There is a saying that the best teachers beg, borrow and steal their best ideas. Even though most of us tend to have a lot of free time in this job, I question the sense of trying to “reinvent” the wheel.”
While all of these activities have worked for me and others at the JHS and SHS level, they can and probably should be adapted to meet the individual needs of the students you are teaching.
Many of these games rely on using questions appropriate to the student's level. I have complied a list of useable questions and will add to it from time to time. If you have some good game or questions, send them to me. tocamjapan@yahoo.com
NEW - Uno Conversations
New - Sentence Building
NEW - What's The Question
Bingo - Some variations
Grammar Races - From Daves ESL
JEOPARDY - click here for categories
Japanese Student Friendly 20 Questions
Typhoon –
Numbered Words (from Conversation English)
Target
Language: Creating a conversation restricted by the number
of words.
Additional
Knowledge: Basic English grammar structure and vocabulary.
Cards
Used: All Number Cards excluding 0
Description: Deal out 10 cards to each student. Place the rest of the cards in a
pile in the middle of the table. Any student can start. The only restriction is
that the sentence that they use must contain exactly the amount of words as the
number on the card they play
. Example:
Student A asks Student B “Where did you go yesterday?” (five words) and plays a 5.
The goal is to be the first to play all of the cards in the hand. Any
student can start AND any student can jump in as long as it relates to the
conversation at hand.
Example: Student A asks Student B “Where did you go yesterday?”
Student B is about to answer but Student C, throwing down a 6, says, “I would like to know, too.” Student B plays a 3 and says “To the moon.” Student D plays a 1 and says “Really?” Student A plays a 7 and says, “Why did you go to the moon?” Student D plays a 3 and says “Was it fun?”
With these games the teacher can be the monitor while the students guide their own learning and revision.
Overview: Students provide all of the words then randomly draw cards to
create sentences.
Preparation: Deck of playing cards with no face cards. A black/white
board would be very helpful but not necessary.
What To Do: Write on the blackboard NOUNS and number down 1 - 9. Have
the students give you 9 NOUNS.
Next to the word NOUNS write VERBS and number down 1-9. Have students
give you verbs.
Finally, write the ADJECTIVE next to VERBS and number down 1-9. Have
students give you adjectives.
In the end you should have 3 columns. Column 1 is NOUNS, column 2 is
VERBS, and column 3 is ADJECIVES
Now have the students assign a suit to each column, CLUBS, DIAMONDS,
HEARTS, and SPADES.
The number/suit represents the word that must be used in a sentence.
Example: The student has a 4 or SPADES. The student uses the fourth
word in the column that has SPADES as its suit.
NOTE: There will be one suit not used and the number 10 is not in any
column. These are considered WILD cards.
Example: Let's say that HEARTS is not assigned a column. If the student
has the 4 of Hearts, they can use only the FOURTH word (because of the
number 4) in ANY column (because HEARTS is a wild suit).
Example: The student has a 10 of Spades. The student can use ANY word
(because 10 is a wild number) in the Spade column (because it is a
Spade card).
Example: Let's say that DIAMONDS is not assigned a column. If the
student has a 10 of Diamonds, they can choose ANY word in ANY column
(because 10 is a wild number and Diamonds is a wild suit).
Deal out 5 cards to each student and place the remaining cards face
down, in the middle of the table. Going around the table, each student
creates a sentence using the cards in their hand. They can use any
number of cards they wish BUT the sentence created must be
grammatically correct.
If the sentence is grammatically correct, the cards used are discarded,
however if the sentence is grammatically incorrect, the student draws 1
card from the pile without discarding any of their cards.
The student who discards all of their cards first is the winner.
NOTE: Different forms of the words are allowable. Plurals for nouns,
past tense for verbs, etc.
Variation #1: Deal out 10 or more cards to the students. Don't use the
miss rule above until they have 5 or less cards.
Variation #2: Tell a continuous story with the cards.
What's The Question?
Overview: Students give Questions instead of Answers.
Preparation: None (or a list of answers like the ones below)
What to do: Give an answer. The students have to come up with a question
that would fit.
Example: There it is. Where is my bag?
Explain that, although the answer may have a pronoun, the question will have
the proper noun or item name.
Change pronouns, type of questions, tense, etc.
Example Answers:
No, I ate the fish.
7
Over there
I will be watching TV.
Near the desk.
My sister.
Because it is fun.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Yes, but not very well.
No, but my brother does.
Any question that would fit the answer is acceptable.
Example: No, but my brother does. Do you like pizza?
Keep a close eye on troubled areas and repeat the answer pattern (with
different words, of course).
This idea can be used to stress tense answers (What did you eat? What were
you eating? What had you eaten?)
Rules:
Divide the class into two teams. One team is the batting team, the other
pitching.
Draw a baseball field on the blackboard. Use magnets for players.
Have one player from each team (batter and pitcher) come to the front.
Elementary:
Show the pair a vocab word that they must say.
If the pitcher says the word first, this counts as one out. After three outs, batting team changes to pitching and pitching team switches to batting.
If the batter says the word first, (s)he may move his/her magnet around the bases. Simple vocab (ie numbers 1-10 or alphabet) count as a 1 base hit. More complex words (ie 11-99+, Hello, Good-bye) are two base hits, and phrases (How are you?, My name is~) are a three base hit. For a homerun, students must say all the complex phrases without help from their team. I show the kids the vocab words in their native language and they must say it in English.
Junior High:
I say the vocab word and they must spell it (written works best).
Again, one out if the pitcher is first.
For the batter, it's a one base hit if (s)he need the team's help to spell the word. If (s)he can spell the word without help, that's a 2 base hit. If the batter is first to spell the word, (s)he can gain an extra base by speaking the word in a sentence.
That's it. Once the game gets rolling, it works really well.
For this game the whole class is involved. The calss is
divided into groups of 4.
1-Each group draws a grid with 9 blanks on a sheet of paper.
2-The teacher writes 11 words s/he would like to have revised on the board.
3-Each group selects 9 words from the board and copies them into the blanks
randomly.
4-The teacher has a bag of definitions of the words on the board.
5-The teacher starts reading out the definitions. If the group can identify the
word that is defined, then the group secretary crosses the word out.
6- The group that has all the crosses shouts out BINGO and they get a present
from the teacher.
To Make Ready Made Bingo Sheets go here.
Level: Any Level
This game helps to teach children the names of facial parts.
Divide the class into two teams. Then draw 2 ovals shapes on the board. Then yell "Draw the teacher's eyes!" and the two leading students from each team run up and draw your eyes on the oval. Then yell "Nose!" which is drawn by the next two students. And so it goes. The student get a ball out of this as they have permission to make fun of their teacher, and your image can get to look pretty distorted. You can add other features, such as nose or ear hairs. This will also work if you want to do body parts as well. Just draw the basic torso instead of ovals.
If the kids are unsure as to which facial/body part you're talking about, just point to it.
At the end say both images look pretty good and call it a tie.
Another variation on this could be for naming parts of animals. The resulting picture would be a monster. i.e. peacock's tail, snake's head, elephant feet, bat's wings, etc.
To review for an exam or practice a variety of material, I
like to have a "board race". Divide the students into two groups and
draw a line down the middle of the board. If it's a big class (and a big board)
you can have three groups. The students close their books and notebooks. One
student from each group goes to the board. The teacher gives them a sentence to
write. For example: Use the verb "to be" in a present perfect
sentence. The first student who correctly writes an appropriate sentence gets a
point for their team. Then two different students come to the board. All
students are allowed to help the person at the board but they can't use anything
but their brains! Using a book means that the team doesn't get the point.
This lets students review a lot of material and identifies common problem areas.
Furthermore, it fosters cooperation and unifies the students as a group. They
like to prove that they know the material and are creative and funny.
JEOPARDY - A fun game. Categories can be infinite. Players must clear the easy questions before they can move up to the more difficult ones. Here are some categories to get you started.
Copy pages from various ESL textbooks (at an appropriate level for your students), put them on the walls, and have students wander around the classroom and learn a new phrase. Then have them teach each other what they learned
Copy some interesting pictures of people from magazine ads. Give a picture to each student, have the student fold up the bottom of the picture about half an inch, and write something the person might be thinking or saying. Hold Up the Pictures and Read out some of the answers.
What is more commonly known (in a more racist way) is Chinese whispers. In their rows, make even teams. If the numbers are lacking include the JTE. (Their Eigo is usually on a par with the students anyway) Give the person at the back a sheet of scrap paper. Take the kids from the first row outside and dictate a sentence to them. Use any grammar point. Make sure they can read it and they repeat it 3 times or so before they go in. When you say “go” they must pass the sentence down the line. The last person writes the sentence on the paper and runs it up to me. The sentence must be perfectly written. If they make a mistake they can only ask the person that passed the message on to them. (If the person before them has forgotton they must ask the person before them and so on) They can’t ask anyone else. Allow a certain time for each sentence and award points (3,2,1) to the first 3 groups finished. After get them to translate the orally translate the sentence into Japanese to cement understanding. After this is done, rotate the line, the paper comes to the front person, and then the kids from the second row come outside.
5 5 5 5
4 4 4 4
3 3 3 3
2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1
To start give the blank paper to kids in the 5th row. All the kids from the 1st row come outside and then rotate at the end of each game.
Write down the names of about five very different people on the board (a small baby, a rude waiter in a restaurant, a fashion model, a stranger in a crowd, and a grandfather). Give students a common expression, such as "Good morning!" or "Sorry!", and ask students how they might say it differently when talking to a different person.
Use this activity to
underline the importance of intonation when your students, as they often do,
talk like robots. Basically, get them to say the words in quotation marks in the
contexts that follow.
'Hello'
to a friend
to a friend you haven't seen for 3 years
to a neighbour that you don't like
to a 6 month old baby
to someone you have just found doing something they shouldn't
to someone on the phone when you're not sure if they are still on the other end
'Goodbye'
to a member of your family as they are going through the boarding gate at the
airport
to someone who has been annoying you
to a child starting his very first day at school
'How are you?'
to someone you haven't seen for 20 years
to someone who has recently lost a member of the family
to someone who didn't sleep in their own bed last night
'I never go to pubs'
by a person that totally disapproves of drinking alcohol to someone who often
goes to pubs
as a response to someone who has told you they sometimes go to pubs
said before: '・ut I quite like discos.'
'What have you done?'
to someone who claims to have fixed your television only that now it's worse
than before
to someone who is scolding you for not doing anything when you suspect the same
about them.
to someone who has just done something very bad and which has serious
consequences
Criss Cross – that old “Surprise!! Have a game ready in 5 minutes!” standby favorite”. However be careful, this game ends in tears more often than not. Here are some recent variations I have learned (stolen) from others.
If a person answers a question they can choose a friend to sit down, and they must choose someone else to stand up.
If a person answers a question they can sit down, or remain standing and choose someone to stand up.
If you are playing the normal way, and there is the same person always left standing give them a “chansu-charenji-question” only for them. Then say something like “what’s your name. How are you etc” just to put them out of their misery. That or order them to commit seppuku out of shame.
And of course some ready to go questions for each grade.
Draw a grid on the board and put a letter/ letters in each square. Divide the class into two teams. One team has to go from top to bottom and one team has to go from right to left. They take it in turns to nominate a letter and you provide a clue to a word that begins with that letter. If the answer is correct then they have captured that letter. The first team to get across the board is the winner.
This teacher-directed version of the game can be used as an
appetizer to then asking the students to devise their own questions and use them
to play against the other team. This game is excellent for revising vocabulary
and/or idioms. You could even use it for introducing some vocabulary items.
Pictionary – Most known this one already however, use words from their recently learned Vocab lists to reinforce some of the words visually. Kids crack up over some of the results, and it is fun seeing some of the weird textbook words like Korean Farmer Folkdance being represented visually.
Can be used for any age group. See this link for instructions. You can ask them any questions and it is the first group to draw their human/monster/sensei etc.
This idea is suitable for short
dialogues (3-8 lines) in classrooms where there is space for learners to move
around. Choose dialogues that totla the same number of lines as there are
learners.
·
Write the dialogue(s) on paper, with space
between the lines. There should be
one line for each learner.
·
Cut the lines up and randomly distribute one to
each person. Learners walk around, read their line out to other people and see
if they can work out what the original order was. When a group has found a complete dialogue, they call out
“snap”.
·
Everyone listens while they read their
conversation, then the others decide if it’s good or not.
If it’s OK, they sit down. If
not they start searching again.
Japanese Student Friendly 20 Questions
The traditional 20 questions is too hard for most Japanese kids. So use this excellent template of the game to make it more student friendly for your classes.
Example: (for 2nd year)
What did you do on Sunday?
I played tennis.
Who did you play tennis with?
I went with Ken.
Did you enjoy it?
Yes, very much.
Talking Cards - ITESLJ - Also good for adult esl http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Brown-TalkingCards.html
Fun Prepositions Game - Edochans Page
As my name is not Kathy, you're probably wondering where the name of this game comes from. Well, Kathy used to be the ALT of Haga machi in '96-'97, but she's gone to a better place (ie. anywhere but Tochigi).
In this game, each column is a group. They clear their desks and everyone but the first row moves their desks to the back of the room. Ahead of time, you prepare slips of paper with instructions like these:
There
are seven pencils under the desk.
There are two dictionaries beside the desk.
There are five seito techos in front of the desks.
There are eight slippers behind the desk.
There are three students on the desk.
Before you play, review those location particles, like on, under, behind, etc. so that the slips of paper won't be like cuneform to them. Back to the game. OK, so you have one student sitting at each desk up at front, while their teammates are sitting all scrunched up in the back. Put a slip of paper face down on the desk of the front people (all with the same instructions).
When you say, "Go!" the students must flip over the paper and read it. Since chances are that that front desk won't have the necessary supplies, the student must run back to their team and get the necessary things to complete the task. The first student who puts the proper number of things in the correct location gets a point for their team. After each round, the student who was sitting at front goes to the back, all the students move up a desk, and a new person sits at front.
This game can get a little hairball at times, especially with the slippers one. They need to get the slippers to the front desk, so many of the students believe that the best way to accomplish this is by taking off their slippers and throwing them at the desk like there's no tomorrow. If you or the JTE are unfortunate to get caught at the front while this happens, we'll be sure to start a fund to send home to your next of kin.
This is a combination of a basic TEFL game and the Indian(?) game Kabadi(?).
Prepare some cut up sentences from the grammar or vocab area you've been working on and place them on a table at the front of the class. Arrange the students into teams, standing behind a line or marker. They have to run to the table and arrange the words into correct sentences, however, they are not allowed to breathe in. To prevent this the students have to repeat 'kabadi' over and over. If they stop saying the word they have to return to their teams. The first team to correctly arrange all their sentences is the winner. This can get a bit wild but it's fun.It’s a rare day when JHS kids start cheering and clapping because you just told them you are playing a game, but this game does that every time . Elementary kids and JHS kids love this.
Have students form groups of 4, with one or two desks
joined together in the middle of each group. Have S/s stand around
these desks, and distribute 1 pack of cards to each group. Tell them to spread
the cards over their desks face up. Tell the students to put their
hands on their heads before you begin the game. Repeat this preliminary attitude
requirement before each turn. Play is simply a matter of the ALT calling out the
name of the target card. This can be done in a sentence, or simply call out the
noun, depending on the students' level. E.g., for 1st yrs. practicing continuous
tense (i.e., -ing) use a sentence like, "Ichiro is running fast" or
"Namie Amuro is swimming". Occasionally toss in a bogus sentence like,
"Kanda Uno is playing ...... the violin", where no picture of a violin
exists. This makes it more difficult, and thus more interesting for the
students. It also helps increase their skill listening to sentences, rather than
just listening for key words.
When playing with elementary school students, use large (30cm x 30cm), colourful if possible, pictures of animals, fruit, and objects. Place them face-up in the center of the room on the floor (you'll need to move all the furniture to the edges of the room, or play in the gym), and divide the class into groups which are located at equidistant points around the cards. When the ALT says the noun, one student from each team must run and pick up a card from the set. Having several copies of each card makes for less clashes of heads, but always have fewer than there are groups. Totally airborne students are not unusual in this activity
Preparation:
1) Write about 20-30 questions on large notecards. I used this game at the end of the year, so I tried to include grammar points from all lessons. And I wrote "two-pointer" questions, the latter being slightly harder, to get some basketball vocab. into the game.
2) Before class, hang the goal on the blackboard with tape. I found a really cheap one (\1200) at the Disney store in Utsunomiya. It came with a nice, soft ball - perfect for an indoor game. Put a few pieces of tape on the floor in front of the goal so that the students know where to shoot from. In my classes, the tape closer to the goal was a two-point shot, and the tape further away was a three-point shot (but not very close to NCAA or NBA regulations).
Class Procedure:
4. eg. (for third years): Have you ever made a girl cry?
5. Good answer: No, I have never made a girl cry.
Incomplete answer: Yes, I have. (also a sign of a mean person).
This game was a great way to say goodbye to my third-years (in several third-year classes, I brought in stuffed animals to act as mascots for each team; that was quite amusing). In general, it is a good way to combine a lot of different grammar points, so I would recommend using it at the end of a term or school year. It is also a really fun way to end before a break.
I call this the circle race game. Divide the class into two
teams. The ALT has one team and the JTE the other team. Next have the students
arrange the desks into two large circles. The ALT stands in the middle of
his/her circle and the JTE stands in the middle of his/her circle. Have all the
students stand up. The idea is to ask every student one question. If the student
can answer the question they can sit down. If they can't they have to stay
standing up and wait their turn to be asked another question. The ALT/ JTE moves
round their circles asking questions until everyone is sat down. The idea is
that the two teams race against each other. I usually give the winning team a
prize or a bag of sweets. We play three games of this which takes around 30 mins.
(We let each team win one game each so the final game is more exciting.) It can
be adapted to any level. I am at a low level high school so the kind of
questions I ask are:
What did you eat for breakfast? or,
Where will you go on your next vacation?
Even these questions can be made harder by insisting on full sentences.
Be careful: Make sure that the ALT/ JTE are asking the same questions. I prepare the questions before the class and give the JTE a copy. Also, agree before the class whether you will accept one word answers or full sentences (as obviously one word answers are easier and quicker.) Finally, check that both teams have an equal number of people. If one team has fewer people then students may have to answer two questions before they can sit down.
Based on the game where you take the last letter of a word and make a new word.
eg. dance
earth
happy
Do
the same with sentences.
1 -I like tennis.
2 - What do you like?
3 - Do you play tennis?
I don't know the proper name for this game, hence the title. Start off with a word written on the board, say, "pie", and make sure the kids have a piece of blank paper to write on. Changing only one letter at a time, have them make new words. So for example, pie, pit, bit, etc.
Have the students form groups of four, and give each group
a muddled up dialogue which they must put into correct order. Sample titles
include: "At the train station / shoe shop / department store / chemist
(drugstore).", but you can easily alter these to cover situations at: the
Post Office; Customs; booking a hotel room / air plane ticket etc., etc.. While
the students are occupied, you and the JTE wander around helping where
necessary. When the groups have arranged their dialogue, they start to practice
role-playing it. Give them a time limit in which to do this (about 5 minutes is
generally enough) and them have each of the groups perform their dialogue/skit
for the rest of the class. When these activities have ended, you might set them
to creating their own dialogues, although you'll have to give them topics, or
the rest of the lesson will be spent deciding that.
Hints and cautions:
* Colour code each dialogue and note how many
strips it consists of - make S/s check they have a complete set BEFORE they
start.
+ Use a guillotine and not scissors to cut the
strips, or crafty S/s will have fun with jigsaw, not dialogue, puzzles!
* Less able S/s will need help from both you and the JTE. The main thing is that these S/s participate, don't worry if they are comprehending the activity; other S/s are, and are also spurred on by the slower S/s successes
Typhoon – This is always a sure fire winner with any class I’ve played it with and can also be adapted to elementary school.
I break the kids into their groups, and draw a large grid on the board. For a 15 minute warm up game I draw 25 squares, but if I have the whole lesson I usually do about 48 squares. Before hand on a separate piece of paper, draw the exact grid and place point values of 10,20,30,40,50 points at random, as well as a few lightening bolts and typhoons in random squares. For example (Draw little typhoons and lightening bolts)
|
10 |
40 |
50 |
40 |
Lightening |
|
20 |
Lightening |
20 |
20 |
10 |
|
10 |
40 |
10 |
30 |
30 |
|
50 |
Typhoon |
20 |
10 |
Typhoon |
One kid from each group stands at a time and I ask a question. The first kid to put their hand up gets 3 seconds to answer or begin to answer the question (this stops kids from just preempting and putting their hand up just so they can stall and ask their friends)
I give each group a piece of paper too, because I use questions embracing all the 4 basic skills. I might ask them a flat conversation question, or I might ask them to translate a sentence I say in Japanese to English (or vice versa). I might ask them to spell a recent vocab word, or I will write three words on the board (e.g. must, today, for) and have them write a sentence. I might draw a train system on the board and ask them how I can get to a certain place, or hand out a picture and have them tell me three prepositional phrases about that picture. (see my site for further ideas) The first group that brings me their paper wins the point.
The fun part is that after each question is answered the group gets to select a numbered square on the board. They might get, 10,20,30,40,50 points or lightening or a typhoon. Lightening means that they can steal the last earned points from another group.
For eg. Total Last Earned Points
Group 1 50 20
Group 2 70 50
Group 3 0 0
Group 4 10 10