EFL/ESL Games & Activities

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EFL / ESL Games, Activities,

& Puzzles

"The best way to learn anything, is to not know one is learning."

Quotation is from a Korean Buddhist Nun of the Jo-gye Order
(I forgot her name)

Table of Contents


What is a Good Educational Game?

Halloween Games

Rebus Puzzles

Riddles (scroll down)

More Teaching Activities


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Essay: "G.A.M.E.S."

(Good Assessment of MEmorieS)

What are the Criteria for Judging Games in Education?

by me: Leon

Sometimes we teachers use games as time-consumers or rewards, anything other than what they should be used for, don't we? It is my belief that games should NOT be used unless the purpose of the games being used is ASSESSMENT and/or REINFORCEMENT. Herein below, I suggest some criteria to determine if a game is a good assessment tool.

1. Does it cover the content of the lesson for that day or that week?

If not, scrap it.

2. Does it require students to apply what they've supposedly learned?

If not, it may not be entirely useless. "Regurgitation Games" have value in that they reinforce the neural pathways formed by the assimilation/accommodation of new schema. But, ... (you what I'm going to write)... it would be better to APPLY the material in concrete situations, to add stronger reinforcement by associating a "value" to what the students are learning.

3. Does it involve all students simultaneously?

If not, students get bored and it wastes the students' parents' time and money.

4. Is it engaging (i.e., interesting)?

I prefer competitive games, but they don't have to be competitive to be engaging/interesting. Students can have just as much fun trying to accomplish some fun task without the stress of competition.

5. Is it challenging, but not too challenging?

From my experience, if the game is too challenging, students get frustrated and embarrassed, and usually become turned off to the subject matter. If it isn't challenging enough, they get bored quickly.

(by Leon, 2006)

Riddles

Note: all of the answers are at the end of the list.

(알림: 대답이 이 리스트의 끝에 나타납니다.)

Riddle #1:

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Riddle #2:

How do you make an egg roll?

Riddle #3:

How can you keep your dentures in?

Riddle #4:

What has a fork and a mouth, but cannot eat?

Riddle #5:

What has a face and two hands, but no arms or legs?

Riddle #6:

What has a neck but no head?

Riddle #7:

What is black when clean, and white when dirty?

Riddle #8:

Where can you find the largest diamond in the world?

Riddle #9:

Why do lions eat raw meat?

Riddle #10:

In the old days, which person in the city would wear the biggest hat?

Riddle #11:

Why do mommies dress baby girls in pink, and baby boys in blue?

Riddle #12:

What time is it when your clock says 25 o’clock?

Riddle #13:

There’s a big alligator and a small alligator. The small alligator is the big alligator’s son, but the big alligator is not the small alligator’s father. How can this be?

Riddle #14:

Two fathers and two son’s go fishing. Everyone catches a separate fish, but there are only three fish. How is this possible? (remember: everyone catches a different fish.)

Riddle #15:

If there were six crows sitting on a log, and a farmer shoots one crow, how many will be left?

Answers to the Riddles:

1. to get to the other side. 2. push it. 3. use tooth paste 4. river 5. clock 6. bottle 7. black board 8. baseball field 9. because they can’t cook. 10. the person with the biggest head. 11. because babies can’t dress themselves. 12. It’s time to get a new clock. 13. the big alligator is the mother. 14. Grandfather, Father, and Son go fishing together = 2 fathers and 2 sons. 15. NONE. The rest will fly away.

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