Tried and tested (and approved!) games and activities to help English learning.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Sit Down!

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: grammar.

Materials: none.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes.

Sit Down! works best as a warmer with beginners. However, it may also be used as a fun activity for reinforcement and review of a specific grammar point, especially when the class isn't in the mood for a worksheet. Note that ideal class size ranges between eight and fifteen students.

Students arrange chairs into a large circle. There should be one less chair than the number of students in the activity. If there are ten students, for example, then there are only nine chairs.

Select one student random to stand in the middle of the circle. As this is the first round of the activity, it's often best to choose a stronger student. This ensures that the activity starts smoothly. All the other students sit down.

The student in the middle asks a question. The question should be a closed question. All students who answer "yes" to the question must stand and quickly change seats. The student who asked the question similarly rushes to sit down. Some sample questions include:

Question: Do you have a pet?
Question: Did you eat breakfast?
Question: Do you like English?
 
The student who couldn't sit down now asks a closed question, thus repeating the process above The rounds may continue until the teacher stops the activity.

Variation: 
Here any student who answers "no" stands up and changes seats. This variation may be used in conjunction with the above positive answers. After several rounds, switch to this variation. You can also solely run this variation, which tends to produce interesting and creative questions after several rounds.
 
 

Monday, November 19, 2012

Daffynitions

Level: Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

Students choose (or are given) words for which they have to make humorous definitions. Often the definitions will use a pun (as in 'boomerang, what you say to frigten a meringue' or 'carrion, British comedy films') but sometimes they will be witty (as in 'alone, in bad company', or 'cannibal, someone who goes to a restaurant and orders the waiter'). As the game demands a deeper undestanding of the language, it is deemed to very Advanced students.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Constantinople

Level: Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: pencils and paper.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

A word is chosen - usually a fairly long word (Constantinople is an old favourite) - and students have to make as many words as they can from the letters in the chosen word. The letters can be used in any order, but a letter can be used in any one word only as many times as it occurs in the chosen word (so from the chosen word teacher you can make reheat but not treat). A time-limit can be set (say, five minutes), and the winner is either the person who finds the largest number of words, or the person who finds the largest number of words that other students have not found.

Monday, November 05, 2012

Miscellaneous Memory

Level: Elementary.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: grammar.

Materials: sentence (and additional words) written on a piece of paper.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

Give students a sentence written on a piece of paper, such as “He watched TV every afternoon.” Provide one students with a word that changes the time of the action, such as “now”. Ask the students to rephrase the sentence accordingly and produce “He’s watching TV now.”

Give the next student another word, such as “I” instead of “He” so the pupil says “I’m watching TV.” Continue until one student makes a mistake or until you’ve gone round the whole class.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Acting Comparatives and Superlatives

Level: Elementary and Intermediate.

Skills: miming.

Topic: grammar.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

The goals here are to make comparatives and superlatives physical and to guess what is being acted out.

Divide the class into trios. Each team can think of its own adjective, or they can write a suggestion on a piece of paper and give it to another team. Examples: big, small, intelligent.

Teams get only one minute to plan how they will act out the superlatives of their word. A person's size or shape has no relationship to this game. It is the size or shape of the action that counts,

After one minute of planning, "time" is called. Teams share.

Teams can either:
  • Say the words as they act them out, or
  • Have other teams guess what they are acting and say the word.
To reduce the possibility of embarrassing anyone, tell students to use character names instead of their own names!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Lions/Dogs/Mice

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: reading/speaking/miming.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: pencils and paper.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes.

The teacher or students write short sentences, which use a vowel (or consonant) sound several times. Each team receives a different vowel sound sentence.

Teams practice saying their sentence several times, so as to memorize it. 

Teams then have a maximum of five minutes to plan how they will act out their sentence together.This includes practice time, so after two minutes, you say: "Start moving and practicing now, so you'll be ready to share in three minutes".

People can do the same or different actions.

Make the freeze sound after five minutes. The teams then share with the rest of the class.

Teams must say their sentences and perform their actions three times.

You then choose new team names: one is called lions, one is called dogs, and one is called mice. Lions must always shout. Dogs speak in a normal voice. Mice always whisper (but must be heard throughout the room). Enunciation is especially important for the mice.

Variations:
Switch teams so that each team has a chance to play the lions, dogs or mice. Call out "Lions!", "Dogs!" or "Mice!" while they are acting out a sentence, to see if they can change the tone of their voices.

Example sentences:
  1. She looked good, as she put out her foot.
  2. It's a little bit difficult to live in India.
  3. The murderer wore purple as he stirred in the poison.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Building Group Objects

Level: Elementary and Intermediate.

Skills: miming.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 15 minutes.

This game is mainly for children, though some adults may like to play it. You should be involved  in the activity at the outset. Call out nature objects and count five ("Tree..., 1-2-3-4-FREEZE!).

Everyone moves at the same time, and becomes a tree. Even if they have not finished, they must freeze at the fifth count. After one team has done five objects, switch teams.

Start with nature objects, then go on to household objects. Finally, when  the group is working well with these themes, go on to other objects and last of all do animals, for the following reasons:

  • They will love to do cars and planes, but will want to be the person using them, rather than part of the whole object.
  • Animals are by far the most difficult to do so it is important for the group to feel that they have done them successfully. they are so specific, that one team watching another may say: "That doesn't look like a real elephant!" Success is more easily achieved with the nature objects, since there are so many kinds of trees and flowers.
  • Always start and end with a tree. It allows easy connections and many levels - roots, branches low and high. The tree you end should be different from the first one!
  • The household object should follow the nature objects, when these are being done with ease. Always start and end with a house, but the final house should look different from the first one.
Nature: tree, mountain, flower, cave, rock, cloud, rainbow, spider web, river, waterfall
Household: house, door, candle, scissors, clock, window, stove, umbrella
Other: missile, train, bicycle, car, submarine, sailing ship, airplane
Animals: elephant, bird, goat, centipede, snake, mouse

Monday, October 08, 2012

Who/What/Where

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing/miming.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: pencils and paper.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes.

The goal here is to understand the who/what/where of any story, scene or improvisation and to make creative decisions by inventing who/what/where in improvised situations. You can play this game with the whole class, two large teams or teams of five students.

Have the whole group write down some of their ideas of a who/what/where, following the following examples: 

Who: Mickey Mouse (Hero)
What: Flying through the air 
Where: Over a city

Who: Ms. Jones (Secretary)
What: Filing her nails
Where: In the office

Who: Tick-Tock (Clock)
U Moving its arms
Where: In the kitchen

Who: Hugo (Footballer)
What: Kicking the ball
Where: At a dentist's office

Who: Iris (The rainbow)
What: Smelling flowers
Where: On a cloud

Talk about who/what/where. Make sure the students understand what they mean. Teacher or students suggest a where (location) and the characters who will be in this place. Students choose their own who and what. Give a maximum of thirty seconds for this choice. If they have written a list and discussed ideas first, these decisions will be made faster. If they cannot think of something quickly, tell them to be the same character (who) and to do the same action (what) as another member of the group. There can be two or three of the same kind of character.

Tell them to do two minute improvisations. Teacher gives a where saying: "People, animals or objects on a sinking ship! Go!" All these characters talk and freeze when they hear the freeze sound.

Characters can be any noun: people, animals, objects, the weather, ideas, etc. The action is what the character is doing and can be logical or not. The location can also be either logical or illogical. The illogical ones are funnier.

Monday, October 01, 2012

Abbreviations

Level: Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: pencils and paper.

Time: 5 to 15 minutes.

The object of this activity is to guess a phrase or saying from its initials.

One student writes down on a piece of paper the first letters of the words of a well-known phrase or saying, such as a proverb, quotation, book title, etc. All the other students are told what type of phrase it is, and they try to guess the phrase from its initials. The first person to guess the phrase a new phrase for the other players to solve.

Example:
Student X writes down the initials HWHIL and tells the other students that these are the initial letters of a five-word proverb. They rack their brains and eventually Student Z guesses correctly that the proverb is 'He who hesistates is lost'. Student Z then writes down ITFEWBFFFM and tells the others that it is a quotation by Andy Warhol. Student Y immediately recognizes the saying as: 'In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes'.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Noodle Doodle

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: vocabulary, grammar, spelling.

Materials: strands of uncooked spaghetti 

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

Hand out strands of uncooked spaghetti to the students. They must break them up and form into words or entire sentences on their desk tops (or the floor). So for instance I say to the class, "He is my friend." Working as fast as they can, in groups, students write the sentence in spaghetti. The team that finishes writing the sentence first raise their hands, I check the sentence to make sure it is right and award that team a point. 

It isn't a game you play every week and it requires some sweeping up afterwards.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Univocalics

Level: Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: pencil, paper.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

Univocalics are pieces of writing which deliberately use only one vowel of the alphabet. 

If you find it easy to do in prose, try writing a poem using only one of the vowels. 

Monday, September 10, 2012

Quickdraw McGraw

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: vocabulary, grammar, spelling.

Materials: cards for the words/sentences you're going to use, inflatable hammer.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes.

This is a fun way to practice quick-thinking production for just about any vocabulary or language you're teaching. Set up two desks at the front of the room. Put a soft object (for example, a paper ball) on each desk. Have two students come up to stand at a desk and face each other. Then put a card on each desk.

Give some kind of signal to start the quickdraw. The students then race to flip their card over, produce the language you want them to say, and then throw the ball to try and hit their opponent. The first student to correctly produce the language and hit their opponent wins. Students are allowed to dodge what's thrown at them, but I find that running around the room makes the game not so exciting. So tell them they can dodge as long as their feet don't move (Matrix moves are just fine). Also, be careful of head shots.

To control the sneakier kids, I enforce a "Kabong!" (from the old Hanna Barbara cartoon character Quickdraw McGraw/El Kabong) If they move their feet when dodging, throw too hard, hit their opponent's head, or just mumble gibberish to quickly get their chance to throw, then I "Kabong!" them on the head with an inflatable hammer.

My students just loved this game!

Monday, September 03, 2012

Vocabularyclept Poetry

Level: Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: vocabulary, grammar, spelling.

Materials: a short (one paragraph) story, pencil and paper.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes.

The object here is to reconstruct a poem after its words have been mixed up. A poem (preferably a fairly well-known poem) is chosen and its words are mixed up, either entirely at random or rearranged in alphabetical order. The students then try to reconstruct the poem, or make a new poem from the words.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Fruit Cocktail

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: vocabulary, grammar.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

The goal of this game is to find a seat quickly. If you are in the center, to find a seat thereby  putting a new person in the center. For elementary students, use fruits or category vocabulary. For intermediate, future/conditional with category vocabulary, or relative clauses. For advanced students, relative clauses or past/present/future grammar.

Put the whole class seated in an exact circle on chairs, with one chair less than the total number of students. If the class is too big for one circle, make two circles. One student begins in the center of each circle, standing, without a chair.

Center student tells each student what word they have; (for elementary students: apple, pear, grape, pineapple, ... apple, pear, grape, pineapple... until everyone has a fruit, including the student in the center). Be sure that everyone remembers who they are. Ask: "All pineapples please raise your hands!", etc.

Center student calls out one type of fruit. Whichever fruit they call, those students must stand up and rush to change seats. Students who move must always take a new seat and the student in the center must also try to get a seat, leaving a new student without a seat and standing in the center. If center student wants everyone to change seats, they call "Fruit Cocktail!"

Important: Keep the game short!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Group Dictation

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: listening.

Topic: vocabulary, grammar, spelling.

Materials: a short (one paragraph) story.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes.

The purpose of this game is to improve listening skills, with a focus on grammar, vocabulary, constructing a narrative, and/or spelling.

Dictation is often considered a passive activity because students don't stand up, communicate, or move about the classroom. Yet it's quite difficult to catch the words, link the words into sentences, and then link the sentences into a narrative. This activity adds a communicative element, though, which will further reinforce the target language.
Prepare a story before the class begins. For a class of lower-level students, keep the story to four or five sentences. For intermediate or advanced classes, the story or monologue may be as long as a paragraph. It's important to consider the following points for an effective story:
  • The best monologues are real and relatable to the students.
  • Stories or monologues should incorporate key grammar and/or vocabulary from the lesson. this will give students the chance to see the target language linked with other ideas and information.
  • Stories or monologues should show how to use the language later in the lesson.
Here's an example for a class consisting of strong beginners: I'm going to go skiing this weekend with friends. I usually go skiing a lot in the winter. But I only went once this year because it's been too warm. There isn't much snow in the mountains. My friends and I plan to stay for three days. I hope it's fun!
Read the story once at a pace just above the level of the students. If read too slowly, then the activity isn't challenging. If read too quickly, then the activity becomes far too difficult. Students just listen at this stage. They should not take notes because this will limit how much of the story they hear.
Students form groups of three or four and discuss what they heard. Students will have caught different words and sentences, and a collaborative effort helps them understand the complete monologue. Students work together for several minutes.
Read the sentences again, but at a slower pace. It's important to read each sentence twice. Students now take dictation, writing every word if possible.
Students form groups once more and discuss/compare the sentences for a few minutes. Together, they should be able to recreate most of the story.
Students should come to the board and write the sentences from the story. Correction (if necessary) can be accomplished by the class. If there are too many students, or time is limited, you may simply write the sentences on the board.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Speeding to the Wall!

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: vocabulary, grammar.

Materials: none.

Time: 20 to 30 minutes.

It is a team game, however it works even better when teams are uneven in size at it means that students get to "compete" with someone different each time around. It allows for everyone to contribute something - the student who is agile but not so good at languages can use that, the student with the great memory for vocabulary is an asset to the team, as is the problem solver, and even the maths whiz depending on your questions. The game allows for consultation among the team, but there are also rules that control the volume too.

Get rid of all the desks (except two) - push them to the very edge of the room, stack them etc. You will need a large rectangular space. Line the chairs up in two lines facing each other at least one and a half metres apart (so there is space for 2 students to run back down the aisle at one time). You need one chair for each student. Put two desks (with another 2 chairs) at one end of the aisle next to each other facing down the aisle. At the far end of the aisle there should be a space that students can touch at the end of their run without knocking anything over - a wall, another desk or chair, a cupboard etc. Don't worry - the students get very quick at setting up the class for games once they know which set up you need!

Remember to go through safety rules (no pushing, tripping etc) as always!

Divide the class in two teams using whatever method you prefer and get them to sit in the chairs facing in each other. The two students who are nearest the two desks will go first. While they are sitting, call out a question (very useful to revise last class grammar and vocabulary points). Now, there are two possibilities...

a) The students know the answer - they get up, run to the other end of the aisle, touch the wall / cupboard and run back and sit at the desk.

b) They don't know the answer - in this case, they get up, run to the person on their team who they think will know and consult. No one else is allowed out of their chair. When they have the answer, they must go back and touch their chair before running to touch the wall at the far end and then running to the front to sit at the desk. (so, needing to consult will slow them down.)

The person who is sitting at the desk first is selected to answer the question. If they get it correct, they get a point. If they get it wrong, the other team gets to try. If it's partly right, the other team can have a go at giving a "better answer" - e.g., full sentence answer - up to you how you allocate points in this case. If they are both wrong, you can either let them run again with the same question (and same rules regarding consultation) or move on to the next question.

At the end of the turn, those students go to the far end of the aisle of seats and everyone shuffles up one chair so that the next student is in the head seat.

Extra rule for noise control:
No one can speak while their team's runner is running - otherwise they need to touch their chair and run again. This can reduce cheating also as it means they can't call an answer out.

Monday, August 06, 2012

Elves, Wizards and Giants

Level: Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced.

Skills: miming (speaking).

Topic: warmer.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

Another team version of the old game of `Scissors-Paper-Stone’, but has funnier actions and noises which each team has to act out. Each character (Elf, Wizard, Giant) has a specific action or noise.

Elf: Squatting down and imitate pointed ears by holding two fingers up by your ears (similar to making bunny ears). Make "Eeeking" noises while doing this.

Giant: Standing on tip toe, arms raised in frightening posture making growling / roaring sounds

Wizard: Standing normally but with arms outstretched as if casting a spell. Make appropriate spell casting noises.

As with Scissors-Paper-Stone each character/icon can win against one character or lose against the other. In this case, if wanted, teams can make the appropriate actions for winning or losing (children are extremely fond of this).

Winning team:                         Action/s: 
Elves shoot Wizards: Elves win          Elves pretend to shoot an arrow, 
                                                  Wizards make dramatic gestures as though struck in the heart. 

Wizards frazzle Giants: Wizards win   Giants pretend to shrink. 

Giants squash Elves: Giants win          Giants pretend they are squishing something small. 

Each team finds a quiet corner and decides on a character to be as a team, after choosing their character each team stands facing each other with hands behind their backs. On a given signal (e.g. the count of three) the whole team acts out their character with the points going to the team that chooses the winning character. If both teams pick the same character there is a draw.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Belling Spee

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: spelling.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

This quick game is a variation of the habitual Spelling Bee. One student (or a member of one team) asks another student (or a member of the other team) how to spell a word - but to say the letters backwards. If desired, the words can gradually increase in difficulty: starting with three-letter words, then moving to longer and longer words.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Martians Vs. Earthlings

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: miming, speaking.

Topic: vocabulary, spelling.

Materials: timer (one that rings, beeps, buzzes or makes some other kind of noise), flashcards with words.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes.

“Martians vs. Earthlings” is a game that is perfect for the last month of school. It is active, yet it has the very attractive feature (to teachers!) of requiring silence from most players. It takes thinking, creativity and ingenuity on the part of the students. It also involves communication, though of the non-verbal kind. With luck, the game may even give students more appreciation for the role language plays in our world.

When students come into class, have them draw numbers that designate them as Martians, Earthlings or Zelbotian Rulers. There should be only four or five Zelbotian Rulers, with the rest of the class divided equally between Martians and Earthlings. Thus, a class of 35 might have five Zelbotian Rulers, 15 Earthlings and 15 Martians. 

Explain that a space-traveling team of Earthlings and a space-traveling team of Martians have simultaneously had mechanical difficulties and landed on an unknown planet, a planet that has room for only one more group of beings. The planet’s Zelbotian Rulers must decide which group to allow to stay and which group to toss back into outer space - a very dangerous alternative.

The Zelbotian Rulers have decided to keep the group that proves itself to be the best at communicating. However, there’s a problem. The Zelbotian Rulers understand neither Martian nor English and, in fact, become quite irritated by the sound of either language. The Martians and Earthlings must find ways to communicate without using language, according to the following test:
  • The teams will take turns trying to communicate the meaning of different words on flashcards to the Zelbotian Rulers. The teams must communicate with each other and with the Zelbotian Rulers entirely without using spoken or written language.
  • Because the Zelbotian Rulers hate the sound of languages they don’t understand, the Earthlings will lose a point every time anyone in their group speaks, and the Martians will lose a point every time any Martian speaks. The same goes for any kind of written communication.
  • The Zelbotian Rulers will flip a coin to see which team goes first. Then, the designated card holder (the teacher) will hold up a flash card to that team. That team will have one minute to try to communicate the word to the Zelbotian Rulers.

For example, if the flashcard says “love,” the team members will do all they can to get the Zelbotian Rulers to say “love.” If the Zelbotian Rulers guess the correct word before the timer sounds, the communicating team will gain one point. 

Yes, the Zelbotian Rulers get to speak. Their scientists have developed a device called the transmitifier, which allows their language to be understood by anyone who hears it, no matter what the person’s native language. Thus the Martians will hear what the Zelbotian Rulers say as Martian, and the Earthlings will hear whatever the Zelbotian Rulers say as English.

The Earthlings and Martians can’t use language at all, even to communicate with each other. Therefore, they may find it difficult to determine how to proceed in trying to communicate a word to the Zelbotian Rulers. It will take cooperation and creativity for a group to work together effectively.

  • At the end of one minute, play goes to the next team. The card holder holds up a new card, and then the new team has one minute to communicate the word to the Zelbotian Rulers.
  • Points are kept, even when a team goes into negative numbers. If a team has 0 points and someone speaks, the team will then have minus 1 point.
Possible Topics: love • hamburgers • taste • smell • ice •  flower • motorcycle • intelligence • hot • slow • hammer • book • words • green • newspaper • umbrella • television • telephone • numbers • beautiful • star • water • fish • calculator • sky • impatience • penguin • yellow • mother • temperature • paper • drew • carpet • cat • shy • milk • rain • skyscraper • rainbow • bus • envelope • talk • brave • ocean • hope



Monday, July 16, 2012

Words Out Of...

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: vocabulary, spelling.

Materials: pencil, paper.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

Write up a selection of about ten disconnected letters, scattered on the board, and ask students to use them to make words. Each letter may be used only once in each word. Make sure there are two or three vowels among them!

Students might suggest words directly to you to be written up immediately, or spend two or three minutes thinking of (and writing) suggestions. It's a good idea to aim to reach a certain number of words: 20, say, or more (depending on the students' level).

If you prefer to use long words as the source for eliciting short ones, then some possible words are: international, dictionary, systematic, beautiful, democratic, agriculture, unbelievable, transformation, archaelogy.

Variation 1
Give only six or seven letters, but allow students to use letters more than once in a single word.

Variation 2
At the beginning, invite students to suggest the letters. Just make sure that these include vowels!

Variation 3
Give the students two to three minutes to think of words. Then they come together in groups or the full class, sharing their lists. Any words that more than one student has thought of are crossed out. Who has the longest  list of 'unique' words?

Monday, July 09, 2012

Teapot

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: warmer.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

The principal object of this warmer is to guess the mystery word the group is using. 

One student is bundled out of earshot (maybe going out of the class) while the others agree on a verb. Suppose the verb chosen is 'to sing'. The student now returns. His or her task is to discover the hidden verb. This he or she does by posing questions in which the unknown verb is replaced by the word teapot, and to which the respective respondents must reply as if the concealed verb had been used in its place. In this instance, the inquisition might proceed along these lines: 

Angela              Where do you usually teapot? 
Brendan            In the bath. 
Angela              Does Byron teapot well? 
Christopher      No; he usually shatters the windows. 
Angela              What would you do if I teapotted all over you? 
Derek               Probably stuff cotton-wool in my ears. 

As students don't get the word right after a while (set time limit to one minute, maximum), they drop out of the game (but still participate, giving clues, answers and examples). When only two remain, they are the winners. 

Monday, July 02, 2012

Last Shall Be First

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: warmer.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

The objective of this fast game is to think of words that start with the last letter of a preceding word.

Choose or let students choose a category; for example, countries, cities, trees, film titles, or famous writers (it's also useful to use the vocabulary taught in a previous class). The first student calls out a word that fits in that category. The second student then has to say another word in that category that starts with the last letter of the previous word. Play continues around the students in turn. Students drop out if they cannot think of a suitable word within ten seconds. No word can be repeated that has already been used.

Example: The students choose the category 'Composers'.
  • Student A: Beethoven
  • Student B: Nicolai
  • Student C: Ibert.
  • Student D: Tippett
  • Student E: Tallis
  • Student F: Stanford
  • Student A: Delius
  • Student B: Schubert
  • Student C: Tchaikovsky
  • (None of the students can think of a composer starting with Y, so they begin another round).

Monday, June 25, 2012

Habits

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: warmer.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

For this activity students need to know each other quite well, so it's advisable to play this game in a classroom where students have been studying together for quite a while. Divide the class into groups of five or six.   Every student writes a question, for example: "how old are you?" or "What does your father do?" Choose one person in each group to be the Questioner. Everyone in the group gives their questions to the Questioner. All the Questioners leave the classroom. 

Without the Questioners in the room, tell the whole class that they will be asked questions by the Questioners. However, they must answer each question as if they were the person sitting to the right of them. If they can't answer for the person sitting to the right of them, they must say "I don't know". 

Call the Questioners back into the room and get them to return to their groups. Tell the Questioners that they must discover the rule of the game.

Questioners now begin to ask the questions  they must ask one student a question, and then move on to another student. Tell Questioners that when they think they know the rule, they should put their hand up.
 
Alternatives for future lessons:
Students will probably love playing this game. So here are some alternatives for future lessons: 
  • The first person who is asked a question says "I don't know". Then everyone else answers the previous question (i.e. Student 1 says "I don't know"; Student 2 then answers as if he/she were Student 1). 
  • Students answer the questions as if they were the Questioner.
  • Students answer the questions as if they were the Teacher.
  • Students answer the questions as if they were another person in the class who is not in their group.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Fortune Teller

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: grammar.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 15 minutes.

The goal here is the students to pretend they are a fortune teller and predict someone's future. Also, to pretend they want to have their fortune told by going to a fortune-teller. 

Pairs face each other throughout the room. Students A of each pair is the fortune teller. Students B are having their fortune told. Student A takes the hand of Student B and looks searchingly. Student B asks questions: "Will I be rich?" Student A improvises answers... "Yes, you will be very rich, but only if you marry an ugly woman!" "Where will I be living twenty years from now?" "Who will I marry?"

Fortune tellers can also volunteer information without waiting for a question.

Variations:
For the more advanced, after the basic game is played, reported or indirect speech can be practiced by asking each player in the pair what the fortune teller told them. One pair can ask another, and the second pair can report to the whole class. 

Monday, June 11, 2012

A A

Level: Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: warmer.

Materials: blank sheets of paper.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

The objective of this game is to write a piece consisting of words that all start with the same letter.

Each student is given a piece of paper and is told to write one letter of the alphabet at the top of it. Students are then told that they have to write a story, news report, poem, or biography – using only words that begin with the letter they have chosen. Give about 5 minutes for the students to complete (or try to) complete their task. [This game can also be used as a challenge for one person to tackle, or more than one person to share].

Example: An Arab artist achieved amazing acts as an architect arranging all areas around an arboretum...

Monday, June 04, 2012

Zip Bong

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: warmer.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

It's a funny warmer for those days when students seem a bit 'out-of-sync'. It's somewhat like Fizz, Boing, Bounce.

Have students sit in a circle, and choose one person to start the game. Tell students to face the student on their left and say “zip” one at a time, going around the circle clockwise as fast as possible. As they say “zip,” they have to keep their teeth completely covered with their lips (no smiling)! Warn the group that if students accidentally show any teeth, they’ll be out.

Once students understand the “zip,” add a new movement. Students can reverse the direction of play by turning to the player on their right and saying “bong.” The player receiving the “bong” can either continue in the new direction (saying “zip”) or can reverse the direction again (by saying “bong”). Students who show their teeth, look in the wrong direction, or go too slowly, must step out of the circle and become judges. The competitive and speedy play continues until the circle shrinks to two students, the winners.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Story Consequences

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: grammar/vocabulary.

Materials: half the number of hats as there are students.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes.

The goal here is to students write parts of a text, guided by cues as to general purpose, but deprived of the ability to communicate with or see the contributions of one’s co-authors. It works out very nicely with students of any level.

Divide the class into groups of eight players. If you have smaller groups then some of the learners must write two sentences or more. 

Demonstrate how to fold a piece of A4 paper into eight strips: fold the paper in half, then in half again, and in half one last time; making all the folds parallel. Then, guided by the resulting creases, refold the paper into zigzags, like the squeezy parts of a concertina or accordion. Ask one student from each group to fold a piece of paper in the same way.

Explain that the game proceeds as follows: the first student writes his/her contribution on the first panel of the concertina, i.e. the topmost panel. This student should do this quietly and secretly, folding the panel over when he/she is done, so that no one else can see what was written. Next, the second student follows suit, then the third, and so on, until all eight contributions have been added. The last student has the task of unfolding the concertina and reading out loud to the others the full text of the little story that results.

Observation:
If you want to guide the process more closely, you could tell the students the story is guided by the following formula, which prescribes what each student should contribute:
  • Fold 1 (time) …
  • Fold 2 (place) …
  • Fold 3 X (male character’s name) met …
  • Fold 4 Y (female character’s name)
  • Fold 5 He said …
  • Fold 6 She said …

Monday, May 21, 2012

Jog! Jog! Jog!

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: grammar.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

This game is aimed at children and teenagers, but I have worked with some adults who loved it. It's worth a try! 

First, have the learners stand together in an open space. Tell them to follow your instructions, repeating the verb over and over as they do so. The first instruction – and every second instruction throughout the game – is one that makes the learners circulate: Jog!

Teacher: (starts jogging around the room) Jog! Jog! Jog! etc.

Learners: (jogging) Jog! Jog! Jog! etc.

Teacher: (stops jogging) Pat your neighbour’s head! (turns to the closest person and starts patting their head) Pat! Pat! Pat! etc.

Learners: (patting their neighbour’s head) Pat! Pat! Pat! etc.

Teacher: (stops patting and starts jogging around the room): Jog! Jog! Jog! etc.

Learners: (jogging) Jog! Jog! Jog! etc.

Other instructions: touch, tap, stroke, tickle, slap, scratch.

Observation:
It's fully appreciated that making bodily contact is not considered appropriate in some cultures and with some individuals. As with all games in this blog I suppose that the teacher knows what is and what isn't acceptable.