Sometimes we don’t need or don’t have access to much in the
way of sophisticated aids, materials, back-up in our classrooms. But what we do
have is the most sophisticated tool ever created – the imagination to help us!
Equip students either with dice or get them to make spinners
(you can also make dice) and away we go…
Board games
can be student-made and that’s all the better as students
will get involved in making and shaping their own materials and get to practise
even more language.
Below is a board game I made to practise animal vocabulary.
Children throw their dice in turn and when they land on a picture, they have to
say what it is. It can be used for more complex language, too, e.g. when a
child lands on an animal she can say ‘I like / I don’t like elephants’,
practising the use of the plural; ‘Elephants are big and grey’, practising
descriptions etc.
Children can create their own board games by drawing
pictures of vocabulary items they have learnt in English and challenging each
other. If you laminate the board games and keep them in a box, they are great
for fast finishers or as a filler in lessons.
Older students can create board games with questions in
spaces to be answered when landed on e.g. What’s your greatest ambition? What sport
would you like to be able to play but can’t?
Secret Questions
If producing a board game seems too fiddly or time-consuming,
students can work in pairs (or individually) and write 6 questions (based on a previously
taught unit in the course book e.g. if they are practising the vocabulary of
jobs a question could be – What do you call a person who takes care of our
teeth? / dentist). They mingle around the class and when they meet another
pair/student, they have to roll or spin and get asked the question which they
have landed on.
Phonology
A fun game which revises lots of vocabulary and is great for
older children and adults is practising how many syllables words have. In
groups one student at a time rolls the dice or spins the spinner. When it lands
on a number that student has to say a word which has that number of syllables
in it e.g. 4 = photographer. If they are correct they win a point. At the end
of the game, points are counted up and a winner declared. This game is great
for recalling vocabulary and hearing it inside our head.
Mini-sketches
Students work in pairs and take it in turns to throw the
dice / spin the spinner and have to produce an utterance with as many words as they
have thrown. They have to conduct a whole conversation! You can assign topics
beforehand. If you can record them it’s fun or have pairs doing their dialogues
in front of the rest of the class, if they feel comfortable. This is great fun
and encourages students to be very creative and meaningful, while producing often
very short utterances.
Whose turn is it?
Choosing who gets to answer questions or dealing with lots
of hands up in the air can lead to accusations of unfairness. I group students
in the class so that there are five or eleven groups, each group assigned a
number. (I get a number, too) With the bigger class I use 2 dice or spinners.
When it’s time for someone to answer a question I roll the dice / spin the
spinner(s) and that group – or I – answer the question. Trust me – it’s fun and
students never complain if they have to answer more or fewer questions than
others as it’s just the luck of the draw.
Points lottery
Normally
whenever we play a game with students they win a point for a correct answer,
but let’s bring an element of chance. For example they could be playing Hangman.
Before they guess a letter they roll the dice or spin the spinner, whatever
number they land on will be the amount of points they get if they are right.
This adds that element of chance and daftness to the game. It is also great
practise to add up points at the end together in English.
Grammar Game
Another great
game for teens / adults. Bring in an interesting picture with a lot happening
in it or show a video clip from a film with lots of action but with the sound
turned down. Assign each number a tense e.g. 1=simple present, 2=present
continuous, 3=simple past etc. As students take turns rolling the dice they
have to create a sentence about what they are seeing in that particular tense.
Again students can work alone or in pairs. It’s challenging and yet very
meaningful as the rest of the class must accept or reject the offerings.
Making questions
Allocate each
number to a question word – 1=who, 2=why, 3=where, 4=when, 5=what, 6=how.
Decide on a topic – this is usually one studied recently. Students work in
pairs or small groups. One at a time students roll or spin and as they land
they have to make a question for their partner(s) on that topic using that
question word. For example if they land on 4 and they topic is sport a question
could be – When do you usually watch sport on TV? Making questions in English
is tricky and it’s great to practise as well as to review language from earlier
lessons.
Just use your
imagination and you can no doubt think of lots more activities to practise
English with these very simple tools.
