Language games are a fun way to involve the students in the lessons as well as to practice target areas of language. Everybody likes games; however, the adults are hard to move from their seats sometimes. We have carefully selected some games which will cater those stiff type learners to move their muscles. Think of the level of the students and the target area of language you are going to focus. Teacher can alter or innovate new steps and tact-tics using creativity.
Heads Up
This is a vocabulary game, can be used as a warm up. In
these games students describe words to their teammates against the clock. It is
a really effective way to review vocabulary, either to see if students remember
what was learned in the last session, or to refresh knowledge relevant to
today’s class. This can be done as a team game taking two students from each
team at a time. Let’s see how it is done in a famous TV show:
Truths and lies
This is a spoken and writing game. Teacher can first demonstrate
the game by writing two truths and one lie about yourself on the board and ask the
class to guess what your lie is. Once they grasp the concept, give them 5 to 10
minutes to write their own list of two truths and one lie. Students take turns
presenting their list to the class for participation points.
Vocabulary Relay
This can be used to as a warmup activity before a writing
activity. First, teacher can divide the class into two teams and provide colored
markers. Then, draw a line down the middle of the board and write a topic at
the top. The students must write as many as words related to the topic in a
relay. The first person will write the first word and pass the colored marker
to the one next in line. To make it more competitive, the teacher can use a
timer and ask students to complete the task within the given time. Score each
team with one point for each correct word. Unreadable or misspelled words are
not counted.
Countdown
This is a brainy vocabulary game. Teacher can take two or
three players from the groups and ask them to sit in front desks facing the
class. Teacher can take one student to be the judge with a dictionary. Players
take turns selecting a consonant or a vowel to produce nine random letters, and
from these letters they have to make the longest word they can. It can be a bit
of a challenge, so it’s best played with higher levels, but students often get
really into it, and it’s an ideal game for more reserved students. Let’s see
how it is done in the classic British programme Countdown.
Who am I?
This is an enjoyable spoken game. On a piece of paper, write
the names of famous people (just make sure your students are likely to know
them). Teacher can take the volunteer or the selected student to come forward
and stick the word on the forehead or the back collar. They then have to deduce
the name on their card by asking the other players/ the class questions, for
example "Am I dead or alive?" or, "Did I bring fame to the
country?" Each person gets one question per round, continuing until they
feel they can guess the name on the card or teacher can limit the number of questions.
The Story Is Full of Blanks
Let your students be editors by going through a text in
which words are missing. They must then choose the correct word out of a list
of words provided. To make it more creative and interesting, you can let your
students choose between articles, prose, drama, or poetry. You can copy any
appropriate text passage that will benefit your students’ needs, level, and
purpose of studying English.
The What’s Missing Game
The teacher puts about 10-15 target vocabulary words on the
board. This can be done by taping flashcards to the board or simply by writing
the words or drawing pictures. The students line up in front of the board and
are given about a minute to try to memorize all the vocabulary words they see.
Then, the students must turn around so they can’t see the
board and the teacher removes one of the words. Students turn back around and
must guess “what’s missing.” The first student to say the correct word gets a
point! If you use flashcards, you can hand the student the card as an easy way
to keep score.
Sinking Ship
Teacher can tell that there is a sinking ship scenario where
a ship is gradually sinking, and players must choose a certain number of
survivors to get on the lifeboat. Teacher can introduce the characters to be
rescued like: a pregnant woman, a young child, old man, doctor vice versa. Ask
students to give reasons why you would rescue them. The other student may stand
up and provide comments opposing the idea. To do this, the students in the
class need some fluency of the language.
Secret Word
Students are given a random topic and a random word that is
unrelated to the topic. The students must hide the word in a speech about the
topic. They are trying to make sure the other students can’t guess the secret
word. The other students listen carefully to the speech and attempt to guess
the secret word. Again, the teacher should think about the level of the
language of the students in the class.
Desert island
Give each student a piece of paper and tell them to draw an
item. (Any item.) Collect the drawings and pass them out again; no student
should receive their own drawing. Next, tell the students that they’ve been
stranded on a desert island, and only half of the class can survive and
continue to inhabit the island. The only thing each student will have on the
island is the item depicted in the drawing given to them, and their goal is to
convince the class that they should survive based on that item.
Word Association
You can let your child pick the first word, for example
“cat”. You then think of a word that is connected like “dog” – it's an animal. Your
child then chooses the next word that he/she associates with 'dog' - for
example, 'bone'. You keep going until you get stuck. Another way is picking or
giving a word and getting students to list words as much as they can that
relate to the selected word. Just similar to mind mapping.
There are number of ESL games on the web you can try. Please
let the readers know about such games and your classroom experience when
playing the games. Kindly leave a comment below to make the post more
interesting. Please share the post if you find it useful.
Sources:
A Handbook for Teachers Distributed by : English Unit –
Ratnapura Education Zone
https://eslactive.com/best-esl-games-for-adults/
https://bridge.edu/tefl/blog/esl-games-for-adults/
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-games-for-adults/
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