Tag Archives: games

The power goes out almost every day at FLO . . .

Hi Everyone,
We just had class outside because the power was off . . . it goes off a lot. Normally, we just ignore it (the staff usually goes outside and takes a break), but today in the 5:45 p.m. class, we couldn’t see! It was getting dark, and the lesson I’d planned relied heavily on using the whiteboard. (They were going to rewrite their stories using the correction guide; it went really well with the 3 p.m. Intermediate level class. While the Ss were writing, I was writing many of their errors, which I’d “collected” while marking their stories, on the WB. We then went through them one-by-one and made the corrections. It was a really good class because they were all very attentive; I think using their errors really helped. I could tell that they wanted to know WHY it was wrong? And how do we correct it? The question was written, almost literally, all over their faces. : ) Yes, that’s what we’ll do tomorrow in the 5:45 p.m. class. Or ?
“Hmm, what to do?” I thought to myself as I dropped my many *accoutrement on my desk.
“Grab your chair and let’s go outside,” I said within seconds. What were we going to do? Honestly, at that moment, I had no idea, but I knew it would come to me. And come to me it did.
It ended up that I had booklets for each of the Ss with exercises on homonyms. I’d given the original to the director last week asking if I could pretty-please-with-ice-cream-on-top have copies of the first three exercises. But . . . I also told him that I’d really love it if he could copy the entire book. So when he delivered a box to me yesterday, and I opened it to find enough copies of the ENTIRE book for ALL my Ss in the afternoon classes, he had the biggest grin on his face.
Uh huh, simple pleasures really do bring the most satisfaction. : )
And, this 5:45 p.m. class really gets beat up with all the “changes” that happen now and then. Changes as in people coming and going, some of whom need to be sent off in style (Kai and Sean yesterday, imagine 200+ Ss forming two lines, hugging K & S, waving goodbye . . . yes, crying . . .and of course, we needed to be there too ! ), students who need to rehearse for a dance concert for a very important someone, the power going off and it’s just too dark to have class, etcetera, etcetera. So I’ve already been adjusting my lessons for this particular class quite frequently. I do my best to cover what I really want to cover with them.
Today’s lesson was really fun because the kids were into doing something “different.” And by golly if those homonym booklets didn’t come in handy!
I used the backside of a piece of scrap paper for my impromptu “whiteboard.” One-by-one I wrote word pairs like week/weak, ate/eight, read/red, reed/read.
Ahhhh, I can hear the collective gasp from many of you (around the world) as you remember what a homonym is. : )
Yes, homonyms are words that sound the same but have different meanings.
We went through the pairs. Yes, CELTA followers, I used CCQs. It was quite fun to jump up and growl like a big animal that can walk on its hind legs, take a sock off to show my naked foot, etcetera, etcetera. (*)
And as class ended and they left, I received too many “Thank you teacher!”s to count. : ) And the hugs? Also, too many to count.
Sigh. I’ve fallen in love with these kids.
And I leave FLO in 2-weeks and 4-days . . . the wheel of time seems to be gathering speed. I can literally see it bumping and rolling down the calendar hill.
Yes, I’m savoring every moment that remains.
And with that, it’s time to say goodbye. I’m quite late for din-din.
Love and light to you all,
-sj

p.s. and yes, as soon as the Ss left, the lights came back on : )
and that’s how I was able to do the post . . .

* backpack, bag of the Ss notebooks, box of gift homonym booklets . . .
Mahalo Glenn for the real definition. : )
(*) Twenty points to whoever guesses first what those two words are. ; )

More Scavenger Hunt Pixs . . .

Green team “Even Better than the Best!” The winners!
With their fearless leader . . . yep, moi!
And more teams came running in to finish.
The Yellow team, the Yellow Butterfly Dragon
Orange team, Success.
Blue team, Blue Dragon.
Everyone!
Yahoo! That was fun!

and that’s all for now folks  . . .

Aloha!

-sj

Scavenger Hunt at FLO !

For “Game Day Friday” with the older kids, I decided to do a Scavenger Hunt. I specifically chose this day because it’s Dani, Sean, and Kai’s last Friday here (they’ve been here for 3-weeks teaching two classes a day on natural science and environmental issues). The four of us accompanied each team as it ran around FLO looking for the envelopes that showed they had guessed right (and that also contained the next clue).
I dreamt up four clues that were (I think) just right for the Ss skill level–challenging enough but not impossible to solve. The clues lead them all over the grounds of FLO. There were 4-teams: green, yellow, orange, and blue. Each team had two captains (one each from my afternoon classes with the older kids) and Ss from both classes. I found some groovy nametag holders at an office supply store here in the aforementioned colors and with a happy smiley face. “Perfect!” I thought for showing the team colors. They even created team names: Yellow Butterfly Dragon, Blue Dragon, Success (orange), Even Better than the Best (green, and the winners, I might add : ).
“What were the clues like?” (that was our topic this week, btw, using “like” as a preposition, as well as a verb)
-When you’re coming and going, you pass through my side; sometimes, you even see me slide.
-Come rain come shine, I’m a cool place to be. And on some days, there’s a Japanese theme.
-Fill me with air, and I’ll take you everywhere.  What am I like? I’m helpful and nice!
-All FLO kids come from near and far when a certain sound rings a happy bar.
They go with either the front gate area, the gazebo, the bike storage area, or the kids’ dining area. I think you can figure them out. Hint: there’s a karate class by the gazebo every Saturday and Sunday.
 For prizes, each student received a pencil.
“That’s all?” you ask, “a pencil?”
Yes, a pencil. I found some fun ones with colorful designs on the side in the appropriate color. The “winners” (the green team) also got a lollipop.
And now . . . the pictures!
Where’s my name? (He was one of the captains : )
Reading the first clue.
What do you think?
Each team took this very seriously.
Lots of running!
We found it!
The winners, the green team, “Even better than the best.” First to the flag pole.
 More pix to come when I have a faster link to internet access . . .
-out
sj

Monday at the Water Park!

Classes were cancelled for the day. Over 100-students joined in the fun.

That’s Andrew with EGBOK playing with the kids.
It was a fun free for all!
She looks like she’s having a blast, doesn’t she?
So many different places to play in the water!
 May you too have some fun in the water, wherever you are, and whenever it may be.
Aloha,
-sj

Talent Show Night at FLO !

The woman in pink works at FLO; she made some yummy curry which was the impetus for this “party” night.
Three of my students having fun while waiting in line for chow time to begin.
Yum! They all got apples for dessert.
Each child rinses off their breakfast, lunch, or dinner plate.
It was a phenomenal sunset. The barbed wire? It’s on top of the fence which surrounds FLO.
The water is on FLO’s property.
The colors just kept getting more and more vibrant!
Hmm, which prize do I want? Rob’s (eGlobal founder) daughter is on left; she did an excellent job organizing the evening’s activities.
One of my students. He won a prize for his fabulous drawing, and then he gave it to me! What a wonderful gift. : )
Sean and I also loved this drawing; the artist gave her creation to Sean. Nice!
Chancy cooking up some delicious popcorn, complete with melted butter.
And then the dancing really got going!

Fun was most certainly had by all !!!

With warm aloha,

-sj

Week 4 teaching shots at FLO shots . . .

At full attention!
One of the two classes of younger Ss learning from “Gogo Loves English 1”
Wednesday the lesson plan focus was speaking : ) The Ss really got into being someone else and meeting “new” people. The young lady taking a photo was participating in a photography class that day. A former videographer/editor/photographer is traveling the globe with a NGO (non-government organization) teaching photography classes to children like those at FLO.
An eGlobal volunteer’s wife bought 3 puppets for FLO. They came in handy during this particular lesson with the younger Ss. And, the kids l o v e d them! Please tell her thanks, George!
Watching Sesame Street’s “Elmo’s World.”

More pix to follow . . .

Friday’s “Game” day at FLO, Future Light Orphanage

Hi Everyone!
Greetings from the Future Light Orphanage, FLO. We had a rocking party last night! The kids competed in several fun events: singing, drawing, dancing, and “individual” talents (such as doing a backbend so that the kid’s mouth landed perfectly next to a dragon fruit; he proceeded to take bite after bite until all the fruit was gone; then he bit it and stood up with the peel in his mouth. Yep, it was awesome! And my friend from the beach won a prize for dancing in the style of a Korean pop star; he nailed it! Boy, can that kid move.).
After the competition there was popcorn for every one and lots and lots of dancing. And oh, I got to be a judge in the contest. So much fun! When they introduced Sean, he started dancing. Then when my name was announced, I jumped up and started shaking to the music with Sean. The kids went wild! “There’s teacher rocking her socks off!” they said (or something like that in Khmer).
Today 100+ kids and some adults are heading to the water park. I’ve been told that it’s an injury attorney’s dream, as in lots of accidents could happen and they could make lots of dough. But since this is Cambodia, I expect the kids will be a little more in the “take care of yourself” mode. They also watch out for and help each other; it’s lovely to watch.
But last night and today’s activities are not the main points of today’s post (hmm, but they do have a play theme also . . . :~). I wanted to write about last Friday’s lessons.
Before I came to FLO, I had ideas about how I’d plan each week’s lessons. The first day of the week I would introduce the topic and grammar points. Perhaps one day would be a “story” day. One day a “game” day.
Friday could be a review day (a tip from Gerald, a teacher in Bangkok).
I also initially thought that I was going to sketch out my curriculum for the 8-weeks I’d be at FLO, as in what I wanted to cover. But as I thought about it more, I realized that the students had probably been taught “colors” a zillion times, “How are you?” a ka-gillion times, etc. (Last night at the party which Boo Rob–Rob Hail, founder of eGlobal—dreamed up for the FLO kids, I met an American man who’s been volunteering for the past 4-years at another orphanage in Cambodia. He says the kids are good at “volunteer-speak,” i.e. “How are you”,? “How many sisters and brothers do you have?”, etc. But not things like, “What did you do last Saturday?” So my gut feeling was on track. ; ~).
For these different reasons, I decided to wait and design my classes based on the Ss’ needs and weaknesses (keeping in mind the director’s request that I focus on speaking and writing). What I learned is that the Ss can write pretty well, but they almost never have an opportunity to speak (they’re not encouraged to speak in their state school). Bearing that in mind, my weekly outline for the older kids is as follows:
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays lessons are speaking focused. (after introducing a grammar point, or new vocabulary, etc.) Tuesdays and Thursday are writing focused.
It also became apparent that in the FLO culture, Fridays’ lessons were more game-based. Or, in one class they simply watch movies (whether they really are appropriate for kids or not). I decided to incorporate that philosophy into my weekly plan. Hence, Friday became “game” day.
This past Friday, I decided to show a Sesame Street DVD (Elmo’s World: jackets, hats, and shoes : ) in the two classes with younger children; they loved it! I wrote on the board the key words and also drew pictures of these items. Some of the more motivated students wrote all this down as they watched. I didn’t instruct them in any way really. I wanted to watch and see how they reacted. (Remember, I’m learning too.)
But for the older Ss, I wanted to do some activities that involved speaking more specifically focused on the past week’s theme (goals and dreams). “How to do that?” I thought. So I dreamed up a “game” for them, and it worked great!!!! I was so jazzed when they got into it and actually used the target language for specific points.
So . . . what follows is my lesson plan outline. I realize that my last entry might have made it seem like I haven’t been making lesson plans; I have been. I’m just not typing them into the CELTA-approved-form®; it’s just too time consuming for the moment. I’m using Word and organizing them by folders, i.e. week 1, week 2, etc.
And with that, SJ’s lesson plan for the two classes with older Ss this past Friday, August 19, 2011:
“Game” day
Focus: Speaking
Aim: to review the marker sentences: I’d like to (work with computers). I want to (be a pilot). I don’t want to . . . I hope to . . . I’ll . . ., and the new vocabular from Thursday’s lesson.
Materials: marker pens, list of words to listen for, red card, flash cards of people (a simpler batch for Elem. level Ss)
Intermediate:
I’d like to . . .
I want to . . .
I don’t want to . . .
I hope to . . .
I’ll learn . . .
In fact,
There were/there are . . . ,
often (is this once? no),
sometimes (every day? no),
practically disappear (almost and mimed hiding)
view
one day
traveling salesman,
wagon,
each month
when no one was looking
blanket
When she (awoke)
Elementary:
one day, lives on the mountatin top still,
I’d like to . . .
I’ll . . .
for now
every day
save money
guide (tour guide)
relax
I hope to . . .
My dream is to . . .
someday
Game One: 3 Ss sit in the front of the class. They are given one of the *flashcards from Wednesday’s speaking lesson. There is a moderator (teacher for this lesson until they were familiar with the game) who asks them questions about themselves (based on the flashcard they received). They get a point for each time they use one of the phrases or word chunks used this week in a lesson. There will be two students assigned to “judge” the participants; their job is to listen for the phrase/word chunks. Each judge will have a list of the words to listen for. The score keepers will have a red card to hold up each time the student uses one of the phrases/word chunks. Note: I made to myself right after class. This game went really well! Especially with the Int. level Ss. At the end they loved asking me questions. But the Elem. level took a little longer to get it; it was good practice and all got a chance to speak. Rob stopped by during the second class and gave me two hats to give as prizes; they went to the boy and girl who really outshone the rest. It was cool that it naturally happened that the “judges” selected them.
Played this one game the entire time; it was a really good way to review “I’d like to, I hope to,” etc.
Game Two: Do what I say, not what I do.  
Game Three: Knot Game
(These were back up games which we didn’t play. The previous weeks the Ss really loved game #2; it’s a variation of Simon Says and works well with older and more advanced Ss.)
And with that, I’ll sign off. Hope you’re all well and enjoying the end of August. Happy early Birthday to my friend, Deb.
Aloha,
-sj
p.s. lots of new photos to follow . . .
*Flash cards. One set came for a Pre-Intermediate Review book I have; the second set I created. They had a drawing of a male or female and gave basic information such as: occupation, whery they came from, where they lived, how many brothers and sisters (ut oh, that ubiquitous theme!). I went further and asked them to tell me what they liked to do. Some of my friends were in class this past week (in the second set of card I made). Who? Katie Beer, Bobby Downs (sorry for the misspelling Bobbee, but I didn’t want to confuse matters more than necessary : ), Jocelyne Champagne. : ) It was kind of fun to hear them say, “I’m so and so . . .”

Silent E Words Lesson

Puthy

Puthy

Notes from my class that just finished . . .

I just had a very good class with the 9-younger kids. Yesterday I’d played the Silent E song from the Long Vowel Word Families DVD. I decided to make flash cards with these words and review/continue with them.
The words are:
rob/robe
cub/cube
fin/fine
cap/cape
pet/Pete
cut/cute
tot/tote
man/mane
not/note
rip/ripe
kit/kite
dim/dime
her/here
man/mane
First, I held up each one one-at-a-time to see which ones they knew/remembered. I then modeled and drilled the ones they didn’t know. When it was a new word for them, I elicited the meaning either by miming, drawing on the WB, or using the surrounding posters (such as the giraffe and horse for mane). Also, I happened to have an art kit, which was a perfect example for the word “kit.”
I then went around the room holding the flashcards face down (spread out like a deck of cards). Each student chose one and then said the word. Several of the Ss were able to correct the others, and when no one remembered it, I modeled and drilled it.
Then I played a “game” with them. I arranged them in a line. “Form a line.” I figured it’s time they learn that expression/sentence. “Form a line.” With 9-students it’s so much easier (than with 32)! I then turned over all the flashcards. Each student selected a card. If they said the word correctly, they were able to pass through to the other side. If not, they sat down. Each student tried again until they got one right. Then we all cheered that everyone had gotten “passed through to the other side.”
I then did a quick review of all the words, holding the cards up and not saying anything (unless they couldn’t remember the correct pronunciation). I then divided the cards into 3 and had 3 groups of 3 Ss. They then said the words on their own and corrected each other (or asked for the pronunciation of a couple of the words when they weren’t sure). There was enough time to make one change of the cards between the different groups.
I then did one final review of all the words, holding one card up at a time.
Lastly, I had written on the board a few of the words written using the phonemic symbols. I simply pointed them out to the Ss at the end. Perhaps that was a silly thing to do since I hadn’t built up to it. But it felt like a simple way to introduce them to a few phonemic symbols using words that they’d just been pronouncing. I wrote them for Pete, pet and cut, cute.
At the beginning of the class, I gave them each a half sheet of paper for making their own name cards. At the very end of class, I took their pictures with their name cards (on the back of which I wrote the phonetic spelling of their names). Then ST1 showed me the list of the other Ss and that she and ST2 have divided them into two groups. Both groups will learn Gogo Loves English 1, but one group is comprised of the slower learners (17), and the other group is comprised of faster learners (22, I think).
“Are the Ss I’ve just been working with in this group?”
“No,” she replied. “They go to Gogo Loves English 2.”
Well, I took their pictures just in time. I do want to learn their names; I see many of these Ss around the school at various times. Several are in the dance troupe (which I watched rehearse last night).
It hasn’t been decided yet whether ST1 or ST2 will be paired with the faster or slower learners. Either way, I think it’ll be a fascinating challenge to be their teacher for a specific book. They’re not the only ones who will be learning!
And when will these new classes begin? Either tomorrow (Wednesday) or the next day. It depends on when the director gets a chance to type up and then post the list. (I noticed that my other class lists are posted by the Ss dining area.)
And now it’s time to get ready for my next class . . .
aloha,
sj
p.s. I was just told that the classes can meet starting tomorrow, but I won’t get the “official” teaching materials until Monday (or maybe sooner). It’s up to me to decide which student teacher is paired with each class . . . giving this some thought . . . :~)

p.s.s. I was just about to post this when the power went out; this often happens as the surrounding factories in the area draw more and more electricity from the main power grid. “Start the generator,” called out Rob from another desk in the office. “Yes, it’s happening,” the director replied. A little while later I learned that a rat was fried in the process. Yes, one’s timing and location are everything—even for a rat!

Some Shots of Week 3 at FLO, teaching shots . . .

Jan (left) is a singer from Honolulu (among many, many other things!) She was leading the song about the old woman who ate a spider . . . why? I don’t know why? : )
Showing shots from the beach trip.

Susan Jane teaching at FLO, Cambodia

Susan Jane teaching at FLO, Cambodia

They l o v e seeing shots of themselves.
This was also my “lead-in” for the lesson.
They wrote letters that day to their eFoster parents about . . . drum roll, yes, their trip to the beach!
Love this shot Rick! All the ones of me and my class were taken by Rick the Aussie cameraman. Thanks mate!
Looks like I’m smiling : )
Sharing the beach trip pixs with the younger kids one morning in the library.
They love to hang out in the library and read, draw, listen to stories, etc.
Koko met me one day when I came early to my 5:45 p.m. class.
He’s a sweet little guy.
“Now that feels good!” says Koko.
“Where are they?”
“I think I hear someone coming.”
The Knot Game. Fun to play and also a cool new word. What’s that “k” doing there?
Dani’s here teaching environmental themed classes with Kai and Sean. She’s great at games and helped me out coming up with ideas. Also, their little WB’s were super handy.
Hmm . . . I spy a misspelling . . . Can you spot it?
The little kids really, really l o v e to play hangman.

That’s all for now . . .