Red Elbows

Play some music, the more hectic the better for kiddies.

Stop the tape and say a body part and a colour – they must touch something in the room of that colour with that body part. Mayhem ensues.

The last one to touch something is out there.

Hot Seat

Put the students in pairs groups.

One remember of the pair/team describes an object/word without saying that word, and the others have to keep guessing until they get the word they are looking for. If they say the word, they lose a point/have to start again with a new word.

This can be adjusted for a higher level by giving several words which cannot be said, for example /aeroplane’ is the word, and the students aren’t allowed to say ‘aeroplane, fly, wings’ or ‘transport’.

Pass the Ball (Get to know you game)

Students pass, kick, throw, head, bounce the ball to each other and say what they are doing as they do it, i.e. ‘I am (kick)ing the ball to (Doris).

Grey Elephant from Denmark

(Grammar activity box)

Seat Swap

Students sit in a circle, with the teacher in the middle.

Teacher picks a category, i.e. ‘If you’re wearing blue shoes’, or ‘If you’ve got a pet’, the corresponding students have to change seats.

The teacher takes one of the free seats before the students change, so there is another person in the middle, who picks the next category.

Back to Back Art

Students sit in two rows, back to back.

The teacher gives one row a set of simple pictures or diagrams.

Each student describes the picture to the person sitting behind them and they have to follow the instructions and draw the picture.

The result can be analysed in terms of: place (corners, sides, height up the paper, direction), accuracy (how the individual shapes are represented), detail (exact reproduction of size, colour, distance etc.)

Blind animal soulmates?!

Students are told to close their eyes or are blindfolded, according to behaviour level.

Give them animals in pairs (2 ms, 2 ds, 2 aardvarks etc.)

Students walk around the room making their animal’s noise until they find their partner.

They can now be a pair for the rest of the class, or be sued for group management.

Mallett’s Mallet

Two students come forward for the challenge.

The teacher starts the game by giving them a word. They must take it in turns to say the first word that comes into their head, without pausing or repeating.

When someone hesitates, they get a smack across the head with a big stick or other implement that comes to hand.

If a strange word comes up, other students can stop the game, and the students must justify themselves to the rest of the class. If it’s not good enough …

Memory Game

Students are given a picture of an everyday scene to look at for an unspecified time (don’t tell them why) and then it’s taken away and they must answer questions about it. (Grammar Games and Activities on 22)

Two True!

Introduce the game by telling the students three things about yourself, two of which are true and one which is an outright lie. The students must guess which is untrue. The students follow by doing the same in groups/pairs (make sure they are saying interesting thins, not just ‘my name is …’ ‘I like dogs’)

Arrange the Room – Grammar Games

Students are given a blank template of a room and some cut-out furniture, in groups.

Take one student from each group outside and show them the complete picture of the room for a few seconds.

They must go back to their groups and tell them where to put the furniture, without using their hands.

Slap, Click, Think

One student start by slapping his thigh, clicking his fingers and saying a word/two words of the same category i.e. ‘banana, grape’.

Move around the class, repeating, or thinking of other examples of the same category ‘grape, melon’, ‘melon, apricot’.

If a student can’t think of a new example, he’s out like a candle in the wind.

Crazy Hand Game, eh?

Students stand in a circle and grab hands (two different peoples, and not the person next to them).

They must give each other instruction (endless, climb over Chas and Dave’s arms to come next to Aphonse) so that the circle is complete and untangled (people don’t all have to be facing the same direction).

Stringy story

Students stand in a circle and the teacher starts telling a story and passes a ball of string to another person (not the one next to them).

The story continues around the group until everyone has come string or the story ends.

The students must then untangle the string by giving instructions to each other (see crazy hand game).

I went to the shops and I bought a …

Students form a chain of things that they bought from a shop by adding to a list around the class. The first one to make a mistake is out.

Identity Parade

Form groups and tell one person from each group that he is the policeman.

Find a picture of a person in a magazine and show it to the other members of the group (not the policemen). Do not tell them what it is for. Just say something like, ‘Take a look at him!’ after three seconds the picture is taken away and they are told a robbery has occurred and they must provide a full deion. They must remember what they look like.

The policemen come back to their groups and quiz them onto a sheet about what the suspect looked like.

The policemen come back to their groups and quiz them onto a sheet about what the suspect looked like.

When the policemen think they have enough information, they must look through the magazine and find the criminal. The first team to succeed in catching him/her wins. (Modified from Pairwork 1 – Eyewitness)

Hidden Identities

Some secret identities / personalities are pinned to the students’ backs (I have the plague, I am a murderer), and the students must wander around as if they were at a party, but talk to the others as if they were that person / had that characteristic. At the end students guess what is on their back.

Irish Blessings (get to know you)

Have students stand in a circle. At the count of three they hold out their hand with 1-5 fingers out. If they hold out 3 fingers (for example) they have to go around the circle shaking hands with each person and tell them three interesting things about themselves. Follow in a chain until each person has introduced themselves to the whole group.

Instruction Race

On a board marked with 20 squares, the students must draw/write what the teacher says in the right place (up 2 squares, draw a house, right 3 squares and write your name, etc.) In a 2 teams, the best drawings/most accurately followed instructions win.

Pictionary

In teams, one student draws something on the board and the rest of that team must guess what it is. Easy!

Chinese Whispers

Good for introducing something that would otherwise be hard – students stand in lines facing the board. The teacher whispers a sentence/target language to the furthest student from the board and they whisper it down the line until the last person can write it. Doesn’t matter how correct it is – just take the mickey and stress the importance of listening carefully.

What Could It Be

Draw a simple diagram – type figure on the board and students must say what it could be – a rugby ball – could be an eye, a flying saucer, an egg, etc. The most imaginative answer wins!

Call My Bluff

Write a new word on the board.

Make up 3 definitions for the word, one of which is true, 2 of which are false.

Students must guess which is correct from the structure of the word or they way you define it (without smiling/laughing).

Lock and Key (for kids)

Teach ‘lock’ and ‘key’.

When you say ‘I’m a gold lock’, students must answer ‘I’m a gold key’.

Maybe you could make/draw the locks on the board.

Repeat with silver, red, yellow, big, small, etc. and finish with ‘I’m a monk lock’ so that the students must say ‘I’m a m’ and then run around like ms for the rest of the two hours.

Alphabet Names (for a first class)

Tell the students to line up in alphabetical order and stand back. In order to do this they have to ask each other’s names.

Ladder Game (good for kids)

Kinds sit on the floor in two rows facing each other and touching feet, in a ladder shape.

Each kid is given a word that has been taught. Two rows, two sets of cards.

The teacher reads a story/some sentences containing the target words.

When a student hears their word, they must get up and run to the front of the ladder, sitting opposite each other.

The first line to get to the front of the room/have a ladder made entirely of pairs of words, wins.