1) Teaching Idea - Robin Hood „Menschen Memory“
By Ashley Meyer
Warm up (not mandatory):
I started with asking the children to introduce themselves, since knowing the names was essential for the warm-up game.
I asked them to say their name, age, favourite subject and a word that describes their character. This was a interesting start not only to know on which level of English the school children are but also to know how creative they are. After getting to know each other and briefly explaining the procedure of the stations we continued with the warm-up game.
Idea:
We were able to combine the game with the topic Robin Hood and the children were able to move, live out their creativity and practice to pronounce different words. It was noticable that the children got more comfortable with the game the more we played, which was the aim of the game. The game is really diverse, since you can integrate every topic!
Game:
Menschen Memory work like normal card memory. There are pairs that belong together and two people trying to guess who belongs to who. The two people guessing go out of the room or in our case go aside for 2 minutes and then start guessing. The other people left over think of one movement (example: gesture drawing a bow) and the other person of the pair described the action verbally (example: bow and arrow or Robin Hood). After guessing the pairs correctly the person who got it right received one point (the correct pairs can stand behind/next to the guessing person to keep an overview of the game).
Inspiration for Robin Hood theme:
Say - show
Robin Hood – bow and arrow
Maid Marian- heart/in love
Prince John – putting on a crown (here it was also possible to use a leaf to demonstrate the movement better)
Friar Truck – religious (we picked up sticks and formed a cross)
Sheriff of Nottingham – steals money/mean or bad
Money – rub thumb and fingers together
Poor – beg for money
Rich – big belly again could gesture money
Tree – yoga tree
Horse – do the sound and movement of a house
2) Teaching Idea - Robin Hood „Acting Games“
By Mascha Paul
Warm up (not mandatory):
“Are you aware of the story of Robin Hood and its characters?”
...
Idea:
The idea of the games is to help the students to understand the storyline of Robin Hood.
In addition, the students have to get creative by acting out the story or the different characters. It’s also a good way to get more aware of themselves.
Before placing the games, the teacher can help by showing them what to do. So for example the teacher says Robin Hood and acts it out with a bow and arrow, whereas Lady Marian would be acted out with a dress or a love symbol.
Games:
- The teacher can simply start with getting the students to walk around the room and act out some characters. So, if the teacher says Robin Hood, everybody is going to act it out, eventually in a different way. After a short freeze the students start walking again until the next character is told to be acted out.
- If you, as a teacher, wants to work more specific on the play Robin Hood you can ask the students to briefly act out the storyline of the play. So, who is going to be which character? What are they doing in the story? What is the beginning and what is the end of the story? Start act it out.
If you want to focus on specific scenes of the play, you could also determine the students into groups and ask them to work on these specific scenes of Robin Hood.
3) Teaching Idea - Robin Hood „Who am I ?“
By Nadine
Needs: post it, pen, at least 2 students (best with 4-7 students)
Warm up (not mandatory):
For a small warm up the teacher can start with questions/tasks to get into the topic:
“Name characters you know from Robin Hood.”
“Is there something that makes those character special for example in terms of their look or behavior?”
The teacher can help by acting out and ask, “Who am I?” and act out for example Robin Hood using bow and arrow or Friar Tuck in a praying position.
Idea:
The idea of this game is to get the students to spontaneously form questions which can be answered with a „yes“ or „no“. Furthermore, the students have to get creative by using the right vocabulary to get closer the answer.
Sometimes the kids who have to answer the questions with „yes“ or „no“ will disagree if either the question is not clear asked or maybe there is no clear answer to the question itself. That’s when the questioner can adjust his question to get a clear answer.
Game:
The teacher chooses a topic (here it is Robin Hood).
One student gets chosen or volunteers to be the questioner. The other students will get the task to silently write down a character from Robin Hood on one post it. After that they have to stick the post it on the student who got chosen as the questioner. Now the questioner can start asking questions and the other students have to answer with „yes“ or „no“.
The teacher can limit the questions and also let the students act out the character to make it clearer and easier for the questioner if help is needed.
But also the play can be put on a more difficult level by not only using characters from Robin Hood but also using animals or objects which are typical for the Robin Hood Theme ( e.g. horse, rat, bear, crown, sword, .. )
4) Teaching Idea - Robin Hood „Vocabulary Game“
By Jana Afreen Ahmed
Idea:
My vocabulary game was designed to help students look at new words in a fun way. Young people are always very jealous and ambitious, I tried to make use of this character and turn it into a learning activity.
Game:
We played the game “I pack my suitcase”, in which everyone in the round adds something to their holiday list and the next has to remember it and add a new word. The peer pressure and fear of failure forced them to try their best. I introduced them to new vocabulary at the start and encouraged them to use some common words from robin hood like a cape, gown, sword, and gloves. We added a little twist to the traditional game, by imitating the words as well. My groupmate Nadine acted out every word to help the children remember it and also to develop an audiovisual learning experience.
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5) Teaching Idea - Robin Hood „Food Game“
By Johannes Brockmeier
Warm up (not mandatory):
The warmup is a typical introduction, possibly intertwined with Robin Hood characters
As an introduction, especially to kids not completely familiar with the topic, I present a poem that demonstrates how Robin Hood as a Hero took from the bad and gave the good
Idea:
The unit is food-related, therefore there will be small talk as transitory measure about lunch, eating habits etc.; another impulse will be about sustainability and possible relevance. A concluding discussion will be about sustainability and food waste.
Game:
- The unit starts with laying out memory cards depicting food of the medieval period (accessible vocabulary pairs: cherry, cheese, chicken, cake, apple); there are total 8 cards (real food as presentation is not recommended due to hygiene and possibly starving students)
- The kids take turns and are supposed to name the pairs they find
- In the end, each kid will have a pair of cards and one pair will be left over
- Ultimately it will be discussed what happens to the leftover pair, will the food be discarded/wasted?
- A final act is the drama block: kids will decide what happens to the leftovers (and if there’s a King/Queen: what will happen to their surplus when considering that they are capable to only eat as much as the other)
- There open-ended outcomes but a typical example would be that the kids are not likely to waste the food and distribute it evenly as Robin Hood and the King gives up (the teacher should observe that there is no actual fighting)
- Optional: another round is played where the first kid to acquire a pair in memory is going to be the King/Queen of the round, the maximum pair for this character then is 2; the other kids will then have one pair less and are not able to pick another pair (Disclaimer: this may cause jealousy for some kids, observe the group size)
- (Depending on group size, there will still be some leftover)
This set of activities comes from the story of Robin Hood, a popular legend depicted in English folklore and featured in literature and film. This legend can be interesting to talk about in school. Students learn through these activities in different ways; for example, about the story line or characters, about new vocabulary or even about environmental sustainability. Children enjoy playing games related to a topic and, because they are having fun, they may even learn about the topic without noticing.
