Teacher Talks: Alternative Classroom games & activities to Teach English by Diego Sepulveda

Games for Grammar

Notes: A lot of these grammar games can be used to practice vocabulary too. On average they take 20 minutes to set up and play. You can of course make changes to them to suit your class and you style of teaching.

1. Tic Tac Toe with Vocabulary/Grammar

How to use it:

1. Draw a Tic Tac Toe grid on the board and elicit grammar or vocabulary from the lesson to put in each box.

past cont. present perfect past cont. past simple present perfect past simple past simple past cont. present perfect

2. Divide the class in two groups and assign X or O to each group.

3. For a team to mark a box on the grid they have to make a sentence with the target grammar or vocabulary.

4. After you model it with the class give small pieces of paper to students to play in teams of two (allow them to create the grid with the vocabulary/grammar from the lesson however they want).

Games for Grammar

2. Guess Who Wrote It

How to use it:

1. Divide the class in two teams and show a slide that contains your name and a few sentences to practice the grammar from the lesson.

My name is Diego

I have never... been to jail

I have... eaten ants

I have always wanted... to swim with sharks

2. Ask the students to write a similar text, but about them on small pieces of paper.

3. Divide the class into 2 groups (group A and B).

4. Collect the pieces of paper making sure that those that belong to team A are kept separate from those that belong to team B.

5. After you have collected all the papers redistribute team A’s papers to team A so that each student in that group has another person’s paper. Do the same for team B.

6. Get a student from team A to read the sentences in his/her paper without saying the name of the person it belongs to. Team B has to listen carefully and guess who (from team A) the paper belongs to.

7. If they guess correctly, they get 1 point for their team. Then reverse the roles so team A guesses.

8. Continue playing until they guess who everyone’s sentences belong to.

Games for Grammar

3. Mime a Dialogue

(real dialogue that students mime)

A: Last week I went skiing.

B: I don’t believe you!

A: seriously, I met a millionaire that took me on holiday.

B: really! I want one of those.

A: sorry, I can’t help you.

B: why?

(dialogue that students write based on what they see other students act out)

A: ____________________________

B: ____________________________

A: ____________________________

B: ____________________________

A: ____________________________

B: ____________________________

How to use it:

1. Have two dialogues that have the target language.

2. Get a strong student to come to the front and give him/her one of the dialogues. They can choose to be A or B.

3. Tell the class you will be miming a dialogue (no words) with the student that contains the target language.

4. Students have to write in pairs what they think you are saying.

Games for Grammar

4. Grammar Auction

7. You then take on the role of an auctioneer and sell each sentence to the team who offers the most money. Keep track of how much each team has spent on the board.

8. When all the sentences have been sold, go through them one at a time and elicit which ones are correct and which are incorrect. If a sentence is wrong, ask the students to correct the mistake.

9. The team that bought the most correct sentences wins the game. If it’s a draw, the team with the most money left wins.

5. Grammar Races

1. This ESL game is ideal for reviewing all aspects of grammar. It also helps you to spot problem areas or common mistakes that your students are making.

2. Divide the students into four teams. Choose one student in each team to be the ‘runner’ and one student to be the ‘writer’.

3. Assign each team with a number and allocate a space on the board for each team to write.

4. Have the writers stand next to their space by the board. Give each team a different keyword.

5. The keywords should be vocabulary you wish the students to revise.

6. Each team must then come up with sentences using their keyword.

7. When a team thinks of a sentence, they tell the runner.

8. The runner then goes to the board and tells the sentence to the writer who writes it on the board.

Games for Grammar

5. Grammar Races

9. After a few minutes, stop the round and evaluate the sentences from each team.

10. Award one to three points for each sentence, depending on the grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary usage.

11. If you spot a mistake, ask the other teams to identify and correct it.

12. The first student to raise their hand and correct the mistake scores the points for their team.

13. Play a few rounds using different keywords each time. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

6. Just a minute!

1. This grammar game works best with small class sizes as the teacher is involved in the game.

2. Divide the students into groups of eight. Have each group sit around a table. You can make the groups bigger or smaller, depending on your class size.

3. Give each group a piece of A4 paper labeled ‘The speaker is right’ and a piece of A4 paper labeled ‘The challenger is right’.

4. Also, give each student ten counters. Have one student in each group keep the time. The first student is given a topic to talk about for one minute by the student siting to their right, e.g. holidays.

5. The student then starts talking about the topic and the other students in the group listen. When someone in the group hears the speaker make a grammar mistake, they challenge the student.

6. The student timing pauses the stopwatch and the challenger explains what the student said without correcting the mistake.

Games for Grammar

6. Just a minute!

7. The members of the group then vote on who is right by placing one counter on either ‘The speaker is right’ or ‘The challenger is right’ paper.

8. The teacher then judges who is correct. If the speaker is correct, the speaker takes all the counters on ‘The speaker is right’ paper.

9. If the challenger is correct, the challenger takes all the counters on ‘The challenger is right’ paper. The teacher withdraws the counters on the other paper from the game.

10. If the challenger is right, they must attempt to correct the speaker’s grammar mistake. If the challenger does this successfully, they take one more counter from the speaker.

11. If the correction is wrong, the challenger gives the speaker one counter.

7. Stepping stones

Rules on the board:

Stepping stones

Objective: Cross from one side to the next

1. Step on a stone and complete the sentence.

2. If the sentence is wrong or the stone is bad you will die.

3. The winner is the first person to cross to the other side.

Rules:

• No helping each other.

• Only speak in ENglish

• Only take 1 step each time

• If you die go to the back of the line

Games for Grammar

7. Stepping stones

Paper stones on the floor:

I should give up... I always try... my friend would rather... I love...

I hate... please don’t forget... I love... It’s difficult...

I remember... my friend would rather... please don’t forget... I Should give up...

I hate... I always try... It’s difficult... I remember...

What to use it with: you can use it as a way to revise vocabulary or grammar and get the students standing up.

How to use it:

1. Write sentence stems or vocabulary on 16 pieces of paper (this will be the stepping stones on the floor).

2. Lay the stones on the floor in a 4 x 4 grid as the image shows above.

3. In your head think of 1 correct path to move from one end to the other taking into account the rules above.

4. Tell students that the objective of the game is to cross from one end to the other by stepping on some stones, every time they step on a stone they have to use the target language. However, there is only one correct way to cross and only you know it.

5. Students form a line behind the stones and try different combinations of paths until they finally reach the other end.

6. If students are not paying attention they will not be able to see which stones are okay to step on. This is a trial and error game.

Games for Grammar

8. Lie Detector Game

I would rather

I can

I should give up

I’d like people

I remember

I’m crazy about

How to use it:

I decided

I always remember

I can’t afford

when I was a child

Last year, I started

I will try

1. Show students a Flipchart with sentence stems or vocabulary from the lesson.

2. Tell them that they will play a game in which they have to lie or tell the truth using the language on the board.

3. First model the activity by rolling a dice and covering the result so that only you can see the result (if it is 1,3 or 5 = lie, if 2,4 or 6 = truth).

4. Say a sentence using the language that is the truth or a lie (depending on the dice) and tell the students to ask you questions in order to find out if you are telling a lie or the truth.

5. After students guess you can show them the dice in order to show them if they were right or wrong.

6. Put students in pairs or groups of three and let them play the game as you monitor.

Games for Vocabulary

Notes: Gather all the vocabulary used in class. The vocabulary words are to be written out on small pieces of paper and kept in a plastic bag as the term goes on to be able to do multiple types of activities. This is great for review and for warmers (that have some language) or a short filler or activity that can lift the energy in the room. Each activity is demonstrated with the class as a whole first then as much as possible get them into small groups to do it themselves.

9. Mingle

Example topic: Birthday presents

1. On board write questions: e.g What did you get? Do you like it? What was the last gift you got for your birthday?

2. Students are each given a piece of paper with a word/words random related to presents. i.e.: iPhone, silver teapot, Ferrari, a cup of coffee, a magazine, a box of plaster, vitamin C, a book, stick of gum...etc.

3. Students are asked to talk to each other in pairs and ask each other the given questions about their present.

4. The activity is repeated with different partners.

5. Once the students are done with the questions the teacher then asks who had got the best gift. Who had the worst etc.

6. This type of activity can be done with other vocabulary such as wedding presents, food, movies etc.

10. Bingo

Example topic: food / Grammar to be revised: like/ don’t like

1. On board write questions: e.g What did you get? Do you like it? What was the last gift you got for your birthday?

2. Students are each given a piece of paper with a word/words random related to presents. i.e.: iPhone, silver teapot, Ferrari, a cup of coffee, a magazine, a box of plaster, vitamin C, a book, stick of gum...etc.

Games for Vocabulary

10. Bingo

3. Students are asked to talk to each other in pairs and ask each other the given questions about their present.

4. The activity is repeated with different partners.

5. Once the students are done with the questions the teacher then asks who had got the best gift. Who had the worst etc.

6. This type of activity can be done with other vocabulary such as wedding presents, food, movies etc.

11. Spelling

1. Teacher pulls out a word from the bag.

2. She starts spelling the word. Students have to guess the word and give the correct spelling.

3. Whoever calls out the most words is the winner.

4. This can be done either from the first letter (for lower levels) or for higher levels from the last letter.

5. In groups, teacher will give students a group of words they will then do the activity in groups, one person spelling the word and others calling out.

6. To extend the activity the words could be used by the students as prompts to write sentences in their workbooks.

12. Dice Choice – Mime, Definition, Draw

1. Write the following rules on the board:

• If you get 3/6 you draw something related to the word

Games for Vocabulary

12. Dice Choice – Mime, Definition, Draw

• If you get 1/4 you mime

• If you get 2/5 you give a definition

2. Students are put into groups of three, each group gets a dice.

3. Teacher gives each group a set of words.

4. Students throw the dice and then pick a word. Depending on the number on the dice, they are to draw something related to the word (not write it), mime the word or to give the definition of the word.

5. The person to guess the word correctly wins a point.

13. Random Categories

1. Give out a heap of words in teams.

2. Ask them to categorize the words however they want e.g. verbs/nouns/ Things I like/strange food.

3. Each team must then explain why they put each word in each category.

14. Stories

1. ive out a heap of words to a group of students, or individuals, and ask them to write a story using all the words.

2. Put the words that you gave to each team/student on the board for the whole class to see.

3. Each team/student then reads out the story and makes a noise (either a funny one or just ring a bell) when they come to the word from the bag. For example: “I was walking when I saw a____” (thief).

4. The rest of the class have to guess the missing words.

Games for Vocabulary

15. Role-Play

Give 2 or more students a scenario (or elicit something from the class) and ask them to act out e.g. in a café, at school, at the dentist.

Give each student acting 3 – 5 words in secret. They must use their vocabulary words in their permanence without making it too obvious.

At the end the other students have to say which words were from the vocabulary bag.

16. Countdown

What to use it with: you can use it as a way to start a class while late comers arrive.

How to use it:

1. This game is very similar to the TV game show Countdown. First put some random letters on the board (about 15).

Example letters on the board: AHTEOSPILRUBC

2. Students have to make as many words as they can with these letters.

3. You can decide how points are distributed. For example: the number of letters a word has represents the amount of points it gets, etc.

17. Lie Dictionary

Upper intermediate to advanced students will get a kick out of inventing definitions for uncommon words found at random in a dictionary.

1. Each group reads out three definitions for a bizarre or obscure word and the rest of the class votes on which they think is correct.

2. Points are scored for fooling your classmates with a made up definition – or for silliness and originality.

Games for Vocabulary

18. Write 5 and Run

What to use it with: you can use it as a way to revise vocabulary or in order to see how much students know about a topic.

How to use it:

1. Split students into pairs and give them pieces of scrap paper.

2. Tell them that you will think of a category and each team has to write 5 words from that category and run to give you the list.

3. The first team to give you a full list with no mistakes gets 2 points, the second gets 1 point.

19. Pictionary

Pictionary is like a charade, but your students will draw, instead of acting the words out. You can use the cards from the actual board game for this activity, or make your own!

1. Similar to charades, you also need to divide the class into two teams.

2. One person from Team A comes up to the front and draws a card/word.

3. The student must convey the word to his or her team using only drawings.

4. There are certain rules such as students cannot use words, symbols or hand gestures.

5. Each student should have a time limit of 3 minutes.

6. The first team to get 10 points is the winning team.

20. Taboo Words

This game is suitable for more advanced learners.

Games for Vocabulary

20. Taboo Words

Divide the class into two and have the two teams sit on opposite sides of the room, facing each other.

Choose one person to sit in front of their team and stand behind the students and hold a piece of paper with a word on it.

The team has three minutes to get the one in front to say the word on paper.

They can’t say the word; they can only mention synonyms and descriptions of the word you’re holding.

Speaking Games

Notes: one thing I have found to be very important when doing speaking games is to have clear rules before the game starts and to be consistent with the reinforcement of these rules as otherwise it can easily get out of hand or only some students contribute.

21. Debate Game

What to use it with: you can use it as a free practice in order to get the students talking about the topics from the lesson.

How to use it:

1. Write some topics on the board that the students feel passionate about or that are related to the class such as: music in English vs. music in Spanish, family vs. friends

Speaking Games

21. Taboo Words

2. Split the class into 2 groups and tell them that each group will debate in favour of whatever topic you assign to them; it does not matter if they agree or not with it in real life.

3. Show the class the rules (below is a screenshot of the flipchart).

Debate Game

How to play:

You will be split into teams A and B

I will show you different topics on the board (one of each team).

You will have to put your hand up to give reasons why your topic is better tha other team’s topic (even if you don’t really believe it).

Example: cats vs. dogs

Rules:

• You must put you hand up to speak.

• If your reason is good your team gets a point.

• You can challenge or question the other team’s argument.

• If you say something That is not true yu lose a point.

• The teacher is the judge.

4. Let the students have the debate and be very active in the monitoring, do not let a student speak unless they put their had up and give points according to your judgement and the criteria in the rules.

22. Emphasize

In this acting game, students use word stress, tone, gestures and body language to act out a situations for other students to guess.

Speaking Games

22. Emphasize

Using short dialogues is a great way to focus on intonation being key to creating meaning.

1. Give all students the same text.

2. Each pair of students is given different characters and time to practice the script and intonation away from the rest of the class.

3. Students read the script aloud using intonation for other students who must guess who their characters are.

Example:

A: Do you fancy going to the cinema tonight?

B: Tonight?

A: Yes, if you’re not doing anything.

B: OK

Suggested characters:

• A is a very famous person. B is not a famous person and is very pleasantly surprised at being asked out in this way by someone who he or she has only just met.

• A and B have been married for a very, very long time. They never got to the cinema together anymore. In fact they don’t really do anything together any more.

• A and B are teenagers at school. A has never asked anybody out before and B has never been asked out before.

• A and B have been married for a very short time B is having an affair and was planning to meet her lover tonight.

• A and B both work in the same office. They are going out with each other but want to keep their relationship a secret from everyone else who they work with.

• A and B are married a few hours ago they had a huge row. This is the first time that they have spoken to each other since then.

Teacher Talks