
<p>But this is not student-centred education. It’s shared T-S (T-S = teacher-student) education. If anything, it’s more teacher-centred than student-centred because the teacher still occupies centre-stage and is the one that speaks the most. In my opinion, true student-centred education occurs when the instructor disappears and most of the interaction is between students (S-S).  The teacher is no longer a participant. He or she takes a back seat and observes the students working/playing together in groups. Some instructors are probably afraid to hand the reins over to the students. Perhaps they fear that their students might fool around and speak Korean. But as teachers, we must do our best to create an environment where the students, particularly in conversation classes, are working and playing among themselves, speaking only in English. This might require a lot of skill or preparation from the instructor. One way we can accomplish this is through what I call classroom rotation games.  <br /><br /><br /></p>
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<h3>WHAT ARE CLASSROOM ROTATION GAMES?</h3>
<p><br />These are usually card games where cards (or other EFL material; including traditional EFL matieral) rotate from team to team. All of the students in the classroom play the same game at the same time, but at any given time no two teams are doing the exact same activity, because each team has a different set of cards. These sets rotate from team to team in such a way that each team eventually gets exposed to all of the sets/material. The cards usually have a point value and each team gets its turn to perform the tasks on their cards (often with the clock ticking) to collect points. Some cards/tasks are scored objectively and others are scored subjectively. Usually the game ends after all the sets of cards have rotated through every team at least once. The team that collects the most points is the winner. Or, if all of the teams obtain the desired score, they can all be winners and get the desired prize or grade (for example: A+). <br /><br /><br /></p>
<h3>WHY CLASSROOM ROTATION GAMES?</h3>
<p><br />These games are especially good for speaking practice, but can be used for other skills as well. They are fun, challenging and motivate all students to participate, including those with less ability. They encourage team work, peer tutoring and help students to concentrate on their English. Because there is a competition and because the teacher usually records the score, students are more likely to focus on the target language, perhaps with a sense of urgency. If there is a sufficient variety of card types and because the cards are being rotated, the games can appeal to various learning styles and be less likely to become tedious. Classroom rotation games help students stay on task. They can compliment almost any topic or skill that is concurrently being taught in any particular EFL class. They can be used as a classroom management tool. They can be used for any age group, any level of student, and for mixed-level classrooms. Students sometimes are so involved in the game that they forget to ask for a break. They often want to stay after class to continue practicing, improve their score, and possibly increase their grade etc.  <br /><br /><br /></p>
<h3>WHAT KIND OF ACTIVITIES DO ROTATION GAMES SPECIFICALLY INVOLVE?</h3>
<p><br />The only limit on the number and kind of activities that can be incorporated into classroom rotation games (and in the cards) is our imagination. Some of these activities can be scored objectively and others are scored subjectively. Listed below are some examples of the activities that can be incorporated into classroom rotation games. Most of them are designed so that ALL STUDENTS are ALWAYS SPEAKING/PARTICIPATING:  <br />- Fast Talk 1 Action Cards<br />- Dialogue Cards<br />- Q/A Cards<br />- A/Q Cards<br />- Vocabulary Cards (synonyms, antonyms, etc.)<br />- Trivia Cards<br />- Fixed Expression Cards (The instructor says the expression in Korean and the student responds by saying it in English. This is a very useful way to teach pure beginners.)<br />- Correctly repeat various useful expressions, phrases, sentences etc. (Longer expressions/sentences are worth more points) <br />- Discussion Cards (This usually means subjective scoring).<br />- Cards that require students to perform a sequential task: (E.G. Give directions, describe how to make pancakes, explain how to set up a business, how to do CPR etc.)<br />- Develop and perform dialogues from scenario cards. <br />- Make and perform a dialogue using nine words, expressions etc. learned in class. Every team member must speak a certain minimal number of times. <br />- Identifying and saying numbers<br />- Write a speech and then give it. <br />- Memorize and then give a previously written speech.<br />- Tell, summarize or paraphrase a story (This usually entails subjective scoring).<br />- Read a newspaper, magazine article, or tongue twisters out loud (for pronunciation practice).<br />- Perform a dialogue from a textbook.<br />- Discuss questions that are in cards or in textbooks.<br />- Prepare a speech from a discussion question. <br />- Spelling challenge <br />- Unscramble misspelled words.<br />- Rearrange scrambled sentences (each card has one or two words and a point value).<br />- Rearrange scrambled sentences on paper. <br />- Rearrange sentences in scrambled paragraphs. <br />- Make sentences using a number of “Scrabble” tiles or cards from other crossword games. Each letter on a Scrabble tile should represent the first letter of a word (E.G. “A” can be “apple”).  Give each team about 30 to 40 tiles.  <br />- “Who Am I” Listening Challenge<br />- “What Am I” Listening Challenge (These last two can be tie breakers)<br /><br /></p>
<h3><br />Recommended ENVIRONMENT and TIME MANAGEMENT for ROTATION GAMES</h3>
<p><br />- Before students come to class make sure desks are already arranged in groups. <br />- Use the same classroom layout every week/class. <br />- Don’t waste class time arranging desks. <br />- Don’t waste class time making teams. <br />- Don’t waste much class time taking attendance. <br />- Don’t waste time lecturing. Students, (especially university students) have already received several years of input. Now it’s time for output. The same might also be true for many elementary students.  <br />- Don’t waste time explaining how to play a game (Just play it!). <br />- Students should constantly be held responsible for their performance. When the game is finished, record their team scores in the class record/attendance sheet. <br />- E.G. The team with the highest score gets the highest grade (Can also use prizes)<br />- E.G. Any team that exceeds a certain pre-announced score, receives an A etc.<br />- E.G. Teams that speak Korean might receive point deductions. <br />- E.G. Teams that are constantly on task might receive bonus points. <br /> <br /><br /></p>
<h3>WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF CLASSROOM ROTATION GAMES?</h3>
<p><br />- All students can participate in the same game at the same time. <br />- For purchased games (E.G. Fast Talk 1, Man Bites Dog), only one unit of the game might be necessary (Note: if more than 30 students, two units are recommended). <br />- Difficult or inappropriate cards can easily be censored/excluded from the game. (This is much easier than to censor textbook exercises.)<br />- For board games, only a maximum of about eight students can play one game at one time, but usually everyone can play a card game that is rotated throughout the classroom. <br />- Rotation games are usually card games and thus smaller and more convenient to carry than board games. <br />- Rules for rotation card games are usually less complicated than for board games. <br />- Need very little time to explain the rules. <br />- No students are left out. All of them participate. <br />- Because students are active, they rarely fall asleep. <br />- If scores are objectively determined (based on how accurate the students are), students concentrate and try hard to avoid mistakes. <br />- If cards are scored subjectively, students get an opportunity to work on fluency. <br />- These games can be used for more than just conversation classes. <br />- The teacher has great control over all of the material. <br />- The teacher can make his or her own material/cards. <br />- If the material is good, a lot of it can be used for home-study. <br />- Almost any kind of traditional EFL activity (especially conversation activities) can be incorporated into the game. <br />- Can make the game appropriate for any age or ability level, including mixed levels. <br />- Usually, each team eventually gets exposed to the same material (Fairness).<br />- Can be used to review and practice material already taught in class. <br />- Can be used to prepare students for oral exams and quizzes.<br />- The game can be an actual quiz. <br />- If constantly keeping score, students are held accountable. <br />- Scores can be incorporated into grades (E.G. Participation grades).<br />- If students are held accountable, they’ll more likely stay on task, often performing with a “sense of urgency”.  <br />- By constantly recording some kind of scores, students may see their improvement over time (Look at the FT 1 Score Tracker). <br /><br /><br /></p>
<h3>WHAT ARE THE DISADVANTAGES OF CLASSROOM ROTATION GAMES?</h3>
<p><br />- More Difficult to play in larger classes. <br />- Difficult to conduct in classrooms that are jammed packed with desks (no walking room). <br />- Literally impossible to do group work in some classroom environments. <br />- Must pre-arrange classrooms so that group work is possible.<br />- Overuse of one activity (too much repetition) can get boring and seem more like a drill.<br />- Need to maintain effective group dynamics. <br />- These are difficult for teachers to conduct without either proper material or lots of preparation. <br /><br /></p>
<h3><br />HOW SHOULD WE CONDUCT CLASSROOM ROTATION GAMES?</h3>
<p><br />- If possible, desks etc. should already be arranged in groups before students arrive. <br />- Some tables should have an extra chair in case the teacher wants to sit down. <br />- The classroom needs to have sufficient isle space so that the teacher can move around the class, as he or she rotates from group to group. Sometimes this is impossible because the classroom is crammed with too many chairs, desks etc. and not enough walking room. <br />- Ensure that the floor is not cluttered with book bags, purses, umbrellas, etc. The floor needs to be clear so that there are not obstructions for the instructor who needs to move from team to team. <br />- While playing a rotation game, desks should also be clutter-free. Tell students to clear their desks/tables before starting the game. Too much clutter on the desk and table tops is distracting (E.G. cell phones). Sometimes students accidentally leave cards under or in their books and then accidentally bring cards home.  <br />- Less time is wasted if we use the same teams each week/class. This also facilitates group dynamics. <br />- Everyone on the team gets the same score. <br />- Encourage team members to help/teach/tutor one another. <br />- Can have a team captain, but this is by no means necessary (I never do this). <br />- Teacher rotates from group to group, giving each team a chance to perform (and collect points). <br />- The number of card sets used in one game should = “Number of teams + 1” (“Teams +2”   is also okay too). This way when a team finishes its turn, the teacher will always have an extra set of cards to immediately exchange with them.  <br />- So if there are five teams, the students will have to rotate through six different sets of cards before they have been exposed to each set.<br />- Don’t include too many cards or material in one “set”. It’s better to have less cards than too many so that students don’t become overwhelmed.  <br />- Usually, each team member gets his/her turn to perform (this depends on the activity). For example, if the teacher flashes 20 cards at a team of four players, each player gets five chances. Turns rotate clock-wise from one team member to another.<br />- In some rotation game activities, if a player does not know an answer he or she can say “pass” rather than waste valuable time. <br />- If it’s impractical for each team member to get a turn, turns are taking randomly. <br />- Record scores. Every time a team gets a score (For example, when that team’s turn is finished), record it on the white board (so that all players can see the score). <br />- Scores are a big motivator, even if not used to calculate the final grade. <br />- Don’t waste much time explaining the rules (Few if any rules are required). <br />- Duration of game can be anywhere from 20 minutes to a few hours, depending on the situation. <br />- Well made material will greatly reduce the need for detailed explanations. <br />- Usually, cards should be self-explanatory and demonstrate the target language such that students don’t have to refer to a dictionary, their textbook or any other material.<br />- If the materials are good, students will quickly understand and learn from them.<br />- Make materials look “game-ish”. <br />- Make cards!<br />- Put a point value on top of each card. <br />- More difficult tasks, questions, etc. are usually worth more points.<br />- If used for conversation classes, most cards should require students to do a lot of speaking. The focus should be on chunks of information, rather than on individual words. <br />- If the task on the card is scored subjectively, the point value on top (For example “40”) represents the highest possible score for that card. <br />- Think about laminating your cards. <br />- Think about colour coding, which might work better than black and white (Both Ink and paper colour). <br />- Students might focus more on an individual card than a page from a textbook but in some cases, textbooks can be used (E.G. a dialogue or reading passage). Just keep in mind that this reduces the game-like feeling. <br />- Most activities should be timed (You probably wouldn’t do this for a dialogue).<br />- Give students about a minute to perform and collect points. Remember the other teams are waiting for their turn too.<br />- When a team finishes its turn, don’t waste much time determining that team’s score (especially if it’s a subjective score). Just take one or two seconds to decide the score and then announce it. <br />- The teacher is the sole arbitrator, so don’t debate or verbally justify the announced score. There is no time for this. Remember: the other teams are waiting for you!  <br />- For objectively scored cards, the teacher will need about 20 seconds to count the points on the cards (This will probably depend on how many cards the team collected). <br />- While students are waiting for their turn, they should be practicing, preparing, studying, memorizing, rehearsing, etc.  <br />- To add to the suspense and make the ending more exciting, scoring for the final round can be worth double. <br />- Remind students to take care of the cards. <br />- It is recommended that during the game, the instructor records the score on the board and after the game, records them in the attendance-grade sheet.  <br />- If using dialogues, it helps to make some of them funny (E.G. Some of them can refer to the teacher or one of the classmates). <br />-  Prizes are helpful. <br />- Grades are often the most meaningful and cheapest prizes. <br />- If classroom management is a problem, the teacher can give bonus points and deduct points from teams, even when it’s not their turn. This will encourage students to always stay on task. <br />- If students drop cards on the floor, damage them, lose them etc. points might be deducted. <br />- Rather than having team names like A, B, C, and D or 1,2,3, and 4, it might be more useful to use team names that reflect the vocabulary, expressions and numbers learned in class. (For example “Alive And Well,” “All But Dead,” “Believe It Or Not,” “Blessing in Disguise,” “Throw in the Towel,” “Atrocious,” “99,000,000,000,000” and “99,000,000,000,000,000”</p>
<h3><img src="images/stories/articles/man bites dog 1.png" border="0" alt="Man Bites Dog" title="Man Bites Dog" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" />MAN BITES DOG</h3>
<p>Ages: 12/14 and above. It’s mostly suited for adults.   <br />Student Levels: Intermediate and above.<br />Players: 3-6 players. This game can also be played in teams. If used as a rotation game, as many as 30 students can play. <br />Rules/Instructions: Instructions are straight forward. It’s not difficult to learn this game. One can explain this game in a few minutes. <br />Contents: 106 Headline Cards and 3 Exclusive Cards.<br />Objective: To be the first person or team to collect 500 points. This is accomplished by assembling cards with various words into grammatically correct newspaper headlines/sentences. Each card has a different point value. Opposing players judge whether a statement is appropriate.  <br />-  According to the instructions, there is only one way to play this game. But with some tweaking, it can be used as a rotation game.   <br />Usefulness: This game is good for learning or reinforcing previously learned newspaper vocabulary (particularly slang words, nicknames, acronyms) sentence structure, and grammar. <br />Duration: About 30 minutes.  <br />Tweaking Necessary? The game requires little tweaking. However, one or two cards might have to be filtered because of some sexual connotation. <br />Suggested classroom rotation game (not mentioned in the instructions): In larger classrooms it’s more practical to have several teams of three or four players each. Distribute about seven or eight cards to each team and then let each simultaneously try to form logical sentences/newspaper headlines. While this is happening, the remaining cards rotate with the teacher from team to team (mix the cards before redistributing them) as the teacher judges (the sole arbitrator) each team’s sentence. In this way, each team gets about five minutes to form sentences/headlines. With just one deck of cards, as many as 30 students can be involved.  <br /><br /><br />- Other Pros:  <br />1. A small compact game. <br />2. Students learn English (including informal English) which they might not otherwise be exposed too. (snub, scam, Prez, mob boss, convict, thug, bizarre, cop, stab, dumps, Feds, hubby, D.A., etc.) <br />- Cons: <br />1. This game is a little difficult to be played in conjunction with other classroom rotation material. <br />2. Because there are right and wrong answers, students seem incapable of acting as competent judges. They are too generous to be good judges. Hence, the game works better if the teacher is the arbitrator.  <br /><br />Physical qualities: Everything is fine.  <br />Available in Korea? No! But it’s available on Amazon and other online shops. Unfortunately, Amazon might not be willing to ship this to destinations outside of the US. <br />Cost: About US$8.<br />Rating: 6.5<br />Suggested preparation: Preparation is necessary, no matter which class plays this game. Even the advanced students are unfamiliar with a lot of the vocabulary. The vocabulary is not difficult, but a lot of the words are unfamiliar to most students. Table 1 contains a full list of the words that teachers should pre-teach. To enjoy this game, students should be pre-taught most of the vocabulary. It is suggested that three or four weeks before playing this game, the teacher introduce students to the new vocabulary. Also, teachers might want to show their students some real newspaper headlines. <br /><br />TABLE 1: Some of the New Vocabulary for Man Bites Dog. Can you think of at least two meanings for any of these words?  To enjoy this game, students might have to understand at least 80 percent of these words (“2” denotes double meaning).<br /><br /><br /><br />Angel<br />Attack  2<br />Beauty<br />Bites 2<br />Bizarre 2<br />Blind 2<br />Blame 2<br />Blast 2<br />Blonde 2<br />Bored<br />Brave 2<br />Burns 2<br />Convict 2<br />Cop<br />Crazy<br />Cruel<br />Crooked<br />Czar<br />D.A.<br />DNA<br />Dead 2<br />Defend<br />Devoted 2<br />Downsize<br />Drops 2<br />Drugs 2<br />Dump 2<br />Dunk 2<br />1st Lady<br />Exec<br />Fake 2<br />Falls for<br />Fan 2<br />Feds <br />General 2<br />Heiress<br />Hero<br />Hit 2<br />Hook-up<br />Hubby<br />Indicted 2<br />Lawyer<br />Judge 2<br />Killer 2<br />Lover (Note the sexual connotation)<br />Mayor<br />Missing 2<br />Mob boss<br />Model 2<br />Mourn<br />Mystery 2<br />Nails 2<br />Naked<br />Nude 2<br />Prez<br />Priest<br />Psychic 2<br />Ready to<br />Rehab 2<br />Revealed 2<br />Rip Off 2<br />Rare<br />Runs off with<br />Saves 2<br />Scam 2<br />Secret 2<br />Shoot 2<br />Singer<br />Slay<br />Smash 2<br />Snub<br />Star 2<br />Stabs 2<br />Strikes 2<br />Stun<br />Sue 2<br />Suspect 2<br />Swinger (Note: the sexual connotation) 2<br />Tell on<br /><br /></p>