Games
1. Word race
You just need a board and some chalk - for a given topic, students are divided into two or more teams and must take turns at coming to the board and writing a word associated with the topic. No duplicates. First team to write, say 10 words is the winner.
2. Boggle
Draw a 4x4 grid on the board and either invite students to call out letters (ensure they include some vowels) or write your own (maybe useful if you want to introduce a particular word). Students work in teams to find the most number of 3 or more letter words, and also bonus for the longest word.
3. Call my bluff
Can be played either between small groups separately or as a whole class divided into a small number of groups. Players say three things about themselves, one of them must not be true. The other team(s) decides which is the bluff and point awarded accordingly.
4. Bid my photo (made this one up myself!)
Show the class some recent photos you've taken. They take it in turns to 'bid' how many things in the next photo they can name in English. The one who bids the most has one minute to name at least that number of things. If they can do it, they get that number of point, if they can't the other team(s) steals them.
5. Pictionary
Useful as a way of introducing new vocabulary - students simply draw a word (written on pieces of paper) and the rest of the class must guess it from the drawing. Whoever guesses correctly draws next. Make more competitive by splitting the class into teams - points go to the team whose member guesses correctly.
6. What's my line?
One person sits at the front and is shown a job title. Students must ask closed questions to determine what the job is - the student at the front can only answer 'yes' or 'no'. Also works with other things such as animals and countries.
7. Mallet's mallet
Can be played with two small teams at the front, or as a whole class one by one. Players stand up and are given a word, and the other team must say another word connected with it. If they hesitate for too long they are hit on the head with a foam mallet (optional) and must sit down. Last one(s) standing the winner.
8. Hangman
Another vocabulary game - divide students into teams, draw spaces for letters for given words and invite teams to take turns at choosing letters. If a letter is contained in the word, the same teams goes again. If the word by the time the hangman is drawn, the teacher is the winner.
9. Taboo
Give out words (for example, 'cat', 'dog') with two or three 'taboo' words underneath (say, 'pet', 'miaow', 'fur'). Students must describe the word without saying either the word or the taboo word. Divide into teams and set a time limit for more competitiveness.
10. Chinese whispers
Write a few phrases (I find film lines works well) on some pieces of paper, duplicated for the number of teams in the class. Each team member whispers the phrase down the line until the last person has the phrase. Points / prizes for the fastest and most accurate teams.
Activities
1. The world's greatest invention
Tell your students to work in pairs to come up with a list of 5 of the world's greatest inventions. After 5 minutes elicit the best one or two from each group, avoiding duplicates and write each one on the board until you have 15 to 20. Then students have to come up to the board in turn to rub out one invention and say why. Eventually the world's greatest invention will survive.
2. Cross the line
An activity to explore opinions and preferences and gets students walking about. Have an imaginary line running through the centre of the room and up the board. Write two opposing words (for example, cats and dogs) on either side of the line on the board and have students move to the side of the line for the thing they prefer. Other ideas for words: football / basketball, supermarkets / small shops, summer / winter, talking on the phone / texting, tea / coffee, etc.
3. The dinner party
Ask your students in groups to select 5 people they'd invite to a dinner party, then elicit their responses. Ask them why they want to invite them and what they'd ask them. Can be done on its own or as a warmer to lessons on famous people or food and drink / dining.
4. The date part 1
This helps with fluency and gives students confidence by reciting a long-ish story by heart. Make up a story about two people and miss out the nouns and adjectives. Get each student (or pair of students) to choose and write down anything for each missing word. Write your story on the board, something like:
1 met 2 at 3. 1 was wearing a 4 5 and 2 was wearing a 6 7. This is 8, said 1. Yes, said 2, it's 9. After, they went to 9 and talked about 10, before going home by 11.
Read the story, getting the students to read out their word when it comes to it. Then get one student to recite the whole story. Next, rub out as far as the next missing word and get the next student to recite it and repeat until students are reciting the story with nothing on the board to prompt them.
5. The date part 2
The next lesson, see if the students can remember the story and write ten words on the board that will prompt some interesting scenarios. The students have to write a new story about the couple's second date, using at least 5 words from the board. Get them to tell each others stories, and the best ones to the class.
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