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!

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.

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

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.

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.