1. PICTURE MATCH. Get a random selection of pictures – the quirkier the better. Put them around the room where students can see the. Let them stroll around and have a look. Tip out the word cards from the vocab bag and invite students to match them up with pictures, or sections of pictures, as they think appropriate. This can generate some discussion about feelings, memories and attitudes.
2. FINGER WRITING. Pairs. Each student selects a word card, and without showing it to their partner, writes the word with their finger on their partner’s back. Students work out the words.
3. SPELLING TEST. Demonstrate dictating words first. Check spelling and meaning. Get students to take a handful of cards and dictate to their partner. Check spelling and meaning.
4. SPFLLLNG RACE. Divide the class into groups and give each group a set of scramble letters. Shout out the word that you want to test the spelling of and the groups race to spell the word using the scrabble letters. The first group to spell the words correctly wins a point.
Variations: - shout out a definition and students must think of the word as well as spell it.
- shout out a word and students must spell the opposite.
- shout out a verb and students must spell the past participle.
5. ACTION SONGS. Teach the students the songs and the actions that go with the songs. Some good song are Head and shoulders, One finger, one thumb keep moving. London’s Burning.
Good for: raising energy levels, practicing rhythm, input and revision of vocabulary and grammar structures.
6. THE SLAPPING GAME. Take a set of pictures of the words that you want to revise (pictures of different jobs). Lay the pictures face up out on the floor or on a table. The students stand in a circle around the pictures and put their hands on their heads. You shout out the name of one of the jobs and the first student to slap his-her name on that picture wins a point.
Variations:
- use letters of the alphabet and not pictures to practice the pronunciation of the letters.
- use cards with words on them and shout out definitions of the words.
- use cards with words on them and shout out the opposites.
- verbs with past irregular verbs and you shout out the infinitives.
Good for: Vocabulary revision, irregular verbs, any lexis that comes in pairs.
7. LABELS ON THE BACK. Just like 20 questions (in which you are allowed to ask 20 questions, but only those, which can have a yes or no answer, in order to guess the name of a mystery famous person). Here, however, you write the names of the people to be guessed on sticky labels and stick them on the backs of students. The students circulate asking questions to discover which name is stuck on their backs.
Variations: - write the names of objects, places, verbs or vocab to be revised instead of names.
Good for: Practice of questions forms. Intonation for question forms.
8. LATERAL THINKING PROBLEMS. Give the students a lateral thinking problem and they have to ask you questions to discover the solution to the problem. You can only give one of four answers to the students' questions: yes, no, not important or incorrect (if the student's question is grammatically incorrect and they hove to rephrase the question) For example:
A man lives on the top floor of o block of flats. One day he walks up to the roof and jumps. As he is falling, somewhere in the building a telephone begins to ring. When the man hears this, he starts to scream.
Solution: It is a city after a war. The man believes tot he is the last person alive on the planet and so he commits suicide. The telephone makes him realise that there is somebody else in the city and so his suicide has been pointless.
GOOD FOR: Practice of question forms. Intonation for question forms.
9. ALPHABET GAME. Write the letters of the alphabet on the board ant tell the students the word set that you are going to revise (e.g. jobs).Stand the students up in a circle. The first student says a word in that word set. For example, the student says "policeman- you wipe the letter “p” from the board. The next student says “salesman" you rub out the "s". You continue rubbing out the letters that their words begin with.
Once a letter has been removed from the board a student cannot say a word beginning with that letter. If the student cannot think of a word then they are eliminated from the game.
The winner is the last student left standing
Good for: Revision of lexical sets; spelling.
10. RACE TO REORDER SENTENCES. Place the class into groups. For each group, nominate one person as the mover: The movers will come to you at the front of the class and you give them a jumbled sentence written on a slip of paper (each group gets the same sentences.) They run back to their group and race to reorder the sentence. When they think that they have finished they come to the front and show you the re-written sentence. If it's correct, you give them the next sentence. If not, they go back and do it again. The winning group is the group that successful rearranges the sentences first.
Variations:
- race to transform sentences (passive/active or direct speech/ indirect speech, etc.)
- race to correct incorrect sentence (maybe taken from written homework
- race to answer comprehension questions based on a text.
Good for: Practicing word order, most grammatical structures, practicing scan reading.
11. HOT/WARM/COLD.Based on the children’s game. Good for practicing prepositions. Hide five sweets in the class. The students ask you questions to guess where they are hidden. (“Is it under the blackboard?” “Is it near me?”)You answer with one of three words^ HOT (=you’re very close), COLD (= you’re really far) and WARM (= a fair guess). Students keep asking questions, getting nearer and nearer to the sweets. The students that guess where the sweets are hidden get to eat them.
Variations: - the students imagine that they are somewhere in a picture in the course book and the other students have to guess where they are.
- You think of a time (e.g. 6:30) and the students have to guess the time. (“Is it 12.00?”- COLD, “Is it 6/00?”- Extremely HOT!)
- As above but with dates and not times.
12. JUMP THE LINE. This is a game to practice minimal pairs. The students stand in a line facing the teacher at the front of the class. The teacher says a word. If the word contains an /i/ sound then the students must jump to the left. If it contains a /I: / sound then they must jump to the write. If they jump the wrong way they are eliminated. The last person to jump is also eliminated.
Variations:
- use two word sets (words connected with land and sea transport).
- use words having positive and negative connotations (e.g. stubborn/ strong-willed)
Good for: practice/ discrimination of minimal pairs/ revision of lexical sets.
13. TEAM PICTIONARY. Class is put into groups. One person from each group is shown a word that they have to draw. They all run back to their groups and race to draw the word. The fist group to get the word wins a point.
Variations:
-students race to mime rather than draw the word
- All the words are connected to a theme.
Good for: Vocabulary revision, introducing theme based lessons.
14. CHAINWORD. The students stand in a circle. The first student says a word and the next student has to say a word that begins with the last letter of the previous word. (e.g. tree- elephant-time-egg-green-not-etc.)
Variation: To revise a word set (e.g. jobs) – a student who manages to say a word from that word set will win themselves an extra life.
Good for: Vocabulary revision, spelling, pronunciation practice.
15. RUN AND WRITE. Divide the board into half and the class into 2 groups. Give one student from each group a pen. You shout a verb and the students have to run and write the past form of that verb on the board. The first student to do so wins one point for their team.
Good for: revision of vocabulary, irregular vebs, opposites, any words that can come in pairs.