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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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. 

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).