GAMES

GAME BOX

Game 1

Tic-Tac-Toe (10 minutes) Preparation time: 0

·       You can use any lexical set or structure for this

·       It’s very adaptable

·       Any vocabulary with Primary

Material

1.    Nine flashcards

2.    Blutak

3.    Whiteboard/blackboard

4.    Board pen or chalk

How to play

·       Stick the pictures of nine items of vocabulary face down on the board, in three rows of three, like noughts and crosses.

·       Number each card by either writing on the board or the back of the card.

·       Divide the class into two teams

·       Taking turns, each team chooses a number and one child in that group says the word that corresponds to the picture.

·       If the answer is correct the picture is stuck back, facing upwards, next to the grid of cards. A cross or a bought is put in its place.

·       The first team, to get a row(horizontal, vertical or diagonal) is the winner.

Adaptions

Opposites  - they must give the opposite of the word on the card.

Make a sentence – children use the word (text or picture) to make a complete sentence about themselves.

Past simple  - the infinitive is on the card and they must give the past

Find the word – there are definitions on the card and they must guess the word ( or vice versa)

Game 2

The Chair Game(10 minutes) Preparation time: 0

·       You can use any lexical set or structure for this.

·       It’s very adaptable

·       Any lexical set or structure

Material

1.    One chair for each student.

2.    Enough space to make a circle with the number of chairs

How to play

·       Children sit in a circle on their chairs, the teacher stands in the middle of the circle.

·       The teacher says a colour, an item of clothing or makes a statement (I can ride a bicycle) – whatever you decide your game is about.

·       If the children are wearing this colour, or item of clothing, or the statement is true for them, they obligatorily change chairs.

·       The teacher sits in one chari, which leaves one child without.

·       This child continues, as the teacher did before.

Game 3
For Present Continuous

Material – nothing

Preparation time – 0

1.    One student goes to the front of the room and faces the wall.

2.    The teacher asks “Who is wearing a red jumper ?(for example)

3.    The student answers “Juan” or “Juan is wearing a red jumper”

4.    If the student at the front doesn’t know, ask the rest of the class.

5.    After a couple of rounds pass the teacher role over to the students.

Alternative

1.    Send one student out of the class. (explain to this student why you are doing this)

2.    Ask the rest of the class what the student outside is wearing.

3.    Write their answers on the board (He’s/She’s wearing ……………), and leave this until the end of the class

4.    Tell the student to come back in and check with  the class what is right and wrong on the board.

5.    Repeat with various students.

6.    At the end of the class, or straight after the game, ask the students to remember who each description refers to. (This is a good reading activity !)

Game 4
Run to the board – can be adapted to almost anything.

Material –a board to write on and two bits of chalk/board pens

Preparation time – 0

1.     Decide on a theme ( opposites, a lexical set, pronunciation, numbers, correct spelling )

2.    Divide the class into two teams.

Sitting along the front row on the desks is a good set-up, or alternatively in two rows, perpendicularly to the board.

3.    Give each team a name and piece of chalk/board pen

4.    Establish what the children will have to write/draw/touch on the board.

5.    Number the children in each team, so that you have one of the same number in each team.

6.    The teacher says a number and a word (ie: triangle, seventy, ) If you have an odd number of pupils, just say the  two names instead of a number.

7.    The two pupils with this number run up to the board and write/draw/touch whatever the teacher has said

8.    The first child to do this correctly wins one point for their team.

Alternatives

Write a complete alphabet on the board for each team, and each time a child runs to the board they must add a word next to a letter, beginning with that letter.

Game 5

The “Pools”  any lexical set

Material : flashcards of a specific lexical set ( max. 9), blutak, board and board pen

Preparation time: 0

·       Stick the flashcards face down on the board and number each one underneath.

·       Students write the numbers 1 – 9 (or whatever number you have) in their workbooks.

·       Each student/pair of students, guess what word is hidden in each number. They write the word next to the number, at this stage the spelling is not important. They could draw instead of write if you think that is more appropriate.

·       Build up the expectation, playing it up a bit

·       One by one, show the flashcards.

·       Check in open class. 2 points if they have the right word in the right number and 1 point if they have the word, but not in the correct position.

·       Once you have shown the word, write it underneath the number and students correct their own spelling.

Adaptions of the same activity

This is a good game to prepare on a Power Point or flipchart.

Game 6

Scribble any lexical set

Material : 1 pre-prepared worksheet between every two students, (there is an example attached for Farm animals)

coloured pencils/crayons.

Preparation time: 5 minutes (+ photocopying !!) This takes longer to prepare the first time, but once you have a template saved on the computer it will only take you five minutes, plus photocopying time.

·       Draw 10 – 15 circles on an A4 or A3 paper

·       Write a different word from your lexical set in each shape, or draw a picture, stick a photo.

·       Photocopy one for every two students (althought they normally want to play again, so do one for each student in that case)

Playing the game

·       Students sit in pairs, with one photocopy per pair.

·       Each student has a coloured pencil, which must be a different colour to their partner.

·       The teacher says one of the words that are written/drawn in the circles, one by one.

·       The students have to scribble with their colour in the correct circle, trying to do so before their partner.

·       Lay down the rule that the first to touch the word is the one who scribbles.

·       The winner is the one with the most scribbles !

Adaptions

This is a good game for identifying minimal pairs, but you must check after each word !

You can also use it for practising irregular verbs, by saying the verb and they have to scribble on the past form.

Game 7

Animal alphabet  15 minutes to play and ten minutes to check.

Preparation time  0 , if the children have a reasonable animal vocabulary ( Lions and Panthers)

Materials  Paper and pencil

Language Animals

·       Children write the alphabet down one side of an A4 sheet of paper, or in their notebooks.

·       They write one animal for every letter

·       It doesn’t matter if they don’t finish

·       Check in open class. 2 points if nobody else has it. 1 pint if someone else has the same.

WARNING !! The checking stage is NOT a settler !!!!

Adaptions of the same activity

·       Food

·       Transport

·       Sport

Possible answers for animals

A-   Anteater, ant, ape, antelope

B-    Bear, beaver, bat, bison

C-    Cat, cobra, cow

D-   Dog, dragon

E-    Elephant, emu

F-    Fox

G-   Giraffe

H-   Horse, hedgehog

I-       Iguana

J-      Jaguar

K-    Koala

L-     Lion,lynx

M-Monkey, mouse

N-  Nightingale, nutcracker (bird), newt

O-   Orang-utan, ostrich

P-    Panda, panther, pig, puma

Q-  Queen bee

R-    Rat, rabbit

S-    Snake, spider, shark

T-    Turtle, tortoise

U-  Umbrella bird(bird from South America) , unicorn, urchin

V-   Vixen, viper

W-                        Whale

X-    X-ray fish, xenops (South American bird)

Y-    Yak

Z-    Zebra

Game 8

Verb memory  10 minutes to play   Panthers

To prepare the cards

·       Three different colours of card

·       A list of verbs the children know in the past simple (regular and irregular) .

·       A marker pen

·       After the first time you will only need the pack of cards

Language    Past Simple

To prepare the cards  (one set for every 3-4 students)

·       Cut the cards into 4 or 5 cm squares

·       Write a different verb infinitive on each square of one colour (1)

·       Write the past simple of all regular verbs on one colour (2)

·       Writer the past simple of all irregular verbs on the third colour (3)

To play the game

·       Mix up all the cards and place them face down.

·       The first player picks up a colour 1 card and decides if it is a regular or irregular verb.

·       Then they pick up a colour 2 or colour 3 card, according to the type of verb.

·       If the card they pick up is the one that corresponds to their infinitive (colour 1) they keep the pair of cards

Adaptions of the same activity

·       Adding another colour card you can play using the past participle and infinitive, or past simple and past participle.

·       Any lexical set, matching picture and word.

·       Matching opposites (long and short)Pairs (shoes and socks)

·       Matching phonemes (girl and curl)

Game 9

Say it three times

Preparation time: 0

Language: any lexical set

Materials: any set of flashcards, from one lexical set,  so that there are enough for a different one for each student in the class.

How to play:

·       Position students so that everyone can see the flashcards of all the others. Eg. In a circle with the cards on the floor in front of each student, or in a horseshoe, with their cards held up at chest level.

·       The teacher starts by saying one of the words three times.

·       The person that has the flashcard of that word must say their word once before the teacher has said it three times.

·       If they succeed in saying the word before the teacher says it three times, they then say another word three times before the student holding the corresponding card can say their word once.

·       If the person holding the corresponding card does not say the word in time, the first person repeats the process, until someone says their word before the three times. This person then lead the game.

·       This is game that keeps all students on task – otherwise they look a bit stupid !!

Game 10

Football hangman

Language : alphabet, vocabulary, any structure.

Preparation time – 10 mins the first time, then only the time it takes to draw the football pitch

Making the football :

·       Look for a good football on Google images.

·       Print it out so that it is about 4 – 5 cms in diameter

·       Laminate it

·       Cut out the ball, leaving a millimetre of plastic around the outside.

Materials: chalk/board pen,  a small laminated picture of a football, blutak

How to play:

·       Draw a basic football pitch on the board and divide each half into four, making sure you draw  the goals and the centre spot. The pitch should fill most of the board, leaving room for the scoreboard and the dashes for the word they must find (as in hangman).

·       The game proceeds the same as Hangman

·       The ball starts off on the centre spot

·       The first team say a letter. If this letter is correct then put into the correct letter space in the word and the ball moves towards the opponent’s goal. If the letter is incorrect then ball moves towards the team’s goal.

Game 11

The Longest Sentence 

Preparation time: 0

• Divide the class into to two teams, or more if you have a big class.
• The first person in each team puts a word on the board.
• The following team members all add a word to what is already there, at all times being a correct collocation of words.
• The team to finish the longest, grammatically correct sentence is the winner.
• The teacher must give a warning that the time is running out and that the teams must complete a correct sentence.

Game 12

Word tennis

Preparation time: 0

• The class is divided into two teams. 
• One team starts by saying a word and the other team must say a word that begins with that last letter. 
• This goes back and forth as if it were a game of tennis and scoring is the same as in tennis.

Game 13

Stand up/Sit down 

Preparation time:0

Materials needed

• 5-10 flashcards (one lexical set, or a mixture of lexical sets)

LANGUAGE:any vocabulary

How to play:

• The teacher shows a flashcard and says a word or “This is a ……..”
• If the teacher is correct the children stand up.
• If the teacher is incorrect the children sit down.

Adaptions of the same activity

• Instead of standing up and sitting down, they can touch their noses or put up their hands, or show a card saying “true” or “false”, or ticks or crosses. 
• Children can jump to the side of a rope on the floor, one side is true and the other false. Or run to one side of the class/playground.

• The students take the “teachers part”.