4 - I Spy: to play and learn (PSE)

4 - I Spy: to play and learn (PSE)

We are here to learn Plain and Simple English.
We are here to play games and learn English at the same time.

Let us play a guessing game.
This game is called "I spy".
We cannot play it alone. We play it with friends and peole in the family.
The game begins with one of us (called the spy) saying

  "I spy with my little eyes, something --red and blue--"

The rest of us will 'take turn' to guess 'what the red-and-blue thing is'.
We may ask questions like
  "Is it an animal?" or "Is it a toy?" or "Is it in this classroom?"
The spy may only answer "Yes" or "No".
The spy is however a very honest spy. She/He will not lie to us.
We can believe all answers the spy gives.

Have we played this game before?
No? (โน็ - ลากเสียง ยาว และขึ้นสูง)

Did you say "Is it a Thai National flag?"?
If you guessed it (เก็ส สืดิท) right.
The spy would say "You've got it".
It is now your turn to be the spy.

Now you say "I spy with my little eyes, some thing ...".

[Dear Teachrs, this is a variaton of the famous '20 questions' game.
It is a game of logic. The winning strategy is to divide the set of possible answers into smaller and smaller sets. Binary division or binary search is a very powerful tool for solving problems in mathematics and in life.

The "I spy" game may be use as an example to learn the concept and techniques of binary division. Experiments have shown children as young as 5 years old can understand binary division {citation needed}

Most English speaking children know the the phrase "I spy with my little eye, something (a clue)" very well. They play the game with only one little eye. To make life easy for us, for now, we play the game with our little eyes, instead. ;-) ]

[ป.]

My English tutor here also play this game is class..

They don't say " I spy.." but tell "It's animal ( or plant or thing etc.) then as you demonstrate dichotomous question.

I would consider this game for play with my husband 555

[ไอดิน-กลิ่นไม้]

• I used to manage a game, for group compettition, playing similar to "20 questions" game, sir.
• The purpose of the game was to practice each group how to make appropriate yes/know questions respectively leadiing to guess the right answer. As your point, the winning strategy is to divide the set of possible questions into smaller and smaller sets, respectively.
• For example; When the game leader says,"it is a thing", the questions made by Group A should be : 1) Is it in a house.? (Yes.) 2) Do we usually see it in the living room? (N0.) 3) Do we usually see it in the  kitchen? (Yes.) 4) Is it mostly made of wood? (Yes.) 5). Do people use the thing in pair. (Yes.) Do chineses use it when they have a meal. (Yes.) Then, the answer is "chopstics." The game leader says, "Congratulatin! You've got it."             

[sr]

Doctor Patama and Dr Vilai

I would love to hear students say

"I spy with my little eyes, something (a clue)"

The sound is magic. The way it flows out and grabs our attention is magic. After a few games, everyone sounds like s/he has been speaking English all her/his life.

Please try saying the phrase and observe the change in class. There will be more laughters, more smiling faces, more participation and more happy learning environment ;-) I spy!

This game can 'break the ice' in mixed languages groups, young and old groups and when strangers come together for English lessons.

[break the ice = make atmosphere warmer (not icy cold).]

[ไอดิน-กลิ่นไม้]

• Sorry, sir. I'm Assist.Prof.Wilai, not Dr.Vilai. But I prefer you to call me "Wilai." I took two doctorate programmes, one was PhD (Education) in a university, located in Perth, Western Australia, the other was D.Sc. (Applied Behavioral Science Research) in a university, situated in Thailand, but I didn't finish any.
• When you did reccommended saying "I spy with my little eyes, something (a clue)" for the reason of making magic sound, and encouraging more laughters, more smiling faces, more participation and more happy learning environment, then I will follow your suggestion. 

[กิจกรรมบำบัดจิตสังคม]

I like your content especially how to learn and play games at the same time. Well, this is a simple technique for training cognitive, social, and communication skills.

Many thanks for the wonderful game such as I Spy.

[sr]

Dear ผศ. วิไล แพงศรี

Please forgive my ignorance in addressing you (improperly).

With your permission, may I call you Professor Vilai or Prof Vilai?

By the way, using some contents in my blog is more gratifying to me than addressing me "sir". I am trying to offload 'self trappings', though I would suggest using 'sir' and 'madam' in later sections of PSE .. ummh ... ;-)

[ป.]

Thank you for your answer.

I will recommend this game for my-co-instructor to use this game for the first 10 minutes of each class to prep a relax environment.

[sr]

Dr Pop,

Thank you for your kind comment.

BTW, I did not invent "I Spy".

I saw the game used to put young children at ease in a fire escape assembly point. I saw the power of the game, then. Many times after that, I saw many children and many adults acting out (the search for an 'object') when they said the phrase "I spy ...". ... No doubt you will soon see for yourselves.

I believe, simple techniques usually work and work best ;-)

[sr]

Dr Patama,

Thank you for your trust and willingness to try.

As you already know, we need to practice 'speaking English'; we need to be able to speak without anxieties and fears. Games usually help to set more relaxed environment --if created and maintained in a 'fun' way--.

No regimental control like: sit at your desk, don't talk to others, take notes of ...

Just let the problem solvers discuss and come to a guess (decision) in a normal way a group of people would do. Children learn about democratic process this way -- no need to make 'rules for democracy'. ;-)