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And here is my set of games I like to use at the lessons. Some of them I have come up with myself,  others I took from different course books or heard from my collegues. My special thanks to the learning centre for youth "Leader", where I have had an opportunity to attend masterclasses and learn a lot of interesting and useful things. I am sure the list is not comprehensive and I will be grateful for new interesting ideas.

Follow the Leader

Teacher: Follow me. Come on, round the class. OK, We walk,walk, walk. Now we jump like a kangaroo, jump, jump. Now let's fly.Fly like a plane, like a bird... down again.

Simon Says

This is a game where the children follow the teacher's commands, but this time they have to be attentive and perform the action only after the teacher says, "Simon says". The pupils who obey the commands not preceded by these words are out.

Guessing Game

It can be played either with cards or objects, which the teacher puts on the chair at the teacher's table. A pupil comes up to the chair and chooses one of the cards (points to it silently to the teacher). Then the rest of the class try to guess," Is it a pencil - No.
 Is it a rubber?- Yes." The pupil who guesses is the next one to think of a word.

Bingo

This is a universal game. You can play it either with sounds or letters or vocabulary. Everything you need is a grid of six squares. Pupils write a letter (a word) in each square. The teacher says the letters of the ABC or the words on a certain topic randomly. The pupils cross out words which they hear. The first one to cross out all his/her items calls out,"Bingo!". The teacher checks the result. You can continue playing with the same grid changing the order of the words/letters. 

What's your topic?

Pupils are divided into groups. Each group has its topic, e.g colours, parts of the body, etc. On the teacher's table there is a pile of words. Each group has to find all the words that belong to their topic. The first team to find all their words wins!

Robot Game

In this game pupils become robots and perform what their teacher tells them to do: e.g. Open your books. Close your books. Take... Put down..., etc

Memory Game

A card game. Take cards with the pictures of the words you are studying Pupils chant the words in sequence: e.g. teddy, puzzle, kite, etc. then turn one of the pictures facing the board. Pupils chant the whole sequence including the missing word. Continue till there are no pictures on the board and pupils are saying the whole sequence from memory.

The First Hand

Cards, e.g. colours are on the desk. The pupils stand around it. The teacher says, "Blue".  The pupil whose hand is the first on the picture with this colour takes it. The winner is the pupil who has most cards.

Battle

Divide the board into two parts. Two pupils write as many words on a particular topic as they can (or, if they know a lot of words, you can limit the time). Count the correctly written words, cross out the repeated ones. the pupil who has more words left is the winner.

Vocabulary Expert

Take cards from a certain topic (picture cards for younger pupils or written words for elder ones), I sometimes play it with the parts of speech, e.g. adjectives. Each pupil takes the card and names or translates the word (or makes a sentence with it). If the answer is correct, the student gets the card, if no, the card goes beneath the pack. The winner is the pupil who manages to collect the biggest amount of cards.

Vocabulary Superstar

A page in pupils' exercise-books is divided into columns. Each column has its name or category: clothes, food, animals, appearance, etc. Then choose a letter of the alphabet. Pupils should fill in the columns with the words on the particular topic and beginning with the chosen letter. The first pupil who finishes writing all the words shouts, "Stop!" and everybody stops writing. Then check the words and count the points:
0 - no word in a category;
5 - somebody else has the same word;
10 - I have a word which is different from others;
15 - only I have the word in this category.
Total: 
You can variate this game by setting not the starting letter but the number of words in each columns (2-4).

Onion Ring

Pupils ask and answer each other's questions standing in a circle (two circles facing each other). When a conversation is  over, the pupils from the outer circle make a step to the right and the conversation repeats again but with the other interlocutor.

A TV Set

Four pupils present four TV channels (they may choose the channel themselves or take a card with the name of the programme)The teacher "changes" channels. When they are "turned off" the pupils continue their programme. Later the whole class discuss what was on.
 For younger learners the teacher can prepare texts for their presentation so that they could just read

Secret Merssage

The teacher writes on the board (or gives cards with) some "scrambled" words, e.g. nooract - cartoon. The pupils have to unscramble them.

The ABC race

The aim of this game is  to learn the ABC. The class is divided into two teams - crosses and noughts. The pupils dictate the letters of the alphabet  and the other pupils from the both teams take turns and write the letters on the board in any order, randomly. There should be one set of the English letters on the board. Then a pair of pupils (representatives of their teams) go to the board and cross out (crosses) or circle (noughts) the letters the teacher calls out. Then count the crosses and the noughts and find out which team is the winner. (Change the pairs after three- four letters).

The First Five

It is one of motivating techniques. When pupils have for example a writing assignment, I tell them that the first five to finish can come up with their works and get a higher mark for their answers. So, pupils are motivated to fulfil their task both correctly and quickly so that to gain the award.

Two Islands

One more way of evaluating pupils' answers, especially good for team games. The teacher draws two semicircles on the board - two "islands", connected together with five or six smaller dots and lines. One team goes to the left, the other team goes to the right island, gaining the right to make a step by giving the correct answer. Each incorrect answer is punished by having to step backwards. The first team to reach their island wins. 

Jeopardy game

It's a quiz game. Make a grid with the names of the categories (food, animals, weather, school, etc) and the points (10,20,30,40). A pupil        (either individually or as a team's representative) chooses a category and a number of points. The teacher gives the assignment corresponding to the chosen square of the grid. If the pupil gives the correct answer, he/she or his/her team wins the points. The winner is the pupil or the team with the biggest score. 
P.S. The assignments for 10 points should be easier than those for 40. For example, children will have to name 5 words on the topic to get 10 points, 10 words for 20 points, for 30 they may have to translate the sentence(s) and for 40 points they may have to answer some questions. 

I spy

With younger pupils. One pupil decides on a word (something in the classroom or in the picture)and says the letter it begins with. The class try to guess the word, asking Is it a (desk)? Secondary school pupils can give some clues and describe objects not necessarily from the classroom: "I spy with my little eye something white, it is in the kitchen. It begins like the word "frog". (fridge)

Hot Seat

The class is divided into two teams. Two chairs for two representatives of the teams are put in front of the board facing the class, back to the board. The teacher writes a word on the board, team members try to explain it to the pupils on the chairs. No gestures, only verbal way. The team which guesses the most words is the winner.

Spelling Shark

An alternative to Hangman. The teacher draws a decsending line (like a hill)  and a shark's mouth on the board. On top of the line there is a picture of a little man and there are some dots on it.  At the top of the board draw dashes corresponding to each letter of the word. Pupils have to guess all the letters and say the word. For each unguessed letter the little man "goes" one dot forward, closer to the shark's mouth. 
P.S. I often use this game to practice the spelling and revise the alphabet, so I don't allow my pupils to say the whole word before all the letters were named.

Missing letters

Write the words with the missing letters either on the board or on cards. Let the pupils find out which letters are omitted and write the whole words. (p_n__l -- pencil)

Class Mood Smile

The teacher draws a circle on the board at the beginning of the lesson. (It is good not to explain first what it is going to be). During the lesson the teacher adds rays to the circle for each well done activity or  correct answer, or wipes the rays away when somebody misbehaves. At the end of the lesson look at the rays and draw the face of the class mood smile: either happy, or sad, or so-so.

Beach Volleyball

It is also a way of evaluating team activities. The teacher draws sort of a net on the board and two "players". Team members give their answers and if the answer is correct, the teacher draws the ball in the player's hand. If it is not, the ball is on the ground. And keep the score!
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