Games to play with teenagers in the English classroom.

A great vocabulary revision game:

1. Divide the class into two teams each standing in line at the board.2. Give them a topic like food and drink, sports, countries etc (they must be very

large lexical sets).3. The student at the front on each line runs to the board and must write a word in

this lexical set beginning with A on the board.4. She then hands the chalk or pen to the next person in the row (and runs to the

back of the line), who adds a word beginning with B until they reach Z.5. If they cannot think of a word beginning with a particular letter they can leave a

space, but the team with most words at the end is the winner.

Example of a board during a game:

Games to play with teenagers in the English classroom.

Some students love mime and others are not so keen. Adolescents can get very self-conscious and embarrassed, so don’t push it upon them. Students between 8 and 12 usually love them. I have had many adult students who liked them too.

Prepare slips of paper with instructions like these:

You’re knitting on a fast train.You’re eating spaghetti with chop sticks.You’re sweeping leave outside on a windy day.You’re washing a big, angry dog.You’re a clumsy waiter.You’re a drunk tightrope walker.

These can be relatively easy or very complicated linguistically depending on your students.  

Give a slip of paper to one student with the instructions that she is going to mime the activity and the others must guess what she is doing. No words, in any language, can be spoken.

The first person to guess – in English what she’s doing is the winner and gets the next slip of paper. (If the same students always guess, let others have a chance to mime).  

Once they get the idea of the game, get students to write similar instructions on slips of paper. This can get incredibly funny.

Games to play with teenagers in the English classroom.

This game is great for listening.

Arrange chairs in the classroom so that everyone is sitting in a circle. Give instructions like:  

Everyone who has a sister change seats If you live in a flat or house with an even number change seats If you are wearing brown shoes change seats Everyone with blue eyes change seats

Again instructions can be graded so that even students with little English can play – using colours, clothes, family etc.

Those who fit the description must stand and change seats, the others remain seated. After a few turns, remove a chair at each instruction, so that one person does not manage to get a seat and they are out – they could then give the next instruction. The last student remaining is the winner.

Be careful with boisterous classes – there may be some overenthusiastic pushing.

Games to play with teenagers in the English classroom.

A quiet game of concentration for when the laughter gets too much

Collect around 20 objects – ruler, pen, comb etc. Just look around the classroom, teacher’s room, your handbag or kitchen for objects that your students know the words for. This game can even be played with 5 or 6 year olds if you limit the objects and ensure they know the vocabulary.

Place the objects on a desk in the class covered with a scarf or something similar.

Tell the students they will have 4 minutes (vary the time depending on the class) to look carefully at the objects and remember them.

After 4 minutes cover the objects again and students must write down what they saw. They can do this individually or in small groups.  

The winner(s) is the student who remembers most.

Games to play with teenagers in the English classroom.

The pairs version of this is quite well-known. Students have a number of cards in front of them upside down and they must take turns turning over two. If they get a word that matches the picture they keep the cards. The student with most pairs at the end is the winner.

This version is more challenging and I have had classes of teens thoroughly enjoying the challenge.

The version below is based on lexical sets, but you could choose the three parts of the verb (go, went gone, drink, drank, drunk etc).

Prepare cards like the ones below:

Table Desk Wardrobe

Kitchen Bathroom Toilet

Peach Orange Banana

Mexico Spain Australia

Red Green Pink

Cut up the cards, ensuring you cannot read the words when the card is upside down. Spread them on the floor upside down and mixed up.

Divide your class into up to five teams. Each team must nominate a secretary who will choose the cards.

One at a time each secretary will ask the teacher to turn over three cards (great for ‘on the right’, ‘that one near your foot’ etc).

The team only wins the cards if the words are all in the same lexical set.

Otherwise the teacher turns them over again in exactly the same place as they were.

The teams with most ‘threes’ at the end is the winner.

Students really focus on the position of the cards and think carefully about meaning of words and how they connect.