Ludo Sapiens: learning through fun!: Fortune Teller

Monday, June 18, 2012

Fortune Teller

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: grammar.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 15 minutes.

The goal here is the students to pretend they are a fortune teller and predict someone's future. Also, to pretend they want to have their fortune told by going to a fortune-teller.

Pairs face each other throughout the room. Students A of each pair is the fortune teller. Students B are having their fortune told. Student A takes the hand of Student B and looks searchingly. Student B asks questions: "Will I be rich?" Student A improvises answers... "Yes, you will be very rich, but only if you marry an ugly woman!" "Where will I be living twenty years from now?" "Who will I marry?"

Fortune tellers can also volunteer information without waiting for a question.

Variations:

For the more advanced, after the basic game is played, reported or indirect speech can be practiced by asking each player in the pair what the fortune teller told them. One pair can ask another, and the second pair can report to the whole class.

2 comments:

RafaelJune 18, 2012 at 12:09 PM
Great!
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What do you think about it?

Who I am and where these games come from...

I'm a Brazilian English teacher who believes learning can only fully happen when you are having fun... I live and work in the Northeastern part of my country, by the margins of the bluest river I've ever seen, the majestic São Francisco, in the city of Petrolina (Pernambuco). I've been blessed for being able to do what I like and for enjoying the company of such wonderful students for all these years.

Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) games and other fun activities play an important role in the English class, and not only when teaching English to children (my experience comes from teaching teenagers and adults). While a class based around TEFL games would lack balance (and create certain problems), an English class without any games would also lose a lot. It is important to choose games which practice English intensively, avoiding 'empty' games which, while fun, only involve minimal practice of English. Good games for teaching English should involve most of the students using English for most of the time (it may sound obvious - and it is! - but many teachers forget that).

By involve, I don't mean that students have to be talking nonstop. A silent student may be very actively listening and thinking in the language, and a very noisy student may not be thinking at all. My preference is for TEFL games which involve little preparation, as most of us teachers are busy enough anyway. I've also included some 'game like' activities which have worked well for me - all the stuff posted here was tried and tested, and they worked!

I don't claim to have invented these TEFL games. Many I've been shown by other teachers over the years I've been teaching (it's been ten years now! Time flies when you're having fun!). I've come across some TEFL games in English teaching books. Occasionally I've used them straight, but usually I've adapted them to suit my needs; as any teacher should when necessary.

Ludo Sapiens: learning through fun!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Fortune Teller

2 comments:

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