MES-Mark's favorite games: page one, page two, page three

Bingo: there's another whole page dedicated to this. Trust a guy who makes bingo cards
for every vocab set, that there's more to just marking squares and calling out numbers.

the Line Jumping Game: practice word differentiation or review of vocabulary

Students line up in one single file line.

The teacher defines the teacher's right side as "animals" and the left side as

"numbers."

The teacher calls out "penguin," and the students all jump to the teacher's right

and then jump back into line.

The teacher calls out "53," and the students all jump to the left side and then

jump back into line.

The teacher should do the exercise with the students and list various items within the

category as a warm up. You can then try to trick the students by jumping to the wrong

side yourself. This will get the students listening and thinking instead of just following

you. Once they have gotten a little better, you start the game.

I like to have 2 or 3 rounds where I try to trick them once each round. If they aren't

fooled by me jumping to the wrong side they win. It can be done as a knock-out game but

I prefer to keep everyone in the game and just reward students with stamps or stickers

for each successful round.

The word groups can be changed to more complicated language later on, nouns-adjectives,

nouns-verbs, things you do inside-things you do outside, subject pronouns-object

pronouns...

the Exercise Game: a TPR (Total Physical Response) segment that's much better than
Simon Says
I start off with stretching, giving commands like: put your feet together, apart, together,

apart, together and touch your toes, stretch and reach for the ceiling, put you hands on

your hips and look up, look down, look right, look left...

OK we've done 2 minutes of stretching and now we're ready for some practice. Start

calling out actions and doing them along with the students: clap, jump, turn around, sit

down, stand up, run... Once they've got the hang of it and have finished the practice, we

start the game. You can try to trick them by saying one thing and doing another. Those

that aren't fooled win. It can be done as a knock-out game but I prefer to keep everyone

in the game and just reward students with stamps or stickers for each successful round.

Creating long lists of actions for them to listen to and then do, gets them talking. Listen:

stand up, sit down, clap 3 times, jump 2 times, turn around, fall down. GO! Move: the

students will say the words as they do them. It's just natural and now they are saying the

words as they do the actions! Then add two more to the list until they can just barely

remember and then make that the final round and award prizes to those that successfully

complete the routine.

More language: squat, get really small, now get bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, smaller,

smaller... You are really only limited by your imagination. You can also tell stories and have

the students act out the scenario with you. I generally try to have some painfully funny

ending and the kids love it when "I got hit in the face with a shovel. Bang!"

Timed Races: vocabulary review, questions and answer practice, fluency exercises

I use small cards for relay races. Most ESL teachers are familiar with these races, where

students pass something asking questions and answering and trying to get the ball or

whatever around and be the first to finish. That's great but there are many losers and

this gets real boring real quick.

So, I time them. I set a minimum time goal for the first round (practice.) If teams can

complete the circuit in that time they win round one. Each team completes the circuit and
they have a record for how fast they did it. OK! Now let's try to improve on that time

(fluency.) Each time they do it they will get better and they don't have to worry about

Mario's team that always finishes first. They only have to beat their own time to win!

It can be as simple as "what's this?" "It's a fox." / "What's he doing?" "He's watching

TV." to more advanced "What happened?" "He was run over by aliens." and even longer 2 or

3 questions in one pass:

What's that?
It's a carrot.
Do you like carrots?
No, I don't. They're disgusting.
What's your favorite vegetable?
I like tomatoes.

For kindergarten or lower, you can use an egg-timer and tell them to see how many rounds

they can do in 1 minute. One time around - one stamp, 2 times - 2 stamps and so on.

Collect 'em: This was the inspiration for the Yes No Game and the idea is the same.

• Students need to collect groups of 3 of the same card.

• This game can be played using the small cards from this site or any others
• You'll need a total of at least 6 cards per student

We'll pretend that we're working with 'sea animal' flashcards and that I'm a student:

• each student has 6 cards

• I need to get 2 sets of 3 cards (3x crab and 3x squid for example)
• I go around and ask other students 'Have you ever eaten (sea horse soup)?'
Because I have this sea horse card that I want to get rid of.
• the other student answers and takes my 'sea horse' card
• that student then asks me the question inserting the vocab of the card she wants
to get rid of
• we break apart and play continues

Once a student has her 2 sets of 3 she wins, or comes in first place!
The game gets more interesting and difficult if you can increase the amount of cards per

student. For example, you can have them try to collect 3 sets of 3, or 2 sets of 4.

Most of my card sets are linked to target language and you can really get in a lot of

practice using these type cards. However, you can just write up some words on paper and

play the same way.

You can also force the students to tell the truth to some extent:

• make some cards with 'never' 'all the time' 'sometimes' written on them.
• student must look at what they want and ask questions that will elicit the response
they are looking for.
• S1 wants a 'never' card so he goes up to someone and asks, 'How often do you go
to my grandmother's house?'
• S2 must answer truthfully and hand over that card if he has it.
• If he doesn't have it he can hand over any card he has
• Then repeat S2 --> S1

This type is generally looser than the vocab cards and I let students ask any question they

can think of to produce the response they want. That's a little easier with the 'yes no

game' card sets.

Othello or Reversi: vocabulary practice, sentence formation, conjunctions - great for

one-on-one and low number classes

I also play Othello a lot. I've used my cards to make an Othello game. One side has the

pictures (white) and the other side is the backing (black.) The students must use the

vocab on the cards in a sentence to flip them (or just say the vocabulary - simple.) For

example:

Simple: "This a boy playing the piano." / "Play the piano."

More difficult: "Yesterday, I saw a boy playing the piano."

As the card number increases I usually tell the just pick 3 cards to say, the rest can just

be turned over. However, I try to get them to make some sense out of the string (but

funny non-sense is also a lot of fun.)

"Yesterday, I saw a boy playing the piano and he was eating a hamburger. But, he wasn't

reading a book"

The kids use Othello rules on a 6 by 6 board. It's a lot of fun and the kids will repeat the

clause many many times and internalize the pattern. You don't need a board just define

the center (the first 4 cards) and tell the students they can branch out 2 cards in any

direction from the center and that's the border or boundry.

Say Theirs: sentence formation practice, fluency, or vocabulary review

I put playing cards in the middle of the table. Each student chooses one word and then we

have one round where everyone announces their word. The students must remember

everyone else's words.

Then they take turns drawing one card and placing it in front of them. When the suits

match (heart-heart) the two students race to say the other's word first. The fastest

gets the loser's pile of drawn cards and places them in his points pile. Then the game

continues.

When drawing cards the new card goes on top of the others so the student only has one

card showing at a time. When the student losses he must give all of his cards from the

drawn pile to the winner (but not his point cards he already won.)

At the end, students may add their drawn pile cards they successfully protected to their

points pile.

I start with single words as round one (simple vocabulary review.) Then once the students

get the hang of the game for round two or the next time we play I have the students make
sentences. So, if students are practicing past tense, they would make a short (you have to

limit the sentence length) sentence like "I went to the library." Then, when the cards

match up the attacking student would say, "You went to the library."

You'll have a room full of people speaking and they have to speak while someone else is

speaking and it's a great way to get them to speak with distractions. They will also try to

bolt the phrases out as fast as they can which is great for their fluency.

Try Remembering This: learning vocabulary or short phrases, drilling game

Drilling vocabulary or just say phrases with flash cards can get boring very quickly. This is

a game to play to help students learn the vocabulary. I run through vocabulary as usual

with flash cards and drill. Before I lose them, I show them 6-7 cards consecutively lying

them face down on the table as we say them. Then I pick up the stack and ask the

students, "OK. What was the first card?" The first person/team who can tell me the

vocabulary word/phrase/sentence wins the card, and then I ask them for the next card.

Random guessing is good but stop them at 3 or 4 and then repeat using the same cards

they couldn't remember plus however many more to get you back up to the same number as

before.

Ties can be inserted back into the deck or given to the weaker student/team with

reassurances from the teacher, "I think he said it first." ;)

the One Breath Game: vocabulary/short phrase practice and fluency exercise

Lay out your vocabulary cards and have the students say as much as they can in one

breath. Students who can say them all will start again from the beginning and see how far

they can get and a third time for the really extraordinary. OK. Now round two! Try to

beat your previous record. Reward students that can improve on their performance

accordingly (stamps, stickers, dollars toward prizes...)

This game is quick and should stop after 3-4 rounds or so. We don't want students passing

out. It's a great way to help increase fluency and strengthen vocabulary, but the students

should be competent in the target language. If they can't remember the word every time,

then the point of the game is lost.

I Need It - a game to practice 'What do you need?' 'I need ...' and vocabulary

This is basically Go Fish in reverse. Students want to get rid of all the cards in their

hands. If a student collects 3 of the same card, they can discard them or hang on to them

to discard all at the same time. The first student to get rid of his cards wins.

• deal out all the cards (you need at least 2 of each card but 3-4 is ideal)
• The first student, S1, can ask anyone in the group 'What do you need?'
• That person, S2, looks at her cards and answers with 'I need (whatever card she
needs.)'
• If S1 has the card, he hands it over to S2 and can go again.
• If S1 doesn't have the card, he says something like 'Sorry. I don't have it.' and
it's the next persons turn.

Slap: (a.k.a. karuta) vocabulary building/listening exercise

Students get into small groups of 6 or less if possible and make a circle. You'll need at

least one set of cards for each group.

Lay out the cards in the middle of the groups. The teacher will then call out a card and

the students will race to slap the card. The first person to slap the card gets the card

and the game continues.

Teachers can call out just a vocabulary word, "a book" or they can incorporate the word

into a sentence, "I went to the store and bought a book."

I generally try to trick them by saying something that isn't there and seeing who slaps a

card anyway. People slapping a card by mistake must skip one round.
Slam: vocabulary review/sentence practice or fluency exercises

Lay the cards out in a single line or semicircle. Student line up in 2 teams at either end of

the line or semicircle. One person from each team begins by saying the vocabulary or

phrase associated with the first flash card and then the next and so on until the two

teams meet somewhere in the middle.

Then the 2 players play rock-paper-scissors and the winner advances while the loser

returns to the back of his line. Once the loser has returned the next person from the

losing team starts with the first card. When they 2 players meet they again play rock-

paper-scissors and the game continues like that.

The goal of the game is to reach the end of the line and get one point for your team. At

the end of the game, the team with the most points wins.

Snakes and Ladders: vocabulary review/sentence practice

Make your own snakes and ladder type game by simply laying the small game cards out

board game style and have the kids roll a dice and move along saying/using the vocabulary.

If you have enough to go all over the room, great!

Make a bunch of the large flash cards and who needs markers. The students can play the

game by literally moving and jumping themselves from card to card. Be the game.

I'm going to work on explanations for these games below and adding to the list as time

permits

Concentration: vocabulary review/sentence practice

Old Maid: vocabulary review/sentence practice

Go Fish: vocabulary review/sentence practice