Intoduction Learning English doesn't need to be a dreary undertaking.

There are a lot of activities that activate language production skills and are fun for students of any age. Some activities involve competition and others co-operation. Anything that gets students speaking and using the new English they have learned is worthwhile.

LisT Of Activities

For the First Class

Tips and Ideas for the First Day of Classes By Shad Schroeder Getting to Know You By Henry Reese My Classmates By Charles Kelly & Larry Kelly What's the Truth? A good activity for the first class session. By Carole Allen Poppleton

Autonomy

Two Activities for Fostering Autonomous Learning By Galina Kavaliauskiene Peer and Self-evaluation in Spoken Tests: Tools and Methods By Alec McAulay Two Activities for Raising Consciousness of Language Learners' Strategies By Scott Redfern and Nolan Weil

Business English

A Simulation for Business English Students (A Six-Unit Course) By Heather Hanson

Conversation / Oral English

Ten Conversation Lessons with Stories, Vocabulary Practice, Questions and Activities By Farzad Sharifian Ten More Conversation Lessons with Stories, Vocabulary Practice, Questions and Activities By Farzad Sharifian Conversation Topic: Work By Jack Bradshaw An Information-Sharing Puzzle Activity By Bob Gibson Communication in the Classroom (A 5-Lesson Unit) By Catherine Sasaki Bones of Contention: "Listed" Role Plays for Students of Oral English By Stewart Wachs Activities for Conversation Classes By Gerard Counihan o Accidents in the Home o An Activity for Teaching ESL/EFL Students to Make Quick Replies

An Activity for Teaching Intonation Awareness to ESL/EFL Students Are you a Good Socializer Discussion Topic: My New Home Discussion Topic: The Home Election Manifesto Finish the Sentence Generalisations Giving and Accepting Compliments Headline Completion Life Nationalities and Their Stereotypes New Year's Resolutions People Who Live the Longest Possible Dangers Associated With Becoming a Millionaire Overnight Predictions for This Year Talking about the Top News Stories The Environment The World Ends in Two Years Things That Have Changed the World Times Have Changed What Type of Student Are You? Word Associations Talking Cards A conversation activity using a deck of playing cards. Michael J. Brown Two ESL Listening & Speaking Games "Name That Thought" and "What Is That Sound" Kimberly Davison-Fujioka An Activity for Teaching the Purposes of Discourse By Carole Allen Poppleton Blurring the Boundary Between Spoken and Written Language in EFL A Lesson Plan for Teacher Training By Maria Bortoluzzi Four Engaging Activities for Large EFL Classes By Eric Prochaska The Love Clinic: Using Advice Columns in the Classroom By Richard Humphries Activities for College Conversation Classes: The Generation Gap and Getting Along with Peers By Natalia F. Orlova Telling True Stories: Blending Multimedia in a Task-based Activity By Aiden Yeh Playing with Questions-A Game for Young Learners By Rania Bekiri Conversation Questions for ESL Students A list of questions that you can use for conversation practice.

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Cooperative Learning

Reaching English Language Learners through Cooperative Learning By Noorchaya Yahya and Kathleen Huie

Culture

Teaching Awareness of Stereotyping By Asako Kajiura Goodmacher A Way to Teach Culture: Guns or No Guns By Yoshiyuki Nakata A Way to Teach Culture: Large cups, small cups, whose cups? By Yoshiyuki Nakata Developing Awareness: An Intercultural Communication Lesson Plan By Asako Kajiura The International Potluck: An Integrated-Skills Cross-Cultural Activity By Terry N. Williams Bringing Culture into the Classroom By Chad Fryer and Lily Wong A Fun Cultural Indoor Rally By Angie & Carlos Ruelas American Fast Food (The Hamburger): A Cultural Lesson By Khalid Al-Seghayer Examining Australian and Japanese Stereotypes Via E-mail Exchange By Rebecca Keogh Jokes for the ESL Classroom Jokes which work well in the ESL classroom. Find a good joke or add one to the list. Using Critical Incidents to Teach Cross-cultural Sensitivity By Julia Stakhnevich Table Manners By Shiao-Chuan Kung Discussing Cultural Knowledge for Life in the USA By Rebecca Allen Using Modern Art to Teach Language and Culture to ESL Students By Diane Watt Learning American Holidays Through Greeting Cards By Grace Chin-Wen Chien Flags: A Classroom Activity By Rebecca Belchamber

Games

Six Games for the EFL/ESL Classroom By Aydan Ersz Write-to-Learn: Geography Strategies By Daniel Teng-Lung Peng Using a TV Matchmaking Format in the Classroom By Richard Humphries Student Created Crossword Puzzle Exercise By Greg Goodmacher

Language Learning Games: Gotcha & The Spelling Officer By Joan M. Diez Cliville Password Game By JoEllen Simpson and Jonathan Deer A Campus Scavenger Hunt for ESL Students By Linda Hollandsworth Games and Activities for the ESL Classroom Find one to use or add one to the list. Using Games in Teaching English to Young Learners By Lin Hong Games and Activities for the English as a Second Language Classroom This is a page on which teachers can share games and activities that they have found useful in the classroom. Using Games in Teaching English to Young Learners By Lin Hong

Grammar

Grammar Teaching Plan: Real Conditional Sentences By Jungok Bae An Activity for Teaching Prepositions Associated with Time Lily Vered Classroom Handout: The Order of Descriptive Adjectives By Yen-Ling Teresa Ting

Internet

CNN Interactive: Reading, Discussing and Writing By Amy Ogasawara Choosing and Summarizing Internet Resources By Amy Ogasawara Projects Using the Internet In College English Classes By Victoria Muehleisen Internet Treasure Hunts - A Treasure of an Activity for Students Learning English By Ian Brown Finding Information on the International Movie Database Website By Shiao-Chuan Kung A Virtual Visit to the Guggenheim Museums in New York By Shiao-Chuan Kung Who Wrote That? A lesson using the Project Gutenberg website to search for information. By Shiao-Chuan Kung Using a Modular Approach to schMOOze with ESL/EFL Students By James Backer Web-based Cultural Lesson: Restaurants & Food By Emma de Dios lvarez Introducing EFL Students to Chat Rooms By Jo Mynard

ESL Lessons Using Non-ESL Websites By Bruce Vorland

Listening

The "Tuning In" Listening Activity An activity aimed at constructing solid bottom-up skills while developing student selfreliance and confidence. By Jeff Leinaweaver

Motivation

Six Activities for Generating Enthusiasm in the Foreign Language Classroom By Philip Dave Ambard and Linda Katherine Ambard

Music and Songs

Musical Activities for Young Learners of EFL By Abdulvahit Cakir Reviewing Time with the Song 'Rock Around the Clock' By David B. Kent Student Created Song Exercises By Paul A. Cunningham Digging Deeper into Songs: A Writing Activity By Steven Kenneth Ahola

Multi-skill

A Four-Unit EFL Course for Adults A Complete Set of Handouts to Use in the Classroom. By Bruce Vorland

Oral Presentation

Country Presentations An oral presentation assignment for second or third-year university speaking classes of 20 - 40 students. By Lillian Swain Delivering a Persuasive Speech By Douglas Parker Evaluation Sheet for ESL/EFL Speech Practice By Connell Wayne Regner Preparing EFL Learners for Oral Presentations By Jane King

Pronunciation

Practicing Pronunciation through Proverbs By Yi Yang Intonation - It Does Matter! By Rebecca Allen

Reading

Teaching Culture in Literature in the ESL/EFL Classroom By Anna Franca Plastina Teaching the English Newspaper Effectively By Kenji Kitao Read Aloud and Spot the Differences By Greg Goodmacher The Newspaper Scavenger Hunt By Greg Goodmacher A Fun Reading Comprehension Activity By Mehmet Ali Akg Teaching the Short Story, "Flowers for Algernon," to College-Level ESL Students By Loretta Kasper Using University Catalogues as a Pedagogical Tool By Paul Borg Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street: Experiencing Poetical Prose By Carole A. Poppleton Chocolate - A Reading with Comprehension Questions By Emma de Dios lvarez People Who Crossed Borders: An Interactive Reading Exercise By Roger Nunn Three Extensive Reading Activities for ESL/EFL Students Using E-books By Mei-Ya Liang Using Advice Columns with ESL Students By Amy Gwen Larson

Travel Survival

Innocents Abroad: Training Japanese for Travel By Eugene Trabich Travel Advice Bureau A classroom activity in which students act as travel agents. By Kate Allen A Pre-departure Program for Students Who Study Abroad By Marcel Van Amelsvoort Invitations and Requests in a Restaurant By David Dockhorn

Video

Ideas on Using Videos By Donna Tatsuki Is the Movie the Same as the Book? A classroom activity comparing novels and movies By Donna Hurst Tatsuki Teaching the Movie "Men in Black" to ESL Students By Letitia Bradley o Teacher's Notes o Vocabulary List o Comprehension Questions ESL/EFL Lessons Using Movies By Donna Hurst Tatsuki o Checking into a Hotel in a Video-based Lesson o Politeness in Movies o Listening to Airplane Announcements in Movies o Narrating in Simple Past with Video o Jigsaw Reading Activity Using TV Listings o Quiz about the Movie "The Graduate" Video in the Language Lab: Teaching Vocabulary By Donna Hurst Tatsuki Developing an ESP Course Around Naturally-occurring Videotaped Medical Consultations By Joseph Dias Watching Movie Trailers in the ESL Class By Neil Heffernan Activities for the ESL Classroom Incorporating Reality-based TV By R. Alan Davis The Simpsons in Japan: A Lesson on Stereotypes By Rachelle Meilleur

Vocabulary

Vocabulary Lesson: If a Runner Runs, Does a Sweater Sweat? By Rolf Palmberg The Adjective-Noun Game By Scott Greene A Man for Every Purpose - Increasing Learners' Vocabulary Awareness Activities for the ESL Classroom using the numerous compound words in English that end in 'man'. By Rolf Palmberg The Human Body - A Vocabulary Awareness Activity in Four Steps By Rolf Palmberg Introducing Euphemisms to Language Learners By Scott Alkire A Reading Exercise with Food Related Phrasal Verbs By Yen-Ling Teresa Ting A Lesson on Food Idioms By Yen-Ling Teresa Ting

Similes in the ESL Classroom By Larry Pudwill Activities to Teach the Count and Noncount Noun Distinction By Ron Belisle

Writing

Global Warming: A Cause and Effect Writing Lesson By Amy Ogasawara An Interesting Approach to Writing Introduction Paragraphs By Darren P. Bologna Tips for ESL Students on Reviewing and Improving Written Work By Kristofer Bayne Using Personal Photographs to Spark Narrative Writing By Steven Kenneth Ahola Writing with Style: Two Useful Strategies for Students By Steven Kenneth Ahola

Other Lessons

The Outside World as an Extension of the EFL/ESL Classroom By Mark A. Pegrum Car Budget Activity By Lawrence Klepinger Using Posters in Content Courses By Michael Furmanovsky & Marc Sheffner Student-Led Lesson: Vacation Commercials By Carol Fritsch Lesson Plan: My Animal A 2nd-5th grade English/Art lesson plan for Limited English Proficient (LEP) students By Carolyn Radice A Story-Telling and Re-Telling Activity By Bob Gibson Teacher-made Activities for a Computer-based ESL/EFL Class By Anil Pathak Minister of the Environment By Justin T. O'Conor Sloane Topic Based Lesson: All Kinds of Failure By Rhett Merz A Story Building Activity Using "Not Enough" and "Too Many" By Michael Lovett Learning about Prejudice and Discrimination By Colleen Soares Gender-Based Vowel Preferences and Their Use As a Teaching Tool By Cheryl Caesar Fun Question Rounds for Children's English Classes By Joe Drakos Critical Thinking: How Much of You Is You? By Brent A. Jones

Critical Thinking: What a Character By Brent A. Jones Facilitating Discussions of Newspaper Articles in the ESL/EFL Classroom By Brendan Daly A Training Lesson Plan on Virtual Communities for EFL By Maria Teresa Ciaffaroni Bronx Zoo Lesson Plan for Adult ESL Students By Virginia E. Clinton Six Group Activities for Teaching ESL Children By Joanne Elliott Discussing Your Name to Develop ESL Presentation Skills By Beth Clark-Gareca Self-introduction Lesson Plan for ESL Students By Stefan Chiarantano Teaching Abstract Concepts in the EFL Classroom By Lynn W. Zimmerman

Using Learn English Kids Just for Fun games in class

Learn English Kids is a great site for class or home use that is offered by the British Council for free. Much of the content is comparable in interest and quality to paid content on CD ROMs etc. If there is any problem with the site it is that the sheer amount of good material [...]
Alex Case

Learn English Kids is a great site for class or home use that is offered by the British Council for free. Much of the content is comparable in interest and quality to paid content on CD ROMs etc. If there is any problem with the site it is that the sheer amount of good material makes it overwhelming, especially for teachers with limited preparation time and a desire to tie things in with the syllabus. This is made worse by too many results for most searches and some difficulty in finding teachers notes. This series of articles aims to help teachers who have those problems. Despite the name of the section of the site Im going to look at being Just for Fun, almost all of the games described here can be just as useful for learning language as some of the content in other parts of Learn English Kids if they are used correctly (exceptions mentioned below). They are perfectly right in calling them fun though! This article aims to make it easier to choose the best game for your students, and easier to make the game useful and fun in class. It could also provide a model for judging and using other interactive EFL games for young learners. The games are organised below by approximately how often I have or will use them in my classes. If anyone has any other suggestions for how to use the games or other recommendations on good free online EFL games for kids, please leave comments below. Whats my job? (=Job mixer) Brief description of the game: Change the clothes on the head, body and legs of a person to match the description and guess the job and get a noise representing that job when it is correct (siren for police officer, car engine for mechanic etc) Possible language and topic connections: Jobs, clothes, verbs connected to jobs (help, wear, use etc) Ways of using it in class: The fact that a green light comes up when the answer is correct takes away most of the need to read and understand any of the information. You could try blanking out or covering this part of the screen in some way, or put more communication into other parts of the game. For example, each time a wrong piece of clothing comes up the students have to answer one question about that part in order to be allowed another try. Useful classroom language: Why doesnt that one match?/ Which job is that one for?/ What is that? Possible lead-ins and extensions: Jobs 20 questions

Sports Mixer Brief description of the game: Students change clothes on the head, body and legs of the character to match the sport that is described in the short text. Each one comes up with a tick as you find it. Possible language and topic connections: Clothes (boots, football stripe etc), sports equipment (goggles, poles etc), verb patterns (infinitive with want to and need to, ing with love), names of sports, a and some (a racket and some tennis shoes) Ways of using it in class: This game is rather easy, especially as students can just click through randomly until they see the tick come up (possibly without even reading the text). It is therefore more suitable for a whole class activity, with the teacher getting as much language out of the students as they can during the game. Tactics for this include asking them what each thing that doesnt match is and what sport it will match, and asking them to predict what each part of the correct sports kit will look like. See Jobs Mixer above for more ideas. Useful classroom language: Which part do you want to try first? What do you think the will look like? Does that match?/ Is that a football? No? What is it? What sport should it be used with? Possible lead-ins and extensions: Students create different costumes that can be stuck on a similar flat cut out doll. Make a dangerous animal Brief description of the game: Students choose a colour and body parts to make a Pokemontype animal that can defeat other animals. Clicking on the camera symbol near each body part shows how it can be used to attack and defend. They can then print out their finished animal. Possible language and topic connections: Colours, animal body parts (horn, antlers, jaw, teeth etc), can (This jaw can break bones), dangerous animals Ways of using it in class: Students left on their own will probably choose the body parts without using the language at all. One way of adding language is to get them to match the body parts and the things they can do, and then click on the cameras to check. Useful classroom language: Which ones have poison (do you think)? Do you mean dark blue or light blue? Why do you think your one is better? Which (of all the animals) is the scariest/ strongest/ prettiest? What real animals have antlers/ poison? Possible lead-ins and extensions: Students tell the story of their animals combats with their classmates animals. They can also design similar animals with other body parts/ weapons cut out that other students can use to make animals. Similar things can be done with space rockets, robots etc. Animal countdown

Brief description of the game: In groups of around five on each screen, students try to put animals in order from A to Z before the time limit finishes. They can see the list of animals before they start the game (but not during play) Possible language and topic connections: First letter phonics, the alphabet, animals, body parts (The next one is a lynx. It has spots and a long tail) Ways of using it in class: Choose one student to come to the front of the class (or one student per team). Give the class an answer key made up of print outs of the animals stuck to one A3 sheet. They use this to shout out clues to the person controlling the computer. Alternatively, the same game can be done in pairs with laptops, with the person with the answer key sitting behind the computer so that they cant see the screen Useful classroom language: Its got long legs/ spots/ stripes/ a long beak Its a kind of bird/ animal/ lizard Theres only one left, click on that The one in the middle No, further right Possible lead-ins and extensions: Give an alphabetical list and students have to think of one word in the category you are practising (e.g. food) for each letter. Students make a list of animals in another order (e.g. size, number of babies, average lifespan, estimated population in their country or the world) and the other students guess how they have been arranged. Students draw and describe a made up animal or one they have found on the internet that no one will know, and the others draw it and compare their drawings to the original. Brainstorm animals with various parts of their appearance in common, e.g. birds with big beaks. Miscellaneous notes: Note that some of the animals are very obscure and that even a native speaker probably wouldnt know them. This means some kind of game where they use other language such as describing animals bodies as suggested above is vital to make the game worthwhile. Insect World Brief description of the game: Students zoom a magnifying glass in and out to find three tiny or otherwise difficult to see insects in a scene within 30 seconds. After they find one, the clock is paused while they learn something about that insect (highlights include a cockroach can live without food for a month and without its head for a week). Possible language and topic connections: Have (It has six legs), nature vocabulary (desert, rainforest, pond etc, plus the things shown in the pictures), numbers, superlative adjectives, names of insects (stick insect etc) Ways of using it in class: The danger is that students wont use much language while playing the game and just ignore the information that comes up about each insect as they anxiously wait to continue with the next insect. One way round this is to give them true/ false statements about the insects that will be in the scene they will see next (maybe making this focus on one language point such as superlatives). Finding the insects is done as a class and points are given only for having correctly predicted the information about each insect. Instead of true/ false, it is possible to use gapfills or matching the statements to the three insects. You could also test them on what they remember at the end of each scene.

Useful classroom language: (Hit the) space bar Go closer Press/ Click the left mouse button Where is it? Zoom in/ out What kind of insect is it? (Move a little) up/ left/ up/ down In the middle/ On the right/ In the top left corner Possible lead-ins and extensions: Students draw very tiny drawings for other people to identify. Use Wheres Wally (= Wheres Waldo) or similar pictures or books. Miscellaneous notes: Some of the insect names are very obscure indeed, so dont spend too much time on that (although parts of the name that are used more generally like moth or beetle could be useful) Trolley dash Brief description of the game: Students sweep their shopping trolley left and right across a shelf of supermarket goods and try to remember and find the things that were on their shopping list (they can look at the shopping list again if they forget, but lose time doing so) Possible language and topic connections: Clothes, food and drink, words that make uncountable nouns countable (a carton of etc), going to (What are we going to buy? after seeing the list and before starting the shopping), Simple Past (What did we get? What did we miss/ forget?) Ways of using it in class: You could allow some of the students to look at the list so that they can help the person controlling the trolley Useful classroom language: (A little) right/ left, Click, (You need to find) two more, Can we see the list, please? Possible lead-ins and extensions: Play the same game with flashcards, perhaps blindfolding the person who needs to take the right card or giving them chopsticks, knife and fork or tongs to take it with. Drag two flashcards along a table for students to try and slap the one you are describing before it reaches the other end. The memory game I went to the supermarket and I bought where the chain of things gets longer and longer, perhaps telling them to use a different container word each time Miscellaneous notes: Because the game is very fast and the music is good at building excitement, students are likely to stop using the language entirely if you arent careful. To avoid this problem, keep the teacher as the one controlling the mouse or make sure there is plenty of useful practice of the language before and after the game. If there is a danger that students cant finish the game successfully, prepare a version that can be used without the computer, e.g. 12 flashcards along the floor or whiteboard. Road Safety Run Brief description of the game: Students make a dog jump and roll to avoid bins, tyres and balls in the street and then answer questions about road safety every couple of minutes. Possible language and topic connections: Safety (e.g. class rules or the upcoming fire safety drill), street vocabulary (rubbish bin, wheel, pavement etc), advice (should, I think, Is this right? etc), large numbers (how far the dog travelled)

Ways of using it in class: The whole class tell the teacher or a student with a blindfold on when to press the buttons for roll and jump, or which thing that they have to avoid is coming up. They can also tell that person where to move the mouse to answer the questions correctly Useful classroom language: Are you sure? Why/ why not? Its (very) dangerous Which button should I push to jump/ roll? Which button is right?/ Which button should I push? The top one/ bottom one/ The (red) cross/ The (green) tick Possible lead-ins and extensions: Students create a road safety board game where they answer similar questions to avoid other road dangers such as crossing the road, or similar games for other potentially dangerous places like the playground Clean and green Brief description of the game: Drag and drop rubbish from a bedroom into the right recycling bin and hear Good job! or Rubbish, try again. The name of each object comes up as you hover over it. Possible language and topic connections: Green issues, compound nouns (bus ticket), containers (a bottle of ketchup), prepositions Ways of using it in class: Ask students to tell you where each piece is, to guess what it is (to be confirmed when you hover over it), and where it should go. To add language, respond to their commands very literally, e.g. keep on going right if they dont say Stop. To do it in teams, let each team take turns choosing which thing they want to try next. Useful classroom language: Where is it? What is this?/ What do you think this is? Possible lead-ins and extensions: Brainstorm what things from the class could go into each of those bins (including things that arent rubbish such as the hamster!) Miscellaneous notes: A bottle of coke isnt really accurate as it is empty and so should be A coke bottle. Only a congratulations message marks the end of the game, so you might want to add another reward such as letting them try to throw scrap paper into the real bin. Animal Band Quiz Brief description of the game: Students answer general knowledge questions about music, getting an out of tune piano played by the giraffe if they are wrong and a drum roll by the tiger if they are right. If they get all the questions right, the animal band plays the song in tune. If not, the song is out of tune and they can try again. Possible language and topic connections: Animals, music vocabulary (composer, instrument, instrument names, notes, sounds, vibrate, lyrics, tune, rhythm, band, types of music, pianist, singer, DJ) Ways of using it in class: Let two teams take turns answering the questions, learning from the other teams mistakes. Alternatively, let each team answer until they make a mistake and then switch teams, giving one point for each correct answer.

Useful classroom language: Are you sure? Which button? Left, (middle) or right? Can you read the question (out loud), please? Lets take a vote. Who thinks the answer is (hands up)? What does the piano mean? Is that a nice tune? Why not (do you think)? Possible lead-ins and extensions: The class test you on music from their country/ countries, e.g. boy bands you might not know about (due to being too old!) or traditional music. You could give them musical instruments to play in or out of tune to show you if you are wrong or right. Nut hunt Brief description of the game: This game is basically pelmanism (= pairs = memory game), where students try to match words and pictures, with quite a tricky time limit. Possible language and topic connections: Seasons (autumn and winter), nature vocabulary (seed, cloud, sky etc), hibernation Ways of using it in class: Cover the part of the screen that has the temperature on it and have the teacher or students counting that down instead. Students tell the teacher or student (maybe blindfolded) which button to press or where to move to find the right button Useful classroom language: (A little) up/ down, What does this say?, What is this (in English)?, Quickly, the time is nearly finished, Who wants to try next?, Do you want to try again? Possible lead-ins and extensions: You can play the same game with normal flashcards face down on the floor (without the time limit) Hiero-writer Brief description of the game: Students can change words into hieroglyphics just by typing the word in Possible language and topic connections: Spelling practice, vocabulary revision Ways of using it in class: With teams working on laptops, students write a word in hieroglyphics then print it our and pass it to another team or change computers for them to work out what the word is as quickly as possible. Useful classroom language: What letter does a bird represent? Who can find it the quickest? All the words must be types of uncountable food Print out your words now and pass them to the next team (clockwise)/ pin them to the notice board Possible lead-ins and extensions: Ask students to make up their own codes, perhaps with each symbol being a thing that starts with the letter it represents Quiz-o-saurus

Brief description of the game: Students answer difficult trivia questions about 10 dinosaurs with 45 seconds for each question, probably after moving around the museum and reading up about each one Possible language and topic connections: Large numbers (length, how long ago it lived etc), country names (where the dinosaurs are found), comparatives and superlatives (the most intelligent dinosaur, one third as long as), body parts (horns, thumb, claw, beak, backbone etc), what words really mean (names of dinosaurs, maybe linking to original meanings of croissant, spaghetti etc) Ways of using it in class: The quiz is very difficult, so you might want to let students take notes when they are reading up on the dinosaurs. To make sure these are really notes, give them a word limit for how many things they can write down, give them a time limit for how long they can open each text, or only let them write notes after they have closed the information box. Useful classroom language: Are you ready to close the box yet? Are there any ones you want to try again? Possible lead-ins and extensions: Play Top Trumps with dinosaurs (similar to Pokemon). Play dinosaur Call My Bluff (research some dinosaurs and make up others and see if the other students can work out which one is which). Put similar texts up around the classroom (on the same or a different topic) and ask students to write questions for another group to run around the class reading and trying to answer as quickly as possible. Word hurdles Brief description of the game: Students identify Olympic sports from three options to jump over hurdles, getting medals depending on how well they do. The game can also be two player, with one player using number buttons 1 to 3 and the other 7 to 9. Possible language and topic connections: Names of sports Ways of using it in class: If you are doing the 2 player version in two teams with a projector, you might want to set up some kind of barrier so that they cant see the other teams answers. Useful classroom language: Are you sure? You can change your answer if you like Possible lead-ins and extensions: Use the same pictures for flashcard slow reveal. Create a board game with a track and hurdles on it (either 2D or 3D) and drag a character around it, setting similar questions as you do so. The students can then do the same thing in teams, either preparing the questions beforehand or just doing it as they go along. Miscellaneous notes: Make sure Number Lock is set right on the keyboard. Bookworm Brief description of the game: Students guide their worm around the screen to eat one of three letters that represents the word that has been shown and said, getting one extra segment on the worm for each correct word.

Possible language and topic connections: First letter phonics Ways of using it in class: You might want to turn off the volume so that students have to look at and identify the word rather than hear it. The person controlling the worm could be blindfolded or standing so that they cant see the screen so that they have to listen to the other students instructions. Useful classroom language: What things cant you do? How many segments do you have now? Move up/ down/ left/ right Possible lead-ins and extensions: A blindfolded student tries to guide a toy car through a course without touching the bad and touching the good parts by listening to the instructions of his or her classmates Miscellaneous notes: This game is only suitable for very low levels (although fun enough that higher level students will happily play while learning nothing!) ABC Countdown Brief description of the game: Students try to click on the letters of the alphabet in order in 30 seconds Possible language and topic connections: Alphabet, can (I can click on 20 letters in 30 seconds I can click on all the letters in 20 seconds) Ways of using it in class: Use this game as part of a challenge game for Can as suggested above or as a lead in for putting other things into order (by alphabetical order, size, number of letters, number of syllables etc) Useful classroom language: How quickly can you do it? How many can you do in 30 seconds? Do you think he can really do it? How much do you want to bet? Okay, try and prove them wrong! Never mind, you were close Possible lead-ins and extensions: See above, or play You Bet (the other students bet pretend money on whether that person really can do what they say) Coconut cricket Brief description of the game: Press the left mouse button once when you want the bowler to release the coconut and another when you want the monkey to hit it and then see how far it goes (if you dont miss completely!) Possible language and topic connections: British sports and other sports around the world, large numbers and decimals (the distance it goes), comparatives and superlatives (talking about which one is the longest and how much shorter and longer it is than other attempts) Ways of using it in class: The people looking at the screen tell the teacher or student in charge the distance to be written down and kept to compare to other attempts Useful classroom language: You need to hit sooner/ later Wow, thats a long way!

Possible lead-ins and extensions: Explain the rules of real cricket and play it (with a very soft ball) Miscellaneous notes: Theres not much too this game, so youll probably want to move on after maximum 5 minutes Planet (= Asteroid blaster) Brief description of the game: Zap asteroids and get one letter of a word connected to space for each red asteroid hit. The game ends successfully when they have all the letters in the word, or unsuccessfully when you have been hit by asteroids a few times. Possible language and topic connections: Space vocabulary Ways of using it in class: As it stands there is basically no language in it. You could ask students to define or draw the word when the word is complete to get the points or extra points. Alternatively, if they can shout out the word before getting all the letters give them the point without them needing to blast any more asteroids. They can also guide the teacher or a student who cant see the screen to the right position and when to shoot. Useful classroom language: (Move) up/ down/ left/ right Shoot!/ Press the space bar! You can guess whenever you know the word/ Any ideas? Possible lead-ins and extensions: A game with a sticky ball where the students try to hit asteroids, flying saucers etc on the board to be able to answer questions for points. Landmarks Brief description of the game: Drag six landmarks like the Taj Mahal onto the right country Possible language and topic connections: Names of countries and continents, describing buildings Ways of using it in class: If the students are unlikely to know them, give some of the students a version with the landmarks in the right place and get them to describe which one should be where without saying any landmark or place names Useful classroom language: Its in Asia/ Africa It looks like a mosque (You need to go further) North/ South/ East/ West/ Northwest Possible lead-ins and extensions: Students test the teacher on landmarks in different parts of their country/ countries Miscellaneous notes: This game needs some careful thought on how to play it, because as it stands it only tests reading comprehension of country names Mosquito Swat

Brief description of the game: Move a swatter around and try to swat yellow mosquitoes while not swatting green ones before they drink so much of your blood (!) that the game finishes Possible language and topic connections: Really no language point at all! Could lead into discussing better ways of getting rid of mosquitoes, discussing if all animals really were vegetarians (the green mosquitoes say that), suggesting ideas for new Olympic sports like this, or designing traps etc for insects and mice Ways of using it in class: Get it over with quickly as a lead into or break from something else! Alternatively, use it as a chance to discuss the rules of the game and move onto other discussion of rules of games. Useful classroom language: You could have them say Up/ down/ swat! etc, but you can do that with virtually every game here with more useful other language. Possible lead-ins and extensions: See above, or design other disgusting computer games (likely to be popular with an all boys class!) Miscellaneous notes: Youd have to have a really good reason to use this is class. It is very fun and rather addictive, but thats probably a bad thing as students will want to keep playing even when they are learning nothing