Name Six

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: grammar and vocabulary.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 15 minutes.

This game is fun and challenging at the same time. It can be adapted for virtually any subject and any grade level. It allows the students to review material they have learned, without having to get out a pencil and paper and answer questions from texts.

Arrange six chairs in a circle and choose one person, you or another student, to stand outside the circle. Give someone in the circle a stuffed animal, for example (the funnier the animal the better!) or one of those yellow smiley balls easily found in any cheap trinkets stores (that's the one I usually use). The person outside the circle states what the person holding the animal has to name six of (e.g., countries, breakfast food, Olympic sports, etc.). The person then starts moving the animal around the circle and the other players pass it around. The student who was holding the animal must name six of the objects before the animal gets back to him or her.

For example, let's say that you have just finished a vocabulary unit on animals. The person standing outside the group may say something like, "Name six animals that have fur." The person sitting in the circle begins naming six animals and at the same time, the stuffed animal is being passed around the circle. If the player cannot name six animals with fur by the time the stuffed animal reaches him, he has lost and it's his turn to stand outside the group and stunt the other students.

Students absolutely love this game, for the sheer energy involved and the fast pace of it. And so do I, because it requires little preparation!