The ALL-TIME CLASSIC!! After they've
learned it all you'll have to do is draw the empty lines of the
game to spark their interest. There are so many twists on this
one, but it breaks down into two basic categories:
1.) Kids play teacher
2.) Kids play kids
Kids play the teacher: Teacher
always loses
That's the basic idea here. The teacher loses. Teach them the
name of the game. Play a few times with your Chinese teacher,
who sinisterly intones the winning phrase, "Tic-Tac-Toe" when
she beats you. Draw the game on the board and two teams, Teacher
Bob and Class 2P. Practice the English, then, choose a player.
Let the player get help from the class. Then, you ask the class
for help. And take BAD advice. "Here?" you ask, pointing to an
obviously losing set-up. The kids will love this. "Yes!!"
they'll scream. And you continue on, to lose dramatically. Point
to a winning position and ask, "Here?" no!! they'll scream, and
thank them for helping you. Having confidently told the class,
"I will be the winner" at the start, you sheepishly erase one of
your stars and add it to the class'.
Kids play Each Other: Who Knows Who'll Win?
After playing the game against you, let the kids play against
themselves. Divide the class into two teams. Draw the game on
the board and give each team three stars. Practice the English,
then choose five kids from each team. Have them make two lines
at the board. Then, GO! Winners get one star. Keep these five
kids at the board until one team has won all the stars. This
give kids different gos at the game, first move, last move, etc.
Surprisingly, through the pressure of being up at the board,
you'll get some classic losses. You can enforce a strict, no
helping rule to make the game more interesting.
Group Practice: just choose whomever is trying hard and or doing
well.
Individual Practice: stand the players up and get them to do the
English or answer the question.
Twists
Have five kids versus the teacher; line then up and let each kid
make one move, returning the kids to the back of the line as
they move. Keep the same five kids and rapidly play until you've
lost the first of your three stars. Then, pick five more kids.
Remember with individual practice to be willing to gently sit
down a kid who hasn't done well so they'll realize that "If I do
well I get to play!" Also, once they are at the board you can
ask them to do the English answer the question again! If they do
a slack job, joshingly put their X or O in a losing position to
inspire them.
note again: remember with teaching here, whether its
kindergarten ESL, preparing college age students for the TOEFL,
or even teaching business people the dreaded ESP (English for
specific purposes) sometimes a good game really makes time fly
and learning easy. Don't fail to learn as many games as
possible.