A few weeks back I was asked to do a training session at the academy for which I work. When it comes to training sessions and meeting my opinion has long been one of practical over theoretical. I truly beleive that as teachers we tend to prefer the talks we leave with a whole bunch of ideas and or materials which make our classroom and class planning a wee bit easier.
It was for that very reason that I put together this session of low prep, no technology games so they could be used whenever, whereever one chooses to use them.
Here's the handout. There is a little powerpoint that I tend to throw up in class so students know which game is which and what they have to look forward to if and when they complete the main tasks of the class. It also gives them the option of which "English Learning Activities" they get to play.
I tend to ask one of
the stronger students this question. They are then forced to come up with an
answer. In turn I get each of the students to ask a question about said monkey.
You can then get the students to develop the idea and ask each other why they
have various other bizarre objects in their bag. It’s great for question formation
and imagination. Works with all levels
from about K2.
2.
Line of Excuses
A great cooler. As
students are preparing to leave they have to give reasons as to why they should
leave first to get their way to the front of the line. The teacher decides who
has the best excuse and that person gets to leave first.
3.
City Race
Elicit a city from
your students. Write them vertically down the board two or three times.
Students must then take turns (in their teams) to come up to the board and
write the longest word they can which starts with each letter. For higher
levels you can make the parameters more difficult. Eg. Adjectives or Words
related to a specific lexical set.
4.
Consequences/Secret
Story
Students write a line
each for a story and then fold the page. After 8 rounds the pages are unraveled
and stories read. This game is great for working on narrative tenses and the
art of surprise. The 8 topics I use are: 1: His name 2: Her name 3: Where they
met 4: When they met 5: What he said 6: What she said 7: What happened next 8:
Why did that happen.
5.
Pig, Dog, Cat, Duck
This is a
pronunciation activity to work on weak forms. You can use any single syllable
words from a lexical set. After Christmas perhaps you’d use. Toy, Ball, Doll,
Car. Set a beat of about 112bpm. Then chant the words. Show them how the stress
remains on the words even when other words are added. Stage 2. A pig, a dog, a
cat, a duck. Stage 3. A pig and a dog and a cat and a duck. Stage 4. A pig and
then a dog and then a cat and then a duck.
6.
Rapid Spidergram
This is as easy as it
sounds. Write a word on the board about the topic you’re studying or about to
study and get students to come to the board and write ANY word they can thing
of related to that topic. I usually do this before and after a unit to show how
much they’ve improved.
7.
Scattagories
I’m sure you often
use this. It’s nothing like the board game of the same name. Although that is
also super fun. It’s similar to rapid
spidergrams but it’s done in a notebook. I often ask other categories as
opposed to just lexical sets. Eg.
Adverbs that don’t end LY. Or words containing the ə sound.
8. Stop the Bus
This absolute classic
has been a staple in my classroom since day one. 4/5 categories 1 letter. Students have to complete each category using
the letter chosen. When each category is complete they shout stop the bus and
the game is over. You can make students write two or three in each column if
they’re getting through the answers too quickly.
9.
Shark Bait
It’s hangman, it just
looks different.
Sound Match.
Start students with a
word, the next student has to think of a word that starts with the same sound
as the previous word ended with. Eg. Watch -
Chunder,
1 Lexical Phone Numbers
Write 0-9 on the
board. Above each number write a word. Students then have to come up with a
very short story including all the words that appear in their phone number.
It’s a great way to recycle new vocab from the previous class.
1 Spoken Word Snake
Just like sound match
except you just use the final letter from the word before.
1 Would you rather
A funny way to drill.
You can make the questions as serious or silly as you like. The only important
thing is students answer and then give their reasons. Eg. Would you rather have
glitter ball eyes or a glow in the dark tongue? I’d obviously prefer to have a
glow in the dark tongue because then I could read at night without having to
run up huge electricity bills. After you’ve played a few times students will be
able to come up with some real crackers.
1 Higher Lower
This is one of my
favourites as you can use it to drill any kind of number and you can
personalize it to you students. I usually start with something like Mount
Everest and get students to guess its height. For time I get them to guess when
I set my alarm or I ask them what time they had dinner. It’s great for numbers
and comparative structures. You can use students’ height, shoe size, age of
their grandparents. You can also get them to just think of a number between 1
and 10,000.
1 Word Sneak
This is a great way
to recycle vocabulary. I often do it at the end of class to review new vocab. I
give the students 5 words each and they have to seamlessly sneak them into a
conversation. I normally give them a starting topic and see where the conversation
goes. It’s also good to use at the start of a class to recycle vocab from the
previous lesson, especially after the weekend.
1 Cheddar Gorge
A very simple game
here, whereby your students create a story by using just one word each. You can
make it a sentence each if you so desire.
1 Memory Shopping
It’s just a memory
game you can use whatever lexical set you like. Start with, I went to the shop
and I bought a banana. You then add an item to what you bought/need to buy and
keep going around the room. I obviously did this one with Christmas presents.
This year Santa brought me a beard comb…..
1 Alphabet Story Race
I get my students to
think of a word for each letter of the alphabet and then sit with a partner and
include each one in a quick story or a dialogue. Remember to encourage them to
use each part of speech and not just nouns. Otherwise you’ll just get a boring
list.
1 Where in the world am
I?/20 Questions
Students chose a
place on the map. The others have to guess where they are, more or less. This
requires a small degree of geographical knowledge but it’s great for
prepositions. If you’ve got a few maps then it also helps as you’re less
geographically gifted lot can also figure it out. The obvious alternative to
this is just 20 questions.
2 Odd one out/Throw it
out
An old favourite with
a recently discovered twist, thanks to a delightful lady named Gema. Give
students 4 similar options they then have to discuss which one is the odd one
out and why. The twisted version has you assigning each student a word and them
fighting to their lives to remain as one of the three. I make out they’re all
in a boat and the odd one out has to leave. Obviously this sends all the wrong
messages about accepting differences in people but hey, you’re a banana get in
the water.
2 Tenuous Link
Students are given 2
words they have to find a way of linking them in the most tenuous way possible.
This is far better with higher levels as it gets more amusing and challenging.
Eg. Table to Motor Torpedo boat. A table has legs, you can walk with legs,
Birds have legs with which they walk they also have wings, wings are what make
them fly, wings are also a prime component of a plane, some planes were built
to drop bombs, others were built to land on the water, a motor torpedo boat
goes both on the water and uses its own type of bomb.
2 Alphabet Challenge
Set a topic and
students have to go through the alphabet in order naming one of each letter.
Capital cities, food, Names etc.
2 Hot Seat
Utter classic. This
can be played a few different ways, either with 5 words on the board that the
other students have to describe or with a bunch of questions written on the
board that the one in the chair has to answer.
2 Which one was yours?
Great for drilling. I
get my students to write an item on a card. Perhaps a present they got or an
innocuous item from their room. The cards/pieces of scrap paper are then mixed
up and redistributed. Students then have to guess who the owner of their card
is. I had my pet students saying. I can’t be sure but I reckon the beard comb
belongs to Harry because he’s the only one in here with a beard like a majestic
lion. (ok perhaps the reason wasn’t quite that elaborate)
2 Just a minute
Great for anything
above PET. You give students a topic or a part one question. They then have to
speak about it for a minute. Other students have to listen out for hesitation
and repetition. I make this vaguely more interesting by giving each student an
animal name and they have to interrupt but using said animals sound. The
students speaking at the end of the minute gets the point. I often use this in
a =’s and X’s kinda style.
2 Platanos Vs Bananas
This little game is a
great way to get students up and moving. I use it for all levels. I put two
opposing words/views on either side of the room. Students have to run to
whichever they prefer. They then have to question each other as to why they
chose the side they did. Eg. Cats vs Dogs. If Pablo choses dogs then you (or
his cat loving, more awesome classmate) asks Why did you chose dogs, don’t you
think they look far worse in selfies than cats?
2 Things You Should
Never Say
This is a lovely
funny filler I use with higher levels. I start with the easy ones like, things
you should never say in an airport. “I’ve got a bomb.” I try and get them to
think of situations. One student once said things you should never say in an
elevator. “I’m just going to leave this smell for you guys.” was his divine
answer.
2 Catagory Catch
I used to only use
this with my kids but have started using it with higher levels as well to mix
things up a bit. I simply grab a ball and throw it at to a student and
shout a topic/category. Students have to both catch the ball and respond
instantly without repeating what’s already been said. If they drop it they lose
a life. I tend to give 2 or 3 lives. Eg.
Pepe, Animals: “Dog.”
Good,
Carmen, Clothing: “A
shirt.” Good.
Joaquin 15th
Century Renaissance Artist “Michelangelo
di Lodovico Buonarroti Simon, also known simply as Michel Angelo” Nice. And so on.
2 Instant Role Play
Simply give your
students a new identity a situation and tell them to have a conversation. If
you want to give prompts and language by all means do. That does require more
prep and thus makes it a bit less fillery. I usually do this as a last 3 minute
thing and try re using the new vocab on the board as some kind of stimulus.
3 Word Association
Just give the students
a word and they have to say the first word that comes into their head. The
following student does the same. It’s a great little game to play whilst you’re
doing some kinda of paper filling in, like a homework list or something.
3 5 words story
A simple and
effective way to kill 5 minutes. Get students to use the theme of the day to
write some kind of story. I did horror stories recently after teaching about
fear. The example I gave them was one stolen from the internet. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Monday.
One, particularly strange students came up with this classic: I cooked your dead cat. So be aware of
who is in your class.
3 You scratch my back
This is a delightful
way to get students out of their chairs and more comfortable with each other.
I’ve used it to drill difficult spelling and just for fun. Students are put in
a line the student at the front is the writer and the others are the information
road. The student closest to the teacher is given a word. They then have to
send it forward to their writer, without speaking. The method they have to use
is simply drawing the word letter by letter on the back of the student in front
of them with just their finger. They will then in turn do it to the person in
front until they reach the writer who writes the final word on the board,
letter by letter.
3 Ad something
A simple sentence
transformed into a beautiful one. In this game I write a boring sentence on the
board and get the students to AD something. After eliciting that adjectives and
adverbs are the key to descriptive writing I set them off in pairs or threes to
create the most descriptive sentence EVER. This on one I got from my CAE class
a couple of weeks back. From: The Teacher Ate a Sandwich. To: The
morbidly obese teacher greedily ate a disgustingly greasy BLT sandwich, without
the L, the T or the sandwich.
