Tag Archives: games

Two Games to Revise Vocabulary

If you’ve been reading me for some time  you know how much I love games. Unfortunately, when I was a student at the high school I don’t seem to remember games being part of the teachers’ lesson plan. Now, from the other side of the fence, I wonder why with so many different  things you can do in a language class, we never did anything funny; well, occasionally, we did some fill in the blanks exercises with songs, but that’s it! I also wonder how, being our classes so boring, I ended up being  a teacher.

If you are at all like me, you will love playing these games!!!

♥AGAINST THE CLOCK
This game requires some preparation. On slips of paper, write down the vocabulary that needs to be revised (verbs, phrasal verbs, adjectives…etc) . Students, sitting in a circle, play in groups of four or five, so there should be one set of cards for each group. Set a random amount of time, which students won’t know (this is important so that they don’t cheat). Give the pack of cards to one of the students. Set the timer. Now, he has to describe the word to the students in his group using only verbal language and, it goes without saying, without saying the word or part of it. When a student guesses the word, then the cards are passed to the next student. The person holding the cards when the alarm in the timer goes off loses. Continue playing until there is a winner.

Click to see a good selection of Classroom Timers

♥A-Z Picture Vocabulary.


This is a good activity to brainstorm new vocabulary and also to give more advanced students the opportunity to show off a bit. Students play in pairs or in threes mixing stronger and weaker students.
A picture with lots of elements is displayed on the Overhead Projector and students need to find in the picture something beginning with each of the letters of the alphabet A-Z .Set a time limit of 7-8 minutes
 

 

 

Acapela.tv: converting text to speech in a funny way

This site is plain fun ! Acapela .tv is a new site that has a lot of potential for the language class.
Choose a real character or a cute cartoon and make him speak. Choose from a range of voices that interpret and read content with meaning and emotion. This text to speech tool is great to do dictations or revise vocabulary among other things.

HOW I’M PLANNING TO USE IT

♥I think it might be funny to divide the class into two groups -the class I have in mind, right now, is a small class of nine students; with larger classes I might need to divide it into three or four groups.

My aim with this activity will be to make sure students revise some vocabulary related to money for their next test. So, the class is divided into two groups. They need to listen to their cartoon speaking, write down the words the character asks them to revise and be able to explain them to the other group. Each character will say the same number of words and you know the rest… don’t you?? A competition, as usual, something that I, a very competitive person, just love.

TEAM A

TEAM B

♥My next step will be asking selected students from different courses to do the job. The volunteers will need to go home, register and create a character to revise vocabulary. Obviously, they’ll need to copy the link provided and send it to me so that I can display it when playing the game in class.

What do you think? Will they like it?

Blog de Cristina is also on Facebook. 

Comparatives and Superlatives Practice

I wanted to say Happy Tuesday but this weather is really getting me down in the dumps. You might not believe it but it has been raining nonstop for more than two months now and I feel I need some sun to cheer me up. Added to this is the fact that I’ve been working mornings, afternoons, evenings and also two weekends in a row. Only today, I am quickly writing this post to leave again to go to work .

Anyways, these are two activities I’m planning to use with my Elementary students to practise  Comparatives and Superlatives. I found them via BusyTeachers and they are just what I need right now: highly motivating activities which require no preparation . Thank you  so much for sharing,Susan. (see her profile here).

Look Around You Race
Students in groups of four compare students in the classroom. Set a time limit of about 5 minutes and on your signal each group of students should write as many comparative and superlative sentences as they can about the people in their classroom. At the end of the time period, have one group share their sentences. If another group has the same sentence as the first group, both groups should cross that statement off their list. Continue until all groups have read all of their statements and any duplicates are eliminated. The group with the most statements remaining wins.

These Are the People in Your Family
Students are given about 10 adjectives that can be used to describe people: hard-working, tall, young, old, funny, intelligent, tall, fat, happy, pretty… Then challenge them to write a sentence using the superlative form of each adjective about a person in their family. Once the sentences are completed, each person should write a list of the family members who appeared in their sentences. Students in pairs exchange the lists of people but keep their sentences to themselves. Each person should ask questions about their partner’s family and try to match each person to their superlative adjective. For example, a person might ask, “Is Lucas the oldest person in your family?” The other person should answer with a yes or an explanation. “No, Lucas is only four years old.” Give students time enough to ask each other questions, and then see who in your class figured out the most family member qualities!

Let’s go to the cinema!!!

This is a very simple activity to do some speaking about films I intend to try with my Elementary students. Nothing too complicated but I guess they’ll love to see how  film titles are translated  into English. Who, in the name of God, translated the film DIE HARD  starring Bruce Willis  into LA JUNGLA DE CRISTAL or SOME LIKE IT HOT starring Marylin Monroe  into CON FALDAS A LO LOCO. Was it Google Translator???

Anyways, there is a whole lesson plan about films ( complete with vocabulary, listening, reading and writing) that I created some time ago, if you feel like doing some more practice ( Click on the picture if you are such a hardworking student), otherwise and for the time being we will just focus on speaking.

THE GAME: SPEAKING. The game is easy: the class is divided into two groups. In turns, one member from each group sits on the Hot Chair facing  away from the whiteboard. The members of their group have -like one minute- to describe, without mentioning the title ( that goes without saying, but just in case, I’m saying it), the film being displayed .

They will need to talk about.

Kind of film/ Nationality of the film/ director/ plot/

Some hints:

♥The film ‘_______’ is a(n) _______ film which takes place in _______.
♥The film is set in __(ancient Greece)__.
♥The story is based on __(a popular novel)__.
♥The film is directed by _______.
♥The main character(s) in the film is/are _______.
♥_______ is a character who _______.
♥__(Johnny Depp)__ stars as __(Captain Sparks)__.
♥In the film , __(Jack Black)__ plays __(a rock guitarist)The story is about _______
♥The best scene of the film is_____

Speaking: Talking about Jobs

I wasn’t planning on posting right away but my gym is still flooded so I can’t work out. It is still cold and rainy here in Asturias so I don’t seem to have many options but to stay at home looking after my kids.

Plenty of time in the afternoon to prepare classes  and still so hooked on Picture Trail that I have decided to use it again, and this, only when I have used it for the first time on Monday. Addictive!!

ACTIVITY 1

Funny!!!  Students are given a job and they won’t know what it is. They are given a worksheet with questions about their job  to ask the other students in the class, see worksheet here. Read the instructions on the worksheet, go through the questions and possible answers.

Ask students to come to your desk to get the jobs stuck on their backs (post-it). Students walk around the classroom mingling freely, asking each person  a couple of questions and writing down the answers. Stop the activity after 10 minutes of questioning or when the first student has correctly guessed their job. Ask the rest of the students to sit down and write down what they think their job is.

Source : InsideOut Resource Pack

ACTIVITY 2.

Students in pairs talk about the questions  in Picture Trail