“5 Ways” Learning Tips
Monster Numbers
Practice numbers in English. Listen to the numbers and move the monster. Move quickly to survive. ESL numbers.
This is a small game for learning numbers in English. Students can click on the numbers to hear them spoken and see them written. The mini-game part allows students to practice listening and reading the numbers. While this game was primarily made for ESL students, young children may also find it useful.
The main aim of this game is to practice using numbers in English. This is done through the mini-game part in which students listen to audio and then click on the matching number. The hope is that this will increase familiarity and give practice in listening to how numbers sound.
The second aim is to present or introduce numbers for any students who do not know them. While numbers as a topic is quite basic for ESL learners, it is possible that some of the higher numbers may be completely new to some students and so they need some guidance on how they sound. This is done by displaying numbers on the screen just before the main game screen. Students can see all the numbers that will be used in the game and they can click to hear them spoken.
There are 8 sets of numbers: 0 to 20 – basic numbers 13 to 19 & 20 to 90 – comparing ‘teen’ numbers to ‘ty’ numbers 20 to 100 100 to 900,000 – large numbers 100 to 990 – mid-size numbers ending in ten 100 to 999 – mid-size numbers in detail 1000 to 100,000 – large numbers 1000 to 100,000 – large numbers in more detail. These groupings were chosen to give a broad range to practice with while trying to avoid repetition of similar numbers.
All the numbers from 0 to 20 are included as these are the most common, but only some from 20 to 100 are used, as including every number up to a hundred would be somewhat excessive. Particular attention is given to the contrast between the teen numbers (13-19) and the multiples of ten (20,30,40 etc), as this is a difference that ESL learners often have trouble with. Set 4 focuses on the difference between larger numbers e.g. 100 vs 1000 vs 10,0000. Sets 5 and 6 cover numbers from 100 to 1000, with set 6 being more precise. Finally, sets 7 and 8 cover numbers from 1000 to 100,000 with a focus on numbers that may sound similar, such as 16,000 vs 6016.