Go fish

I took this last week before May Break to teach my Big Class students (5- and 6-year olds) the game Go Fish--a simple game of course, but a little tougher when you play it in your second language. I didn't know how the whole thing would go but I really wanted to give it my best shot, so I made a game plan.

I broke the whole thing down into simple concepts (such as making pairs and not having any more cards, etc.) and played smaller games all week building up to the final day (today) when we put it all together. Since it is English class, I taught them the question "Do you have a ____?" and how to respond, either yes (and then you give the card to who asked) or you say "Go fish!," which they said with all the gusto they could muster (really, it was quite a site to see). The week went great. They spoke a lot of English, learned some stuff, including a new game, and we all had fun.

I had other things planned to go along with the game but ended up throwing all that out and just playing the games building up to Go Fish every day, all week. I couldn't have been happier with this morning, which was our first go at the real thing. It was so, so awesome to see the kiddos saying "Do you have a 5?" to their friend, who would either wince and give up their 5, or they'd shout "Go fish!" They were so excited to make a pair and hated to give up their card to a rival student, and then whenever there was a disagreement they'd argue in Chinese. They would call me over ("Mr. Jon!") spout off something in Chinese (I would sometimes understand a little) to which I would respond "Mei shi" or "Mei guanxi, which mean "It's nothing" and "No problem" respectively, and then get them playing again. Most Kindergarten problems, after all, are nothing or no problem.

They played with a few modified rules, such as they only asked their person to their left if they had the card they were looking for, but no biggie, I was way pleased. This one girl would say "so cool" everytime I would shuffle the cards for them and they loved to say "I am the winner!" I don't really know if they always were the winner, but I responded with "Give me five" and a congratulatory hand slap. Such is a good day in the Kindergarten.