Child’s play
By Jo Budden

Theme: Childhood games – in connection with the recent ban of conkers and other typical playground games in UK schools.
Lexical area: Games and childhood activities.

Instructions for language assistants in Italics

Classroom materials

Introduction
At first glance this may look like a lesson aimed at younger learners and low levels. In fact, many of the activities would be better suited to older teenagers and some of the activities require an upper- intermediate level or higher. Select the activities carefully and adapt them if you feel necessary.

Task 1 asks students to think about activities they did as children and the activities that occupy their time nowadays. Task 2 gets students to decide on their top three favourite children’s games and compare it with their classmates’. Task 3 is a reading activity with a text from Trend UK. It has a vocabulary exercise to encourage students to guess the meaning of unknown words from the context, before checking with a dictionary or the teacher. Task 4 is an extension of the reading text and explains some traditional British playground games in more detail. Students are invited to talk about the games and then write about their own favourite game from their country. Task 5 gives you and your students a chance to put some of the games into practice and Task 6 is a role play for higher levels based on the problematic issue of banning playground games.

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1. Childhood activities
This activity is to get students to think about what they did when they were young children. If you are working with teenagers specify an age (5 or 6) so they know when they are thinking about. With older students they can use their whole childhood, up to twelve years old. As students are working they will need support with vocabulary. They may have to describe games to you and for you to give them an English equivalent. If there is no English version of the game, they can write it in their own language.

Task 1 Childhood activities
Work in groups. Think back to when you were younger. Choose a specific age if you like.

• How did you use to spend your time?
• How do you spend your time nowadays? Fill in the two columns.

• Compare the two columns.
• Do you think children today spend their time in the same way you did when you were a child?
• Do you miss any of your childhood activities?
• Do you think you will ever do any of your childhood activities again?

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2. Top 3 children’s games
This would be a good lead in to the reading task in activity three. Students decide on their three favourite children’s games. Do your own top three too and be prepared to give a simple explanation to how it is played. You may well find that your students used to play the same sort of game but with a different name. If there is no direct translation of the games your students choose, let them use the name of the game in their own language to do the follow up questions.

Task 2 Top 3 children’s games
What were your top 3 games that you used to play when you were a child?

Think carefully and write your three favourite games here:

1)

2)

3)

• Now look at your classmates’ top three and compare with your own
• Ask them about their choices. “ Why did you like …?”
• Ask your teacher about his or her top three games. Are they very different to yours?
• Are there any games that are more or less the same but with different names?

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3. Conkers or bonkers!  
Before you ask students to read the text, try to get them thinking about the topic. If you have used tasks 1 and 2 beforehand their minds will already be set to thinking about children’s games so they will be better prepared for the text. If you haven’t used tasks 1 or 2 then make sure you lead into the theme with some questions based on the topic of play to help them. Explain the title to the group too. If you can get hold of a chestnut and put it on a string to demonstrate the game of conkers I’m sure it would be a memorable introduction!

Guessing the meaning of unknown words from their context is a useful skill for any language learner. As you monitor the students try to encourage them to have a guess at the unknown words before you tell them any answers. If you think the selection of words isn’t appropriate for your students, you could adapt it to their needs and write it on the board, or if you have time, copy and paste the table and edit it to personalise it for your students.

Task 3 Conkers or bonkers!
Read the article about the way break times in British schools are changing. Try to guess the meaning of these words from the context of the article. When you have guessed, use a dictionary or ask your teacher to check the answers.

	Conkers or bonkers! Article from Trend UK   Summary: Due to an increasingly litigious society, the nature of play in Britain’s schools has radically changed. Changing society The UK is quickly becoming a ‘blame and sue’ society. A number of UK schools have banned traditional playground games in case pupils are hurt whilst playing the games on school premises, leading to suing by angry parents. Banned games Conkers are banned by some schools as they fear the horse chestnuts could be used as ‘offensive weapons’. One school banned skipping after some girls fell over. One far-fetched example is preventing children from making daisy chains, in case pupils pick up germs from the flowers. The charity The Children’s Society said the bans were ‘ludicrous! When you ban climbing frames or don’t allow children to make daisy chains, we’ve gone too far. Why can’t they be allowed to have fun?’ Pupils’ viewpoints The bans have had a negative response from the pupils. Emma is 13 and from Birmingham. ’The end of playground fun was ages ago at our school! No daisy-chains, no skipping, no running games, no taking paper and pencils outside, last five minutes in the shade on a hot day, no Yo-yo’s, no football, no staying inside, no sitting down until the last five minutes, no drinking or snacks, no singing or dancing, no shouting or talking, only whispering, no whistling, no laughing; only walking and whispering, not even hand clapping games!’ Yasmin, who is 14 and from London, is upset by the situation. ‘In our school we had a really good playground with a long slide, climbing frame, swings, and a large mound type place which you could climb. Now all of that has been taken away for safety reasons. What are people supposed to do at break times?’ Breaking through the red tape A head teacher of a Carlisle primary school has bought safety goggles so that his pupils can continue playing conkers. Speaking from his school he states ‘I said they would have to wear goggles to play, mainly because they could get bits of conker in the eye. They thought it was a great idea. It’s just being sensible. We live in a litigious society.’ Perhaps other schools need to follow Mr Halfpenny’s example and invent a way of playing games safely thus allowing the pupils to enjoy their childhood and not live in a sterile, play free environment.

Discuss in groups:

• Do you think it is right to ban these games?
• Is your country a ‘blame and sue’ society?
• How do you feel about Emma and Yasmin’s comments?
• What do you think about Mr. Halfpenny’s idea?

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4. Traditional playground games
This is a reading activity. The level is quite high so stress to students that they should read for gist; to get the general idea of the game being described and not in order to understand every word. After reading and comparing the games to some from their own country students could write a description of a game they know. With higher levels encourage them to observe and copy the style the writer has used in the descriptions.

Task 4 Traditional playground games

• Read the description of these traditional playground games. Don’t worry if you don’t understand every word. Just try to get the general idea of the game.
• Do you have the same game or a similar version of these games in your country?

	Traditional playground games – Article from Trend UK Hopscotch (banned) Game played with a stone thrown on a chalk grid players then hop on the grid and pick up the stone and mark off the square. The game is over when all the boxes have been marked. Skipping (banned) A fun way to develop rhythm. A minimum of three players are required - two to wave the ropes and sing chants while the other dances between them. British Bulldog (banned) Notorious for being banned because of the heavy emphasis on violence. The game begins as a kind of David and Goliath challenge, with one child standing alone as a mass of pupils charge directly at him. His job is to ‘bring down’ as many as possible. Those caught then also assume the role of ‘catcher’ against those that slipped through. It/Tag A perennial favourite, mainly because of its simplicity. You are ’it’, so you run around the playground until you ‘tag’ someone making them ‘it’. And so on. Kiss chase is one popular variation, where the act of tagging involves kissing your victim. Marbles (banned) Low on physical exertion, but good for hand-eye co-ordination. Marbles are small, hard balls made out of glass, steel, baked clay or even onyx. The object is to roll, throw or drop your marbles against those of your opponent, to knock them out of a prescribed area and so win them. Leapfrog (banned) One pupil bends over with his hands on his knees and back bent over in an arch shape. Another pupil jumps over him legs straddled, using his back as a leverage point. Conkers (banned) A conker is the seed of the horse chestnut tree. Each player has a conker hanging on its string. Players take turns at hitting their opponent's conker. The game goes on in turns until one or other of the two conkers is completely destroyed.

• Which of the games do you like the best?
• Which do you think could be the most dangerous?
• Choose a traditional playground game from your country and write a description of it.

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5. Play time!
As this lesson is based around the topic of games and playing it is logical to include some games in the class. If you know your class well, have space, and are confident with your classroom management skills why not try and play some of the games that are explained in task four. The language input will come through them following your instructions for the game and you can feed in the language the students need to play the games solely in English. “It’s my turn” “Your go” “You’re cheating” are examples of natural language for play.

If you don’t feel brave enough to have a go at the real playground games here are some easier alternatives.

1) Hangman – to revise any vocabulary from previous classes or select a lexical set such as clothes, food etc. Play as a whole group on the board or put the students into small groups to play together.

2) Noughts and crosses – draw a noughts and crosses grid on the board. Put in nine words that have come up in your previous classes. Divide the class into two teams. To win the square the students have to make a correct sentence using the word appropriately. This can also be good to revise different tenses. Write verbs in their infinitive form and students make sentences in a different tense to win the square.

3) A – Z – choose a topic to revise (jobs, sports etc) and write the alphabet down the side of the board. Divide the class into teams. Set a time limit and students see how many words they can find starting with each of the alphabet letters that fits into the topic. For example Architect, Baker, Cook, Detective etc.

4) Word snakes – Choose a topic to revise. Students have to think of as many words as they can within the topic and connect them up like a snake – stating the next word with the last letter of the previous word. For example (food) Hamburger – rice – egg – grapes – sugar – ravioli etc.

These are just four simple examples of word games. I’m sure you have plenty of your own to use and you will probably find your students can show you word games they play in their language that work well in English too.  

Task 5 Play time!
Listen to your teacher’s instructions and play some games to revise your English vocabulary.

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6. Child’s play role play
This is for higher levels. Make sure you give them time to practise and that you are there to support and offer help with vocabulary and expressions that they need. Encourage the groups to ‘perform’ their role play in front of the others in the group. Ask the students how much or how little they want to be corrected on their mistakes. Make notes as they do the role plays and correct afterwards.

Task 6 Child’s play role play
Work in groups of five. Choose a role and imagine you all meet to discuss the issue of banning traditional playground games in schools.  

	A – You are a seven year old child. All the games you love to play in the playground have been banned.

	B – You are a child psychologist and believe that children need to play to learn and develop.

	C – You are the head teacher of a school and have had to ban the games. Although you don’t agree with it you believe it would be dangerous not to ban them. If a child had an accident the school would be sued.

	D – You are a very protective parent and are happy that the new rules are in place. Your son was injured by a conker last term!

	E – You work for the education department and have introduced the new rules to ban the games from all school playgrounds.

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Internet links
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1325508,00.html This is an article from the Guardian about the conker bans
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/conkers.html This site has some great photos and simple instructions for conker players.
http://www.peterborough.net/lifestyle/articles/conkers1.asp - This is an article with photos from the 2004 world conker championships!
http://www.geocities.com/traditions_uk/play.html - This site has some nice examples of playground games with clear descriptions.
http://www.bhf.org.uk/youngpeople/uploaded/bhf_active_playgrounds.pdf -This is a document produced by the British Heart Foundation aimed at promoting active playgrounds.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/kids/conkers_2.shtml This is a nice site from the BBC which has some strange facts about conkers.

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