Recommended Level: Elementary grade 4

Point Quiz

Description

Students break into lunch groups. Each group receives a mini whiteboard to write answers on. Each group nominates a writer for the first question.

Display the first question and give all teams time to write and hold up their answer. Once everyone’s finished, reveal the answer and check for correct teams. Teams that answered correctly can then choose a prize for a chance to win/lose points. I tend to let teams chose in order of who answered first.

Rotate the whiteboard after each question so everyone writes at least once.

Notes

There’re enough slides for 12 questions. I’ve never gotten to the end in a lesson.

Zombie Game

Description

The whole class is divided into groups (usually based on the line they are sitting in) and each group is assigned a word. 

For example, if the sentence structure is, “I like + food” then group 1 will be assigned the word ‘pizza’, group 2 will be assigned the word ‘pasta’ and so on. Students will talk with each other (depends on the lesson goal – I like pizza, how about you? / What food do you like? I like pizza) and then play janken.

The winner ‘infects’ the loser: so if the winner likes pizza, the loser now likes pizza, too. They say goodbye and talk with other students and the ‘infection’ spreads. At the end of the game, students can see which group ‘infected’ the most students and are therefore the winners. 

Notes

In the demonstration, make sure to show that when you have been ‘infected’ once, you continue to talk with friends. The game does not end when you have been ‘infected’!

Also demonstrate what happens if you meet someone who likes the same food as you to avoid confusion (and unnecessary janken bouts) in game.

Remember to do a good/bad demonstration. Students must produce the English before playing janken (as with most janken games, students can bypass the English entirely) and encourage peer support. Remind them it’s not a race because sometimes students can forget which word they must use in that moment as it changes often throughout the game.

Before the game, you can write how many students are in each group under the relevant flashcard. At the end of the game, you can count and write the new number underneath. This provides students a visual aid to see what team won/lost and by what margin.

You can play this game in rounds very easily.

Pictionary

Description

The students make groups. Each group gets one set of small vocabulary cards, one whiteboard and one pen. The first player takes a random small vocabulary card without showing anyone else. They then draw a picture of that vocabulary on the board within a short time limit.

When the time limit is up, the students asks try to guess the vocabulary, using the target English. The first student to guess correctly wins one point. The whiteboard is erased, and next student then picks their card and draws their picture.

Notes

  • The time limit should be very short, even around 20 seconds. The idea is there is not enough time to draw a perfect picture.
  • For younger students, it’s better to have every group ask and answer their questions at the same time to keep the rhythm for the game going smoothly.

What’s This? Quiz

Description

The students make groups. Taking turns, each group picks a space on a grid shown on the TV (for example, red 3, green 2 etc). The matching space is then removed and part of a picture underneath is revealed.

The class asks: ‘What’s this?’. The group either replies with ‘It’s a ___’ or ‘I don’t know’. If they get it wrong or don’t know, the next group has a turn. When a group guesses the right answer, the whole picture is revealed and they start on the next hidden picture.

Letter Exchange

Description

The students first get a worksheet that has 6 random letters. The students draw the letters in the squares using whatever colour/design they like. When they’re finished, they cut them out.

The students then get a sheet of paper with their name on it written in English, and six letters which were made in the previous lesson (they don’t need to be the ones they made originally). They use the paper to make pairs and ask for letters. If their partner has the letter they asked for, they give it to them.

When they have all the letters to make their name, they can glue them (in the correct order) to their paper.

After class, students can add their own design to the rest of the paper, and glue it to their new name card to use for the next year.

Notes

  • It takes the students a long time to draw their letters, so it is best to split the activity into two lessons.
  • If using lower case letters, the first letter of each name is left for the student to draw on their own name card as a capital.
  • When making the worksheets, make sure you have enough letters for each student’s name – certain letters will be much more common than others. One way to do it is to take each student’s name, shuffle the letters and put them all on one worksheet. This worksheet doesn’t need to be given to the student whose name it was, however. If there are more than 6 letters, add those letters onto the next worksheet that has a short name. If there are left over spaces, fill them with common letters so there are some spares.
  • It’s recommended that the name cards are laminated once finished. The letters will often fall off the card throughout the school year otherwise.

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.

Perfect Set

Description

Students make groups and get a deck of cards. They shuffle the deck and get 5 cards each. The rest of the cards are placed face down in the middle of the group.

The group asks the active player the question, and they answer by putting down one of their cards into a discard pile. They then take one of the face down cards.

The students get one point for each unique card they have when time is up. A timer is set for about 5 minutes, but it is hidden from the students (so they can’t ‘run down the clock’ if they have an advantageous hand and want to stall).

Tree Game

Also known as:

  • Tree Game

Description

In groups, students pick 3 out of 6 animals shown at the top of the ‘tree’.

Starting at the bottom square of the tree, the students ask the teacher if they like the vocabulary in that square.

If the teacher says yes, the students go up and one square to the left. If they say no, the students go up and one square to the right.

If the final square has one of the animals they picked, they win one point.

The students change the three animals they want to pick, then the next round starts.

Notes

This can be changed into a production game, by having the students ask a volunteer to give their answer. If so, it is best to give some thinking time each turn, so the groups can decide the answer they want. The teacher then picks one group (by using a dice, pulling a card and so on) to give the answer.

Maze Game

Description

Each student gets a worksheet. The worksheet is a 9×9 grid with a vocabulary word in each square. The students make pairs. Starting in the bottom left, they ask each other question based on the vocabulary of the current square.

Their partner can pick either yes or no for their answer. If their partner answers ‘yes…’, the student moves to the space above the one they were on. If they answer ‘no…’, they move to the space to the right.

When they reach the top or right side of the grid, they will win a certain number of points. They then return to the bottom left space and continue.

Notes

  • There are multiple versions of the worksheet that have different points in different spaces. This way their partner can’t predict what that answer will mean for their partner’s score.

Telephone Game

Description

The students make groups (with as even numbers in each group as possible), and then make a line. The student at the front of the line gets a set of small cards. One member from the back of each group comes to the teacher and listens to them whisper the key sentence. They join the back of their line and repeat (by whispering) what the heard to the group member in front of them.

That student whispers to the group member in front of them and so on, until the student at the front of the line hears the answer. They pick the matching card from their set.

Once all groups have finished, the teacher confirms the answer. The student at the front of the line moves to the back and everyone else moves forward, and the game continues for the next round.

Notes