5. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?

Guessing-games can give excellent practice of the going to construction when the action is to 1 take place in the immediate future, so that everyone can see it. If the teacher picks up a piece of chalk, he is probably going to write or draw on the board. «I'm going to draw something». The teacher says. But what? That's anybody's guess - and everybody guesses. You're going to draw a giraffe, a tree, a lake, an island, a map, some houses, etc. The first to guess takes the teacher's place, and perhaps scores a point. Drawing is, of course, only one thing: there are all the other actions that can be performed or mimed, singly or one after the other. Every pupil thinks of something to do and keeps quiet about it. «Dick». Says the teacher.

Dick comes forward. «Tell me what you're going to do». Dick whispers it. «All right», the teacher says (or «No. think of something else». if it isn't suitable). «Now, what's Dick going to do?». Answers are taken from the class; is hands go up. He's going to sit on your chair, open the door, unlock (he cupboard, put his books on you’re table.

Teacher: Is that what you're going to do, Dick?

Dick: No.

Presently someone guesses: «He's going to put the waste-paper-basket in that corner. »

Dick: Yes.

Teacher: All right, put it there, Dick.

Performance of the action completes the context.

9. GETTING TO KNOW NUMBERS

e. Number on the board. The teacher has written numbers all over the board, at a height the pupils can reach; or bettor still, pupils have written them there themselves, so long as they can write firmly and clearly. There are two or more teams, and one member of each stands at the blackboard, coloured chalk in hand (each team has a different colour). The teacher calls out a number and the first to put a ring round it scores a point. The players should be changed after they have ringed three or four numbers, and any player who rings one wrongly is replaced.

The numbers may be simple or difficult. They can also be clock times, weights and measures, dates, sums of money, telephone numbers, etc. Circle touch Space is needed. The players form a circle and join hands. They number off in fours (or possibly in threes, fives, or sixes, according to the number playing). The teacher calls out a number — for instance, 4 — and all the 4's run clockwise round the outside of the circle and back to their places, if possible without being touched by the 4 behind. Each number is called the same number of times. The player who has touched the largest number of other players is the winner. Ordinal numbers may be used instead of cardinal. Thus the players number as first, second, third, etc. and the teacher calls, for example, «fourth» instead of «four».

m. The main in the moon. The players stand or sit in a ring and number off. There is a player in the middle of the ring who says clearly:

The man in the moon

Has lost his hat.

Some say this

And some say that.

But I say (slight pause and then quickly)

That number . has it.

All the players then count aloud together up to the number mentioned; for instance: «One - two - three - four - five – six – seven». Number 7 say, «I haven’t got it». «Who has it, then?». Demands the centre player. Number 7: «Number three has». Everybody: «One - two – three». Number 3: «No, I haven't got it». And so on, until every player has been accused. The conclusion can be:

The man in the moon, etc.

And I say

That nobody has it.

Everybody then counts from 1 to 20 (or whatever the number of players is).

10. WORDS, WORDS, WORDS.

b. Going a w a y. This can be going abroad or, of course. Going to London, or Packing my) bag, or Packing my grandmother's trunk, or whatever seems suitable. Let us take the first idea. «I am going abroad», says player No. 1, «and I shall take with me a suitcase». Player No. 2 continues: «I am going abroad, and I shall take with me a suitcase and a camera». Player No. 3 says: «I am going abroad and I shall take with me a suitcase, a camera, and some films». And so on. Each player repeats the items in list and adds one of his or her own.

PRONUNCIATION GAMES

1. THE SAME, OR DIFFERENT?

a. The teacher says two sentences and the pupils have to judge whether they are the same or different. Examples:

Teacher: You must leave there You must live there — You must leave there. Are they all the same? I'll say them once more. (Says them.) Peter?

Peter: The second one was different. Teacher: Good. A point for your team. I'd like to look at your back — I'd like to look at your back. John? John; Different.

Teacher: Are you sure? Listen again. (Repeats them.) John: Oh, the same. Teacher: yes how what about this? I like to look at you back – I like to look at you bag. Hands up.

And so on.

B The same procedure, except that word - pairs and not sentence – pair are used. Examples: leaf – leave, men- men – man, thin – thing – thing – thin. Again, it is important to pronounce each word of the pair or set in the same way and not, for instance, on with a rising intonation and another with a falling intonation.

2. PICTURES AND SOUNDS.

Pictures are useful for a variety of purposes in the foreign-language course, and some pronunciation difficulties lend themselves to pictorial illustration. For instance, it is fairly easy to have simple sketches of a pot and a port, of a sheep and a ship, of a hat and a hut, a cart and a kite, of somebody thinking and somebody sinking.

These are, of course, merely examples. The teacher, or course-maker, must be familiar with the pupils' difficulties, perhaps not those illustrated above, and should keep within the vocabulary they have matered at a given stage. There will be some difficulties which do not lent themselves to pictorial treatment and for these other games and drills must be used. Such sketches can be put on the blackboard in a few seconds, but it is probably better to have them on cards, since they provide useful test-material as well as practice-material. Be sure that the sketches are big enough and clear enough to be seen properly from the back of the class.

Pronouncing games or contests can be played with pictures of this sort in the following ways. Let us take pictures of a hat and of a hut as examples.

The teacher says, «point to a hat», or «point to a hut», and calls a pupil’s name. the pupils points to one of the pictures and scores a point if he is right.

READING AND WRITING GAMES

6. OTHER WORD-GAMES

d. Word Lotto. Each pupil has a word-card, on which there are several words — perhaps three or four — arranged one under the other.

If the class is an intermediate or advanced one and has done a lot of reading, the children's vocabulary will be extensive, and every child can have a different set of words. In a class of 40 pupils, this means finding 120 to 160 words which are not too easy to read. They can be typed on paper and gummed on the cards: engine flight early descent airport arrive