I try to always include a game station when I do stations. The “game” may actually be speaking practice or vocabulary review or hands-on action with the language, but if it has some competitive aspect, then it’s a game! This station gets students working together and that’s a victory in itself sometimes.
I believe that I have to try to reach every kid. We all know that some students are hard to win over. Games are a great way to break the ice. On the other hand, our best students will work hard and still learn even if we asked them to copy the dictionary. The question is… How much more could they learn if they were having fun doing it?
When I choose a game for this station, I think about a few things:
- – the current unit topic
- – the students’ proficiency level
- – the personality of the group
Here are some of the games Kara and I use in class. Click on the title to read more about it.
- Spoons – a fast paced game to practice unit vocabulary.
- 30 seconds – A circumlocution game – Here students have to try to get their teammates to guess a word by describing it in the TL.
- Triangle Puzzle – easy to make puzzle
- Right, Left, Center – Like the traditional dice game but in the TL.
- Tech games/Apps
Thank you for all your ideas. This website has inspired me to be a better teacher this year. I really appreciate that you put this information out here for others to use and benefit from. All the best! Katie
Thanks Katie!
Hi! great series on stations. I could not live without them. I always plan 20 minutes a week for my students to use the stations.
I also have a listening station. It s a collection of audio-books and music available in CDs and MP3 players.
I call them learning centers. You can see pictures and how I use them in my site:
http://www.TPRSofNJ.com
I am also working on a catalog of the books we have in the classroom library and many other materials available on line. You can check the link in the digital library page of my site.
I have bookmarked your blog. I really like it. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing!
I found this site: Go Ed – Teacher Store eBooks, Videos, & More!
You can download and /or rent materials.
http://www.goedonline.com
Our evil plan is to spread affordable digital content to classrooms around the world! *cue maniacal laughter*
At GoEd Online, we’re committed to providing English, Science, Social Studies, and World Language (French, German and Spanish) teachers with more access to something that kids HATE…technology!
What were you expecting? Homework? As if.
This devious plan to make students miserable comes in 5 important phases. Are you taking notes?
Phase 1 – Educational movie downloads and rentals
Phase 2 – Educational ebook downloads
Phase 3 – Educational game downloads
Phase 4 – Educational presentation downloads
Phase 5 – Other secret, fun-filled, digital goodies
These materials are for teachers who want to torture their students with enjoyable learning activities! After all, we know that kids learn best when they’re bored … right? So, feel free to poke around and check things out. Just be sure not to catch our awesomeness — we hear it’s going around!
Some really nice ideas for games – thanks for sharing!
Hi, the station games seem really fun. However, I can’t open any of the links to look into the details. :((. Is it possible to fix the videos? Yi
I think I fixed them. Let me know!
I cannot open any of the links either. thanks for sharing!
Chelo
I tried another way to update them. If that doesn’t work, you can search the game in the search bar. So sorry! Is it working now?