Contents
=> “3 Language Games for Camp or Classroom” - simple games to make teachers’ lives easier
=> “He Goes, She Goes” - a different usage for the verb “go”
=> What’s Happening
=> Errata –confessing to mistakes.
=> In the Next Issue

————————————————————–
“3 Language Games for Camp or Classroom”
————————————————————–

Some of you might be working at camps or in summer schools now. Either way, you need activities that involve the young folk but that don’t require much preparation. Well, here you go.

1. Mystery Box

Fill a box with stuff: make sure the items are different in terms of size, look, touch, feel shape, and color. You might put inside a flower, a candle, a ball, a feather, a sock, a cookie. Have one student face the wall so he can’t see
which object you take out.

All the other students can shout out descriptions. “It’s small.” “It’s blue.” “It’s
soft.” “You can eat it.” etc. Do this until the student guesses what the item is.

2. Where’s My Shoe, Where’s My Shoe?

Student 1 removes a shoe. He goes out of the room. The rest of the students hide his shoe. (He can use a piece of paper to walk on).

When Student 1 returns, he calls on another student (Student 2) and recites this chant:

“Where’s my shoe? Where’s my shoe?
Can you give me a clue? Can you give me a clue?”

Student 2 gives him a clue by saying where the shoe is NOT.

Student 2: “It’s not in the teacher’s desk.”

At this point, Student 1 can guess where the shoe is.

Student 1: “Then is it in the box by the door?”

If he is right, the game ends. If he is not right, he repeats the chant for another student. And on and on. By process of elimination, Student 1 will soon guess where his shoe is.

3. Ping Pong Ball Blow Battle

Write these verbs on the board: “win,” “blow,” “roll,” and “fall off.”

Get a ping pong ball and a flat table. Students get on both sides, either one against one, or in teams.

Roll the ping pong ball onto the table. Students try to score a point by blowing the ball off of their opponent’s edge. It’s a blowing battle and very fun.

It’s not a great language activity. But after each contest you can ask students simple questions reviewing the motion verbs involved. For example, “Who won?” “How do you make the ball move?” “What happens when you blow the ball?”

If your students are advanced enough, ask them to work in pairs and write directions to how the game is played.

————————————————————–
“He Goes, She Goes
————————————————————–

The verb “go” has many uses. Here’s one of them:

Because I hurt my leg, I asked my Dad if I could use the car. And my dad goes, `No way.” And my mom goes, “Oh, come on, Clifford, let the boy use the car.” And my Dad goes, “No way,” and I go, “All right then, I’ll take my bicycle to the hospital.”

In informal descriptions of dialogue, usually by people under the age of 40, “go” is sometimes used in place of “say.” It’s only used in the present tense–although the meaning is past.

————————————————————–
What’s Happening
————————————————————–

<>Kevin (and “ETs in Russia”) will be moving to Vladivostok. That’s right. The Russian Far East. Teachers and learners from Vladivostok–or Khabarovsk, or Siberia–should feel free to write me and tell me interesting or fanciful stories about those places. I would love to talk with Siberians and Far Easters.

<>Some of you alert readers may have noticed that “ETs in Russia” has not appeared for a month. That is because Kevin had to finish his Masters in Education Degree in the last two weeks, and it meant a lot of work and a trip across the U.S. to Virginia.

————————————————————–
Errata
————————————————————–

Time to fess up to mistakes. “Fess up” is a fine little idiom which means to confess to or acknowledge a mistake or an action that you regret.

1. In Issue #41 we spelled the word “gymnasium” wrong. Please note the correct spelling.

2. In Issue #40 we quoted former vice president Dan Quayle as saying: “I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I
didn’t study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.”

This quotation is often attributed to Quayle, but he never actually said it. Too bad. It’s so stupidly clever.

Thanks to Hamilton Beck, who teaches in Moscow, for pointing out these errors.
HB, Don’t you have better ways to spend your time? (Actually, we’re pleased he
reads “ETs in Russia” so carefully).

————————————————————–
In the next issue (@July 8th, 2003)
————————————————————–

The next issue will come out in a month. It’s summer time. Stop teaching so much. Get outside and swim, eat pizza, act silly.

————————————————————–
© Copyright 2003 Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty
————————————————————-