Games Are a Powerful Tool for Teaching English

8/13/2019 Games Are a Powerful Tool for Teaching English

1/9

Games are a powerful tool for teaching English. While other subjects require thecontent to be the main point of the game, English can be the tool and you can play

just about any game you can think of. I love games and love to think up new waysto teach using them.

ere are some of my favorite games. !ome of these games I have thought upmyself. !ome of them come from bits and pieces of other games. !ometimes, agame just didn"t go right and what the students enjoyed doing was more interestingthan the original game. In any case here they are in order of importance to me#

$E!%$ark"s favorite games# page one, page two , page three

&ingo# there"s another whole page dedicated to this. 'rust a guy who makes bingocards for every vocab set, that there"s more to just marking squares and calling outnumbers.

the (ine )umping Game# practice word differentiation or review of vocabulary

!tudents line up in one single file line.

'he teacher defines the teacher"s right side as *animals* and the left side as*numbers.*

'he teacher calls out *penguin,* and the students all jump to the teacher"sright and then jump back into line.

'he teacher calls out *+ ,* and the students all jump to the left side andthen jump back into line.

'he teacher should do the e-ercise with the students and list various items withinthe category as a warm up. ou can then try to trick the students by jumping to thewrong side yourself. 'his will get the students listening and thinking instead of

just following you. /nce they have gotten a little better, you start the game.

I like to have 0 or rounds where I try to trick them once each round. If theyaren"t fooled by me jumping to the wrong side they win. It can be done as a knock%out game but I prefer to keep everyone in the game and just reward students withstamps or stickers for each successful round.

'he word groups can be changed to more complicated language later on, nouns%adjectives, nouns%verbs, things you do inside%things you do outside, subject

pronouns%object pronouns...

the E-ercise Game# a '12 3'otal 1hysical 2esponse4 segment that"s much betterthan !imon !ays
http://www.mes-english.com/games/moregamestoplay.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/moregamestoplay1.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/flashcards/bingo.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/moregamestoplay.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/moregamestoplay1.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/flashcards/bingo.php


2/9


3/9

9o, I don"t. 'hey"re disgusting.What"s your favorite vegetable:I like tomatoes.

>or kindergarten or lower, you can use an egg%timer and tell them to see how many

rounds they can do in ? minute. /ne time around % one stamp, 0 times % 0 stampsand so on.

6ollect "em# 'his was the inspiration for the es 9o Game and the idea is thesame.

!tudents need to collect groups of of the same card. 'his game can be played using the small cards from this site or any others ou"ll need a total of at least @ cards per student

We"ll pretend that we"re working with "sea animal" flashcards and that I"m a student#

each student has @ cards I need to get 0 sets of cards 3 - crab and - squid for e-ample4 I go around and ask other students " ave you ever eaten 3sea horse soup4:"

&ecause I have this sea horse card that I want to get rid of. the other student answers and takes my "sea horse" card that student then asks me the question inserting the vocab of the card she

wants to get rid of

we break apart and play continues/nce a student has her 0 sets of she wins, or comes in first place7

'he game gets more interesting and difficult if you can increase the amount ofcards per student. >or e-ample, you can have them try to collect sets of , or 0sets of A.

$ost of my card sets are linked to target language and you can really get in a lot of practice using these type cards. owever, you can just write up some words on paper and play the same way.

ou can also force the students to tell the truth to some e-tent#

make some cards with "never" "all the time" "sometimes" written on them. student must look at what they want and ask questions that will elicit the

response they are looking for. !? wants a "never" card so he goes up to someone and asks, " ow often do

you go to my grandmother"s house:" !0 must answer truthfully and hand over that card if he has it. If he doesn"t have it he can hand over any card he has 'hen repeat !0 %%B !?
http://www.mes-english.com/games/yesno.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/yesno.php


4/9

'his type is generally looser than the vocab cards and I let students ask anyquestion they can think of to produce the response they want. 'hat"s a little easierwith the "yes no game " card sets.

/thello or 2eversi# vocabulary practice, sentence formation, conjunctions % great

for one%on%one and low number classesI also play /thello a lot. I"ve used my cards to make an /thello game. /ne side hasthe pictures 3white4 and the other side is the backing 3black.4 'he students must usethe vocab on the cards in a sentence to flip them 3or just say the vocabulary %simple.4 >or e-ample#

!imple# *'his a boy playing the piano.* ; *1lay the piano.*$ore difficult# * esterday, I saw a boy playing the piano.*

Cs the card number increases I usually tell the just pick cards to say, the rest can just be turned over. owever, I try to get them to make some sense out of thestring 3but funny non%sense is also a lot of fun.4

* esterday, I saw a boy playing the piano and he was eating a hamburger. &ut, hewasn"t reading a book*

'he kids use /thello rules on a @ by @ board. It"s a lot of fun and the kids willrepeat the clause many many times and internali8e the pattern. ou don"t need a

board just define the center 3the first A cards4 and tell the students they can branchout 0 cards in any direction from the center and that"s the border or boundry.

Dsing fun and interesting activities in language classes can grab the attention ofyour students and increase their focus and retention of the material. 'hese areseveral pages of activities and games for group lessons, private classes, kidsclasses, one%on%one lesson plans and more. 'hey are versatile, adaptable anduseful across a broad range of target language structures.

$E!%$ark"s favorite games# page one , page two, page three

!ay 'heirs# sentence formation practice, fluency, or vocabulary review

I put playing cards in the middle of the table. Each student chooses one word andthen we have one round where everyone announces their word. 'he students mustremember everyone else"s words.

'hen they take turns drawing one card and placing it in front of them. When thesuits match 3heart%heart4 the two students race to say the other"s word first. 'he

fastest gets the loser"s pile of drawn cards and places them in his points pile. 'henthe game continues.
http://www.mes-english.com/games/yesno.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/yesno.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/yesno.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/gamestoplay.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/moregamestoplay1.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/yesno.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/gamestoplay.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/moregamestoplay1.php


5/9

When drawing cards the new card goes on top of the others so the student only hasone card showing at a time. When the student losses he must give all of his cardsfrom the drawn pile to the winner 3but not his point cards he already won.4

Ct the end, students may add their drawn pile cards they successfully protected to

their points pile.I start with single words as round one 3simple vocabulary review.4 'hen once thestudents get the hang of the game for round two or the ne-t time we play I have thestudents make sentences. !o, if students are practicing past tense, they wouldmake a short 3you have to limit the sentence length4 sentence like *I went to thelibrary.* 'hen, when the cards match up the attacking student would say, * ouwent to the library.*

ou"ll have a room full of people speaking and they have to speak while someoneelse is speaking and it"s a great way to get them to speak with distractions. 'heywill also try to bolt the phrases out as fast as they can which is great for theirfluency.

'ry 2emembering 'his# learning vocabulary or short phrases, drilling game

=rilling vocabulary or just say phrases with flash cards can get boring veryquickly. 'his is a game to play to help students learn the vocabulary. I runthrough vocabulary as usual with flash cards and drill. &efore I lose them, I show

them @% cards consecutively lying them face down on the table as we say them.'hen I pick up the stack and ask the students, */5. What was the first card:* 'hefirst person;team who can tell me the vocabulary word;phrase;sentence wins thecard, and then I ask them for the ne-t card. 2andom guessing is good but stopthem at or A and then repeat using the same cards they couldn"t remember plushowever many more to get you back up to the same number as before.

'ies can be inserted back into the deck or given to the weaker student;team withreassurances from the teacher, *I think he said it first.* F4

the /ne &reath Game# vocabulary;short phrase practice and fluency e-ercise

(ay out your vocabulary cards and have the students say as much as they can inone breath. !tudents who can say them all will start again from the beginning andsee how far they can get and a third time for the really e-traordinary. /5. 9owround two7 'ry to beat your previous record. 2eward students that can improveon their performance accordingly 3stamps, stickers, dollars toward pri8es...4

'his game is quick and should stop after %A rounds or so. We don"t want students

passing out. It"s a great way to help increase fluency and strengthen vocabulary, but the students should be competent in the target language. If they can"tremember the word every time, then the point of the game is lost.


6/9

I 9eed It % a game to practice "What do you need:" "I need ..." and vocabulary

'his is basically Go >ish in reverse. !tudents want to get rid of all the cards intheir hands. If a student collects of the same card, they can discard them or hangon to them to discard all at the same time. 'he first student to get rid of his cards

wins. deal out all the cards 3you need at least 0 of each card but %A is ideal4 'he first student, !?, can ask anyone in the group "What do you need:" 'hat person, !0, looks at her cards and answers with "I need 3whatever card

she needs.4" If !? has the card, he hands it over to !0 and can go again. If !? doesn"t have the card, he says something like "!orry. I don"t have it."

and it"s the ne-t persons turn.

!lap# 3a.k.a. karuta4 vocabulary building;listening e-ercise

!tudents get into small groups of @ or less if possible and make a circle. ou"llneed at least one set of cards for each group.

(ay out the cards in the middle of the groups. 'he teacher will then call out a cardand the students will race to slap the card. 'he first person to slap the card gets thecard and the game continues.

'eachers can call out just a vocabulary word, *a book* or they can incorporate theword into a sentence, *I went to the store and bought a book. *

I generally try to trick them by saying something that isn"t there and seeing whoslaps a card anyway. 1eople slapping a card by mistake must skip one round.

!lam#vocabulary review;sentence practice or fluency e-ercises

(ay the cards out in a single line or semicircle. !tudent line up in 0 teams at eitherend of the line or semicircle. /ne person from each team begins by saying the

vocabulary or phrase associated with the first flash card and then the ne-t and soon until the two teams meet somewhere in the middle.

'hen the 0 players play rock%paper%scissors and the winner advances while theloser returns to the back of his line. /nce the loser has returned the ne-t personfrom the losing team starts with the first card. When they 0 players meet theyagain play rock%paper%scissors and the game continues like that.

'he goal of the game is to reach the end of the line and get one point for yourteam. Ct the end of the game, the team with the most points wins.


7/9

Ideas and different activities you can use in language classes. 'hese pages of E!(games will help with building English vocabulary, sentence formation, or can beused to help build grammar knowledge or solidify and practice new grammarstructures.

ere are some general games that can be played with small game cards#$E!%$ark"s favorite games# page one , page two , page three

!nakes and (adders# vocabulary review;sentence practice

$ake your own snakes and ladder type game by simply laying the small gamecards out board game style and have the kids roll a dice and move alongsaying;using the vocabulary. If you have enough to go all over the room, great7

$ake a bunch of the large flash cards and who needs markers. 'he students can play the game by literally moving and jumping themselves from card to card. &ethe game.

6oncentration# is also known as " Memory ". ou need two sets of flashcards so thatwith each vocabulary word you can make a pair. ou"ll put all of the flashcards outface down in the center of a group 30%@ students.4

% 'he first student will turn over two cards.% If the cards are the same, the student keeps the pair as a point and goesagain.% If the cards are not the same, the student returns the cards to the face down

position and then it"s the ne-t player"s turn.

Each time they turn over a card I have all the students in the group say the word3s4associated with the card. With more advanced students they will make a sentencewith the vocabulary, ask a question to another student using the vocabulary, givethe opposite meaning, or any speaking task you can associate with the card.

/ld $aid# vocabulary review;sentence practice

!huffle a deck of cards containing two of each game card and one joker. =eal outall of the cards to the group.

% each person looks at their cards and discards to the center any pair they mayhave. Cs they discard, they perform some language task associate with thosecards.

% play starts from the person with the most cards remaining 3or whomever you"dlike.4
http://www.mes-english.com/games/gamestoplay.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/moregamestoplay.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/gamestoplay.phphttp://www.mes-english.com/games/moregamestoplay.php


8/9

% the first player takes one card from the person to their right. 'hey look to see ifthey"ve made a pair. If so, they discard the pair as above. If not, play moves to the

person to the left 3clockwise.4

% 'he goal is to get rid of all your cards. Cs each player takes a cards, makes a pair

and discards those cards, one player will be left with the joker. 'he last player leftholding the joker is the loser.

Go >ish# is a game where again, students are trying to get 0, or A of the samecard. 'he more the students need to collect to make a set, the longer the game willrun 3and the more fun it is for older students.4 =epending on how many of thesame card you want the students to collect you"ll need 0, , or A sets of smallflashcards per group 3 %@ students;group.4

% set all the cards face down in a messy pile in the center of the group. 'hisis your "pond."

% tell each member to take number cards. !omewhere between +% is agood number. ou want about half the cards left in the "pond", the center.

% to start student ? asks another student, anyone in the group, for any cardstudent ? has in his hand, *5enny, do you have a lion:*

% 5enny looks at his cards and if he has a lion, he gives it to student ?

% If 5enny doesn"t have a lion he says, *9o, I don"t have a lion. Go fish.* andstudent ? takes a card from the "pond" ending his turn.

% 'hen the ne-t student can ask someone for a card.

% When a player gets 0, , or A of the same card, they put the cards down in

front of them and those are their points.

% Ct the end of the game, the player with the most points is the winner.

5ids love this game. ou can really do a lot with the question. ou can just ask foran item or you can make it more elaborate.

% *=o you have a boy that works at a gas station:*% * ave you ever been to &ra8il:* 3if they have a &ra8il card, they answer yes. Ifnot, they answer no.4% *What happened: Were you stung by a bee:* 3if they have the "stung" card, they


9/9

answer yes. If not, they answer no.4

and so on...

6heck the $E!%English Games and Cctivities >orum for games that don"t use

flash cards
http://www.mes-english.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=3http://www.mes-english.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=3

Documents

Games Are a Powerful Tool for Teaching English