Fruit Sala

Let students sit in a circle. Select 5 or 6 names of fruits. Give each member fruit name . When one volunteer or
teacher says a name of the fruit, Change the place the one who has it's fruit name. Eg. Those who are "oranges"
change their seats.The one who hasn't got a seat will be replaced for the volunteer. If he says all the fruits, all the
members have to change the places. To have more fun, if someone hasn't got the place for three times, let he /she
does something.. singing a song, dancing etc.

Paper ball fight - designed for children and pre teens.

Write many vocabulary words in large pieces of paper, if your students are too young to read you can use pictures
or drawings. Ask students to make paper balls with the pieces of paper.
Play some sort of lively music as a background and let students throw the balls towards each other. You may
even start by saying... ready... steady... attack!
Stop the music and each student has to pick a piece of paper, unfold and make a sentence with that word.
It's a gret way to review vocabulary and work on language chunks! But mostly, having fun!!!

No prep vocabulary revision game

This game/activity is great for revising any vocabulary. The best part is that the students do all the hard work.

1. PUT THE STUDENTS IN GROUPS OF FOUR ( I LIKE TO USE RANDOM TEAM GENERATOR FOR
THIS).
2. GIVE EACH GROUP ACTIVITY, ETC.) SMALL SLIPS OF PAPER ( 1 A4 PAGE MAKES 16 SLIPS OF
PAPER OF THE OPTIMAL SIZE)
3. EACH STUDENT WILL WRITE AN ITEM OF VOCABULARY THAT WAS COVERED IN THE
PREVIOUS LESSON/LESSONS. THE GROUP HAS TO COOPERATE SO THERE IS NO DUPLICATE
VOCABULARY.
4. WHEN THEY FINISH, GROUPS SWAP THE PILE OF CARDS THEY MADE SO THEY GET A
DIFFERENT SET OF CARDS,
5. IN THEIR GROUPS, THEY TAKE TURNS AND DRAW A CARD FROM THE VOCABULARY PILE AND
EXPLAIN THE WORD TO THE REST OF THE GROUP. THE PERSON WHO FIRST GUESSED THE
WORD KEEPS THAT CARD. THE WINNER IS THE PERSON WITH THE MOST CARDS.
Crorodile game
One child is the crocodile the others are fish. Golden river between them. they ask: 'Hello Mr. Crocodile, can we
cross your golden river?' he answeres: Yes, only if your are wearing blue. And if someone in wearing blue can
cross the river. The othes have to run through. The crocodile catches someone to be the next crocodile.

Find and touch This Game

Find and touch This Game helps you to review vocabulary. 1.-Write or paste on the board all the new words and
some old words too. 2.-Divide the class in two teams. 3.- One student of each team come to the front, they must
turn their back to the board. 4.- Teacher says: Find and touch "elephant" . 5.-The student that finds the word first
wins a point for the team. 6.-The rest of the team can help the player without standing up, only giving
instructions. You can also use real material, (doll clothes, plastic ani

20 QUESTIONS
In this game, 1 student is selected by the teacher to go in front of the class. He/she thinks about a famous
person /animal... (it can be applied to many vocabulary topics) and the rest of the class have to guess what/who
he is asking yes/no questions. Thus, the limit is 20 questions and if they can't figure out who he is, he wins. If
one person finds out, he/she will come to the front of the class to continue with the game
My students love it and it is great to practice both vocabulary and question forms. Thanks!!
Juana Moral's English Site
Find and touch
This Game helps you to review vocabulary.
1.-Write or paste on the board all the new words and some old words too.
2.-Divide the class in two teams.

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3.- One student of each team come to the front, they must turn their back to the board.
4.- Teacher says: Find and touch "elephant" .
5.-The student that finds the word first wins a point for the team.
6.-The rest of the team can help the player without standing up, only giving instructions.
You can also use real material, (doll clothes, plastic animals, plastic fruits, etc.).

Use of suggetopedia
for playing game for introduction of words used in context-retell stories by showing, explaining each word
in the context by showing our feelings, thoughts, gestures, how we understand the words, our
psychology,how words are formed,then one student shows the same by introducing in the context, then the
teacher said one word another student shows by gestures how he understands the word.
Use of suggetopedia for playing game for introduction of words used in context-retell stories by showing,
explaining each word in the context by showing our feelings,thoughts,gestures ,how we understand the words,
our psychology,how words are formed,then one student shows the same by introducing in the context, then the
teacher said one word another student shows by gestures how he understands the word.

How many items can you remelmber?

How many items can you remelmber?
In a bag put some realia : fruits - vegetables - toys - school things - jewerlery ...
Take out one item, let the students respond if they know the name or introduce it and practise pronouncing it.
Put all the items in the bag again, divide the classroom into groups who try to remember all the items in the bag
and list them, spelling mistakes are taken into account.

Flashcards at dawn
In pairs,
Each child has a flashcard which they don't show to anyone . With their partner they stand back to back and walk
away from each other three paces counting out loud together and then spin round with the flashcard visible to
shoot each other . The first to shout the word on the flashcard of their partner is the winner !

HEXAGON GAME
The row of the students will be the team and each row should have the same number of students, if not ask one
student to answer twice. The first row of each team stand up and the teacher will either show a card for lower
level classes or said the meaning of the word for higher level. The first student who raises hand first has the riht
to answer, if the answer is correct the next player stand up and if the answer is wrong the other student can raise
their hands. The first row whose players all finishes to answer will be the winner.
I uses cards or drawing as a hint for the lower lever like the first, second and third graders.

Jeopardy - suitable for any level

Prepare a set of questions divided in topics you want to review. On the board draw a grid, on the top row write
topics (hobbies, family, job..) and below each category write points (I use 100, 200, 300...). The class is split in
teams (2-4 depending on the number of students) and they take turns in choosing a category and points. Teacher
asks the question and the student answer, if the answer is good, you award the points. When answers are not very
good you can decide wether to award half the points or pass it to another team/team mate. Usually kids aged 7-18
love it, as it's quite competitive. Also it gives everyone a chance to speak.
You can spice it up with a timer: students must talk for 30 seconds to 1 minute, depending on the level. This
game is very efficient when preparing students for Trinity exams.
You can also use it as a class quiz for different topics related to culture, or CLIL lessons. Super versatile �
Review vocab dice game
Write vocab you've taught on pieces of paper and turn them over. On the board write the rules for throwing the
dice. Roll 1= explain the word but don't say word. Roll 2= student draws pic of vocab . Roll 3= student translates
word into own language. Roll 4= find the opposite meaning of this word. Roll 5=student has to act out this word.
Roll 6=student has to make a sentence with this word.

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Each student takes it in turns to turn over a vocab card in secret and throw the dice to select how they have to
present their chosen vocab to the rest of the group. A fun and simple way to review vocab.
Somo game
You all know the popular sport in Japan called Somo, two opponents has to grapple to win, so after teaching the
student the new vocab or reviewing you can let them play this fun game and they love it, so you can whether
divide them into teams or they can play solo; I mean you can divide them into two groups of 2 3 or 4 depends on
how many flash card you have and ask them to face the board the wall or anything that can block their sight then
they have to put their hand on their back so you can hand them the flash cards and one they hold the flash card
with both hands without letting anyone to sneak peek at the opponents flash card then you count to 3 and let them
play, and as I mentioned earlier it is like Somo the students will be sort of like turning around without letting the
others see what flash card they are holding and whoever saw and guessed his opponent is flashcard name the
latter disqualify and the game go on until the last two players who can battle like two Somo players to win
Crumpled Paper
It’s a game that I learnt at SLTEP in Sabancı University so all the credits go to my teachers there.
Take an A4 paper. Write the words that you want to revise and crample it. That’s all you need to do
 Group the students. Put a desk in the middle of the class and put the crampled paper on.
 The aim of the game is to be able to read/ find out the words without touching the paper, and note down
as many of them as possible. Group with the most correct words is the winner
 The game may be organized in many ways but in our case there were 4 groups with 4 students in each.
One student did the running, reading, and telling the word to the rest of the group thing. Other three did
the writing/ listing. Time limit was 3 minutes.
As it requires a lot of movement especially while trying to sort the words out, it really is fun. In order to
involve all students, you may ring a bell and the runner may change once it is heard so that everyone can
run and move� Hope you will enjoy it.
A PSYCHIATRIST - Marcel-T. Lah
You can choose a student or two (or pull their name out of a hat ...) to be psychiatrists. Send them out of the
classroom to think about the questions to ask the patients (the rest of the class plus the teacher). When the
students go out the rest have to come up with the key to answer the questions. The answers can be five letters
words or you have to wink while answering, or answering the previous question, using a certain grammar rule
or vocabulary. There can be unlimited options of keys/rules. When the class has the key you invite the
psychiatrists inside and they ask questions. Each student has to answer one questions and after that the two
doctors have three guesses about the key. If they guess, they win and can choose the next two doctors. If they
don't guess correctly the patients choose. It's a lot of fun.

Group Vocab Puzzles

Recently, I decided to let the students (in their groups) create the puzzles themselves for their classmates to solve.
I assign each group their “mission” and explain the kind of puzzle they should make online. They have to send
me the digital copy at the end of the lesson so I could produce enough copies for the rest of the class. During
revision time, the group that created the puzzles take the center stage and discuss the answers. I can’t almost
handle their excitement!

Vocabulary Puzzles for Fun Classroom Activity! | English Teaching 101

Puzzle solving has an inherent appeal to ESL students and is an active way of learning or revising vocabulary.
Students associate vocabulary puzzles with recreation and can be less daunting as review tools or even as a test.
By substituting a visual-spacial relationship between meaning and definition, puzzles engage more students with
the materials and deepen their mastery of the English lexis.
english teaching 101

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 Fantastical Stories: Past Tense Fun
This Apple's to Apple's style game is a lot of fun and is a great way to get students practicing their speaking
skills.

Fantastical Stories: Past Tense Fun | TESOL Planner

I had an interesting revelation the other day in class. We've been reviewing the past tense. I gave my students a
handout on it, and we've done several writing activities with it. They're doing a good job. They check their
written verbs and correct them if they made any mistakes.
tesol planner
Hit and miss
This is for reviewing vocabulary.
Make groups of 4-5 students. Each student has a pen and paper.
The aim of the game is to write down as many words in a given category within a set amount of time such as two
minutes.
For example- types of transport, clothing, animals, prepositions, irregular verbs.
Each student writes their own list. After the time is up, the students compare their lists.
A word that is on all the lists within their group is 0 points. A word which no-one else has but one person is 2
points. A word that is on everyone but one person’s list is 1 point. Per table the person with the most points wins.
This game encourages students to expand their vocabulary and listen to others for their words.
Once upon a Time
It's a speaking game. Students in groups form circles and each of them has a deck of the vocabulary (along with
pictures) in their hands. Students take turns to try make a sentence and the next student should continue the story.
If time permits, the group can work together to present their story in front of the class. Starting with "once upon a
time", students often get a incredibly humorous story. It is often illogical, but the nonsense-like story consists of
correct and creative sentences. Besides, students enjoy the game quite a lot.
Text relay
This game is good for late afternoons when you need some blood flow to the brain.
Before class, find a text (1/3 of a page, max) and hang it somewhere outside the class room.
In class, confiscate all phones and divide into teams of 3, max 4. Have the team decide someone to write down,
and two (three) runners. The runners now take turns running to the text, memorizing the first couple of words and
then run back, relaying those words to the writer, while the next runner pays attention to what is said about
spelling and punctuation, and, of course, how far runner 1 got. Runner 2 then runs to the text, checks spelling and
punctuation in the original text and brings back the next couple of words as well as any corrections to the
previous bit.
I use excerpt of Wikipedia articles, and sometimes I deliberately put in grammar mistakes for the students to
bring back and then correct once they have the entire text!
Speed dating (funny for teens, especially as they're often shy about this).
Speed dating (funny for teens, especially as they're often shy about this).
Good game for asking questions.
Up to you how you do it - split boys/girls or boys play girls in the game and vice versa.
You can also put 'perfect matches' if you want to, or just do it randomly for fun.
Give each student a role card (if students are confident they can be themselves, but I've noticed this doesn't work
as well) of a person - job/age/children?/divorced?/reasons for dating or whatever else you feel necessary.
Show students a clip of speed dating and how it works.
Girls stay where they are and boys move in rotation (by the role cards). 2 minutes (can change this) to chat to
your potential suitor and find your true love. At the end, you can check to see if your students found who you
planned them to find.

Battleships with a twist

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Very simple prep and I just come up with the questions as I go along.
2 big grids - draw x amount of battleships on yours (secret from students) and put the class into small groups.
Ss answer a question correctly to bomb a spot on the grid. They get 1 point for a 'hit' and 5 for sinking the ship.
Spelling/categories
Many ways of playing this filler:
Spelling = students stand in a circle. First student chooses any word (or T can provide first word). The student
next to him/her must say a new word beginning with the last letter of the previous word (e.g. 1st word = ant; 2nd
word must begin with 't') - gets students thinking quickly about spelling words and thinking of new ones. If they
repeat or can't think quickly enough, they have to sit down (they can come back in the game by finding a mistake
in another student).
Categories = students have to say (e.g.) an animal, and it goes around until students can't think of any more (same
rules).
TALKING WALLS – Juliana Lapatuhina
I write some different verbs on cards and put them into a box.
Then, I stick up words such as: ‘ago’, 'for two hours', ‘next morning', ‘while’, etc. on the walls around the
classroom.
Students go around in pairs with the verb they have taken from the box and, using the words on the wall, make
sentences in different tenses.
PICTIONARY
Ss divided into two groups and form two lines. The first person in line of each group picks up a card ,( there is a
pile of cards in front of each group) reads it silently,doesn’t not show it to the other people and tries to draw on
the board the word he/she sees on the card.When a member of the group finds out the word they can shout it out
and/or spell itThe winning team is the one who has successfully recognised all the words of their pile of cards.It
can be more fun if a time limit is set. Good for revising vocabulary,concrete nouns junior or elementary levels.
ABC Quiz
1. You just need some slides with a letter and an explanation/ definition of a word beginning with this letter.
2. Divide your class into groups and give each of the groups a board.
3. It is a very effective and relaxing way to review vocabulary.
Hope you and your students enjoy it =)
6 Thinking Hats: Speaking/Writing Game
This activity is based on a system designed by Edward de Bono with an ESL twist. Basically, 6 Thinking Hats is a
tool for group discussion and individual thinking involving 6 colored hats . Just like de Bono’s idea, each color
represents a mode of thinking which allows the students to expand their views on a particular thing or issue. I
love this speaking task because it helps students to think logically and become better speakers.

WHO AM I?
It's a speaking game. Students in groups form circles and each of them has a deck of the vocabulary (along with
pictures) in their hands. Students take turns to try make a sentence and the next student should continue the story.
If time permits, the group can work together to present their story in front of the class. Starting with "once upon a
time", students often get a incredibly humorous story. It is often illogical, but the nonsense-like story consists of
correct and creative sentences.Besides, students enjoy the game quite a lot.

SUMO GAME - ASMARANI LESTARI (Indonesia)

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It works for presentation or practice stage of vocabulary lesson for children.
Prepare some vocabulary picture cards. Stick one on each student's back. The students try to look and mention
what vocabulary is on their friend's back.
Students play two by two as Sumo wrestler.
They put their hands on the back, they may not use them. Just running around their rival to see the picture while
the rival also trying to keep the picture and try to see his.
The first player who can mention the vocabulary correctly is the winner.
Mastermind
1. Think of a word with four letters but don't tell anyone (LAKE).
2. Learners tell you other four letter words and you write them on the board and put the number of letters that are
in your word next to their word (eg MAKE 3; BEAR 2; etc...)
3. The good thing abou this game is that it's logical, eventually they can work out three or four letters in the word
to guess it. It favours logic even more than vocabulary, so it gives learners who are strong on this a chance to
shine
SWAT game (young learners)
Great for learning vocabulary, I lay out flashcards on the floor, there are two teams, one person from each team
sits on a chair with a fly swatting racket, when i say the word, they have to run and hit the right flashcard.
Grown up tic tac toe
Grown up tic tac toeMake a grid and place a vocabulary word in each block. Divide students into teams. When it
is their turn, they have to give a definition and a part of speech for the word (or whatever else you require.
Sometimes I ask them to provide another form of the word.) The team that gets three in a row has to create a
sentence using all three words. If they can't do it, the opposite team can then create a sentence for the win.
Once upon a Time
It's a speaking game. Students in groups form circles and each of them has a deck of the vocabulary (along with
pictures) in their hands. Students take turns to try make a sentence and the next student should continue the story.
If time permits, the group can work together to present their story in front of the class. Starting with "once upon a
time", students often get a incredibly humorous story. It is often illogical, but the nonsense-like story consists of
correct and creative sentences.Besides, students enjoy the game quite a lot.
WHO AM I?
Great for practising question formation!
1. You stick a Post-It to each learner's forehead and explain that they have amnesia and don't remember who they
are!
2. Feed in the basic language: Am I...? Can I...? Do I...? Have I got...? Etc...
3. When they guess their partner's, they have to put another name on the Post-It and stick it to their partner's head
again.
It's great because it's open-ended, so fast finishers can just repeat.
GRAMMAR AUCTION
1. Write 10 sentences, some of which are correct and some not.
2. Divide the class into teams and give them fake money - you can get pdfs of Monopoly money online to
download, for example.
3. Groups have to bet their money on the sentence if they think it's correct, you are the auctioneer. Keep a record
of the money they've bet on each sentence on the board.
4. When you've done all the sentences, go through them to check. The teams which have bet zero on the incorrect
sentences need to correct the sentence for you.
5. Sounds stupid, but it's a really good way of practising numbers, too, because they have to call out the bets to
you (50,100,150...). They are generally pretty bad at first with the numbers, but they do get better, don't be
alarmed!
TABOO
1 On the board, write ELEPHANT and underline, it, then underneath write TRUNK, GREY, ANIMAL.
2. Pretend you don't know what you've written to explain the game to them - they have to explain what
ELEPHANT is but without using the three words underneath, and you have to guess the word. Have done this
with seven year olds, they love this!

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3. Get them to make their own Taboo cards with scrap paper for recently-learnt vocabulary, then swap with other
groups and play!
STOP
1. Learners write columns on a piece of scrap paper with categories per column (eg city/country, object, food,
colour, famous person, etc...).
2. You say the alphabet in your head and someone says stop, and you tell them the letter.
3. They have to write one word per category beginning with that letter (eg B - Belgium, bottle, bread, beige,
Britney Spears...)
Role games
Imagine a situation ,thus,for instance, imagine you are a tourist and the other one is a taxi driver,imagine word
expressions concerning the situation in your language ,then translate from your language into English for
teaching speaking ,Besides this play role games ,play performance for teaching homereading and so developing
spoken English.

FOUR
1. Think of a word with four letters but don't tell anyone (LAKE).
2. Learners tell you other four letter words and you write them on the board and put the number of letters that are
in your word next to their word (eg MAKE 3; BEAR 2; etc...)
3. The good thing abou this game is that it's logical, eventually they can work out three or four letters in the word
to guess it. It favours logic even more than vocabulary, so it gives learners who are strong on this a chance to
shine.
Pass the Bag game
Put some flashcards in a bag beforehand.
Pass the bag around the students who are sitting in a circle.
Play some music. When you stop the music, the student who is holding the bag pulls out a flash card and must
name it or answer a question (usually yes/no) about it. Good for very young learners-3-5.

Variation-
Put flash cards under their chairs as they sit in a circle. Pass a ball around and when it lands on a student when
the music stops, the student must say the word under their chair
Story writing with a twist
I write down on the board or give them the beginning of a story and ask them to continue writing. After 2
minutes I ask students to swap their texts with a classmate in order to finishes their partner's story in 3 minutes. It
´s been worked well because students have to change their thoughts suddenly because they are not going to finish
the story they started writing, but they have to give an ending to the partner´s story. After that I get the papers to
correct them. In next class I give it back to students in order to work on their reading skills.
HOT SEAT
Teacher writes 5 words on the board. One student sits facing the class, with his/her back against the wall. The
other students in class have to explain the words that are on the board so that the student who can't see the words
can guess them
Quizlet live
Quizlet is an excellent, free online tool to learn new vocab, phrases and you name it. With this special feature
added recently students love testing their progress in a team play.

Quizlet Live Classroom and Learning Game | Quizlet

Play Quizlet Live with your classroom - for free! Launch a game to practice vocabulary, concepts and more.
quizlet

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 Plickers: It's a
It's a Kahoot without internet! That is to say, the only person who needs the internet is you - the teacher.

Plickers
plickers

Flyswapers
-Make teams, 3 or 4 , and Provide a flyswaper to each team.
-on the board, write or paste vocabulary words, verb tenses, true, false. Include also misspelled words as
distractors.
- you say the definition or question and one student of each team must run a certain distance and hit with
flyswaper the correct answer.
Very fun!!
Kahoot!
Kahoot!
My students love Kahoot! and like a lot to see them excited by the results!

UNO
A game I use in my travelling pack (EnglishFlyingtoYou. Great for beginners ++ learning numbers and colours to
more advanced sentence practice (Have you got?). UNO is adaptable to playing many games: memory, snap,
happy family etc.

English Flying to You

A useful game when travelling and teaching. UNO. From beginners learning numbers and colours to more
advanced sentence practice. UNO is adaptable to playing many games: memory, snap, happy family etc.
facebook
WHAT'S IN THE MAGIC BOX?--Louise Bae (on twitter).
A game for beginner 5-9 year olds.
Teacher places a flashcard, word or relia in the ''magic box.'' The teacher or a puppet asks ''What's in the magic
box?''
Students/teams ask questions about color, category (animal? food? etc) and so on. Students/teams must ask at
least 3 questions before guessing what it is. Correct guesses mean scoring points, and maybe the opportunity to
be ''teacher'' with the next item.
This game can be used to practice closed question forms, open question forms and simple statements to answer
the questions. It can also be used to review previous vocabulary, and teach new ones. It is also great for close
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listening practice and critical thinking skills. This is my go-to game for beginners due to it's adaptability.

VARIATION: MUSICAL MAGIC BOX

For very young, absolute beginners.
Teacher places several picture flashcards in the box. The students sit in a circle. The teacher plays a song and the
children pass the magic box until the teacher stops the music. The child holding the box takes out a flashcard.
The other students shout ''What is it?'' And the student holding the card shouts "It's a (tree).''

RIVET
This is a fun way to introduce new vocabulary. It is similar to hangman, but when students guess a correct letter,
they receive a clue about the word. I take the time to talk about the word.
BANG – Patricia Rihoy
I work with teens and the best game ever is BANG.
At the start of term we begin a word box of all the odd vocabulary that comes up during class. The words are
written on slips of paper which are folded and put in the box.
When I have plenty I add a certain number of slips of paper with ‘'BANG’' and '‘SURPRISE’' written on them.
The idea of the game is that each team in turn picks a slip from the box. They must use the word either by
defining it, if it'’s a noun, or, if it's a verb, giving examples of the different tenses. If they are correct, they get to
draw part of a house.
The object of the game is for students to be the first to complete their house. If they pick a slip with BANG on it,
their house explodes and gets wiped away. If they draw SURPRISE, they get to wipe away the other teams'
house. Teens love it!
TALKING WALLS – Juliana Lapatuhina
I write some different verbs on cards and put them into a box.
Then, I stick up words such as: ‘ago’, 'for two hours', ‘next morning', ‘while’, etc. on the walls around the
classroom.
Students go around in pairs with the verb they have taken from the box and, using the words on the wall, make
sentences in different tenses.

STORYTELLING WITH STORY CUBES – Monika Bigaj-Kisała

They can be short or long, written or spoken, I love them all :)

ROUND-ROBIN SPEAKING WORD GAMES – Carl Teacherman

The students pass round a pot and choose a word from it. They say the word and have to give a synonym or
explanation (some L1 is allowed depending on level).
In the second game they have to give an opposite or negative to the word.
If they can't, they are eliminated and they become the jury.

THE HAT GAME – Marina Vorontsova

The Hat game is good for all age groups. We play in teams. Everyone writes a word or two on slips of paper, for
example, the name of an animal. Then we fold the slip of paper and put it into a 'hat'. Now the children take turns
to draw a word out of the hat and try to explain the word to their other teammates in less than 20 seconds. There
are three rounds. In the first, the children have to explain the word by giving a definition or a description. In the
second round they can use only one word. In the third round they have to mime.

The Hat Game

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Popularised as a "board game" which you can now buy in the shops, we have been playing this one for years in
my family - and with much enjoyment too. It makes a great game for mixed age groups and works best as a sit-
down game, perhaps in the early evening or after a meal.
activity village
CROSSING THE RIVER – Uswatun Hasanah
1. Group the students.
2. Place flashcards (the target language or vocabulary) on the floor in a winding line. If it's the target
vocabulary, make sure to also place a picture of the vocabulary to introduce the meaning to the students.
Each card, here, represents a stepping stone in the river.
3. Create the story: ‘You're going home from school, and you have to cross a river to get home. This is one
side of the river (point to the STARTING LINE), and that is the other side of the river (point to the FINIISHING
LINE). So, you have to get to that side to reach home, and those cards are the stepping stones. So, how do you
cross the river? You have to step on each card and read the words you see on the card. If you slip into the river,
you can't reach home. The winner is the group that has more people who are able to cross the river.’
4. Have the students play the game.
Variation: have them hop via the steeping stones in the river like they usually do when playing hopscotch.
SUPERHERO SMALL TALK – Peter Castle
Elicit small-talk questions from students.
Ask students to choose their favourite fictional character: a cartoon character or a superhero character, etc.
In pairs, students engage in small talk to try to guess each other’'s character.
They can’'t: describe what their characters wear or ask 'Wwhat do you do?'
Adults quite like it too.
Good for imagination, e.g. what hobbies might superman have? Or, who are Bugs Bunny's favourite musicians?
THE ALIBI GAME – Ligia Daniela
For years now, the absolute winner for my students has been The Alibi Game.

GUESS WHO – Francesca De Caro

A game to practise speaking and listening, plus the language we use for physical descriptions.
I describe one of the students (hair, eyes, clothes, etc.) and they have to guess who I'm talking about. When
students become more confident, I ask one of the students to describe a classmate.
Then we practise questions and short answers: I choose one person and the students ask me questions in order to
guess who I'm thinking about, e.g. '‘Has he got black eyes?’', '‘No, he hasn't’'.
I'm a primary school teacher and my pupils love this game.

SENTENCE RACES – Hannah Drayton

- Put the class into two teams.
- Create 2 two sets of cards with identical words.
- Give each team one or two word cards each.
- Call out a word,. 1One student from each team races to the board and writes a sentence including that word.
- Give a 30 second time limit.
- Award 2 two points for more ambitious sentences, and 1one if it's simple but grammatically correct.
I like this game because it evokes a lot of energy and promotes teamwork. It's a great way to check understanding
of target vocabulary. You can use incorrect sentences to help students spot mistakes, and correct them as a class.
The competitive element really encourages students to write accurately. My teens love it !

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