective, is that it is also great for teaching your students prepositions. Students will link hands (in a special way) to form a human knot, which they then will have to discuss, twist and contort their way out of, without breaking any links.

Objective: To teach the students to work as a team to make and then untangle a human knot. They will do this by conversing what they want to do in English using  prepositions.

Keywords: Over, under, into, out, through, around, across. 

Starter: Begin the class by showing the students the prepositions. A good way to explain these is by using a stool as a prop to demonstrate the above keywords. Step OVER the stool, hold the stool above your head "I am UNDER the stool, Put your arm THROUGH the legs section of the stool etc. Continue to teach and drill the students like this for 5-10 minutes.

Activity: Just before starting the activity, call 5 students to come up and stand in a circle with you, you will need them to listen and then help you to show what to do to the rest of the class. 6 people stand in a circle and they must now link hands but before they do you need to explain the rules to be followed to make this work. If they don't follow the rules they will get two circles or a knot that can't be untied.

Rules To Form The Human Knot:

• The knots can be formed with groups of 6, 8 or 10 people. 6 being easy, 8 -  medium difficulty and 10 people -  very difficult.


• You can't link hands with the person next to you.


• You can't  link both hands with the same person.


• You must start the knot by first connecting right hands and second connecting left hands. If one right hand holds someones left hand...it's not going to work. So get every one in the circle to first put their right hands in and once they are joined, then put their left hands in.

Once the knot has been formed, students need to start to discuss what they need to do to get out of this tie. For example, Joe might say "Bill go under my hand, and Lisa go over here. The students can lift their arms high for students to walk under or all squat low to the floor so students can climb over. It is important not to break hands and rejoin them in an unfair way, but make sure the students know they can re-arrange their grips so as not to twist and hurt their wrists, shoulders etc.

Extra Notes:

• Make sure the students start in groups of 6. This is the easiest knot to get out of. Once they have completed that move on to a group of 8 which is a lot more challenging. If they can get out of the 8 people knot, try a group of 10. A knot consisting of 10 people is really very difficult to escape from, but it can be done.


• Emphasize to the students to take care and be careful not to hurt themselves or others.


• If you find you have some time to spare, you can run some time trial competitions or have some races between the groups to see who is the quickest or can finish first for 6, 8 and 10 person knots.


• You really have to check that the students use as much English as they can, in all the excitement it's easy for them to revert to only using the native language if left unchecked.


• Another great exercise to finish up the class with is to assign one student to each group who will verbally direct them (as an onlooker) on how to untie their knot.

woodleywonderworks via Compfight cc">Photo by woodleywonderworks, cc">some rights reserved.

The Sofa Game: How To Play Name Calling Fun

If you're looking to liven your class up a little, add some laughs and generally have a good time, the couch game is a good way to go. I know what it's like searching for activities that will actually work...In five years I have come across so many lesson plans and activities that you can easily see from the get go... are just not gonna stand up in class...or...You try, and you fry! I am determined to keep the contents that I put up on this site, as pure lesson winners. I'm not going to fill it with lessons that can only go half the distance. This next lesson certainly fills a 45 minute class period with mega fun...Your students will love you!

The Sofa Game also known as The Couch Game, ranks within my top 5 list. Whilst it's not as "English filled" as a lesson such as Wanna Buy A Duck, it makes the kids concentrate, listen and speak. It is also funny and will give them a good laugh.

General Idea - The main idea is to get the kids all sitting in a circle (boy, girl, boy girl) with four chairs at the head of the circle specially marked as the sofa.
Because the students are sitting in a boy, girl formation around the circle... "the sofa" will be occupied by two girls and two boys. The aim of the game is for the girls to totally occupy the sofa with four girls, and of course the aim of the game for the boys, is to occupy the sofa with four boys. Let's take a look how this will happen.

UPDATE : I have now designed a Sofa Game Activity Pack. Everything you need including more detailed instructions and tactical plans, name cards, Sofa Marker PDF and Seating Plan PDF.

The Sofa Game: Set Up and Play

1. Put all of your chairs in a large circle and get the students to sit around on the chairs in a boy, girl formation. The one chair immediately to the left of the sofa should be vacant...but every other chair should have a student sitting on it. To successfully play the couch game, you will probably need at least 20 students to make this game worthwhile.


2. Get the students to write their English names on paper. (Name Cards available in Activity Pack)


3. Collect names in container


4. Get each student to put their hand in like a lucky dip and draw out someones name.


5. BIG NOTE: Make sure that the students don't show or tell anyone what name they have...in China, this is very hard thing to stop the student's doing, but after a couple of rounds they start to realise that this game works better when they learn to keep quiet about their new persona.


6. Now the students have to pretend that they are the person whose name they have pulled out of the container. Play starts with the person sitting to the left of the empty chair, calling out a classmates name.


7. The student who is holding that name in their hand (on the paper) must stand up and walk to the empty chair. This often causes many laughs when a boy has inadvertently picked out a girls name... and a big, tall and beefy looking Mary, stands up and wanders across to sit in their new position.


8. Now the vacant chair is in another spot...yes? so the person sitting on the left of the new vacant chair calls another name and the new "whoever" moves over next to them.


9. The trick is for the students to try to remember who has who's name. The girls want four girls to move onto the sofa... even if one of the girls now has a boys name, and of course the same goes for the boys.

Obviously the team that wins will be the team that can fill the couch with either girls or boys. My classes love to do girl vs boy games! Competition is fierce.

The Couch Game Resources

• small strips of paper


• container to put all the names into


• something you can use to mark the four chairs that will be "the couch".

OR GO THE EASY WAY WITH THE SOFA GAME ACTIVITY PACK

The Couch Game Lesson Notes

• The hardest thing is not getting the students to cheat or give away their identity. You must stop the kids from calling out or mouthing their new names in their excitement and want to win.


• The next most difficult thing is of course the explanation.  As always, with activities like this one, I find it is best to get it all set up and for the first round, describe and show as you go. The student's catch on pretty quickly when they see how competitive and fun the activity is. When I first gathered enough courage to try this activity (I was scared about how to explain) I just couldn't get over how well and easily it all fell together.

Wanna Buy A Duck?

Do You Wanna Buy A Duck? This is one of my all time favorite and highly successful lessons to use in any classroom, be it ESL or regular learning.

Why is this lesson so good? Oh only because it works on just about everything in one fun filled 45 minute lesson. We're talking about group work, questions and answers, slang, thinking of appropriate verbs to go with selected items, selling and buying vocabulary, pronunciation and buying and selling sentence structures....Sounds to good to be true right? Or at least too good for them to enjoy? WRONG....They eat this activity up, they really love it.

 I first came across this activity on the "Ultimate Camp Game Resource" site. I'm all about taking great games and converting them to useful and fun lesson activities. This one in particular, works amazingly well.
Check out the camp Game Resource team running the activity here Wanna Buy A Duck Ultimate Camp Resource Video




Then I took it a few steps further and designed my own animated video and lesson material (the snip of the animated video you see at the start of this post being  a part of the pack) to make it the most super powered, A1, best ever (in my opinion) ESL activity that in 7 years of ESL I have taught. The added material also now makes this suitable for younger age groups...challenging, but certainly doable. Buy The Pack Here.

After watching the videos, the kids are usually ready and rearing to have a try, so I like to get a team of 5 to come up the front of the class and give it a whirl. This is really useful because it highlights to the rest of the class watching, what mistakes to watch out for. When the first "sitting ducks" have finished I get another team of 5 up front for another demonstration. The second group has usually watched enough to really get the hang of what is happening, and "mostly" put on a good show for the class to laugh and enjoy.

• I get the whole class to split into smallish groups of about 5 and get them to spend about 10 minutes practicing. Each time they do a run through, they should try and think of different things to sell and the appropriate responses for what they are buying. The cards in the activity pack are great for this (there are also worksheets to prep them for the dialogue)


• I usually play this activity in a line (like on the video) not a circle (like they suggest). Make sure that the line (or circle) is not too big otherwise some kids will become bored waiting.


• The last thing I do is organize a time trial race and get kids to compete in their teams to see who can complete the whole sequence the fastest....BUT, make sure that the dialogue is not so rushed that it becomes impossible to understand. I threaten to add 5 seconds for every person who doesn't speak clearly!

SUGGESTION : An extra thing you can do to make sure your lesson runs smoothly is to write or show the basic dialogue up on the blackboard or smart screen for the students to refer to if they forget the sequence...or purchase the Flashcards with prompts and worksheets which are all a part of the Wanna Buy A Duck? Lesson Pack.

Now... do you Wanna Buy A Duck Lesson Pack? :-)

An example of the Dialogue

Round 1
S1 - Do you wanna buy a duck?
S2 - A what?
S1 - A duck.
S2 - Can it quack?
S1 - Of course it can quack, it's a duck!

Round 2
S2 (to S3) Do you wanna buy a kangaroo?
S3 (to S2) A what?
S2 (to S1) A what?
S1 (to student 2) A duck.
S2 (to S3) A kangaroo.
S3 (to S2) Can it jump?
S2 (to S1) Can it quack?
S1 (to S2) Of course it can quack, it's a duck!
S2 (to S3) Of course it can jump. it's a kangaroo!

and so on down the line...

Have Fun!

Animal Sounds: Circle Game Fun

You may think that teaching animal sounds to your class is just too easy. We learn those things before we go to school right? But for kids in countries like China, they have never heard the descriptive words we use for the noises that particular animals make. In fact in China the kids don't even know the names of half the animal sound in their own language of Chinese. A lesson in animal sounds is informative and fun. Having spent a lot of my childhood mimicking and perfecting the sounds of animals such as the roosters, ducks and dogs, the kids love it when I also give an imitation of the animals. Anyway lets get to the game.

Animal Sounds Circle Game

Step 1 : Have the chairs all set up in a circle and when the kids arrive get them to sit down

Step 2 : Run through the vocabulary you will teach them. I have just recently done this activity and used these 10 animals (but you can choose your own)

• Dog - Woof Woof


• Cat -  Meow


• Rooster - Cock-a-doodle-doo


• Pig - Oink Oink


• Cow - Moo


• Monkey - Chitter Chatter


• Duck - Quack Quack


• Bird - Twitter/Tweet


• Wolf - Howl


• Mouse - Squeak Squeak

Don't rush through the learning section, make sure they write down the words and get them to repeat the animals sounds. If you can, do some of your own imitations of the animal sounds, the kids love this!

Step 3 : Get the kids to hold on to their books and pens (if they have them on hand) and stand up. Tell them to walk around in a circle in an orderly fashion. As they do this count down from 10 to 1, say STOP and then say SIT DOWN. This has made the kids all move around to new positions within the circle. To make sure they do this correctly, do it again. Tell them to walk in a circle, count down from 10, then tell them STOP and SIT DOWN. If they do this correctly move on to the next step

Step 4 : Tell them that one person will come and stand in the middle of the circle, blindfolded. This person will spin around and stop, pointing their finger at someone in the circle (demonstrate as you explain).

Tell them the person that is being pointed at, must make one of the animal sounds they have just learned and the person who is blindfolded in the middle must guess two things -

•  What animal sound they can hear


•  who is making that sound.

Step 5 : Give the person a few guesses and a few chances to listen to the sound, after they guess or time out,

get the person who was making the animal sound to now step up and be the person in the middle and start again.

Animal Sounds Circle Game Video

Have a look at the game in action -

Your class may end up sounding a little like a zoo, but it's great fun, little preparation and teaches the students animal sounds in a super fun way adding some new describing words to their vocabulary. This is an awesome activity for little and big kids alike!