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.

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'.

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.

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. 

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.

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?

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...

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 …

Endings

Level: Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking/writing.

Topic: vocabulary / warmer.

Materials: sheets of paper, pencils/pens.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

This game can be played in two ways. Students can take turns to ask other students to think of a word that ends with a particular series of letters. Alternatively, students can be given a list of word-endings and challenged to write down one word for each ending. The winner is the first student to write down suitable words for the whole list. It's a nice game for a quick warmer (with two, three or four competing teams). 

Digrams

Level: Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: a dictionary & sheets of paper/pencils

Time: 5 to 15 minutes.

The objective of this game is to think of words containing a given pair of letters.

One student calls out two letters of the alphabet, and all the other students have to write down (in a set time) all the words they can think of that contain those two letters together. The winner is the student who thinks of the largest number of words. Alternatively, students score one point for every word they make but two points for words that nobody else has written down. If desired, it can be ruled that the pair of letters must not start or end words.

No Or's, And's, or But's

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking (or writing)

Topic: warmer.

Materials: none (or writing supplies).

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

Want to hear a great story? Then create one with your students, a word at a time. (This is also a neat activity to do with a word processor, if you have a multimedia room where students can use computers to type). 

Have one student say or write any word to begin the tale. Then other student adds a word, and so forth, until the first sentence is finished. This cooperative speaking/writing approach continues until the story comes to a conclusion. It may or may not be the ending you had envisioned, but that's the whole point: You never know what direction the tale will take when you and your student become co-authors. 

Once you've gotten the hang of co-writing a story in this fashion, up the ante by introducing a new rule: no one can use the words "or," "and," or "but." That's a lot more difficult than it sounds. Take turns inventing new rules, too, just to keep each other on your toes. 

That's going to be tough when you can only use words less than five letters long ...

Write Now!

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: speaking.

Topic: grammar and vocabulary / warmer.

Materials: none.

Time: 5 to 15 minutes.

Divide the students into teams, separating them into two or three rows, facing the board. First student from each row comes to the board. Call out a letter. Students must write down all the words they can think of that begin with that letter. Call "time's up" after about 20 seconds. Second students come up. Give them a different letter. The row with the most correct (and correctly spelled) words wins.

This game is especially suitable to be a fun, lively warmer.

Ten Things

Level: Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: whiteboard markers (and a board, evidently).

Time: 5 to 15 minutes.

Divide the class into two teams, telling the students that they will come to the board to write, each student a time/per turn. Read out some categories, for instance:

• Things that come in pairs;
• Things that can fly, 
• Things that are difficult;
• Things that move fast;
• Things that you keep cold;
• Things that go up and down;
• Things that make a lot of noise, etc.

In each team, students quickly think of ten things in that category. Then the appointed student for that turn comes to the board and writes the list. The first team to write the list wins a point. After some rounds (say, five or six), the team which most points are considered the winners. 

This game (which can be employed as a very nice warmer) is a hit with most of my students, teenagers and adults alike!

Quizl

Level: Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: sheets of paper and pencils (or pens).

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

This game is somewhat alike to Sinko, as both games use grids. The objective here, though, is to guess a word which your opponent has written.

Ask students to work in pairs. Both students draw a grid of five squares by five (for very advanced classes, you could ask them to draw a seven by seven squares grid). They number the columns of the grid from one to five along the top, and from six to nought down the side, so that each square can be identified by a number (e.g. the centre square is 38; the square in the bottom right-hand corner is 50). Each student then writes a five-lettered word (seven-lettered, if they're using the expanded grid) either across or down in his or her own square. Then they fill the remaining squares in their grids with 20 other letters which do not create any more five-letter words. The students also write in their pieces of paper a second, blank grid of five by five, in which to write their opponent's letters as they discover them.

Each student in turn calls out the number of a square, and their opponent says what letter is in that square. In this way, each student can build up a picture of what letters their opponent's grid contains. Instead of guessing a letter, a student can choose to guess the opponent's hidden word: if it is guessed correctly, the guesser wins the game; if not, the game continues. If the opponent's word is guessed correctly, the student scores one point for every blank square in his or her opponent's grid. If a student has accidentally included more than one five-letter word in the grid, the opponent will win by guessing any of these words.

It's nice to tell students to include several sequence of letters which look as if they might be part of five-letter (or seven-letter, in advanced games) but are actually not (like MISEL, SLEEM, TABLI or QUIZL, which gives the name for this game). In this way, the students can lead their opponents to concentrate on part of the grid which does not include the hidden word.

Venus and Mars

Level: Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing and speaking.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: pencil and paper.

Time: 15 to 20 minutes.

An engrossing and amusing game to youngsters and adults that promotes a lot of talking, I start this game with a 5 minute conversation about differences between men and women. Initially, try to elicit whether women and men are interested in different things in life, talk about different subjects, and learn different things as they grow up. Students tend to be quite opinionated on this subject!

Then,  ask all the women in the class to group, forming a circle with their chairs at one side of the classroom, and all the men on the opposite side do the same. It doesn't really matter if there are the exact same number of men and women, but it would be very nice if it is. Next, ask each group to come up with ten questions that they believe most people of the same sex could answer, and most of the opposite sex couldn't. The main criterion is that they believe at least 75% of people of their own gender would know the answer. Of course, the questions also have to be grammatically correct. Help and monitor as necessary.

Finally, each team takes turns asking the other the questions – and be prepared to really unexpected results! The last time I played this game, one of my male students, who is married, knew most of the brands of nail varnishes of the market, even suggesting the trendiest colours to his female classmates! We also had a good laugh when the men asked the women which direction was north and they pointed to all 4 corners of the room. Guaranteed fun!

Call My Bluff

Level: Advanced. 

Skills: writing (with a speaking follow-up).

Topic: grammar. 

Materials: a set of dictionaries, sheets of paper and pencils (or pens). 

Time: 10 to 30 minutes. 

One of a few TEFL games based on a BBC radio 4 program, and is an interesting activity when teaching English to more advanced level children, to teenagers, and to adults. The approach needs to be adapted for these different groups, but the basic activity is the same. You will need a set of dictionaries for this. Picture dictionaries work well for younger children. 

Choose an obscure word - or at least, obscure for students involved. Write this word on the board and check whether anyone understands it. As an example, I might write the word 'gnat.' Under this, I write four definitions; three of which are false and one of which is true. I might write: 'To gnat is a verb that describes falling out with a friend. For example, the boy gnatted his best friend because he was angry with him.' 'A gnat is a small biting insect, like a mosquito.' 

The students must then read the definitions and decide whether they are true or false. Once the students understand the activity, they can be put into small groups, given a dictionary, and told to choose a word that they think the other students won't know. Set a time limit on deciding, and if necessary assign suitable words. The students then write four definitions on pieces of paper. 

The first team ready can write their word on the board, with a phonetic transcription, if wanted. When the class is ready, each team in turn reads out the definitions. The other students have to guess which definition is the correct one. 

This ESL activity can take up to 30, as it involves choosing a word in the dictionary, writing four definitions, reading them out aloud, then discussing as a class which is true. Students may need to be shown how to write longer and more detailed definitions. The more advanced the class, the more detailed their definitions should be. For children at a low level, a single sentence for each definition may be enough.

Sinko

Level: Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: sheets of paper and pencils (or pens).

Time: 5 to 10 minutes.

This fast paced game is intended for students with higher vocabulary levels. Divide students into pairs, asking them to draw a grid of five squares by five on a piece of paper for each pair. The first student writes a five-letter word anywhere in the grid, horizontally or vertically. The second student then has to insert another five-letter word, either parallel or interlocking with it. It is imperative to remember that the words, if written side by side, they need to make sense on the areas that they are interconnected. 

The students continue alternately writing in words until neither student can fill in another word. The winner is the player who inserts the last word.

Running Dictation

Level: Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced.

Skills: speaking and writing.

Topic: vocabulary and grammar.

Materials: paper (lively music - kept in low volume -  is welcome).

Time: 5 to 25 minutes.

It's an oldie, but it still promises (and delivers!) lots of fun. Divide the class into groups of 3 to 4 students, or pairs for small classes. Write a sentence on a piece of paper for each team and stick this piece of paper somewhere out of the classroom (but not so far from it). Take care on placing the different pieces of paper away from each other, so as not to cause unnecessary clashes between the teams. One member from each team goes out and tries to remember their sentence. This student returns to their group and dictates the sentence while team members write it down. First team to finish correctly gets a point. Change words/sentences and switch the students who go out to read the sentences.

Make each team's paper different so students don't simply listen to other teams. The students who dictate are not allowed to take their paper, write down anything, or yell across the room. They are allowed to return to where the piece of paper is to look at it as many times as they like. It's very effective when you use words from class to reinforce learned vocabulary and grammar structures.

Variations:

Use pictures for children who can't spell and have them draw the picture instead of writing the words. Use multiple sentences for more advanced students, place sentences in the vicinity of room and have each group member do one each. Groups then have to put the sentences into the right order before turning in the paper.

Acrostics

Level: Intermediate and Advanced.

Skills: writing.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: sheets of paper and pencils (or pens).

Time: 10 to 20 minutes.

The objective of this favourite game of mine is to think of words that start and end with letters determined by one word written forwards and backwards. Did it sound complicated? But it is not!

First, you choose a word of at least four letters (usually six or more), which each student writes in a column down the left-hand side of their paper. Then they write the same word in reverse down the right-hand side of the paper. Students have to fill in words which start and end with the resulting letters. The students, however, cannot use the given word as the first word in their lists (for instance, if you give the word 'English', the students cannot use it).

The winner is either the student who fills in all the spaces first; the student who finishes within a set time; or (better!) the student with the highest amount of points obtained. To count the points, each used letter is counted as one point.

Example:

Let's suppose you chose ´Horses' as the word. The winning student could have written the word like this:

                      -------

             Total:      41 points!

Back Writing

Level: Elementary, Intermediate and Advance.

Skills: writing.

Topic: vocabulary.

Materials: a list of words you want the students to review.

Time: 10 to 20 minutes.

This activity is really engaging and fun. The tickling sensation provided by the tracing the message (word or sentence) on the back of the students gets them laughing and motivates them more acutely than simply asking them to remember previous vocabulary. Having students write on each other's back is a good way to stimulate the sense of touch (good for kinesthetic students!) in the lesson and further involves the student. This game is systematically used in my classes as a warmer, but you can bring it up anytime during your lesson.

First, divide the class into two groups and have both groups stand in team lines facing the board. Give the first person of each group a board marker. Teach the students that a tap on one's own shoulder means 'repeat' and a nod means 'OK, I understood'. Also, tell them that no verbal communication is allowed. If any member of each group is heard speaking or murmuring, the opposing group will be given a point.

Then, move to the end of the line, calling the last students of each group to see the message you have previously prepared (again, it can be a sentence or just a word). Next, students pass the message to the front of the line by tracing the message on the back of the person in front of them. Remind students of the two commands for repeating or accepting the message. When the message reaches the first person in line, they write it on the board. The group who finishes first and correctly earns a point. Draw student's attention to the importance of being fast and accurate at the same time. When the round is finished, have the first person go to the end of the line to change writers and show a second word. The game can end when every member of both groups had the chance to start writing on their partners' back or at any given time (depending on your choices; longer lines make the game harder but shorter lines allows for more opportunity to have everyone be the writer).

Variation for younger students: 

Have students sit in a circle for a smaller class or make team lines for a larger class. Choose a letter or word from current study and have children trace it in the air together. Next, have students trace the letter onto the back of the person in front of them. Observe the students and correct where necessary. Repeat using new letters. Use words or sentences for higher levels, as presented above.