|
ESL Forum:
Techniques and methods
in Language Teaching
Games, activities
and teaching ideas
Grammar and
Linguistics
Teaching material
Concerning
worksheets
Concerning
powerpoints
Concerning online
exercises
Make suggestions,
report errors
Ask for help
Message board
|
ESL forum >
Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > competition in class?
competition in class?
|
Vickiii
|
competition in class?
|
Hi teachers,
I use a lot of competition in my classes. I put children into groups and then we have language races, maths races, best behaved groups etc.
At the end of the week I give out a prize to eac child in the winning gorup. I try to ensure the groups are evenly matched and everyone gets a chance to excel at what they do.
How do other people feel about using competition in the classroom?
I am really interesed in hearing from those people who are against it - and would love to hear their reasons why.
thanks for joining in the discussion!
Vickiii
|
14 Mar 2009
|
|
|
|
paraquenosenosolvide
|
Hi colleague,
I don �t think having competitions is always a good activity; especially it �s not for children learning English. I teach some children, and when they don �t win they feel frustrated and don�t pay attention. Sometimes some children are very glad with the activity, but when weak Ss find it very challenging, they start doing other things.
I �m a novice teacher, and maybe I think this way because of my lack of experience to manage a classroom for children.
|
14 Mar 2009
|
|
|
crissel04
|
|
I�m agree about competition in class, but as you said we have to distribute students, so they could help their mates to understand better the lesson. I use to do it but I always try to keep near in point so they coldn�t lost interest |
14 Mar 2009
|
|
|
eng789
|
|
Every week I put a riddle on the board. The kids put their answers in a box. I pull out answers (like a lottery) until I find one that is correct. His/her name gets put on the list. On our last lesson we will see who answered the most riddles - that kid will get a prize.
They love and are always running after me to give them another riddle.
I have a very weak class so I play an alphabet game with them every time we have 5-10 minutes to spare. I hand out flashcards with the alphabet on them. Each kid starts with 1 card and I hold onto the extras. When I say a letter, the kid holding it has to show me. If he takes to long he is out and I take his letter. When I have enough in my hand to give each one - 1 more then they play with 2 cards. I keep speeding up - saying the alphabet. This goes on until we have 2 players each holding 13 cards. The first to make a mistake is out and the other is the winner. The winner usually gets a treat -lollypop. They love it. |
14 Mar 2009
|
|
|
Mariethe House
|
I prefer to get students to be COOPERATIVE ! I find competition puts too much stress on weak students and in the classroom. They are very sensitive to my encouragement and when they are cooperating in small groups I can go round and speak to them and always point out the good points and give them advice for what is not so good. And it works. they give out what best they have!
I am surprised that you are for competition! Didn �t you send a ws with the story of warm fuzzies?
How is it in New Zealand? I have always dreamt of going there one day! I wILL one day!
have a good
Marieth�
|
14 Mar 2009
|
|
|
Vickiii
|
Some very good responses.
Yes I did do the warm fuzzies story.
I organise my children into cooperative groups as well - but the cooperative groups compete against each other - they often work with another cooperative group to get points as well. As the year progresses I remove the points as the children have learnt how to work together and do so for mutual benefit in learning.
Although I do love a good competition still and believe children need to learn that they can �t win everytime and must lose with good grace - as well as win with good grace.
I do ensure that all children in my classroom experience success. I have a child with special needs that is a successful part of his cooperative group. Another child with learning difficulties is fantastic at rhyme and excells in challenges with this requirement. All children have special talents that they can share and teach to their friends.
I would still love`to hear from someone about why competition is bad - seriously - i get told this all the time and get told I shouldn �t use it - and now I am looking for the reasons why. I believe in challenging my own teaching practices - but am struggling ot find any research on competition in the classroom as a negative influence.
Cheers
Vicki
|
14 Mar 2009
|
|
|
Mariethe House
|
www.calstatela.edu/faculty/jshindl/cm/competition.htm - 133k
here you are Vickii... I hope it helps!
Marieth�
|
14 Mar 2009
|
|
|
helena2009
|
|
I share with you my students� favourite competition. Please, read it.
- We are going to read a text about a city (for example New York) . Ss do not know the text.
- I collect their books so they cannot cheat.
- I make groups of 3-4 people.
- I ask about New York. For example How many people live in NY?
I give 2-3 possible answers. For example
A 8 008 278
B 10 000 698
C 20 698 241
- Groups answer and I write their answers on the board.
- We have got about 10 questions and answers.
- I give their books back.
- They have to read the text and they have to find out who is the winner.
This is a very useful task because :
Ss pay attention during the game.
They are interested in the text and they can read it without any questions about the unknown words (In other cases they always ask these words.)
They do not realize but they work hard during this competition and learn a lot!
It is not a competition about their English knowledge. It is about guessing.
The teacher does not have to prepare for the lesson.
Please give me feedback about my idea. I am interested in your opinion. It makes me so upset when I never get answers for my posts.
Have a nice weekend!!!
Judy
Ps: This game is my own idea!!! |
14 Mar 2009
|
|
|
Ivona
|
Well, Judy, we seem to think alike, because i do exactly the same thing.
The advantage of such activity is that you get even the weaker students make the right guesses and not feel frustrated! I once had a student beat ALL the good students by making 9/10 correct guesses! I told him in the end that he should play lottery!
Also, since competition IS present in our world, but not inherently there (as the article dear Mariethe sent says), we should teach the SS how to take it when they lose. What i encourage my little ones to do is to always congratulate the winners and say: "Congratulations. You won this time, you were luckier, but next time beware!  " and the winners are supposed to say: "Yes, we won this time, but don �t be sad. Next time you will have more luck"
As you can see, i mention �luck � there. I make sure the winners in the games i play with my students are usually the lucky ones, and not the smart/intelligent ones, so everyone has a chance.
Also, when i assign them to write sth, or think of saying sth, i don �t say "Let �s see who does it first", but "everyone who completes the task will get a point". I make sure i help the weaker students so that they get the point, too. It �s happened sooooo often that we had a tie instead of the winners/losers.
When i was at a conference last year (elta.org.rs) there was a guy ... Rivonlucri (i hope i spelt it ok) who raised the Q of whether tests really proved that someone is smart/stupid (speaking in plain English). There are people/ss who are just slow in their thinking (and i myself belong to that group) and it takes them a little bit more time to complete a task. So i wouldn�t go for those �races� where the winner is the one who finishes �first�. You will always have the same winners. Maybe a good compromise would be to set a time limit which would allow the weaker ones make it just in time. This way they do stand a chance to get a point AND you help them to shift from the first gear into second as to their thinking/completing the tasks.
|
14 Mar 2009
|
|
|
Vickiii
|
I think this idea is a wonderful one - it just needs a learning intention to go with it:
We are learning to guess and check our answers.
I think that you are onto the right idea ivona. I take it one step further. I do all different games so that everyone can win based on their strengths:
1) time based - so the fastest group will win (how many words can you list in relation to science)
2) creativity - (build a monster with labelled parts that you buy from the �parts shop �
3) logic - group has to solve puzzle or math problem
4) art - create a poster with a food pyramid to teach us what to eat.
5) team work gets points (give each group of 6 students a towel - they all have to stand on it - then they have to turn the towel over with out anyone putting their foot on the ground - they can only give directions to each other in English.
etc
etc
etc
etc
Multiple intelligence searches gives you lots of ideas for competitions that are not time based.
Cheers
V
|
14 Mar 2009
|
|
|
GIOVANNI
|
|
Hi Vickiii:
One of the classes that I teach is English Immersion for adults. I play Jeopardy with the questions and answers relating to the tenses they have just learned. I find that adults are often competitive and I have to stress that it is a game of learning and not a competition. What I do is pick the teams so that each team has the weak and the strong. I don �t like competition but I do like playing games. At the end I don �t make a point of asking how many points each team has gotten. I just make a remark that games are for fun and not for competition. |
14 Mar 2009
|
|
1
2
Next >
|
