Recommended level: Elementary grade 6

Go Fish

Description

The students make groups. Each group gets a deck of cards, and each student is dealt the same number of cards. Remaining cards are left in a deck in the middle. If a student has a pair of the same card, they can take it out of their hand and put it in a separate discard pile.

The player asks any other student in their group if they have a certain card, using the target English. If the student they asked doesn’t have the card, they answer ‘no’ and player must pick up an extra card from the middle deck. If the middle deck is empty, the discard pile is shuffled and used. If that student does have the card, they answer ‘yes’, and give that card to the player. When a player has a matching pair of cards, they can discard it.

The goal is to be the first player with no cards remaining in their hand.

Notes

  • It is best that each student starts with an odd number of cards, so no one can instantly win by making pairs.
  • Once a student wins, it is recommended that the game is reset and the students start again. If the remaining students play until everyone has no cards left, those first few who finish will be left out for quite a while.
  • The player can either freely ask any student they like for cards, or they always ask the student next to them in a circle. The former is more difficult to demonstrate but allows for more interesting strategy, the latter is simpler but may make the game less interesting.
  • This game generally requires a lot of cards! Assuming an average class of around 30 students split into 6 groups of 5 students, at minimum you would need around 108 cards (3 starting cards for each student plus 3 in the middle deck). 5 starting cards with 5 in the middle deck would need 180 cards total.

Quick X and O

Description

Draw a 3×3 noughts and crosses/tic-tac-toe board. Label each square from A-I. Set the timer for ~30 seconds, and repeat the target English until the time is up. The teacher then picks one of the spaces (referencing the letter in that square) and marks it with an ‘O’. A random student then picks a space, which the teacher marks with an ‘X’. For the second round onwards, toss a coin or roll a dice to see who goes first out of the teacher or students. If either the teacher or the students can get three of their ‘O’ or ‘X’ marks in a row, they win. If there are no spaces left at the end, it’s a draw. 

Notes

  • This game will last between 3 and 5 rounds, depending on when one team wins.
  • It’s best for the teacher to not pick the centre space first, as better to give the students a chance to pick it to have an advantage.

Teacher Battle

Description

The students repeat the target English with the teacher until the timer goes off. A dice is then rolled two times, once for the class and once for the teacher. This continues each round and each score is added to that ‘team’s’ total. The ‘team’ with the highest score at the end is the winner.

Notes

Alternatively, you could roll the dice once each round, the first round going to the class’s score and the second round to the teachers, and so on. However this way you would need to do an even number of rounds for the game to be ‘fair’.

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Search Zone

Description

The students make groups. Each group gets a set of vocabulary cards (face down) and they split the cards evenly between themselves. Any cards left over are kept in the middle of the group. The students cannot check what cards they have until the end of the round.

The teacher puts each large card into one of three ‘zones’ on the board. They set a timer and call random vocabulary until time runs out. The students repeat. The ‘zone’ of cards that the last called card is in ‘wins’. The students turn over all of their cards. Each card that matches the winning ‘zone’ is worth one point.

The students then shuffle their cards and split them between themselves for the next round, still face down.

Notes

  • When splitting cards between groups, whether there are any left over will depend on the size of the group and the number of vocabulary cards. For example, if there are 9 cards and 3 students in a group, each student will have 3 cards and none will be left over. If there are 9 cards and 4 students, each student will have 2 cards and one will be left over.
  • A ‘left over’ card could be worth one point for every student.

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Dice Battle

Description

The students make pairs and get a dice each. The teacher picks a keyword. The students repeat until the keyword is called. Then, the students roll their dice. Whoever gets a higher number wins one point. If both students roll the same number, they both get one point.

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Timer Zone

Description

The students make groups. Each group gets a set of vocabulary cards and they split the cards evenly between themselves. Any cards left over are kept in the middle of the group.

The teacher sets a timer and calls random vocabulary until time runs out. The students repeat. The student who has the card that matches the last called vocabulary wins one point.

After a certain number of rounds, the students shuffle and pick new cards.

Notes

  • When splitting cards between groups, whether there are any left over will depend on the size of the group and the number of vocabulary cards. For example, if there are 9 cards and 3 students in a group, each student will have 3 cards and none will be left over. If there are 9 cards and 4 students, each student will have 2 cards and one will be left over.
  • A ‘left over’ card could be worth one point for every student.

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Letter Hunt Relay

Description

Break students into teams of four players (max). Each team is given a whiteboard marker (make sure it’s erasable). Each team lines up in front of the blackboard where their letter poster is hung up (one per team).

The HRT/ALT calls out a particular letter. The first student runs up to the board and circles one of the called letters. They then return to their team and pass on the marker. The next student then runs up and does the same. Repeat until all four letters have been found and circled. When a team is finished, they sit down/put their hands on heads etc. Points can then be awarded for 1st, 2nd and so on.

Clean the posters and repeat for round 2 with a new letter.

Notes

  • There are three different versions; upper case, lower case and mixed letters.
  • You can hold up a flashcard of the chosen letter if students need extra help.
  • If your class is too big, they can sit in circles and pass the poster around instead. I’ve only played this game with small classes.

Quick Zone

Description

The students are split into groups. The first row of students is the first group, the second row is the second group, and so on. Give each group a ‘zone’ on the board, and put one or more flashcard in each zone.

A timer is set for around 20-30 seconds, but kept hidden from the students. The teacher points at one card and says the target English, and the class repeats. They then move to the next card, repeat, and so on. Whichever group’s zone the last called card is in when the timer goes off wins one point. The cards can be shuffled for the next round.

Lucky Roller

Description

The students make groups. Each group gets a dice and each student gets a worksheet. The teacher picks 5 vocabulary words and assigns them numbers from 1-5.

The group asks the first player the target English question. They roll the dice and answer using the vocabulary word that matches the number they rolled. If the student rolls a 6, they can pick any answer from 1-5. The student puts a mark under the number they rolled (or picked, if it was a 6) on their worksheet. The group then askes the next student the question and they do the same thing. For each line they can complete, they get one point.

After a certain amount of time, the teacher can change the vocabulary for each number. 

Notes

This game can be done just for an answer without a question, but make sure the students don’t start rushing and not saying the target English!

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Quick Lucky Roller

Description

The teacher draws 3 groups on the board – 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6. The students repeat the teacher until the timer goes off, at which point the teacher rolls the dice. If they roll a 1 or a 2, they put a check mark under the 1/2 group, and so on. This continues each round. If the dice roll results in a group that has already been checked in a previous round, it doesn’t count. If all 3 groups can be checked off before the game finishes, the class wins!

Notes

It’s useful to draw boxes on the board to show how many rounds are going to be played, and check them off as you finish each round.