Grammar & Vocabulary

Back and forth

Divide students into two teams. Get a student form each time to stand up. You set
the category i.e. days of the week or fruit etc. The students must say one word then
the next student quickly says another related word. When one of them breaks the
order (A: Monday B: Tuesday A: Wednesday B: Saturday), takes more than 5 seconds
to respond or says an irrelevant word to the category they lose.
Battleships
Give each student a blank piece of A4 paper. Have them draw a grid as
demonstrated below:
Swim

Run

Drive

I
You
He
She
They
Use the relevant vocabulary according to your grammar point. Instruct them to
draw a happy face in any 3 squares and to keep the locations of their faces hidden
from other students. In pairs, have them battling to get rid of their opponents
happy faces by asking questions. For instance, in the above example, by asking
questions Can I/you/he/she? If there is a face in the corresponding square, the
response is positive and the face is eliminated. If not, student gives a negative
response.
Bingo
Give each student a blank sheet of paper. Have them draw a grid of 6 boxes. Tell
them to write a word in each. Depending on the students level you can have them
pick 6 months of the year or 6 common nouns etc. Call out related vocabulary at
random. If a student has 1 of the words they can tick it off. The first student to tick
off all of their words shouts BINGO and wins.
Chair Swap
Make one student stand up and turn their chair around so that nobody can sit on it.
Ensure that any spare chairs are also turned around. There are many variations of
this game, largely depending on the ability level of your students. Generally
speaking, you will ask the student standing up if a question. If you ask, for example,
what do you like? and the student replies I like playing computer games, the
students who also like computer games must swap chairs (the standing student
must attempt to find an empty chair). There will always be a student in the middle
to answer the question.
Charades
Bring a student to the front of the class. Show them a flashcard or word without
anyone else seeing it. Have the student mime the action and the rest of the class
try to guess the vocabulary.
Concentration words
Make a set of word only cards and do a copy. Lay the cards out on the floor face
down. Students take turns to stand up and turn over two cards- shouting out the
card after they turn it over. If the cards match they get to keep the cards. Student
with the biggest collection at the end wins the game.
Grab the card
Make 2 lines of students, one on either side of the room. Draw lines that they must

stand behind until they can go. Have a pile of flashcards in the middle. When you
shout out the two students at the front of each line must race to grab to right card
and say it.
Look! What?
To explain this game an example needs to be used.
Grammar point: Can you? Yes I can/ No, I cant.
Vocabulary: Swim, dance, run, climb.
First of all give each student 4 credit card sized pieces of paper. Get them to write
each new vocabulary word on them (1 on each). Then explain to the students that
when the teacher says go! they will all stand up and immediately say Look! and
point to another student. The student who is pointed at should say What? the
1ststudent should then choice a vocabulary word and used the grammar too Can
you swim? If the other child still has the paper with swim on then they say yes I
can and hand it over, if they dont have it they say No, I cant.
1.
Look!
2.

What?

3.

Can you swim?

4.

Yes I can-then hand over piece of paper or No, I cant and then move on to
another student.

Each student will be doing the same thing at the same time so any discrepancies as
to who said Look! first get them to play rock, paper, scissors. The student with
the most cards at the end wins.
Memorizer
Students sit in a circle. Lay out the flashcards in the middle. Choose 1 student to be
the memorizer. Each of the other students in turn chooses a word to be theirs for
that round but they cannot take the card from the middle. After all the cards have
been selected, the memorizer must try to give the cards out to the correct owners.
Pass the card
Get the students into a circle. Pass a flashcard around. Each student has to say the
word then pass it around. To make it more lively try to have several cards circulating
simultaneously.
Sentence betting
Hand out some fake money or another form of counter to each student. Stand at the
front and say a sentence which is not overly easy for them (in fact the more
confusing yet grammatically correct the better). After each sentence, students have
a brief opportunity to bet a sum of their pot on whether the sentence is
grammatically correctly/true or false. Other students can bet against them if they
wish. Reveal the validity of your sentence and settle the bet. You can also allow
students to earn extra money from you by correcting the sentences. The student
with the most money after a given time wins.
Time bomb
Sit your students in a circle. Pass the flashcard around the circle and countdown
from 15 seconds. The student holding the cards at the end has to say.
A what?
Pass around an object or flashcard. Tell the students what its called. Say to the first
student this is a the student must answer a what? you say a The card or
object is then quickly passed to the next student and the same dialogue ensues.
Develop the game by passing round different objects and cards at the same time.
People watching
For more advanced classes or one to one lessons, have your students look out of
the window and analyse the people outside. Have them discuss anything from what

they are wearing and what they look like to creating crazy stories about what they
are doing, where they are going etc.
Team hangman
Have students put into pairs of one student per team in the pair. Team 1 begins by
setting up the puzzle and team 2 have to guess it. The winner gets a point for their
team then the roles switch.
Find a vocabulary partner
Have your students make word cards with new vocabulary. Tell them to keep one on
their desk and put the others on the floor. When you say go they have to go
around the class asking questions to determine who has the same card. Eventually
they will get into groups.
Gambit
Write 6-8 words on the board. Students from one team write a word from the bored,
without showing anyone else and put their writing book face down on the floor. The
other team chooses 3 words from the board. If any of the students wrote these
words they must stand up and say a sentence using the word. The students who
didnt have their word guessed win a point for their team.
Balancing act
Split the class into two teams. Give each student a blank piece of paper and have
them write their team name on it. Have them stand up and balance the paper on
their head. Call out some actions etc and get them moving around. If they drop their
paper they must freeze where they are. Another member of their team can pick up
the paper and put it back on their head- whilst trying not to drop their own paper.
Set a time limit of 3 minutes- the team with most people balancing their paper at
the end are the winners.
Catch it/drop it
Get the students in a circle with one in the middle of it. Give the one in the middle a
ball and tell the others to cross their arms. The ball holder must look at a student
and say either catch it or drop it before throwing them the ball. If they say
catch it, the student must unfold their arms and catch the ball. If they said drop
it, they should keep their arms crossed and make no attempt to catch the ball. If
they make a wrong move or fail to catch the ball at the right time they are out.
Escape the circle
Students are standing in a circle with their legs apart. Each students feet must be
touching the feet of those next to them. Give one student a ball. Ask them to say
what is on the flashcard or a sentence related to the lesson. If they are correct they
can try to throw the ball out of the circle through someones legs. All feet must be
touching each other at all times.
Mystery voice
Choose a person to come to the front of the room. Either blindfold them or have
them cover their face with a book etc. Tell the rest of the class to switch chairs.
Have the one of the others say hello/ good morning or any phrase depending on
the ability level of your students. If the person at the front successfully guesses who
said it they switch places with the speaker. If they cant, gesture a different student
to say a phrase. Encourage your students to try and disguise their voice.
Hot potato
Pass around a ball or other object. Turn and face the wall. When you say stop the
person holding it has to say a sentence.
Race against the ball
Students are in a circle. One sits in the middle each round. Give them a category
then give a ball to a student in the circle. The student in the middle must say as
many related words as they can before the ball is passed all the way around the
circle. Count how many each player can say. After everyone has been in the middle,
the player with the most words during their round is the winner.
Tell me their name
Stand your students in a circle with one in the middle. The student in the middle
points to a person in the circle and says either RIGHT, what is their name please?
or LEFT, what is their name please? The student being pointed at must say the
person on their right or lefts name before the student in the middle can finish their

sentence or they are eliminated. If they confuse right and left they are also out. This
game can be easily adapted to different grammar points.
Balloon volley ball
Divide the classroom into two equal halves. Use a row of chairs as a dividing line
through the middle. Put a team on either side. Blow up a balloon and give it to one
team. The aim is to hit the balloon over to their opponents side and make it touch
the floor on the opposite side of the fence to gain a point. Set a theme or category,
each time a student hits the balloon they say a related word. Penalise them for not
doing so.
Blindfolded students
This is great for teaching directions and prepositions. Bring up a student and
blindfold them. Place an object somewhere else in the room. Get one of the other
students to guide them.
Circle throw and catch eliminator
Write the grammar point on the board and the vocabulary to accompany it.
Students form a big circle. Use a tennis ball or another ball of similar size. The first
student throws the ball to another student and asks the question. The receiver gives
an answer, asks the question and throws the ball to another student. State that if a
student does a bad or overly aggressive throw they are out and if they fail to catch
the ball from a reasonable throw they are also out. After a while if students are
catching well, tell them to put one hand behind their backs then later tell them to
speed up etc. Last student standing wins.
Circle write and pass
Get your students to bring their chairs into a big circle. Write the opening sentence
to story on a few pieces of paper then hand them out to random students. Tell them
to add one sentence, following a certain tense or topic etc then pass it to the person
on their right. Keep the papers passing round for 5-10 minutes then stop the writing
and have whoever is holding a paper read out the finished product (usually a crazy
and entertaining story).
I can say
Divide students into two teams. The first student from team 1 says I can say 1 kind
of, the next student from team 2 says I can say 2 kinds of. At any point a
student can tell the person before them to do it!. When this is called the person
who last made a claim has one minute to say the amount of related they claim to be
able to do. If they can do it they win a point for their team, if nto the other team win
a point.
Pigs in the middle
Split your classroom into three rectangular sections, with the middle sections being
slightly bigger than the two outside. Make three groups of students and put one in
each section. The middle section group are the pigs. The aim is for the two outside
groups to pass a ball back and forth without the pigs intercepting it. If they do get
hold of the ball, the team that threw it switches places with them and becomes the
pigs. Sit on the side and hold up flashcards for them to shout out before their
throw or ask them questions.
Sentence substitution
Split the students into two teams and the board into two sections. Write a sentence
made of your grammar point and related vocabulary on either side of the board.
This can be two different sentences or the same one twice. Both teams line up
facing their allocated section. Give the two front students a pen and an eraser. Tell
them that they can change one word in their sentence but they cannot change the
same word as the person who went before them, they cannot add or take away any
words. When they have finished they pass the pen back to the next student in line.
You stand at the side tallying up the points- a point for each time a student changes
a word and keeps their sentence grammatically correct. Dont tell them how to
correct a spoiled sentence, have the teams figure it out for themselves.
Speed dating
Split your students into two teams/groups. Tell them you want them to get into two
parallel rows of chairs, facing each other. When they are in position, write a verb,
noun or topic on the board (depending on ability level) and give them one minute to
talk to each other about the topic or make questions with what is on the board. After

one minute tell Team A to stand up and move one place to the right. After each
round have the same team move places and the same team stay in their original
seat so that students are facing a different person each time.
Speed writing
Write a sentence on the board. Have students race each other to write it 5-10 times
then run up to the board, touch it and say the sentence 5-10 times. Give the winner
points. Write a different sentence on the board and do it again. Its amazing how
many times your students will be tricked into practicing their spelling and speaking
without getting bored of this game!
Guess my cards
Have your students make word cards. In pairs have them lay out their cards, face
down in front of them. The first student points to one of the opponents cards and
tries to guess what it is. If they are correct the card is turned over. The student who
guesses their all of their opponents cards first is the winner.
Crazy card grabbing
Get your students to write words on a piece of paper tear them into slips. Get your
students to sit in the middle of the room on the floor. Collect all the slips of paper
and throw them in the air. Students must try to grab as many cards as possible.
When all cards are collected, go around the room and each student must say the
word on their slips and pile them up. The winner is the student with the most slips
so they get points for their team.
Sticky ball
Stick your flashcards to the board and draw a line 10 feet or more away. Students
take turns to stand behind the line, say a sentence involving the one of the
flashcards then through the sticky ball at it. If they hit the right card and the ball
sticks, give them a point.
Crazy word change
Give the students a topic to discuss in turn when you go around the round.
Beforehand, state that every noun, adjective or verb etc is to be replaced by a word
such as monkey. If a student makes a mistake whilst speaking they are eliminated.
Grandfather
Set a category for the students to follow, for example furniture. You start by saying
when grandfather died he left a sofa The student on the far left says Really, is it a
sofa? You respond Ok, then what is it? They then say Its a table The student
next to them continues the dialogue with Really, is it a table? and so on. If a
student takes more than 5 seconds to say a word that hasnt already been used
they are out or if they repeat someone elses word they are also out.
Memory game
In a circle, go around the round, first person says a word i.e. apple. Next person
says apple, water. Next says apple, water, chair etc. Students who cannot recall the
previous words in the correct order are eliminated.
Subjunctive sentences
Put your students in pairs. Write 5 sentences on the board- if your partner was an
animal which would he/she be?, if they were a fruit which would he/she be? etc.
Have your students write answers to these questions without letting their partner
see. Have them also write what they think they would be. When everyone is
finished, have them read out in turn and see the shock on your students faces. For
higher levels, have them make answers such as they would be a because
The sentence game
Go around the class. Each person adds a word onto a sentence. For example,
student 1 You student 2 like student 3 eating etc. Write some conjunctives etc
on the board to help them make the sentences better. Also add in some recently
learnt and new vocabulary.
Predictability
Give each student a blank piece of paper. Write a sentence on the board such as I
like Tell each student to write their name on the paper and fill in the blank word.
Split the class into two teams. Collect the papers and shuffle them. Pick the first
one up and ask the opposite team of the person whose paper it is what does
like? For every wrong guess one team has give the other team a point. Make your
sentence specific to the grammar point of the lesson.

Alphabet word race

Have your students race each other to write a word for every letter of the alphabet.
You can limit their range by saying it has to be words from a certain place i.e. in
this room.
Teach the class
To review a series of grammar points, such as tenses, put your students into pairs or
small groups and tell them to prepare and present a 5 minute lesson about a
particular grammar point. Get them thinking about how to explain it to the class,
how to use examples, pictures etc.
Jeapordy
Draw a grid on the board and have random words or phrases in each. Students must
try to guess the potential question and win points for their team.
Eulogies
To practice the past tenses, have your students write about a dead persons life. Use
funny subjects such as hated national celebrities. You can even go a step further
and have them act out a funeral wake.
Give me some words
In order to drill grammar points, divide the board into two or more sections, get
groups of students to write a list of nouns in one section, verbs in another and
adjectives in another (or whatever you need to build sentences for your grammar
point. Have them race each other to write sentences using each word only once.
The first to use up all of the words on the board is the winner.
Grammatical board races
Students are in two teams. Have some pens easily accessible. Pick out a student
from each team to go head to head. Instruct them that when you shout out a word
they must run up and write a sentence using this word. The sentence must follow a
pre-set grammatical structure.
Hold up your hand
When you are doing a grammar point such as much/many (count and uncount
nouns), tell the students that you will say a word, if much goes with the word they
hold up their left arm, if its many they hold up their right.
One becomes two
Have students compete in pairs. Give them a piece of paper per pair and short,
simple sentence to begin with. Tell them that in turn they can make a new sentence
by adding one or two words to the existing sentence and not taking any words out
of it. If the sentence is grammatically correct after each turn the student gets a
point.
Sentence making time trial
Draw a grid on the board. Fill the boxes with vocabulary that they can use in a
relevant sentence to practice a certain grammar point. Pick a student form each
team to go head to head. In turn they get one minute to call out as many
grammatically correct sentences using the vocabulary in the chosen box.
Tissue drop
Hold up a tissue and tell your students when you drop it they have to say the phonic
or new word as many times as they can before it hits the floor.
Finger count grammar
Write out a relevant sentence on the board. Point to the words, on by one, showing
a different number of fingers each time you point. Students must say each word a
number of time depending on how many fingers you are holding up.
Disappearing grammar
Write a sentence on the board. Erase a word. Go around the room and have each
student say the sentence adding a word that could fill in the blank. Erase another
and do the same. Continue until you have no words left then see who can
remember any parts of the sentence.
New sentences
Write on the board a key word or words. Tell the students to write as many unique
sentences as they can in 2 minutes.
Pass the word/sentence
Divide students into two teams. Have them stand in lines. Pass the two front
students a flashcard or a piece of paper with a sentence written on it. They have to

race each other to say the vocabulary or sentence then pass it back to the end of
their line.
Pencil spin
Students stand in small groups and form a square or a circle. In turn they place a
pencil on the floor in the middle and spin it. The person it is pointing to after the
spin must say a grammar point.
Show me
Get students to make word cards with the new vocabulary from the lesson. Tell
them to keep one card on their desk and to put the others on the floor. Shout out
show me, the students who have the word you say must stand up and say it.
Truth, truth lie
Tell them to write and/or say 3 things about themselves- two of them are true and
one of them is a lie. You do the same and try to guess each others lies.
Flashcard Show down
2 students are back to back holding 1 flashcard each in the centre of the room. The
other students say go the students both take 3 steps away from each other and
then turn around. The 1st child to say the word/grammar structure correctly on the
opposing students flashcard wins. If the grammar structure is Whats that? then
the other students can say Whats that? rather than go and the 2 students will
turn and say Its a and state what is on the flashcard.

General Purpose & Review

Back to the board
Have a student stand at the front with their back to the board. Write a word on the
board. Classmates or team have to explain the word by saying what you can do with
it, where you can find it etc. This works well when having 2 teams and giving the
student at the front a minute per round.
Bean bag/ball toss
Lay out flashcards on the floor. Give a student a bean bag, ball or anything else that
can be thrown. Have them stand facing the wall and throw the object behind them.
They must then make a sentence with the card nearest to where the bag object has
landed.
Easy or hard
Have two piles of word cards faced down- an easy pile and a hard pile. Easy cards
are worth 1 point, hard are worth 3. Students play in teams. They take turns to
select a card and attempt to overcome the challenge of making a sentence with the
word on the card, spelling the word or whatever is suitable for that particular ability
group.
Fish game
Give each student a piece of paper and tell them to draw a fish and cut it out. Draw
two lines on either side of the room i.e. a racing track with a start and a finish line.
Bring the first set of students to the starting line and have them line up their fish on
the floor. Ask each student a question related to the grammar and vocabulary of the
lesson. If they answer correctly they can blow or fan their textbook once to propel
their fish forward. The first fish to cross the finish line wins the race.

Limbo
Get a rope and a student at either side to hold it stretched out. Other students line
up at one side of the rope. They must say the word on the card correctly then go
under the rope without touching it. Start the rope at a reasonable height and lower
it after every round. Eliminate students as the touch the rope while passing under it
or fall to the floor during their attempt.
Pictionary
Bring a student to the board. Reveal to them a word or sentence and have them
portray it by drawing it on the board. The other students attempt to guess it.
Alternatively get a student form each team to draw on the board at the same time
and their teammates trying to guess what the picture is.
Roll the dice
Write the numbers 1 to 6 on the board and give each number a word or sentence.
Students take turns to roll the dice. They simply say the sentence or word that
corresponds with the number they roll. Depending on the level you can make it
more complicated. For example, you can have 1= say a past tense sentence 2= say
a future tense sentence 3= spell a word the teacher says etc. Also you can allocate
a certain forfeit to a number such as dance, sing, say a slightly embarrassing
sentence 5 times etc. You can easily incorporate teams and points into the game.
Spin the bottle
Students sit in a circle. Spin a bottle in the middle. Whoever the top of the bottle is
pointing towards has to say a piece of vocabulary, sentence, spelling etc.
Cards and forfeits
Write on the board: Ace= lose a point, 2/3/4= grammar point, 5/6/7= spell a word,
8/9/10= say 10 words (from a given category) in 30 seconds, Jack= general
knowledge question, Queen= win 3 points, King= win 5 points. In turn students pick
a card from the deck.
Connect the dots
Draw a square grid of 10 by 10 dots on the board. Have two teams of students. Go
around the class, team 1 first then team 2 etc, asking them questions or getting
them to say the grammar point and vocabulary for that lesson. If a student is
correct they may come and draw one line to join two dots together. If their line
completes a square, put the teams initials in the square. The team with the most
squares when all lines have been drawn are the winners.
Test me
Leading up to a test set your students the task of looking through the work book
and writing what the key grammar, vocabulary etc is from the units they have done
on this course. Then tell them to write a list of 10 possible questions that will appear
on their speaking test. When all students are finished, put them into random pairs

and have them test each other. Tell them to mark the other person out of 5 and
write down any mistakes they have made.
Bowling
Divide the class into teams. Draw a line on one side of the room that students must
stay behind. Place a big water bottle or another item that will work about 10 feet
away. Students take turns to come up and bowl a big sized ball to knock over the
bottle(s). Ask them questions, get them to say vocabulary, spell a word etc in order
to gain a turn.
Random head to head
Select a team captain from each team and send the captains outside the room.
Whilst they are outside give each student a number to remember. If you have two
teams of 10, number Team A 1-10 and Team B 1-10; including the team captains
who are unaware of who is what. Bring the captains back in and get them to say a
number each. The students who correspond to each number on either team come to
the front and face a head to head challenge. This can include answering a question
about a grammar point, completing a sentence, spelling a word, answering a quiz
question (depending on the ability level and aims of the class).
Translators
Give each student a different piece of written English and instruct them to translate
it into their native language on another piece of paper. When they have finished,
collect the translations and hand them back out so that everyone has someone
elses work. Now ask them to translate this from their native language into English.
After this, hand back the original English texts and have them analyse mistakes.
This is a valuable activity to get them thinking about how to properly convert one
language to another and will undoubtedly lead to mistakes which they can learn
from. Alternatively you can give them a piece in their native language and get them
to translate it into English. In this case have your teaching assistant mark the
papers.
Intonation activity
Write a phrase on the board such as Hello, How are you? Goodbye etc. Give
them a range of people that they should practice saying it to i.e. a person in the
street, a baby, your friend who you havent seen for 5 years, your boss, a family
member who is dying.
Wheel of fortune
Draw a pizza on the classroom floor with grammatical tasks, spelling task, win a
point, lose a point etc written in each section. Students in turn come up and spin a
bottle or pencil and whatever it is pointing to they must do.
Agony aunt
Give each student a piece of paper. Have them write a problem. It can be crazy such
as my mother is talking to animals or a real life crisis. Collect the papers and

shuffle them. Turn the first problem over. Have the class offer advice on how to
solve the problem.
Colourful questions
Have 2-4 different coloured balls or different throw able objects. Get the student
into a circle. Assign a different question to each ball/object. Have students pass
them around and ask the question related to that ball/object. The catcher must
answer then throw it to someone else.
Interrogation
Students take turns to sit at the front of the class. The rest of them fire quick
questions at them for one minute either general or related to the grammar point.
Dont allow any short answers. A point is given for each grammatically correct
response. Make a scoreboard and announce the winner as the one with most points
earned during their turns.
Sinking ship
Tell the class about a scenario in which a ship is sinking. There are 5 people on the
ship but the lifeboat can only carry 4. Give them a list of 5 people- celebrities and
controversial figures work well. Encourage them to debate about who should be left
to die. Have a vote at the end.
Similes
Teach your class the concept of similes. Give a few examples such as her skin was
as white as snow, my mouth is as dry as desert. Write a list of 5 subjects on the
board i.e. the teacher, my house, the sun etc and give them 5 minutes to write
similes for them. Announce whose are the best after they have all presented.
Sticky labels
Take some sticky labels to your class. Write a noun or a persons name etc on the
labels then stick one to each student either on their forehead or on their back so
that they cant see it. Have them walking around asking each other questions to
find out who they are. They can only give each other yes or no answers.
When you hear
When you say a word your students have to shout out what they think of when they
hear it.
United Nations
Pre-teach the concept of the United Nations and what happens when its members
have a meeting. Tell them that you will be hosting the event and you would like to
discuss a number of topics (this can include war, giving money to poor people,
protecting the environment or anything that could spark some debate). Each
student creates an imaginary country to represent and writes some notes on their
countrys policies. Chair the meeting and get some debate going amongst your
students. Ask them to explain all of their ideas in as much depth as possible.

Flip cups
Give each student a light-weight plastic cup. Use a desk or a long table and have
the teams lined up at either side of it with their cup sitting face up on the edge.
When you say go the students begin a relay race whereby they must flip the cup
using their fingers to flick it from underneath. The student on the end then has to
run to the board and write a sentence which follows a set grammatical structure.
Situation drama
Put students in small groups and give them a situation. Assign each student a role
and some adjectives to go with it i.e. an angry police officer, a sad old lady.
Alphabet word race
Have your students race each other to write a word for every letter of the alphabet.
You can limit their range by saying it has to be words from a certain place i.e. in
this room.
Job interview
Before the activity begins, get your students to think of questions to ask a potential
employee and some ideas of how to sell themselves. You can assign different kind of
jobs ranging from bank manager to circus clown. Put them in pairs and have them
take turns to interview each other.
Invention
Give your students an opportunity to be creative by putting them into pairs and
asking them to invent a sport, machine or something else. Get them to explain how
it would work and why it would change the world.
Role play
Teenagers can be reluctant to perform role-plays in front of others. Rather than give
them a dry dialogue to read out have them write their own role plays using specified
grammar structures and vocabulary. Allow them to be a little bit crazy and creative.
Numbers and questions
Give each student a piece of paper with a number on it. Work through a series of
questions, after each one call out a random number and have them answer it. This
works well with bigger classes and stops students from falling asleep.
Sales pitch
Get students into small groups. Write an amount of money on the board i.e.
$1,000,000. Have them come up with ways to spend the money and develop sales
pitches to argue why you should give the money to their group. When all groups
have presented their pitch, allocate an imaginary amount of money to each group
depending on their performance.
Buzzers
This gimmick can work for many different team head to head activities. A basic
version is to bring a student from each team to the front of class and give them a

word or phrase to use as their buzzer. Ask a question or say a word which is to be
used in a sentence with a certain grammar structure and have them try to get in
first with their buzzer to answer the question and win a point for their team.
Play your cards right
Line up 12 playing cards across the board ledge or on a table face down. Turn over
the first card. Have students in two teams answer questions one by one. If they
answer correctly they can try to guess whether the next card will be higher or lower
than the previous card. If they guess correctly they get a point for their team, if not,
the other team get the point.
Ball pass
Get students in a circle. Give one student a ball. They start by asking another
student in the circle a question then throwing them the ball. The receiver answers
the question the passes the ball and asks another student.
Spelling eliminator
Students stand up. Say a word and then go around the room, one student says one
letter. When a mistake is made that student must sit down.
Word scramble
Send a student form each team out of the room. Write a scrambled word on the
board, bring them back in and have them race to solve it.
Spelling board race
Two teams of students in lines facing the board. Give a pen to the students at the
front. Shout out a word. The first student in line writes a letter, passes it to the next
student then goes to the back of the line.
Titanic game
Divide students into 2 equal students into teams and get them to form 2 circles
either side of the room with their chairs. Students should stand on their chairs. The
chairs perimeters now act as 2 large ships. Give 1 team an average size ball made
of soft rubber. This team has to answer a question from any of the topics covered in
class in order to throw the ball at the other team. If they catch the ball all members
are safe and its their turn. If they dont catch the ball they can either nominate a
person to stand down or the person who doesnt catch the ball can stand down. This
person then acts as an iceberg they should float around in the sea until someone
decides to hit them with the ball so they can then join their team. However, in doing
this they sacrifice a turn to have this member on their team. The aim of the game is
the team with the most people standing on their chair at the end wins.
Counter frustration game
Give each student a counter piece and a sticker to write their name on the counter
(to save time you could write their names on stickers/counters before class). On the
floor you will make a long line of flashcards, one above the other along the length of
the classroom. In line with the end of the flashcards you will draw a finish line and in

line with the start of the flashcards you will draw a start line. Then you will join the 2
lines up to make a perimeter for the game to be played in. Students take turns to
put their counter on the start line and flick the counter. Whichever flashcard the
counter lands in line with the student has to say the word or the grammar structure
correctly to keep their counter at that position or if it lands in line with a forfeit card
then they do the forfeit (go back to the start or go back 3 flashcards). If the student
cannot pronounce/say the word/grammar structure correctly or if they flick their
counter out of the perimeters then they move their counter back to the start line
where it will wait until their next turn. The student who is 1st to make their counter
land on the finish line in their final flick is the winner. This is a fast pace game and
lots of fun.