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Fun With Mido Farid: Ingredients
Fun With Mido Farid: Ingredients
Ingredients
1. A happy, enthusiastic teacher.
Cooking Instructions
1. Teach your normal lesson.
Just about all the games can be modified to practice whatever English you are
studying today.
And they work for just about any age level, from kindergarten to high school to
university - just change the english to suit.
Enjoy!
Mido
POP
1. Draw a wavy line across the
board, this is the ocean.
6. Ask the kids a question (whatever you are reviewing or learning today.)
8. You then erase the balloon that has this number from the opposition's side! E.g. If
the number 5 comes up, delete the number 5 balloon from your opposition.
9. If all your balloons are gone, you get eaten by the shark!
It only takes a couple of minutes to draw up the board, but it works great with longer
questions, projects or presentations. You could even make it last the whole class if
the other activities you have planned are quite long!
CIRCLE OR CHAIR
This one is great for little ones or kindergarten!
2. Roll a die.
4. The slowest (or fastest for a keen group!) student answers your questions or gets a
penalty!
Variations
A 1 or 2 means stand on your chair, 3 ,4 means sit down, 5 , 6 means gets in the
circle.
2. Draw two huge ice cream cones on the board. One for
the kids. One for the teacher.
7. But…. if the card has a circle they must remain totally silent! If they speak you
erase part of their ice cream and add it to yours!
9. You are the winner if you eat the other team’s whole ice cream!
Mido’s kids are crazy about this game! What about yours?
BOMB GAME
The same idea as the ice cream game.
1. Draw two bombs with long fuses, one for the teacher, one for the students.
2. Write (or put up flashcards of) today’s words between the two bombs.
6. If the teacher shouts one of the words that has a mark the students mustn’t say it!
Another idea
LONG NOSE
Almost the same idea
3. The loser’s nose gets longer, the winner’s nose gets shorter.
At the end one team’s nose should be short and the other’s nose will be sooo long!
PARACHUTE GAME
The same idea as pop game but
instead of balloons draw 2
characters with two parachutes and
draw two sharks under them.
BROOM CATCH
This is another cool one for younger kids at kindergarten,
practicing “Who’s your favourite” or for older kids at a
party or event!
7. If the student catches it in time they hold the broom and repeat from step 5!
For older groups you can also use this as a practice for “Who…” for example the kids
shout out “Who’s your favourite singer?” or “Who’s your favourite movie star?” and
you shout out the name of one of the students!
OH MY HAIR!
1. Divide the class into two groups
8. Keep playing
9. At the end the team with the bald head lose the game
MOUNTAIN CLIMBER
2. Use different colored magnets on the bottom step of each side of the mountain,
one for each team.
4. Ask the first student from the first team a question. If the answer is correct , this
magnet can move up one step.
5. The first team to reach the top wins - or gets a prize if you like!
6. You also can ask the first two students to rock, paper, scissors and the winner's
team can go up one step.
WITCHES BREW
Similar to the previous game but descend into the witch's cauldron!
QUICK DRAW
This is a really simple vocab review game.
2. Ask the first student from each group to come to the middle of the class.
6. When the teachers says “go” the two students have to turn and face each other.
7. The first student to name the other persons’ flash card gets a point for his team
8. Keep playing
For more practice you can get the kids to shout out a question that corresponds to
the card e.g. What’s the weather like? / How’s the weather?, Where are you going?,
Where do you live? etc.
10. If they hit "bow" all their team stands and bows to the other team!
11. If they hit cha cha cha all the team should stand and dance the cha cha cha.
12. If they hit "switch" you exchange the two team's scores!
1- Divide the class into teams, call up the the first student from each team and have
them stand back to back.
3- When you say “go” the two students must turn to face each other.
4- The first student to correctly say the sum of the fingers shown by both hands is the
winner.
For the months of the year version they have to say what the month is e.g. July if the
total is 7 fingers!
Or you could get them to use both hands for numbers up to 20 or even ordinal
numbers up to 20th!
DANGER ISLAND!
Welcome to Mido Farid’s game of
the week – with a touch of
Danger!
3. Divide the class into two teams. One team has the squares on the left and the
other team has the right squares.
5. Ask the first two students of each team a question using today’s English (e.g.
“What can you see?” whilst pointing to a Treasure Adventure picture card) and if
they answer correctly they rock, paper, scissors.
6 . The loser moves their magnet to the next square – towards their shark’s mouth!
7. Keep playing till one team’s magnet goes inside the shark's mouth!
BALANCE IT!
Here we’re using Days of the Week but it works for
any theme.
3. Have the first student in each line balance an (empty!) plastic cup on their head
with their hands behind their back.
4. When you say “go” these students should walk quickly to the whiteboard, say each
of the words/sentences in the list.
5. If the cup falls off at any time,the student must stop on the spot,pick up the cup
and put it back on his head before continuing – or go back to the beginning!
6. The student inside the circle makes this time using hands and legs! E.g. If you say
"it's three thirty" the student lays on the floor and puts their hands on three and their
legs on thirty.
Preparation
1. To model the game, the teacher secretly puts some toothpicks into the matchbox,
shakes it and asks the students to guess how many are inside.
2. The teacher divides the class into two teams, giving each team an English name
e.g. the Roosters and the Monkeys. Then the teacher writes the team names on the
board (or puts up a picture card) for scoring during the game.
3. If the class has a large number of students, choose 10 players from each team by
chanting together a ‘choosing rhyme’ such as the following:
* O-U-T, OUT! (The student chosen is the one you are pointing at on the word OUT!)
The Game
1. Each player secretly puts no more than 11 toothpicks into his/her matchbox.
2. The first player from the Roosters stands up, shakes the matchbox in his/
her hand. His/her team members shout together ‘How many?’ The Monkeys then
give the answer by replying ‘There are…’
3. If the guess is the correct number, the Monkeys wins a point. If not, the Roosters
get the point.
4. Then switch roles. This time the Monkeys ask and the Roosters guess.
DIRECTION NUMBERS
This is a good game for
15 22 10 24 9 teaching directions (left,
right etc.) and numbers.
As you may have
guessed from the title!
6 5 1 3 18
As you may have
guessed from the !title!
23 11 19 25 14
1. Draw a 5 x 5 grid on
13 17 2 7 21 the board.
2. Blindfold one
student.
4 12 20 16 8 3. Write numbers
inside each square.
4. You say a number and the rest of the class have to give the blindfolded student
directions.
You can of use this for any Genki English lesson, just put up flashcards into each
square instead of numbers!
UPSIDE DOWN
2. Place all the flashcards upside down on the teacher's desk. Add in some other
flashcards if you like.
3. The kids all shout out today's question e.g. How did you get here? What are you
doing? Etc.
6. The two kids at the front take it in turns to turn over the flashcards at the front
one at a time.
7. They have to shout out each answer as they turn over each flashcard.
8. If they get the answer the teacher just gave they win!
5. After asking the first student from each team a question the quickest one can
remove one tooth from the loser’s mouth!
1. Put up your fruit ( or general food) flashcards on the board and label them 1 to 6.
5. They can then draw the fruit that is labeled with this number on their plate.
6. If they get all 6 different types of fruit on their plate they win!
This one is the same game as the Funky Fruit Salad but this time with clothes!
5. Whatever number they roll they can draw this item of clothing on their person.
6. If they already have that item, sorry, you can't roll again!
HAMMER GARUTA
This is another game that is fun for younger students or for parties.
1. Give one child from each team a toy hammer and a balloon.
4. The two kids with the hammers have to run and hit the corresponding flashcard.
Lots of fun!
5. They then get to erase that number of letters from the opposite team's name!
6. If all the letters in one team's name have gone they lose!
REMOTE CONTROL
Here’s Mido Farid’s latest game for you!
6. For example the first time might be just Eat, then the
second time it might be Eat, Dance, then the third time it
might be Eat, Dance plus Drink.
HOUSE BUILDER
1. Divide class into teams and draw an example five-sided
house on the board.
So, a student rolling a 2 would have one wall and the floor
of the house drawn on the board. If the next student on the team rolled a 4, three
strokes would be used to draw the last wall and the roof of the house, and the
remaining stroke would be used to start a new house.
If a student rolls a six and has an incomplete house the house is destroyed.
Completed houses are not affected.
At the end of the activity the team with the most completed houses wins.
ERASE! ERASE!
Students race to answer questions so that they
can roll the dice and erase the numbers 1-6
from their team’s side of the board. This is a
fast, fun, high-energy game.
2. Throw the dice to the first student who raises his or her hand.
3. That student answers the question and rolls the dice. Let’s say, she rolls a five.
Erase the number 5 on her team’s side.
4. Now, ask another question. Again, give the dice to the first students to raise his/
her hand. Once more, erase the number the student rolls (if they get the answer
right!)
5. Meanwhile, your co-teacher (or student helper) is doing the exact same thing on
the other side (asking questions, getting the students to answer and roll the dice, and
erasing the appropriate number).
Note: give students only one roll at a time, even if they roll a number that has already
been erased. If you don’t have a co-teacher ask one student from each team to help
you with the dice. You simply stand at the front and ask the questions.
USES
1. To practice simple questions. For example: What color is this….? How old are you?
What’s your name? What do you like to eat? or whatever you have been studying e.g.
“I eat. She …?”
SET–UP
3. Don’t let the students see where you put the shark.
PLAY
1. Call four or five students up and ask them to choose one card each to stand on.
2. Ask the students to either name their flashcard, use it to make a sentence or use it
to make a mini presentation (depending on the level of your class.)
4. The student who finds a shark under his or her flashcard gets to chase the other
students back to their seats.
5. He or she pretends to be a shark and snaps and bites at the others. Don’t let the
students use their mouths, however. Instead let them use their arms to open and
close like a giant mouth.
I can certainly see this working with even college level students & adults as the
anticipation of who has the shark will keep everyone’s adrenaline flowing right
through even complex speeches!
PIG
3. But….. that student should always only answer with one word e.g. pig e.g. What do
you do? Pig, What is your girlfriend’s name? Pig What’s your favourite sport? Pig
BANK ROBBER!
Here’s Mido Farid’s game
of the week with a touch
of math!
8. If they throw ….
9. Keep playing till either the bank or one of the teams loses all their money!
Variations
.* Give the students a choice of which ball to use – a bigger ball worth fewer points
* Have students roll a die to see how many steps away from the board they stand.
CIRCLE MY CLOTHES
Here’s Mido Farid’s game for this week, it
makes a great bridge between the Summer
Clothes and Winter Clothes theme, and
also includes a touch of weather vocab!
3. Everyone shouts out together “What’s the weather like?” (or “How’s the
weather?”)
4. The teacher points an imaginary microphone at one of the sat down students.
6. The two students at the front have to quickly turn around, draw a circle round an
appropriate piece of clothing and say “Put on your ….” plus the clothing e.g. “Put on
your coat” if it’s “cold” or “Put on your shorts” if it’s hot!
8. Repeat from step 3 until all the clothes have been circled!
BLACKJACK DICE
1. Put the kids in teams
3. The fastest kid to answer correctly gets to roll the dice twice.
8. If the other team answers fastest, rolls the dice and gets nearer to 12 without
going bust
5. Making sure the teacher can't see, the student at the front points at one flashcard.
7. Then another student comes to the front and repeat from step 4.
8. See who came make the teacher make the most tries before they answer!
FREEZE!
Here’s Mido Farid’s game of the week, although this time it’s a very useful classroom
control activity:
1. Tell the students that whenever you say “freeze!” they have to stop and remain
completely still!
2. Even if they are playing a game or talking in an activity they have to freeze!
3. Give points to team members or individuals who keep frozen even when you try to
make them smile.
This is a great idea to do in the first few lessons so that you can always stop the class
at any point (for example if you forgot a rule in a game or find kids are all making a
common mistake with the English) but as you make it into a fun “game” the kids love
it!
The easiest way to teach it in the beginning is with the Eat! Drink! Dance! lesson -
where you can also use it to calm down the sugar high younger kids!
Another alternative is to use the “I am a robot!” lesson and use the “switch off”
phrase!
HAPPY BUNNIES
Half board game, half action game, Happy Bunnies is a
lot of fun.
3. Divide the class into two teams and send each team to sit against opposite walls in
the classroom.
PLAY
2. Ask this player a question (or to name a flashcard) and then ask them to choose a
square.
3. If the square in your notebook has a happy bunny in it, that student can ask a
student from the opposing team to come over and sit with his team.
4. If the square has a sad bunny however, then the student has to go and sit with the
other team.
5. The team that has the most players on its side when all the squares have been
filled in is the winner.
GOOD MATCH
1. Put fruit flashcards and a series of boxes on the board.
2 In the teacher’s notebook draw the same but fill in each box with a colour. This is
your key. Don’t show the kids.
PLAY
2. Ask them to draw a line on the board that connects one picture on the left with one
box on the right. They, of course, don’t yet know whether this will be correct or not.
It gets them used to taking risks and guessing.
3. Let’s say the child connects the apple to the third square. You check your KEY and
see that the third square is brown.
5. Ask the student, “Is the apple brown?” It isn’t so erase the line connecting the
apple and the brown square, and take away the brown flashcard from the square.
6. Call another student up. That student (remembering the 3rd square is brown)
connects it with the pineapple. This is a match. Give this player’s team a point.
7. Keep playing until all the pictures on the left have been matched with the squares
on the right.
USES
3. Logic skills
Once the kids have got used to this simple version with just colours & fruits, you can
make the right squares to be adjectives and use any of the vocab (animals, fruits etc.)
from the Guessing Game lesson.
BALLOON RACE
1. Draw several lines on the floor and number each one e.g. 10cm, 20cm etc.
5. The fastest kid to answer gets to throw their balloon. If they throw it 10 cm their
team gets 10 points, 20cm is 20 points etc.
7. The next person in their line comes forward, picks up the balloon and stands
behind the start line.
9. See which team has the most points when the time is up!
1. Draw an empty grid on the board (leave the squares blank) and the
5. The fastest to answer gets to choose on of the blank squares on the board.
6. You look on your answer key and move the flashcard of the word that is on that
square in your key onto the corresponding square on the board.
9. If the two items match they stay on the board and the student gets a point.
10. If they don't match you move the off the grid, but the kids have to remember
where they were!
11. Keep going till all the empty squares are full.
Examples of suitable pairs are: adjectives (e.g. Short, tall), capital, small letters
FOUR IN A ROW
I'm sure you know this game!
5 - They get to place their x or o only if they answer your questions correctly!
Alternatives
Do the same but the kids throw a sticky ball into the grid. Till one team gets four in a
row!
Or....
1. Do the same but put flashcards inside each square
2. You ask a question and the quickest person to answer with one of the flashcards
can take it down and replace it with their x or o.
Just the same but you have one empty 7x7 grid on the board and another one with xs
and os on it in your book.
When the students choose an empty square you look at your secret version, if there is
an x there, write an x up on the board. If not write an o up on the board.
1. Put up a grid on the board and cover each square with either flashcards or
question cards.
4. Write each team’s name on the board and under each one draw 5 hearts.
5. One team chooses one card and you ask the question related to the card.
6. If they get the answer right you flip over the card.
9. If it’s a gun, they shoot one of the hearts from their opponents team!
But then again if it does get some of the harder to reach kids to learn something in
class it might be worthwhile!
DARTS
4. Ask this player a question (or to make a sentence, name a flashcard, etc.)
5. If they answer correctly give the student a marker and blindfold his/her eyes.
6. Spin them around several times. (Ask the class to count with you.)
7. Now, direct the student toward the bulls-eye. The student walks forward
and touches the board with the tip of the marker. Hopefully the student makes
a mark within the bulls-eye. (If not, get his team to shout, “Oh no!”)
8. Give the student’s team the appropriate number of points. Play until everyone
has had a turn and then add up the scores. The highest score wins.
3. Divide the class into two teams and ask them to line up facing their list
5. When the teacher says go, the students have to pass the ball over their head
repeating the first word on the list.
6. When the ball gets the last student he must run to the board and put a sign or
circle the first word.
7. Then go to the front of his line and start passing the ball over their head this time
saying the next word on the list.
BATTLESHIPS
Classic game but on the board!
2. Inside draw several battleships. One is 4 spaces long, one is 3 spaces long, one is
2 spaces long.
5. The student who answered the fastest gets to choose a square on the board.
6. Look in your book to see if it has a battleship. If so, mark it on the board and give
the student a point.
You need a stack of poker cards for keeping score in this activity.
1. Divide your students into two teams and divide your board into two halves.
2. The members of each team take turns to write a word on the board and say it out
loud.
3. Two teams can write and say a word at the same time. Therefore, you may find a
little chaos in your class.
4. A word can only be used in each team for once, but it is Ok for the same word to
appear on the word lists of both teams. Therefore, you have to keep an eye on
your students' lists and listen to their pronunciation of the words. When a
student spells a word and pronounces it correctly, s/he is allow to draw a card to
score for her/his team ( Ace stands for 1 point, while J, Q, K represent for 11, 12
and 13).
5. The activity ends when the poker cards are finished, and the two teams start to
calculate total points they have scored. The team that has the higher score wins
the game.
If you have a lower level class, you can allow your students to have a textbook /
notebook with them while writing.
Or ...
1. Draw a 5x5 grid
2. Write numbers with either plus and minus inside each square.
4. If it's a number with plus you add the number to their score.
Or...
1. Draw a circle on a chair.
2. The kids throw the ball and if it gets in the circle they get a point!
4. The students take turns throwing the ball into the drawings.
5. If they hit a body part and can say it in English they can erase that part!
3. The quickest person to answer can throw a sticky ball at the tree.
4. If they hit a piece of fruit and can say it in English, take it off the tree and they get
a point!
MIDO'S THOUGHTS ON
TEACHING CHILDREN
We all know that teaching English as a second language can be very hard. But
teaching children can be really very hard. So I want to give you some of my
experience. Hope you think about these words……….
Don’t stress. Relax and enjoy-…. teaching young children can be frustrating and
stressful, don’t beat yourself up just because the children can’t get a grasp all of your
lesson. Just relax and enjoy their spontaneity and candor.
Don’t teach; do inspire – teach is what you do with a classroom of tired, middle-
age businessmen. Be an inspiration to young children to learn and think for
themselves. Who knows? You may have the future in your class..
Don’t frown ; smile – frown and the world frowns at you, smile and the word smiles
with you.
Children tell their parents everything . Make sure that the children only have reasons
to tell good things to their parents about you.
Children imitate adults. Always show your best for them to imitate. There is no such
thing as a ‘problem child' a child’s bad behavior is always learned from watching an
adult, especially a teacher. Children don’t know any better. Don’t blame or punish
them for something that they probably don’t know is wrong or bad.
Treat every child equally. Children notice favoritism, no matter how minimal. Try to
make everyone feel that they are all equally important.
Treat the children as if each child was your own. You shouldn’t want your child being
taught by someone grumpy and indifferent . Unlike adults, young children do not
want much from them. All they want is your love and attention. Give it to them
unconditionally. And who knows? You may not only be making him or her a better
person, but you may also be making this crazy world of ours a better place to live.
Mido Farid