Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2. Title: 4 corners
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: One student is it and stands in the middle of the class with their
eyes closed. Each corner is represented by a vocabulary word. The students
have 10 seconds to choose a corner to go to. It calls out one of the vocab words
and the students standing at that corner are out. Continue until only one person
is left and that student becomes the it for the next round.
Comments: Not very intensive on English speaking, but very fun.
9. Title: Battleship
Type: Concentration game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Divide the class into 4 or 5 teams. The teams are now crews on a
Battleship at war with the other ships. One person on each team is the captain,
another person is the shooter and the rest is the crew. Each ship has its own
name. The captain’s job is to answer when their ship is called, the shooter’s job
is to call out another ship’s name and the whole crew must each say a vocab
word. The teacher starts by calling out the name of a ship. The captain answers
first by saying a vocab word, for example, let’s say the theme is food, they
answer by saying bananas. Each crew member of that ship follows by saying in
turn another food word until the last crew member is the shooter. The shooter
himself says a food word and then calls out the name of another ship. That
ship’s captain must answer and their crew must say food word until the shooter
calls out another ship. If the captain doesn’t answer quickly (2-3 seconds after
their ship is called), their ship is sunk. If the shooter can’t say the name of
another ship quickly or any crew member can’t say a vocab word, their ship is
sunk.
Comments: Can be made harder by not allowing students to repeat vocab
words or else their ship is sunk.
15. Title:Charades
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Students are divided into 2 teams. One person from one team comes
up to the front where the teacher gives them a vocabulary word to act out. The
team tries to guess the word. If they get it correct the team gets one point. Teams
alternate turns and the team with the most points wins.
Comments: If the words are easy to guess you can make it harder by limiting
the time to act it out, limiting the time the students have to guess, limiting the
number of guesses and having the team say the answer together in unison.
18. Title:Clap-clap
Type: Active game
Target: Any conversation pattern
Materials: None
Procedure: Make up actions for the answers to the question. For example, to
practice “What’s the weather like?” “It’s cloudy/rainy/sunny/windy, etc” make
up actions for each answer such as “It’s cloudy”=cover your eyes, “It’s rainy”=
fingers wave in the rain motion, “It’s windy”=sway side to side, etc. Then
students stand in line all facing the teacher. Everyone says the question together
in unison “What’s the weather like?” and then clap 2 times together.
Immediately after the second clap, each student answers and does the action to
go along with the answer. The teacher also answers and does an action. Any
student that does the same action and answer as the teacher is out. The last
student standing is the winner
Comments: Could be used to practice only vocabulary words and instead of
saying a question just say the theme of the words. For example “Animals,
animals, clap-clap” then everyone does the action and says an animal
vocabulary word.
20. Title:Clueless
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: Word or picture cards
Procedure: One student has a card pinned to their back or stuck on their
forehead. The rest of the class knows what the card is and gives the students
hints about it until they can guess their card.
Comments: Can be used to practice more than just vocabulary by having the
students answer in full sentences, and having the student ask questions about
their card.
21. Title:
Concentration
Type: Concentration Game
Target: Any vocab or conversation pattern
Materials: None
Procedure: Assign each student an answer to the conversation question or a
vocabulary word. This game works really well with remembering names so your
question could be ‘Who is ____?” The first person starts by saying “I’m
Chandra.” Then asks ‘Who is Eun Ji?” Then Eun JI answers ‘I’m Eun Ji. Who is
Min Young?” However, there is a rhythm that the students must clap and speak
to. First you slap your legs, the clap your hands, then snap your fingers with one
hand and then the other. The words of the sentence must go to the beats of the
rhythm. If a student doesn’t answer to the rhythm they are out.
Comments:
22. Title:
Copy cat
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Students say a vocabulary word and do an action to go with it. The
student beside them must copy exactly the action and word that the student said.
They then say a new word and make up a new action which the next person
copies. Continue until all have had a turn.
Comments: You can vary this game to focus on intonation by having the
students mimic each other’s intonation and tone of voice while saying the word
or even a sentence.
23. Title:Countdown
Type: Concentration game
Target: Any conversation, fluency
Materials: Timer
Procedure: The first student says the question part of the conversation, for
example, “Will you help me?” The next student answers “Of course” and then
asks the next student “Will you help me?” This continues all around the class
until the last person answers the question. The timer starts t the beginning and
finishes at the last student. The class can try a few consecutive times or over a
period of days to try and beat their last time.
Comments:
24. Title: Cover-up
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: flashcards, cover cards
Procedure: Put pictures cards out on a table. Say each one twice and then give
the students 20 seconds to memorize their location. Give each student a cover
card (blank piece of paper with a colour on it or a number on it) to place over
top of a picure card. Mix up the location of the cards to make it more difficult.
Each student chooses a cover card and tries to say the picture card that is under
it. If they get it right then they take the card and it is replaced with a new one
and they keep going until they can’t remember. Then it is the next person’s turn.
The person with the most pictures cards wins.
Comments:
25. Title:
Cowboy
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: Word/picture cards
Procedure: 6 students with word/picture cards stand in a line with a chair
behind them. I call out a word and the student with that card sits down. The two
students on either side of the student who sat down turn and face each other.
They then have a ‘gun duel’ like in the Wild West where the quickest shooter
wins. The first of the 2 students to call out the opposite person’s card is the
winner (they ‘shot’ the other person with their word). The loser must act like
they died and is out of the game. A new student takes their place. Switch spots
and repeat.
Comments:
26. Title:
Days Card Game
Type: Game
Target: Days of the Week
Materials: cards available form genkienglish.net
Procedure: The days of the week in English have a special meaning. They each
go with a planet. Tuesday - Mars Wednesday - Mercury Thursday - Jupiter
Friday –Venus = Saturday - Saturn. Sunday, of course, is named for the sun.
Monday – named for the moon. Now I have these cards. Each one has one day
of the week on it and a number. The number matches how far it is away from
the sun. The farthest planet had the biggest number. Now in partners we will
play the card game. The first person asks “What day is it?” The next person
turns over a card and says “it’s _______.” The other person turns over their card
too. Whichever card has the biggest number takes both cards into their pile.
Whoever collects all 7 cards (or you can play for the most cards) is the winner.
If there is a tie of numbers, then you do it over again and the winner of the
second time gets all 4 cards!
Comments:
27. Title:Detective
Type: Game
Target: Possessives (Is the your __?)
Materials: Student’s personal objects
Procedure: Students take turns being "it" and go out of the classroom and wait
for a while. Choose a student's item and put it on the table. All the students in
the classroom call out for "it" to come back in the classroom. "It" tries to find
the owner of the item on the table. Students say HOT if ‘it’ is close to the person
and COLD if they are far away. When 'it" designates someone as the owner,
students ask him/her "Is this your pencil?" The student designated answers,
"Yes, it is/ No, it isn't” Then the next it goes outside and waits to be the
detective.
Comments: Perhaps could be altered to focus on another theme.
29. Title:
Disappear
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: flashcards
Procedure: Put picture cards on a table and give students 10 seconds to look
and memorize. Then they close their eyes and I take one away. They open their
eyes have to figure out which one is gone.
Comments: This game can be quite easy so to make it harder use more cards,
lessen the time they have to look or remove more than 2 cards at once.
30. Title:
Duck Duck
Type: Active Game
Target: Any conversation
Materials: None
Procedure: Students sit in a circle and close their eyes. I pick 2 students by
touching them on the back. When I say go those 2 students go inside the circle
and say the conversation, i.e. “What did you do yesterday?” “I ______.” When
they are done they exit the circle through the spot where the opposite person
was sitting and race all the way around the circle. The first person to go all the
way around the circle back to the opposite person’s spot is the winner. The
winner gets to choose the next 2 people that play.
Comments:
36. Title:
Giants, Wizards and Dwarves
Type: Active Game
Target: Fairy Tale theme
Materials: None
Procedure: This game is an active version of Rock Scissors Paper. Instead of
Rock there is Giants, instead of Scissors there is Wizards, instead of Paper there
is Dwarves. Each character has an action. Giants (hand above head) beat
Wizards (hands in front waving) beat Dwarves (arms crossed holding ears).
Students are divided into 2 teams and they stand in a line facing each other. The
teams have 10 seconds to decide which character they will choose. After 10
seconds they face each other and say in unison “Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Which fairy tale character will beat them all? 1, 2, 3” After the count of 3 the
teams say the character name and do the action. The winning team chases the
other team back to their safe wall and any students who were caught join the
other team. The team with the most students at the end of the game wins.
Comments: This is a very fun game, but limited in its usage. Maybe some
variations could be made to make it more suitable for other themes and more
intensive on the speaking of English?
44. Title:
Line Quiz
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary, or conversation pattern
Materials: flashcards
Procedure: 2 teams stand in a line and I ask the front 2 people a question such
as “What do you want?” Show them a picture card and the first to answer ‘I
want ____” correctly sits down. Repeat again through the whole line. The first
team to all sit down is the winner
Comments:
45. Title:MASH
Type: Paper activity
Target: House Vocabulary
Materials: Flashcards
Procedure: Now we are going to play one of my favourite games when I was a
kid. It is a fortune game. It is called MASH and each letter stands for
something. M=Mansion (a very big, huge house like a castle), A=apartment,
S=shack (very small, not a good house), H=(Normal House). This game tells
you what kind of house you will live in, in the future. Then we have some other
categories, like what kind of rooms you can have in your house. We will use 3
categories: Bathroom, Living Room and Bedroom. You choose 3 different
options for each category which should be the number of those rooms in your
house. (For example: 3 bedrooms, 0 bedrooms, 1 bedroom). Then one person
makes small marks on a paper until the other person says stop. The number of
marks equals the magic number. Then you count through all the options until
you get to the magic number and then you cross that option off. Keep going
until only one option in each category is left. Then you will have your fortune.
(Show an example) Okay everybody find out your future house fortune! Now
please tell me what kind of house you will have. (students should say I will live
in a mansion with 3 bedrooms, 0 bathrooms, and 2 living rooms)
Comments: The initials and content of the game could be used to meet the
requirements of other limited topics such as jobs or countries and cities (i.e.
what will you be when you grow up, or where will you live, etc.)
46. Title:
Memory
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: Word and picture cards
Procedure: Divide students into teams. On the board place the picture cards in
grid formation. On the other side of the board place the words cards that match
what’s on the picture cards in another grid formation. Label the columns and
rows of the grid. Teams take turns as one student from each team chooses a card
from each side of the board by calling out the labels. For example, they call C3
and A2. As the cards are revealed the whole team should say the word of the
card. If he 2 cards match the team gets a point. If not, it is the other team’s turn.
Team members take turns guessing. Most points wins.
Comments: Can also be used with past tense practice, by using present and past
tense word cards.
47. Title:
Monkey in the middle
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: mini word/picture cards
Procedure: Students sit in chairs in a circle. Each student has a mini
word/picture card. One students stands in the middle and is the monkey. The
students asks the target question, for example, “Where are you going?” and the
monkey answers “I’m going to the __library__ next to the __bakery__.” (he can
choose any place/vocabulary word he likes). The 2 with those cards (library and
bakery) get up and try to sit in a seat, but it cannot be their original seat. The
monkey also tries to sit in a seat. The student without a seat is the new monkey
Comments:
49. Title:Picasso
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Divide students into teams. The first student from each team comes
to the board and the teacher tells them a word in secret. On the count of 3, each
students tries to draw the word as fast as they can. The first team to guess their
drawers word gets a point. The most points wins.
Comments:
50. Title:Pictionary
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Students are divided into 2 teams. One person from one team comes
up to the front where the teacher gives them a vocabulary word to draw on the
board. The team tries to guess the word. If they get it correct the team gets one
point. Teams alternate turns and the team with the most points wins.
Comments: If the words are easy to guess you can make it harder by limiting
the time to draw, limiting the time the students have to guess, limiting the
number of guesses and having the team say the answer together in unison.
54. Title:
SLAM game
Type: Active Game
Target: Any Vocabulary
Materials: Flashcards
Procedure: Let’s review the words. What room is this? (show the room picture
cards) Okay now we are going to play a game using these words. There are 2
teams. The teams should line up on opposite sides of the room. I will put these
cards around the edges of the tables. The first person from each team should go
around and SLAM the picture and then say “This is a _________ (whatever
room)” They keep going until they meet in the middle somewhere. When they
meet they play Rock Scissors Paper. The winner keeps slamming and saying
sentences. The loser goes to the back of the line and the next person from their
team starts slamming and saying sentences. When one person gets all the way
around the tables, their team gets a point. The first team to get 3-5 points is the
winner.
Comments:
56. Title:Sumo
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: flashcards
Procedure: 2 students come up to the front of the class. Pin a card on their back
so they can’t see it. Don’t let the other person see either. The 2 students face
each other and do the Sumo pose. Put their hands behind their back and ready-
set-go and then they try to see the other persons’ card without using hands. Once
they’ve seen it they yell out the answer. The first to get it right is the winning
sumo wrestler.
Comments: This game is very popular with boys, but some girls don’t like to
participate. This can be helped if you pair girls with another girl.
57. Title:Teacher Says
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Make up actions for different vocabulary words. If your theme is
sports then make up actions for “play soccer” “go swimming” “play baseball”
etc or if your theme is animals make up actions for “act like a dog” “act like a
bunny” “walk like a turtle” etc. Actions can be made for almost any theme. The
students stand in a line. The teacher calls out a command like “Teacher says act
like a bunny.” All the students follow the command. If the command is not
preceded with ‘Teacher says’ the students should not perform the command.
Any students who perform the command when ‘Teacher says’ was not said, is
out. The last student standing is the winner.
Comments:
67. Title:
Word chain
Type: Concentration Game
Target: Any vocabulary or sentence form
Materials: None
Procedure: The first student must say a vocabulary word or sentence such a “I
played soccer.” The next student must say what the person before him did, and
then something new like “He played soccer. I watched TV.” The next student
must remember all those who came before “He played soccer. She watched TV.
I played computer games.” Count the number of sentences students can
remember. Continue until a student makes a mistake or can’t remember. When a
student makes a mistake or forgets, start again with that student and see if they
can beat their last record.
Comments: This can be made more motivating by setting a limit and then
rewarding all the class if they reach that goal (“If you can remember more than
10 sentence, the whole class will get a sticker.”) It can also be made into a
competition by recording the top scores of all classes in a certain grade and
rewarding the best class. Beware as this makes the students very competitive
and they can be harsh on students who have a hard time remembering.
68. Title:
Word Delete
Type: Concentration game
Target: Any sentence, question, or conversation pattern
Materials: None
Procedure: One student at a time says one word from the chosen pattern. For
example, if the pattern is “Will you help me?” student one says “will,” student 2
says “you,” student 3 says “help,’ and student 4 says ‘me.” The next student
begins again with “will” and so on. A word is chosen to be deleted and the
student whose turn it is should clap instead of saying the word. If “you” is the
chosen word, the game is played like this: S1= Will, S2= clap, S3= help,
S4=me, etc. If a student claps when he is not supposed, says a wrong word or
says the word instead of claps he is out. The winner is the last student standing.
Comments: This can be made harder by choosing more complicated
vocabulary, deleting 2 or more words at a time, or by using patterns with more
than of the same word in it. Manipulating the speed of the game can make it
easier or harder.