Wednesday, September 19, 2018

English Learning Games: Bang! & Go Fish!


Overview:
Go Fish can often take a long time so students are encouraged to use the phrase “Does anyone have ___” so that the game is quick and students get lots of chances to ask their questions and match cards.
Bang is played with a deck of letters or word cards with several cards that read BANG! Students select a card, read the word/letter, possibly make up a sentence/word that starts with that letter (your choice) and then keep the card. If students are unable to read the card it can be replaced at the bottom of the deck or a player can help the student decode the word. If a student gets a BANG! card then all their cards go to the bottom of the deck. (The game never ends - so a time frame must be decided on prior to the start.)


How Bang! and Go Fish! support students:
Both Go Fish! and Bang! provide students with the opportunity to practice recognizing letters, letter sounds, sight words or new vocabulary. Go Fish! Is used to match upper case to lower case letters or to work on letter sounds or even words that begin with the letter. Many languages do not share the English alphabet and few alphabets have upper and lower case letters.
Bang! is a great way to consolidate understanding of new vocabulary and provide opportunities for students to understand meaning of words and to use them in context.
All our students need repeated exposure to new vocabulary in a variety of contexts to help them consolidate new word knowledge. This is a fun quick way that students can practice what they have learned.


Where to next?
Check out the Ministry Monograph on ELLs and Words: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/world_of_words.pdf

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