FAQ
Preschool
These games are best suited for a ratio of one teacher to ten pupils however that is in an ideal world!
Many games have variants for larger groups, though the best games book for classes of 25 children or more is 176 English Language Games for Children, which caters for all group and class sizes.
The games are perfect for three to six year olds. Older children enjoy many of them but the sweet spot is 3 to 6. There are no reading or writing games in the preschool games book. For older children, 176 English Language Games for Children includes reading and writing games, plus games for large classes.
Stories 1 to 10 and 11 to 20 are perfect for ages 3 to 6 and also appeal to 7 year olds though you go through them much faster the older the children.
Regarding STORIES, if you are teaching 7-10 year olds then you would be better off with story sets such as these such as these.
With preschool children it is best to use real objects as often as possible however if this is not practical in your situation then using picture flashcards will suffice. Printable picture flashcards are included so that you may teach all the vocabulary in the stories, and the stories come with colour illustrations. Therefore you have everything you need to play all the games and teach all ten stories.
Aside from pictures provided props are useful for some of the games. The suggested props are always simple things that are easy to find, such as a ball, a few bean bags, a sheet or a blanket.
To get the best use out of the preschool games book an open space that allows the children to sit in a circle is most useful.
If you have a classroom set up with benches bolted to the floor and no room to move around then many of these games will not be useful to you. If you are able to push your desks and chairs to one side of the classroom and create a space then that would be fine.
The stories can be used as a curriculum.
The games can be used to teach anything you like, where ever you are in your own personal curriculum.
If you are starting from scratch you can follow the vocabulary presented in the stories and make that your curriculum. If you are already using another curriculum you can use the games and stories to revise what you have covered as well as introducing new language. Stories 1 to 10 cover numbers, colours, zoo and other animals, nouns from nature, action verbs, fruits, the days of the week (optional), greetings and a few other miscellaneous nouns and verbs.
Stories 11 to 20, which are available separately, cover family members, rooms of the house, farm animals, more words from nature, body parts, clothing and some other miscellaneous language.
And there are more stories to follow those…here.
Preschool children learn best through play, through TPR (total physical response) and through frequent repetition. At this age children love fantasy, games and stories and this method of teaching is best for them. The movement allows the children to be involved on many levels for more effective learning.
The abundance and variety of ideas keeps the childen interested despite their short attention span. The stories allow children to absorb language subconsciously while simutaneously reviewing vocabulary and phrases, and putting language into a meaningful context. Through these games and stories the children will also learn through intrinsic motivation. You will find more information on how children learn, including TPR and instrinsic motivation on the articles and tips pages.
The games in the ebook for children aged 6 to 12 are mostly very different from the games in the 3 to 5 ebook. Firstly the 6 to 12 resource includes reading, spelling and writing games while the 3 to 5 has only listening and speaking activities, aside from a few ideas for the alphabet. Secondly the 6 to 12 takes into account the fact that the teacher is likely to have a large class while 3 to 5 year old children are generally taught in smaller gorups. Thirdly the 6 to 12 includes lesson plans, activity sheets around 150 flashcards in themes and these are all different to the 3 to 5 flashcards. Many teacheres do have both resources.
All resources are in PDF format. This means that you download them onto your computer and you can read them there or print them off.
The flashcards are in PDF format so you can save them to disk and print them from any computer. The cost of printing has been taken into account with the price of this product. With hundreds of colour illustrations as a hard copy this teaching resource would be extremely expensive. Instead it is available to you at a very reasonable price by European standards. My european customers frequently tell me it is too cheap! But there are people worldwide who benefit from these materials because I keep the price down for everyone.
If you are a big fan of paperbacks all books are available on Amazon and other online book shops. Flashcards, lesson plans and extras still come as PDFs.
If your computer crashes, you have a virus or you lose your downloads, and even your back up you may receive a new set of access codes for a nominal admin fee.
Primary School
All the ESL games are suitable for children aged 6 to 12 and some of the games can also be played with children aged 4 to 5. Some can be played with adults although this e-book was not written with adults in mind. Because of the adaptable nature of the games you can use the same game across the whole age range given above. The games themselves are mostly simple as far as learning the rules goes, and the level is varied depending on the amount of vocabulary and the complexity of grammar that you use in the game. In addition, many games have variants for older or younger children. The games are best for beginners to lower intermediates. If you are only teaching preschool children aged three to five please check out this page: Games and Stories for Children aged 3 to 5
The manual is designed with ESL in mind, however by substituting picture flash cards with word and letter flashcards you can play most of the games to teach reading and spelling. The bulk of the games would then be appropriate for children as soon as they are starting to learn the alphabet and to write up until about 2 nd grade (age 7). I have used the games to help young children who are struggling to keep up with their classmates in their own language for intensive practise and exposure to words and spelling and they work extremely effectively.
Most of the games can be adapted for anything from pair work to a whole class. However it is true that in order to get the greatest speaking opportunity out of the games for everyone in class, it is often recommended to divide the class into teams or smaller groups. This is often essential to avoid having every one in class sit around waiting an age for their turn to say something – and these games specifically offer a solution to that problem. Having said that I have created a number of games where all the class practise speaking in unison in the context of a fun game. These are not like other games I have seen on the web, where usually only a few students talk while the others just sit there. There are also at least 40 games which you can use with very large classes with not room to move about and where pupils stay at their desks.
If your children are generally well behaved in your classes as they are now then you will manage them in the game situation. If your children are wild now then they will still be wild when you use the games! The games themselves will not make your class uncontrollable. You set the pace and the tone and remain very much at the helm at any given time (unless you choose from time to time to pass that role over to your most talented students). The games also have a category – Calm down, Wake up and Excitable and by varying the type of game you can control the overall mood of the class. I have also created special games for large classes where your pupils will all have a chance to speak – often in unison, or in teams, but in the meaningful context of a game rather than mindless repetition. You can also read some tips on managing a classroom full of kids and Classroom Games and Discipline in the introduction of the book.
The games have been designed with the classroom situation in mind and therefore the bulk of them can be played with the students desks in place as normal. However they can be adapted and if you can get into the playground or a gym every now and then, you will have more options open to you on how you play. Some of the games do require more space – and mostly you can achieve this by pushing the central desks to the side to leave an empty space in the middle. If moving desks is absolutely not your cup of tea then rest assured you can still play nearly all the games in your class as it is, full of furniture.
I have created at least 40 games with you in mind in a special edition of ESL games for kids in large classes. By having the class or teams speak in unison in the context of fun games maximises your pupils talking time. Everyone has a chance to say the words and target structures you are teaching, without sitting around waiting for their turn, and without repeating them back to you like a parrot. There are many other ideas in the e-book. For most games you can use either no materials, or pencil and paper and the class board or screen.
It’s a PDF. You receive a download email immediately on ordering so you may say the book to your computer and make a back up.
If you are a paperback fan the book is also available on Amazon under “Shelley Ann Vernon”. It is in “foreign books” on some Amazons.
If you lose your files, including your back up copy you may receive new access codes via a nominal admin fee.
Teens and Adults
Not if you order from me on my website, but it is available as a paperback from Amazon. This is a digital book of games and activities in PDF format. On ordering you immediately receive an email with your download information. You download the book and save it to your computer. You can jump around in the ebook on screen using all the links from the detailed index to the games. You can also print. The digital book does not have many pictures so it is not heavy to download. In addition you have the security of being able to print it and thus have a hard copy to had too.
If you are a real fan of paperbacks then you can get it on Amazon and other online books stores under “Shelley Ann Vernon.”
The games and activities are ideal for both ESL and EFL. You adapt the level of difficulty to suit that of your students. The activities are highly flexible and can be used to teach any vocabulary, grammar or language. There are many games which are disguised language drills and these are most useful for beginners and intermediates. There are also many activities that target fluency. Most of these are for the intermediates and up but there are also fluency activities for the beginners.
Yes absolutely. The flexible and adaptable nature of the activities means you can use them in many teaching situations. Variants are given for large classes and small groups. If you have a large class much of the time you will have them split into smaller groups for maximum speaking practise.
There are games for all levels. Many games can be used with all levels as the teacher decides the level of difficulty. The drill type games are most adapted to beginners and intermediates and can be used sparingly with advanced speakers to iron out persistent errors. A number of the fluency activities are best for intermediate to advanced only.
This is not a problem. You do need either access to internet to look at the book on screen or access to a printer so you may print it. As far as materials go for using the games and activities you need a classroom board, pens and paper for most of the games. Many activities require no materials at all. Some games can be enhanced by the use of minor props but these are usually optional.
Yes absolutely. The games can be used for any topics so the teacher can choose topics the students are interested in. There are ideas through out the book on how to engage students by having them select topics themselves and incorporating these into the activities.
If you lose your files as well as your back up you may receive them again via a nominal admin fee.