Classroom

Classroom f un g ames
Part A Types of games
1.Card games
Children collect, give away, exchange, sort, and count cards. The cards can hav
e a meaning or value in a game, or simple serve as symbols for objects or action
s.
•Pelmanism
2.Board games
Any games which mainly involve moving markers along a path.
o Snake and ladders
o Bingo
o Tic-tac-toe
3.Dice / Spinner games
Dice games are incredibly versatile. The dice need not only have numbers on t
he faces. They can have numbers, colours, letters of the alphabets –virtually an
ything you like.
4.Action games
In these games, children are physically active. These games are generally ‘rou
sers’ and need to be closely monitored.
o Simon says
5.Guessing games
The aim is to guess the answer to a question of some kind.
o Twenty questions
6.Role-play games
Role-play games are simple, guided drama activities. The language input can b
e quite rigidly prescribed or very open depending on the children’s level. Role
-plays stimulate a child’s imagination and are tests of true communication o Students p laying t he r oles o f c ustomer/shop a ssistant, d octor/patient, e tc. t o p racti se t he t arget l anguage
7.Word games
These game utilize children’s enjoyment of playing with words. They are most ly for older children as they involve spelling and writing.
o Scrabble
o Pictionary
8.Team games
Team games can belong to the other types listed above, but also require cooper ative team work.
o Chinese whisper
o Chain writing
Part B Examples of language games
Here are some examples of language games. The structure or langua ge focus can be easily changed for the purpose of practising other la nguage items or skills. Try to think of as many variations as you ca n, and make notes on how you can use them with your textbook.
1) C hinese Whispers
Introduction:
Chinese Whispers is a great ESL game that can be played at almost any level. It is a g ood game as it is easily adapted to the level you are teaching, and it involves the whol e class with no one sitting idle waiting for others to participate.
What is learnt?
Chinese Whispers is a game to practise listening and pronunciation skills.
How the game is played:
1) Divide the class into two teams. Line up the players. If there's an odd number of pl ayers, one can be the teacher's "helper".
2) The teacher or his helper either whispers a message or shows a flash card / picture t o the first person of both group A and group B.The game only starts when both playe rs know the message.
3) Then each player whispers the message to the next player in his group successivel y until the last player gets the message.
4) The team which can repeat the message correctly first receives a point (variants als o include the last person drawing the picture on the board or the writing the word on t he board).
5) This game can be repeated again with the second student of each group becoming t he first ones in line.
Variation
Running dictation
2)Definition Game–can be used for revision of vocabulary
Rules
1.Give each group of about 4 or 5 students a set of cards. (20-30 per set)
2.Students take it in turns to take a card and, without letting the rest of the group see the c
ard, give a definition of the word or picture.
3.The student i n t he g roup w ho correctly g uesses the word or picture first wins the card.
4.The student with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.
Pre-game t eaching
P re-teach the language used to gives definition hints to focus on grammar as well as v ocabulary:
•‘going to’ for future intentions (e.g. I’m going to watch this when I get home this aftern oon-T V.)
•relative pronouns (e.g. T his is someone who plays a r ole in the film ‘Titanic’. Leonardo D
e Caprio)
•‘It’s for + ing (e.g. I t’s for cooking food-o ven).
•‘It’s made of/out of/by/from/in.’ (e.g. ‘It’s made from grapes’,‘It’s made in France’, et
c.-w ine)
•v arious passive structures –It’s manufactured/grown/produced/built/mined in, etc.
3) G rammar Auction–can b e u sed t o r evise g rammar
For this game you need an auction sheet for each pair or team playing. Each auction s heet has up to 15 sentences of which at least half are incorrect grammatically.
Procedure
1.Divide the group into teams of 3 or 4.
2.Write on the board the word ‘AUCTION’.Ask the students if they know what happen
s at an auction. Explain bidding and ‘GOING, GOING, GONE!’
3.Give each team an auction sheet with the sentences.
4.Tell the students that they can buy the sentences at the auction, but if they buy incorrec
t sentences they must be able to correct them.
5.Allow them about 10 minutes to go through the sentences and decide which ones are co
rrect and which of the incorrect ones they can correct.
6.Tell them they have $5,000 to spend at the auction and they must decide how much eac
h sentence is worth bidding for. The lowest bid they can make is $200.
7.Read out the sentences in any order and invite bids. Keep it lively and fast.
8.Keep a note on the board of who buys the sentences and for how much.
9.The winners are the ones with the most money at the end. Each correct sentence or sent
ence they can correct is worth twice what they paid for it. This is added to the money th ey have left.
10.Go through all the sentences at the end.
4) Pelmanism–can b e u sed f or ‘vocab/picture’m atching a nd r hyming w ord m atching, e tc.
Pelmanism is a game that is popular in many countries around the world. It is usuall y a test of memory but a little imagination can turn it into an effective English learnin g game.
Procedure
1.Make a set of about 20 cards per group. Write 10 'pairs' of words on one sid
e o
f the cards, one word per card (you can also use a picture – word combinati
on). The words in a pair must rhyme but don't have to look similar, dependin
g on the level of your students. (e.g. make/take, see/key, learn/burn, ) Choos
e words that the students know so that you don't have to spend time dealing wi
th vocabulary and can concentrate on pronunciation. Each set of 20 cards ca n be the same, e.g. you can make one set and photocopy it as many times as ne cessary, or you can make different sets.
2.Before you begin the game, go through the cards quickly first with the whole c
lass. Hold up each one and ask the students to say it. Correct pronunciation a s necessary.
3.Now shuffle the cards and lay them face down on a table or other flat surfac
e, e.g. the floor.
4.Students take it in turns to turn over any two cards. As they do so, they read th
e cards aloud, e.g. 'burn', 'take' before turning them back over and placing the
m face down in the position they were originally in.
5.As more cards are revealed, the students have to try to remember where the ca
rds are and to pick up 'pairs' of cards, e.g. two cards which rhyme (e.g. 'learn' a nd 'burn'). When the student picks up a pair that rhyme, he or she can keep the m.
6.The winner is the person with the most cards in their hands.
5) S nap
Procedure
e the Pelmanism cards to play snap. Shuffle the cards and deal them out equ
ally to a pair of students.
2.When t he g ame b egins, o ne student removes the top card of his stack and places it face-up on the playing sur
face in f ront o f h is s tack o f c ards.Then, t he o ther s tudent d oes t he s ame. T he cards should be pu t down quite quickly, one at a time. If the cards on the two piles make a matchi ng pair, the first student to say ‘snap!’ keeps the cards. The student with the m ost cards at the end is the winner.
6) A memory game-t o practise using the target language.
The game is played around the class and can be used to practise a variety of language.
Procedure
1.If, for example, the target language is the present tense, you can start the gam
e by saying, e.g.
'John usually p lays tennis at the weekends.'
2.The person to your left has to continue the game by repeating what you have s
aid and adding a clause of his or her own, e.g.:
'John usually p lays tennis at the weekends and goes to bed late.'
3.The third person has to remember what the first and second people said and ad
d a new clause, e.g.: ‘John usually p lays tennis at th
e weekends, goes to bed lat
e and gets up late.'
4.The sentences can be as long or as short as the students choose. If a student ca
nnot remember what was said, or gets it wrong, he or she is 'out'. (It is generall y quite a good idea to be strict about accuracy - otherwise the game can take to o long.)
5.The winner is the last remaining student.
Variations
The game can be adapted to any tense, e.g. 'Tom went to the cinema, and met his frien ds, and they ate a pizza …' for the past; 'I'm going to be a millionaire, and I'm going t o buy a yacht, and I'm going to sail around the world' for 'going-to' future; and ‘John u s ed t o s ing i n t he b athroom, M ary u sed t o e at a l ot,…’f or t he s tructure ‘used t o.
7) T opical vocabulary
For this game you need two(or m ore, d epending o n h ow m any g roups t here a re) handouts wit h categories for students to brainstorm. The topics can be selected from your textboo k. You can decide the number of categories students have to work on depending on th e time you have.
Procedure
1.Divide the class into two or m ore g roup s, with 4-6students (depending o n t he s eating a rrangem
ent) i n e ach g roup.
2.Give each group a handout with a list of 10 (the n umber c an v ary) c ategories for which the
y have to think of 5 (the n umber c an v ary) t hings.
3.Give them 10 minutes (the d uration c an v ary) t o write down the r equired n umber o f things fo
r each category.
4.When t ime i s u p, e xplain the f ollowing rules.
Rules
1.Group 1 starts by reading out the words t hey h ave g ot f or t he f irst category on their list.
2.If a ny o ther g roup h as g ot t he s ame w ord, a m ember o f t he g roup m ust r aise h is/her h and a nd s ay ‘We’v
e g ot i t.’T hen a ll g roups (including G roup 1) w hich h ave g ot t his w ord o n t heir l ist h as t o c ross o ut t he w or
d.
3.(If t here a re m ore t han 2g roups) A fter G roup 1h as f inished s aying a ll t he w ords t hey h ave f or t he f irst c at
egory, G roup 2c an s ay t he u n-crossed o ut w ords f or t he s ame c ategory t o s ee i f t he o ther g roups h ave g o t t hem.
4.The g ame g oes o n u ntil a ll g roups h ave s houted o ut t he r emaining w ords o n t heir l ists.
5.The s core e ach g roup g ets f or t he f irst c ategory i s t he n umber o f u n-crossed o ut w ords r emaining o n t he l
ist.
6.Then g roup 2r epeats t he a bove s teps w ith t he s econd c ategory o n t he l ist.
7.The group with the most points at the end is the winner.
Variation
Instead of giving the students all 10 categories, you can d o it one by one.
Common t opics
1.fruit
2.animals
3.countries
4.cities (in E urope /t he U SA, e tc.)
5.occupations
6.means o f t ransport
7.insects
8.household e lectrical a ppliances
9.leisure a ctivities
10.food
8) Big TV–for general speaking practice
Procedure
1.D ivide the class into 2or more groups, depending on how muc
h time you have.
2.Invite 3 volunteers (reps) from the same group to come to the fron
t with their back facing the screen.
3.Set the timer to 2 minutes each time. When the game begi
n s, start the timer.
4.Words will be shown on the powerpoint slides one by o
ne and the other members in the group have to give h ints to the reps to help them guess the words correct ly.
5.They may give hints with their body language or speaking without mentio
n ing the answer s directly.
6.Each correct answer is awarded 1 point.
7.The hint-givers as well as the reps can say ‘pass’a
t most 2 times within the 2 minutes if they have n o idea what the target word being guessed is.
8.The total points obtained within the 2 minutes are the score of the group.
9.The group with the highest score is the winner.
10.The number of rounds will depend on the time available.
10.If students do not know how to play this game, give a demonstration.
9) Spelling Chain
Procedure
1.Divide the class into two or three teams. There should be at least 1
0 students in a group.
2.S uppose the teacher wants the teams to spell a word, e.g. T
ELEPHONE.
3.Team 1 must spell the word with ONE STUDENT saying a lette
r AT A TIME. For example, the first kid says T, the second E, the third L an
d so forth.
4.If one kid blows it, move on to the next team which must start over AT THE B
EGINNING, not where the other team left off. Each correct word gets a point.
5.If the word is short, you may ask those in the middl
e o
f the team to start spellin
g the word so that eve
ryone in the team has a chance to participate.
6.If the teams just can't spell the word after several tries, give yourself a point (t
hat infuriates them). After the teams have got the idea, you can change it b y calling on players out of order. That way, players will have to pay attentio n during the entire time, in case you call on them.
7.The more rapidly you play this game, the more fun it is.
10) Categories
1.Draw a grid. Across the top of the grid write a common word, like TABLE.
2.The rows of the grid should be categories of things, like fruits, clothing, verb
s, nouns, cities, countries, and so forth. A sample grid might look something li ke this:
3.Students must think of nouns beginning with T, A, B, L, E respectively, and s
o on until the grid is complete. Whoever fills in the most squares within the ti me limit wins.
11) Noughts and crosses, or 'Tic-Tac-Toe'
Aim: To reinforce students' knowledge and spelling of taught vocabulary items. Procedure:
1.Draw nine grids on the blackboard, and put the first letter of nine words in th
e spaces.
2.Divide the students into two teams, and ask the first student from Team X (Cr
osses) to pick a square. He/She identifies it by saying the first letter (for ex ample, 'B').
3.You then give a definition of the word ('It's in the classroom. I write on it'). Th
e student has one chance to get the word.
4.If he or she fails, then it's the turn of Team O (Noughts). Student O can ask fo
r the same square, or he/she can choose a different square. If he/she gets it righ t, write an O in the square to claim it for his/her team.
5.The winning team is the one that gets a row of three Xs or Os, vertically, horiz
ontally or diagonally.
6.This game is best played as a class with the teacher checking answers. Howev
er, with larger classes, the game can also be played in pairs while the teacher g oes around the room checking answers.。