What are the best games to play
 

I'm teaching middle school and these are the games I use.

Chinese whispers- Simply take the student from the front of the row or the rear outside. Whisper in his or her ear and have them return to their rows and whisper it on until it reaches the other side. Double check to see if they get it right.

Alphabet Bingo- Make a standard 4 by 4 bingo grid on the board. Randomly place letters in each square. Give each team a chance to choose a letter. After choosing the letter ask a question that has an answer that begins with the letter that they have chosen. If they get the question right they claim that square and get their icon X or O placed in that square. The first team to claim an entire row without being blocked by an opponent wins the game.

Consentration- This is another Bingo style game. Simplly think off eight pairs for example irregular verbs or questions and answers

do-did
eat ate
see-saw
drink drank
go-went
write-wrote
make-made
run -ran

Write these on the cards and randomly write numbers on the other side. Stick them to the board so the number side faces the students. Give each team a chance to choose two numbers. If the choices make a correct pair they claim both cards. The team to get the most cards wins. Or the team to get a bingo wins.

Directions- Change the seating plan so all the desks are in small groups. Give each student a flashcard with the name of a shop.Blinfold one student and have all the other students direct him or her around.

Fly swatters game- This can be used to teach Body parts days of the week
months of the year or tag questions.

Put the students into groups and give each team a flyswatter.If you happen to be teaching the days of the week. Have the days of the week written on the board. Call out the day and the first student to hit the correct day gets a point for his team.

Speed quiz- Make some catagories such as food and list ten kinds of food. Have one student choose the card. He or she is given a time limit to describe each thing on the card using only English. He or she cannot say the words on the cards. After the time has expired each team is awarded points according to how many correct guesses their class made.

Drawing game- Have one student leave the room. Make a drawing using simple shapes. Erase the drawing and have the absent student return. Have the students tell the returned student how to draw the picture.

If you know any good game please tell me.

I moved this to the Idea, Games & Activities forum.

BTW, great games here! I like the Speed Quiz. Very appropriate in Korea "Bali Bali!".

Have you ever used any of these games in adult or university classes? If so, what is the reaction? If not, do you know of any good activities for adults or uni students?

eric

I've used the Speed quiz for Korean English teachers it works well.
Alphabet Bingo and Jeapardy work well too.

Fishead,

You have some really great games, or variations that I had never thought of. I wish you could post them individually so that each game would have its own thread. That would make less confusing to post variations, and easier to find. :o


I especially like your speed quiz game. Having prepared sets of words beforehand would be a much better way to generate a lot of English all on one topic. I have done something similar, but more random and so maybe less useful:

Have students go through their notes and pick out vocabulary words that they will be able to explain. Students write one word per square of paper, about 10 per student. You collect all the papers. Divide the class into 2 teams. Choose one student to come to the pool of words and pick one. Set the timer for, say, one minute. Have the student give hints without saying the word they've chosen. Whichever team says the word first gets the point. Play continues until the timer goes off. The game ends when every student has a chance to give hints.

I have another game I learned from a friend, I will post in a separate thread.

For my nursing college students I have made memory cards and played a game like STARE.

The first set I tried with them was a hospital with 15 departments on 5 floors. In small groups, one student took a hospital card and had 20 seconds to memorize the card (more time for younger students.) Time up.

The student roles the dice. They then passed the card to the next person.

That person makes up a question like: "Where is cardiology?"

The original students must answer correctly. "Cariology is on the 4th floor."

If they are correct, they advance across the board and role the dice again and get another question, until they make a mistake or the same number comes up. If they make a mistake first time out they don't advance.

You must prepare cards for them to memorize and some sort of game board to advance across. The cards to memorize can be bingo cards and the must remember what is next to/under/over/across from what, or you can draw your own cards.

This is great for practicing both vocabulary and some set question/answer activites.

Is there ~ next to ~?
Where is ~?
~ and ~ are on line 2. What else?

the game can be addapted I'm sure.

Mark
MES-English.com

Nice! I'll definitely be able to use this in my larger university classes. Thanks! I've been hurting for ideas and activities lately.

Re: What are the best games to play
 

Great games - I also do a variation on the drawing game when I teach prepositions of place. The kids seem to love it, and it may work better with mixed ability/larger classes.

Before class I draw 3 three pictures, one simple, two more detailed. In class, I ask for a volunteer to come out the front, and I give them the simple picture, miming that I'm not looking at it. Then I ask "What is in the picture?" and draw what they describe. Then I show both pictures to the class, pointing out any differences.

I then hand out blank A4 paper to students, one piece between two students. I ask for another volunteer and have them come out the front and describe one of the more complex pictures, while all the kids try to draw it. I usually prompt the volunteer if they are having trouble, or make a mistake (e.g. saying "left" instead of "right" when describing where something is). When done describing, I show the original picture to the class so they can compare the original picture to the redrawn pictures. I then take the best drawing and stick it to the blackboard. Repeat the activity with a new volunteer and the second complex drawing. The game lasts 10-15 minutes.

I think this version of the drawing game may be easier with the Chinese middle school students I have. In Fishhead's version, there is the danger that one of the less able kids will start trying to whisper directions in Chinese. However, if you have a more motivated group or smaller group where cheating is more easily controlled, perhaps Fishead's version is better because more people get a chance to practice speaking.