Game 1 – Noughts and Crosses

Possible for all ages depending on the questions asked. Great for general knowledge.

How to play:

• Draw a noughts and crosses grid on the board. Write number 1 – 9 in the corner of
each square. Click here for a ready-made grid. (PDF 27K)

• Divide the class into two teams. One team is X and the other O.

• Decide on the topic of the questions you will ask – they could refer to the previous
unit in the course book, be general questions about English, be on general
knowledge or on subjects the children study in their own language at school – on
anything at all.

• In turn each team decides which square they want to nominate.

• Teacher asks a question. If the team get it right their symbol is written in that square.

• The first team to get a line of three symbols in any direction across the grid is the
winner.

You can play this game any number of times and keep score.

Worried about running out of questions? Get the students to write them for the opposing
team – great practice in question formation.

Game 2 – Fishing for English

English is everywhere these days – in advertisements, menus, the media. To raise

awareness of this, set the following homework – over a weekend perhaps.

Ask students to ‘collect’ any English they find in their environment – this could include
literally collecting some adverts from magazines that include English or menus from
MacDonalds etc or writing down English words or phrases they notice spoken on local
television or even words they and their families use that have been integrated into their
mother tongue. A lovely display could be put together on the classroom wall with this
collection.

Game 3 – A to Z Race

A great vocabulary revision game.

Divide the class into two teams each standing in line at the board.

• Give them a topic like food and drink, sports, countries etc (they must be very large
lexical sets).

• The student at the front on each line runs to the board and must write a word in this
lexical set beginning with A on the board.
 • She then hands the chalk or pen to the next person in the row (and runs to the back
of the line), who adds a word beginning with B until they reach Z.

• If they cannot think of a word beginning with a particular letter they can leave a
space, but the team with most words at the end is the winner.

Example of a board during a game.

Game 4 – Mime Game

Some students love mime and others are not so keen. Adolescents can get very self-
conscious and embarrassed, so don’t push it upon them. Students between 8 and 12
usually love them. I have had many adult students who liked them too.

Prepare slips of paper with instructions like these;

- You’re knitting on a fast train.

- You’re eating spaghetti with chop sticks.

- You’re sweeping leave outside on a windy day.

- You’re washing a big, angry dog.

- You’re a clumsy waiter.

- You’re a drunk tightrope walker.

These can be relatively easy or very complicated linguistically depending on your

students.
 • Give a slip of paper to one student with the instructions that she is going to mime the
activity and the others must guess what she is doing. No words, in any language,
can be spoken.

• The first person to guess – in English what she’s doing is the winner and gets the
next slip of paper. (If the same students always guess, let others have a chance to
mime).

Once they get the idea of the game, get students to write similar instructions on slips of
paper. This can get incredibly funny.

Game 5 – Kim’s Game or The Memory Game

A quiet game of concentration for when the laughter gets too much.

Collect around 20 objects – ruler, pen, comb etc. Just look around the classroom,
teacher’s room, your handbag or kitchen for objects that your students know the words for.
This game can even be played with 5 or 6 year olds if you limit the objects and ensure
they know the vocabulary. Place the objects on a desk in the class covered with a scarf or
something similar. Tell the students they will have 4 minutes (vary the time depending on
the class) to look carefully at the objects and remember them. After 4 minutes cover the
objects again and students must write down what they saw. They can do this individually
or in small groups.

The winner (s) is the student who remembers most.

Game 6 – The Circle Game

Great for listening. Arrange chairs in the classroom so that everyone is sitting in a
circle. Give instructions like:

- Everyone who has a sister change seats

- If you live in a flat or house with an even number change seats

- If you are wearing brown shoes change seats

- Everyone with blue eyes change seats

Again instructions can be graded so that even students with little English can play – using
colours, clothes, family etc.

Those who fit the description must stand and change seats, the others remain seated.
After a few turns, remove a chair at each instruction, so that one person does not manage
to get a seat and they are out – they could then give the next instruction. The last student
remaining is the winner.

Be careful with boisterous classes – there may be some overenthusiastic pushing.

Game 7 – Triple Pelmanisms

The pairs version of this is quite well-known. Students have a number of cards in front of
them upside down and they must take turns turning over two. If they get a word that
matches the picture they keep the cards. The student with most pairs at the end is the
winner.

This version is more challenging and I have had classes of teens thoroughly enjoying the
challenge.

The version below is based on lexical sets, but you could choose the three parts of the
verb (go, went gone, drink, drank, drunk etc).

Prepare cards like the ones below

Table Desk Wardrobe

Kitchen Bathroom Toilet

Peach Orange Banana

Mexico Spain Australia

Red Green Pink

• Cut up the cards, ensuring you cannot read the words when the card is upside down.
Spread them on the floor upside down and mixed up.

• Divide your class into up to five teams.

• Each team must nominate a secretary who will choose the cards.

• One at a time each secretary will ask the teacher to turn over three cards (great for
‘on the right’, ‘that one near your foot’ etc).

• The team only wins the cards if the words are all in the same lexical set.

• Otherwise the teacher turns them over again in exactly the same place as they were.

• The teams with most ‘threes’ at the end is the winner.

Students really focus on the position of the cards and think carefully about meaning of
words and how they connect.

Game 8 – Making Sentences or Cows enjoy politics in April

Find an English magazine or newspaper and cut out about 40 words ensuring you have a
balance of parts of speech and stick them onto a sheet of paper in no particular order
something like this:

Give out copies of the sheets to students in groups of up to four. Print this set of words.

They have seven (depending on level and complexity of task) minutes to create: one
sentence with three words, one sentence with four words etc depending on level.

Sentences may be like this:

3 words - Radio is free.

4 words - Most parents are happy.

5 words - Cows enjoy politics in April.

This game encourages creative use of language and after the sentences are produced,
the students could choose one and write a story or newspaper article that this sentence is
a title or headline to.

There’s a game there

Many activities can be made into games by making them competitive. For example course
books usually have grammar exercises. I get my students to work on these in ‘teams’. The
teams with most right get a point and we collect points on the board during a lesson, so
that points from later games and exercises can be added. The team with the most points
at the end is the winner. I rarely give prizes (teachers are not rich!) but the joy of winning is
enough. Again I must stress that I mix up teams form one lesson to the next so that the
same students are not always the winners!