GAMES FOR CHILDREN

1. Don’t say YES or NO

Oral questions (mainly yes/no) and short answers.

Procedure: One volunteer student stands in front of the class. The rest fire questions at him or her, with the aim of eliciting the answer Yes or No. The volunteer has to try to answer the question truthfully without these words. This will mostly be through the use of ’tag’ answers such as ’I did’ or ’She doesn’t’. If the volunteer does say the forbidden words, he or she is ’out’ and another is chosen. Give a time limit. If within this time the volunteer hasn’t said Yes or No, he or she has won. This game can be also played in teams.

2. Cutting down texts

Forming new grammatical sentences by eliminating words or phrases from the original.

Procedure: Take a short text of up to about 30 words (it can be from your course book), and write it up on the board. Students suggest any section of one, two or three words that can be cut out, while still leaving a grammatically correct – though possibly ridiculous – text. Sections are eliminated for as long as it is possible to do so.

For example:

The princess was awakened by the kiss of a handsome prince.

The princess was awakened by the kiss of a prince.

The princess was awakened by a prince.

The princess was awakened.

The princess.

Princess.

The students then try to reconstruct the original text.

3. Chain story

Narration: use of vocabulary and constructing sentences.

Procedure: Begin telling a story. This can be the first few lines from a story form your course book, or improvised, or you can invite a student to start. Then, going round the class, each student has to add another brief ’installment’ to the story.

Variation; before you start ask each student to choose a word. It can be an item of vocabulary recently learnt, a verb in the past tense or freely chosen. Then each ’installment’ has to include the word the student has chosen.

4. Brainstorm round a word.

Vocabulary review and enrichment.

Procedure: Take a word the class has recently learnt, and ask the students to suggest all the words they associate with it. Write each suggestion on the board a line joining it to the original word, on a circle, so that you get a ’sunray’ effect. The same activity can be done as individual or pair work instead of in the full class. Students then can also make a story using the words.

5. Silent Speech

Pronunciation.

Procedure: In order to focus on pronunciation and the contribution of mouth movement, list on the board words which will illustrate the various sounds you would like to concentrate on.

Tell the class to listen as carefully as they can and then, when you have the students’ full attention, ’mouth’ a word silently. The students should try to identify the word by carefully watching the movement of your mouth. Ask the students to ’mouth’ words for each other derived from the list of words on the board.

6. Simon Says

Listening comprehension.

Procedure: Give the students a series of simple commands to perform”

Stand up!

Open your books!

Put your hands on your head!

Then tell them that only commands prefixed by the words ’Simon says’ are to be carried out – anyone who makes a mistake and obeys other commands loses a ’life’. After three or four minutes, how many students have still lost no lives? Or only one?

7. Jumbled sentences

Forming grammatical sentences.

Procedure: Pick a sentence out of your course book, and write it up on the board with the words in the jumbled order. The students work out the original sentence. If there is time, give a series of similar sentences, and the students do as much as they can in the time. There can be variations in constructing the sentence.

8. Conversation on a train.

Role – play.

Procedure: You are with other people in a compartment on an old – fashioned railway train. The train is going across Europe and Asia; from Paris to Vladivostok. You have already been travelling for several hours and nobody has spoken. You are bored. Start up a conversation with others. Think Who you are (variants suggested); Why you are travelling (variants suggested); Who you are going to see (variants suggested). From time to time the train stops at a station. Some people can leave the train, others can get on.

9. Funny Face

Vocabulary. Comparing and Contrasting.

Procedure: Work with a partner. You are going to draw your partner’s face. Your partner is going to draw you. To start with use the egg shape. You should draw eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hair. You can also draw some details.

Show your partner your drawing.

Say what you think of your partner’s drawing.

Use the prompts: The ………. Is really good.

My ears (eyes) aren’t like that; aren’t …………… enough.

My nose (mouth, hair) isn’t right. It’s too ………. .

It should be ………….. .

10. If I………….

Listening, drawing, discussing.

Procedure:

v Write on the board: …………. keep silent……..

………….. keep silent what do I hear?

If I keep silent what do I hear?

v Close eyes; listen carefully to all the sounds inside and outside the room. When the time (about a minute) is over, ask the children to go to the board and try to draw schematically the sounds they heard. These or others can comment on them.

For example: A child crying outside; a car engine started; a pen falling on the floor.