VERBS

Below you have other strategies/games/activities to help you get students use oral language AND verbs a lot!.

LANGUAGE-focused activities

1. Life-size verbs!
- choose two students and have two really big papers ready
- split the class in 2 groups
- the students from each group has to make an outline of the body of
the selected student on the paper
- then, at each body part, they write verbs related to it (e.g. –
MOUTH----speak, eat, munch etc)
*see the photo of my students

As you can notice, they have to talk and agree on what verbs should be written  You achieve 3 tasks: speaking,
reinforcement of verbs and..fun!

2. Don’t be so…TENSE!
*this reinforces the use of PAST TENSE 
- pair up students and give each pair 2 sets of verbs: 1st set-present tense, 2nd
set- past tense
- students arrange them on the desk face down
- each student tries to memorize the verbs (visual learning); then,
alternatively, they begin guessing and turn up the verb to see if they were right
- for each correct answer, they score a point
*see a photo of mine

3. Fishing for verbs!

- give each students a pad to write on
- place various words (lots of verbs but mixed with other parts of speech)
around the classroom
- tell them they are going “fishing’- the more verbs they catch, the better!
- Students begin moving around, finding verbs only and writing them down on
their paper
- Give them a specific time (so they would be motivated to do that fast)
- Sharing time follows and identification of the winner

4. Fortune teller 
- this is to reinforce FUTURE TENSE
- have kids design the papers like seen here
--------------------------------
- on each corner they write 1,2,3,4
- inside they write how “destiny” will work: (e.g. 1. “You will meet
a kangaroo”, 2. “You will come across a treasure chest and become
rich.” Etc)
- They move around and ask others to say a number (e.g. Kid 1: Tell
me a number”/ Kid 2” 4” / Kid 1: looks at four and reads “You
will lose your wallet on your way home.”)
 5. Sentence partners
- spread many words on the floor (all types of parts of speech- so
they would be able to make up coherent sentences)
- at your clap, they try to join others in making up sentences
together *see here-----------------------
• It is fun, engaging and kids need to talk a lot! Plus they review
words, word order in the sentences, practice social skills etc.

6. Verbs get a lot of…ACTION!

- stick a verb on each kid’s forehead (see here------------------
- gather them on a carpet and have each come before group
- he/she doesn’t know what verb he has (e.g. jump)
- he chooses another kid to mime the action so he can get clues
(so, another kid will start jumping)
• As you can see, you get a lot of…action and review verbs in a
fun way! Kids love it 

7. Vivacious verbs!
- explain first what “vivacious” means (dynamic, active, energetic)
- have students work in pairs
- each receives a “Vivacious Verbs” paper
- they take turns in miming/acting out verbs (e.g. student 1 scratches
nose----- student 2 writes “scratch” on his list of verbs and so on)
*They need to talk in case one misunderstands the acting. They also move
and review writing verbs 

8. VERBally speaking !
- pair up students
- each receives a paper with 5 questions/answers to be written down
- basically, each student asks a question to the other and writes both his question and the other’s answer
- then the roles are switched (the 2nd kid asks, and the first answers)
Again, lots of talking …plus writing! 

9. A PERFECT Tense Bingo!

- have each student get a paper with lots of questions written in a chart
- they move around the class and ask other kids the questions you previously typed in the grids (see below)
- set a time-limit
- for each “yes” answer they get from other kids, they make a mark (a circle, a line whatever)
- if they get “yes” on all horizontal / vertical or diagonal squares they call out “Bingo!” and the game stops
 * Again, notice the movement, the talking and the fun 

Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever
eaten Chinese lost anything? spread rumors? stolen swum in the
food? anything? ocean?

Have you Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever
brushed your broken built a sand lied to your written a letter
teeth? anything? castle? teacher? to your
grandparents?

Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever Have you done Have you
gone to the traveled skipped school? your practiced for the
dentist? abroad? homework? Easy Busy Test?

Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever
ridden a horse forgotten your held a grunge fought with hurt someone?
or a pony? mom’s against someone?
birthday? someone?

Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever Have you ever
seen the Eiffel been to been bitten by found money in driven an ATV?
Tower? London? a dog? the street?

10. Group history

- this activity will not help you get kids talk, but also you will learn
amusing things about your students and they will learn to cooperate
better 
- divide class in 3 big groups
- let’s assume your kids are 9 years old- so they were born in 2000
- tell them they have to think back and discuss about events that happened
throughout their life
- they will make a timeline with each year: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, …2009
- they discuss and each contributes with a significant event for each year
- in the end you’ll have sentences written down for each year from each group (e.g. “In 2008 Sarah lost her
first tooth”, “In 2003 Jack received a pony from his parents on his birthday “ etc)
- have students write their answers on strips of paper that they will attach to each year (you wrote the years
only) on a string
- have students share their responses to class 
11. Herb, the Verb
- make groups of students (maximum 5)
- tell them to choose one who will be Herb, the Verb (he is a kind of Superman, who helps people in need)
- make them imagine a brief story about the verb rescuing different people (the other 4 members in the
group)
- they talk about roles, the actions and the order they should act 
- later, they present their “play” to class both by acting * talking !

12. WANTED!
- have students work in pairs
- give them a paper with “Wanted!” written on top
- they have to think of a person in class and write descriptions of that person (e.g. He has short black hair.
He likes to dance and do Math problems. He never shouts at other kids”. etc)
- later, when the writing is done, they add colors, lines – anything that would make the paper look like a
poster
- then they share with class and the rest try to guess what student was described in the poster
*You reinforce the entire vocabulary here- verbs, adjectives, nouns, pronouns etc. in a fun way. You also get
kids to talk both in pairs and as a class!

13. Crazy compliments!

- have each student turn their back at you (they should not see what they have on their backs)
- stick with tape a sentence (e.g. “Tell me something nice about my eyes.”, or ”Tell me something nice
about my shoes” etc)
- have them move around and meet others
- they read what is written on the other’s back and make compliments (“You have beautiful blue eyes” etc)
*Kids talk all the way through plus you create a positive class environment! 

14. Group advertisement!

- have kids assembled in groups of 4-5
- you tell them you are going to leave them and they have to persuade another teacher to take them as a
class
- they have to brainstorm and write down adjectives that best describe them as a group (e.g. creative,
resourceful, honest, hard-working etc)
- then they have to share with class
• Talking- in the group and as a class, plus review of adjectives  Also, self-reflection and positive view on
personal qualities

15. VERBally laughing!

- make a brief fill-in the gaps text (see below) ; you don’t show it to kids!
- tell them to write down numbers from 1 to 11 on a paper you give them and write down verbs-any verbs

One Saturday morning, Superman (1)…………………..the supermarket. While he was (2)

……………………….. he (3)………………………..a terrible sound. He (4)……………… and (5)

…………………… (that) a gigantic gorilla was (6)………………….. a poor little girl from a skyscraper.

Super man did not (7)………………… and swiftly (8)…………………. over to (9)

………………… the girl. He (10)……………….. the gorilla and (11)……………….. the girl back to the

ground.
- of course their verbs will be hilarious to read when they discover the actual text (mine for instance had
“One Saturday morning, Superman …ATE the supermarket. While he was… SNORING he …KICKED a
terrible sound…” 
The talking- takes place when reading each student’s choices and have them laugh as a class.

16. Last letter

-this is actually a variation from the Ball Game. The last letter of the word must be the first letter of the
next word. You will need a ball, but a screwed up piece of paper is fine.
- you throw the ball to one student and say a word, such as "dog". The student must reply with a word
starting with "G," such as "girl".
- when answered, the ball is thrown back to you and it is then thrown to the next student, who continues.
The sequence may then be (for example): girl, look, king, go, octopus, student ... and so on. You can have
the students throwing to each other. i.e., student A = "Cat," throw to student B = "Today," throw to student
C = "Yes," etc.

*You get each kid talk and have fun 