G A M E S

TIC TAC TOE (For Beginning to Intermediate Level Students)

All you need for this game is a chalkboard, and a list of vocabulary.
ra! a nine s"uare grid on the board and fill each bo# !ith one !ord.
ivide the class in half, and designate one half as $#$ and the other
half as $o$. %he students on each team collaborate in coming u& !ith
grammatical sentences using the vocabulary. 'hen they use a !ord in
a correct sentence, mark either # or o over the !ord. %hree in a ro!
!ins( %his game is good to revie! general vocabulary, &arts of s&eech,
and verb form, !ithout ever tiring the students.
STOP (For All Levels)
%his is a sim&le vocabulary game that can be &layed !ith t!o levels of
difficulty de&ending on the level of your students. In the easy version,
dra! five columns on a chalk board. Assign each column a letter from
the al&habet and shout )o( %he first student to fill in all the columns
!ith a !ord that begins !ith the letter of each column shouts, S%*+(
,ou can go through the !hole al&habet like this and also use common
t!o letter !ord beginnings like e#, sh, s&, ch, etc.... In the more
difficult version, assign each of the five columns a general catergory
like food, clothing, emotions, office items, things in the house, etc....
,ou then call out a letter from the al&habet. Students have to fill each
column !ith a vocabulary !ord that begins !ith the letter and &ertains
to the category
THE COFFEEPOT GAME
%his is a traditional but fun game to &lay- one student is sent out of
the class and the remaining students choose a sim&le verb (e.g.
.!alk.. .eat., .dance. , etc) . %he student that is outside then returns
and has to find out !hich is the .mystery. verb by asking yes$no
"uestions to the other students. %he !ord .coffee&ot .is &rovided to
substitite the verb. %he student then asks-.o you coffee&ot every
day/. 0 .o you coffee&ot !ith your legs/ . until he 1 she finds out
!hich is the mystery verb.
BALL GAME
Students stand u& in a circle around the teacher. A ball is tossed to a
student and the teacher asks a "uestion, e.g.- .Say a color.. %he
student then res&onds and thro!s the ball back to the teacher.%he
teacher then thro!s the ball to another student and asks another
"uestion. For higher levels, you can ask such "uestions like .)ive me
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the &ast &artici&le of an irregular verb.. %his is a fast game, and it is
great for revie!ing vocabulary.
LAST LETTER
%his is actually a variation from the Ball )ame.%he last letter of the
!ord must be the first letter of the ne#t !ord. ,ou !ill need a ball, but
a scre!ed u& &iece of &a&er is fine. %he teacher thro!s the ball to one
student and says a !ord, such as .dog.. %he student must re&ly !ith a
!ord starting !ith .),. such as .girl.. 'hen ans!ered, the ball is
thro!n back to the teacher and it is then thro!n to the ne#t student,
!ho continues. %he se"uence may then be (for e#am&le)- girl, look,
king, go, octo&us, student ... and so on. ,ou can have the students
thro!ing to each other. i.e., student A 2 .3at,. thro! to student B 2
.%oday,. thro! to student 3 2 .,es,. etc. +lease be !arned, you may
have some fastball &itchers in the class(
WORD ASSOCIATION
%he teacher starts the game by saying a !ord, such as .4otel.. For
e#am&le- %eacher- 4otel Student A- Bed Student B- 5oom Student 3-
Service Student - Food Student 6- 5estaurant Student F- 3hinese As
you can see, any association is ok. If the student can7t ans!er (8
second limit) he or she must stand u&. %he last student seated is the
!inner. If the association is not obvious, the student is asked to
e#&lain the association.
GESTURE GAME
9ake a set of cards, !ith actions that can be re&resented in gestures,
such as 5iding a bicycle, +laying basketball, 'alking a dog, etc. 3all a
student and sho! him 1 her one of the gesture cards. %he student then
gestures, and the rest of the class has to find out !hich gesture the
student is &erforming
WHAT AM I?
)et a fe! blank adhesive tags, and !rite random nouns on them. %hen
have the students stand u&. +aste a tag on the forehead of each
student. %hey have to !alk around the class asking yes1no "uestions
until they find out !hich noun they have on their foreheads. A
variation of this game !ould be using names of famous &eo&le.
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CRAZY STORY(I!ere"#$!e !o $"v$%e" levels)
)ive a sheet of &a&er to each student.%ell them to start a story . ,ou
can start it yourself, !ith .*nce u&on a time.... and have them
continue. After a fe! minutes, tell students to give the sheet to the
student on the left and continue his1her &artner7s story. 5e&eat the
&rocedure about four times and ask the students to finish it. ,ou7ll be
sur&rised !ith the results
T&e %olo'rs(
DESCRIPTION)
All the students have to stand in a ro!. *ne of them !ill be the
.hunter., and s1he has to stand against the !all. Suddenly, the
hunter says .colour colour... Red", and all the students have to run
and touch something colour red before the hunter catches them.
'hen they reach something colour red, they are safe. If the hunter
catches someone, s1he !ill be the ne#t hunter.
T&e %l$ssroo*+ ,re,os#!#os.
DESCRIPTION)
%he teacher hides some ob:ects or flash$cards in the 6nglish 3lassroom
before the students arrive. 'hen they get into the classroom they
have to look around and try to memori;e !hat they see, during three
minutes.
After that, they have to sit do!n and try to ans!er "uestions like-
'here !as the blue school bag/ 'here !as the ruler/ 'here !as the
green &encil case/
%he ans!er re"uire the use of &lace &re&ositions and classroom
vocabulary- <nder the desk, ne#t to the blackboard, behind the door,
etc.

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THE ALPHABET GAME

adjective
animal
boy's name
capital
clothes
country
drink
amous !oman
"surname#

amous man
"surname#

ood
ruit
$irl's name
household object
occupation
sport
to!n
ve$etable
verb
Ho- !o ,l$.
%he teacher chooses a letter. %he students then com&lete the first
column of the table !ith !ords !hich begin !ith that letter.
6veryone must have &layed this game at some &oint. In my o&inion
this game does not have great educational value ho!ever anything
that students like and makes them think in 6nglish can7t be bad. %his
game is best &layed in the last =>$=8 minutes of a class. +rint a fe!
co&ies of the game, kee& them in your bag and you !ill al!ays be
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&re&ared for any contingency. Sarah has a much better o&inion of this
game than ?ohn does.
Students !ork individually or in grou&s (better in small grou&s).
6.g. If the letter chosen is B, they must !rite an ad:ective beginning
!ith B, an animal beginning !ith B, etc.
TIME LIMIT)
6ither set a time limit (e.g. 8 minutes) or as soon as the first &eo&le
finish
SCORING)
6ach student1grou& gets one &oint for each different1uni"ue ans!er.
%hey get t!o &oints if they think of a famous &erson !hose name and
surname begin !ith the letter chosen they get t!o &oints or if the
!ord is made u& of t!o !ords beginning !ith that letter (e.g. Steven
S&ielberg)
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