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Virtual Dice and Coin Flip

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The Tools of Randomness

As humans, we naturally strive for some kind of order. The examples are many - schedules, tidy rooms, neatly folded clothes, and the like. Almost everything we do follows certain rules and regulations; there are laws in place and rules to adhere to.

Still, order comes with a flaw - it's predictable. Of course, it certainly helps us with our daily tasks, but the colors change when something surprising happens. In fact, we cannot deny that we like surprises and coincidences. Therefore, we can say that while we are faithful to order and structure, we also enjoy flirting with randomness.

Here's an example we can all relate to - the "shuffle" option on most music apps. Despite our tendency to create custom playlists, we still like when our app "surprises" us with a song. That is especially true if we haven't heard that song in a while, not to mention that so many board and card games also depend on randomness.

In this article, we are going to talk about different ways we use randomness, as well as the tools we that help us achieve it.

Random Number Generators

There's one random number generator we are all familiar with - the lottery drum. As we know, this device pulls out a number of lottery balls at random and creates the winning combination. It ensures equal odds of winning for everyone playing. That is one of many ways we let randomness control a game.

The roulette wheel is also a common random number generator. We can never say for certain which number the ball will land on. In fact, the unpredictable nature of roulette is what makes it so thrilling in the first place. Even online slot games are essentially random number generators. Even though we see symbols, there is always a number behind each one.

Surely, dice are the most common random number generator. They are essential to many games, from Ludo and Monopoly to craps and Yahtzee. In the former two examples, rolling a die determines the movement of the player. In the latter two, dice are more central to the game instead of just being a tool.

The die we all know and love is a cube that generates a random number between 1 and 6. Of course, there are also dice that are not cubes and have between four and eight faces. For instance, role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons often make use of those.

Unfortunately, the history of the die is a bit of a blur. Some say that the oldest dice could have been made some 5000 years ago. What we do know is that backgammon was one of the first games to use dice.

It's a common belief that dice produce truly random numbers. However, scientists have discovered that it is not entirely true. For example, if we throw a die with the number one on top, there is more chance of it producing that same number. Still, we don't need to worry about that, since the outcome largely depends on the environment.

Dice have come a long way since their invention. Now, instead of using physical dice, we can simply roll a virtual die at freeonlinedice.com. By simply clicking on the die, we can roll it and produce a number between 1 and 6 completely at random. With the help of this simple but convenient website, we can roll a die virtually anywhere.

Christopher Nolan's movie The Dark Knight introduced the villain Two-Face, who lets a coin flip decide his actions. Indeed, tossing a coin has always been a simple way to make a quick decision, since the odds are 50:50.

Throughout history, flipping a coin has resolved disputes, declared winners and even played a role in politics. In ancient times, people understood the outcome of a coin flip as a sign of divine will.

Interestingly enough, a coin flip had also decided which of the two Wright brothers would be the first to fly a plane. Even though Wilbur had won the coin toss, his attempt at flying was a failure. Yet, his brother Orville was successful.

In football, a coin flip decides which team kicks off the ball. When a team wins the coin toss, they can decide if they want to kick the ball or receive it. Moreover, the winning team can also choose which side of the field they want to defend.

The coin flip transcends to esports, as well. For example, Hearthstone uses it to decide which player goes first. Whoever loses the toss, gets a "coin card", which also has its benefits.

Are the Odds Really Equal?

Earlier, we mentioned that the odds of a coin flip are 50:50. However, research shows that there is actually a bit of a bias that makes the toss less fair. More accurately, there is a 0.51 probability of catching the coin the same way we throw it.

Although both sides are made from raised metal, they show different images. Therefore, we can assume that one side is slightly heavier than the other.

Despite that, the coin flip is still a popular way to decide between two options. Nowadays, we don't even have to worry about the physics of it. Instead, we can go to freeonlinedice.com and do a virtual coin flip with a single click. It's a great way to quickly make up our mind anytime, anywhere. Honestly, flipping a real coin does leave some room for cheating. However, a virtual coin will always produce a random result.

It's interesting how often we let such small objects determine the course of our actions. Yet, it's fun, and sometimes necessary to give in to randomness. After all, not having the control of the outcome paves the way for interesting situations.

Rolling dice and tossing a coin have always been the simplest, yet most popular tools of randomness. Now that we can use them online, we are confident that they will stay relevant for years to come. The question remains - how lucky are we?

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Free Online Dice allows you to flip a coin or roll virtual dice. You can flip coin for decision making or roll virtual dice for true random numbers.

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The World's Best Independent CGI 3D Animated Films

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Language Assistant Training - November 2, 2018

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Can't decide? Or afraid of making the wrong choice? The original Decide Now! app is here to help you! Create your question, add answers, spin the wheel and see what comes up! Decide Now! will randomly choose your next step in those situations and give you entertaining ideas on different occasions.

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This is a printable handout of questions that correspond to standard playing cards that I use to end lessons. In small groups, students take turns to draw a card and ask the corresponding qu

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Short videos that give great context for discussions on many ethical questions.

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What would you do when you think no one is watching? What Would You Do? (WWYD?) explores the varying answers with the help of hidden cameras capturing indivi...

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Lots of grammar activities here organized by theme. Heather Approved!! :-)

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https://bogglesworldesl.com/esl_games.htm

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This is a list of dice games, communication games, games for language classes using dice and most make for great group games and one-on-one games in foreign language lessons and lesson plans.

Use these free dice makers to create dice with custom text or dice with pictures to match MES-E flashcard sets. The free dice generators are available from Tools for Educators.com which is an MES site.

Speed Dice: 1 die per group

Each group needs one die, a pencil and a piece of paper. If you are using die with pictures, you'll need to write in number values on the die.

- one student rolls the die. The student(s) will make a sentence with the vocabulary word on the face of the dice.

- the group writes down the number value on that face of the die and play moves to the next person in the group.

- the teacher sets a number value for students to race to. If the number is 50, the first group to 50 wins that round.

Instead of groups, you can play in pairs or even one-on-one.

The Sentence Race: 3-4 dice per group

Each group needs 2-4+ dice with vocabulary expressed on the dice, a die with number values, a pencil and a piece of paper. If you are using die with pictures, you'll need to write in number values on the die.

- one student rolls all the vocabulary dice.

- the students try to make a sentence with as many of the words as they can. For every word used the group would get the points that are associated with those words (the numbers on the dice.)

- play passes to the next player.

***** variations *****

Have all the students in the group write as many sentences as they can in 3 minutes using any combination of the dice thrown (generally I say they have to use at least two words in each sentence but it depends on the students' levels.) They score points for each word based on how many times those words appear in their sentences.

Add a multiplier dice! After they make their sentence(s), give them some other speaking task and if successfully completed, they can throw a multiplier die. They would multiply their score by the value on the multiplier die.

The Spider Game: one die per student or group

Each student or group needs one die, a pencil and paper. If you are using die with pictures, you'll need to write in number values on the die.

Student must complete the drawing of spider by rolling the die. Each time they roll they complete a speaking task or communicative task designated by the teacher, and then draw a part of the spider's body. The first person or group to complete the spider drawing wins.

1. body 2. head 3. eye 4 fang 5. leg 6. leg

* Students must roll a 1 before they start drawing. The spider needs a body to attach everything to. The same goes for eyes and fangs. The students must first roll a 2 and draw in the spider's head before they can add eyes or fangs.

***** variations *****

The same game can be played and you can have the students draw any other object. They can draw a house for example. 1. structure, 2. roof 3. door 4. windows, 5. chimney 6. smoke (same idea as above, first they need the structure before they can add anything else.) You can also use other animals or draw faces.

Hot Dice: 6 dice per group

This is a points game where students try to get three of a kind by rolling the dice. You'll need 6 dice per group. If you are using die with pictures, you'll need to write in number values on the dice.

Students roll all six dice. If they get 3 of a kind, they get the face value of the dice times 100. So, 3 threes would mean 300 points. Also, a single one is worth 100 points, 3 ones are 1000, and a single 5 is worth 50 points.

Students can put aside the point dice and choose to re-roll the remaining dice to get more points. However, if students don't get any point dice on any roll, they don't get any points for that round. So, students must choose whether to keep they points they have already received and pass to the next player, or go for more points by rolling the remaining dice (but risk losing the points they have already gained in that turn.)

Each time a player sets aside dice for points, they must complete the speaking task associated with each die.

You can make other point values for things like straights (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 = 1000), 4 of a kind, 5 of a kind, two pairs of three (2, 2, 2, 5, 5, 5) and so on ...

Check out the MES-English Games forums for more dice game, to ask a question about any of these, or leave an explanation of a dice game that has worked for you!

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This is a list of dice games, communication games, games for language classes using dice and most make for great group games and one-on-one games in foreign language lessons and lesson plans. Use these free dice makers to create dice with custom text or dice with pictures to match MES-E flashcard sets.

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Kahoot:  https://kahoot.it/
https://kahoot.com/

Duolinguo: https://schools.duolingo.com/
https://www.duolingo.com/

Quizlet:
https://quizlet.com/login

Storybird:
https://storybird.com/

Flocabulary (Educational Hip Hop Songs and Videos) :
https://www.flocabulary.com/

Go Noodle:
https://www.gonoodle.com/

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Follow me @ Ms. Heather JND

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Discover recipes, home ideas, style inspiration and other ideas to try.

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by Claudia Pesce 95,666 views

And to prove it to you, here we present 10 creative ESL speaking activities that only require the use of a few magazines and great deal of your imagination:

How to Use Magazines in Your ESL Classroom

1. Current Events Reading and Speaking
Particularly with advanced adult students, magazine articles from magazines like Time and Newsweek spark discussion and debate. Choose an article that suits your students' level, make enough copies for all, introduce vocabulary, present the topic through an engaging warm up activity, then read. End the lesson with a debate or discussion on the topic: try to present specific thought-provoking questions, rather than a simple, " Discuss!" See our other article ' How To Teach Current Events to ESL Students ' for more on teaching current events.

2. Celebrity Comparisons
This is a great activity for teens or beginners who are into celebrities. Magazines like People will work best in this case: the more celebrity pics, the better! Use celebrity photos to spark comparisons: Arnold Swatznegger is taller than Tom Cruise. He's also bigger. But Tom is a better actor. Who's the most talented actor of them all? Or songwriter? See what your students have to say!

3. A Search for Words
Little ones LOVE cutting up magazines. Ask them to look through a pile of magazines and cut out all of the fruits and vegetables they can find, or people playing sports, or clothes - you choose the set of vocabulary you want them to practice. Once you have all of their cutouts, prompt them to say whatever comes to mind about each: Apples are red. I love apples. I don't like tomatoes. I hate lettuce. I eat bananas every day for breakfast, etc...

4. What's happening?
This a wonderful way to practice tenses like the present continuous and not have to resort to the same illustrations your students have already seen countless times before. Choose a photo from a magazine - make sure it's a scene where there's a lot going on, like an airport, restaurant, a family doing things outdoors. Simply show them the picture and ask: What's happening in this picture?; What's the father doing?; What's the mother doing?; etc.

5. On the Cover
Magazines are also excellent authentic materials that provide a great deal of information about more cultural aspects. Choose magazines that cater to specific audiences or shed some light into the American culture. Show your students the cover and ask them what they think this magazine is about: is it an entertainment, fashion, or news magazine? Who or what is on the cover and why? Ask them to guess what each story is about based on the headline.

6. Focusing on Headlines
The headlines themselves may spark great speaking activities, as well as a glimpse into newspaper and magazine headline language. Before asking students to open the magazine, list some of the headlines featured in the magazine and ask them to say what they think each article is about. Write a list of topics that correspond to those headlines. Ask students to match the right topic to the right headline.

7. Where Would You Find Information on...?
Bring several different types of magazines to class, the greater the variety, the better. Give your students a few minutes to browse through each and get a feel for the content. Then ask them: where would you find information on the latest iPhone apps? Where would you find information on dog breeds? What kind of person would buy Rolling Stone? What kind of person would buy Car and Driver? What interests do they have?

8. Topic of Interest
Ask students to browse several magazines and choose one article or topic that interests them. Tell them that they can read the article, but they must be prepared to tell the class about it in their own words.

9. What Was That Question Again?
Choose a magazine article that features an interview or information on a celebrity. Ask students to think of what questions the interviewer asked to get this information. Ask students to supply any other questions they may want to ask.

10. Find the Differences
Show students two magazine pictures that present a similar situation: people in an office, people playing sports, people showing different emotions. Show students each set and ask them to tell the class what these pictures have in common and how they differ.

Choose unusual, abstract magazine photos and let your students' imagination run wild. Choose magazine ads for a variety of products and discuss marketing or advertising strategies. There are as many ways to use magazines in an ESL classroom as there are magazines in a newsstand. But no matter which activity you choose, make sure you give your students a chance to speak up!

Can't get enough of our ideas for speaking activities?

Then you should head on over to our speaking section, where we have mingling activities and role plays that you can download and use in your classroom today!

P.S. If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of those sharing buttons below. And if you are interested in more, you should follow our Facebook page where we share more about creative, non-boring ways to teach English.

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What You Can Do With a Magazine: 10 Creative ESL Speaking Activities

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by Claudia Pesce 95,666 views And to prove it to you, here we present 10 creative ESL speaking activities that only require the use of a few magazines and great deal of your imagination: Current Events Reading and Speaking Particularly with advanced adult students, magazine articles from magazines like Time and Newsweek spark discussion and debate.

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English Grammar Reference and Exercises on Tenses and all other Grammar Topics.