Groups: Class

Mystery Friend

Description

The students fill out questionnaires to give their answers relating to the target English. The teacher collects all their papers and picks a random one. The students ask questions and the teacher answers as the ‘mystery friend’ (the student whose paper they picked). Students can volunteer to guess who the mystery friend is, and when they guess correctly the teacher picks a new questionnaire.

Notes

  • It is worth spreading this activity into multiple lessons – one for the students to write their own answers and interview each other, and one to play mystery friend. If the students write their interview answers on a separate worksheet, they can use this in the mystery friend game to help them guess the answer.

Super Mega Janken

Description

On the board, each target vocabulary is placed in a horizontal row. The class splits into two groups, and each group makes a line, one on the left side of the board and one on the right.

The first student in each group, starting from the left or right respectively, says each vocabulary on the board and moves towards the opposite side. When they meet the opposing player in the middle, they play janken. The loser goes to the back of their row and the second player in their group starts saying the vocabulary from the beginning until they meet the opposing player once again. This continues until one student reaches the other end of the board. Their team then wins one point.

Notes

  • This game is very hectic and high-pressure for the students. Also, only two students in the class are playing at any given time. It may be best to split the class into smaller groups.
  • It is more manageable to make sure the students say their vocabulary at the same rhythm – i.e. they cannot say the next vocabulary until their partner is ready to move on. This prevents one student from going too fast and not speaking clearly, or another getting stuck and losing out.

Not 21!

Description

Students make groups. The first student starts at 1 and can say between 1 and 3 consecutive numbers. The next student continues from the next number. For example, student A says “1, 2, 3”, student B says “4”, student C says “5, 6”, and so on. Whichever student says “21” sits down. The last student standing is the winner.

Notes

  • Rather than skipping any student that sits down, the rule can be that they continue to play and stand back up if they say “21” again.