Hello everyone,
I have a private lesson with a 9 year old girl next month and I was wondering if anyone could share ideas for engaging games I could implement.
I mostly teach kindergarteners and don’t have much experience with kids elementary school and up. Appreciate any advice. Thanks!
3 comments
Do you have a budget? If you are looking for some games that actually use English and get the children to interact then Orchard Toys is my top recommendation. You’ll need to choose carefully as you are teaching one in one, and some of the games don’t work as well with two players.
If you have no budget then tell us what you have on hand and you might get some good ideas out of that.
Don’t just play UNO.
It depends on her level, how much time you have, her goals, and the available materials, but here are a few my former students used to like.
– pin the face on (fukuwarai) – can teach basic directions, face parts, etc.
– matching/memory game (put cards face down, take turns turning over two at a time)
– origami in English, or any other craft.
– watch an English cartoon, then write a report about it
– some sort of game where she does a race/obstacle course and gets points (usually for groups of kids, but maybe you can modify it by keeping track every week so she can try to beat her score from the previous week)
– talking about a topic she likes (favourite tv show/game/YouTuber, favourite foods/sweets, sports or activities she does, animals)
Kids are not always completely engaged but if you can incorporate their favourite thing they will get very passionate about it haha. If you can, research some popular topics for girls in advance
Ask the student what she wants to learn. That will inform your choices. I had a private lesson with a boy who was a really into Manchester United. We made a set of Top Trumps about his favourite teams and players. Vocabulary rich and highly engaging.