Some kinds of game

Games & Activities for the ESL/EFL Classroom



Bad Fruit: A Shoppers` Nightmare
Level: Easy to Medium
This is an oral communication activity appropriate for EFL learners in elementary/primary school. (It`s optimal for grades 3-6). This game is designed for practicing "shopping" dialogues and vocabulary.
Materials: "produce" and play money.
Object of Game: To accumulate as many products as possible.
Students are divided into clerks and shoppers. The clerks set up "stands" to allow easy access for all shoppers (e.g. around the outsides of the room with their backs to the wall). The shoppers are given a set amount of money* (e.g. dollars, euros, pounds, etc.) and begin at a stand where there is an open space. Students shop, trying to accumulate as many items as possible (each item is 1 unit of currency). Periodically, the instructor will say "stop" (a bell or other device may be needed to attract attention in some cultural and classroom contexts) and call out a name of one of the products. Students with that product must then put ALL their products in a basket at the front of the room. The remaining students continue shopping. Students who had to dump their products must begin again from scratch (with fewer units of currency). The student with the most products at the end wins. Students then switch roles.
*It is recommended giving students as much money as possible since students who run out can no longer participate.
Alternative play for more advanced students: Clerks set the price of items. Shoppers have the option of negotiating the price. There are two winners in this version: The shopper who accumulates the most products and the clerk who makes the most money.
Submitted by: Mike Yough


What`s the Question?
Level: Any Level Type of Activity: listening and speaking Purpose: review question forms previously studied in class Procedure: Form two teams (three will work, but two seems to add just the right amount of competitive tension).
Explain the game, with a few examples of answers in search of questions. Ask, `What`s the question?`, and get students to correctly say the corresponding questions for your answer.
Have two players--one from each team--come to the front. Style it like a game show if you like, with the students standing side-by-side. If you have access to bells or buzzers, it`s even more fun.
Next, read an answer to a question and say, `What`s the question?` The fastest player to respond wins a point for her/his team. New contestants come to the front for a new round.
Rationale: This game forces the students to think backwards a little, so they must provide a grammatically perfect question. All too often, they are used to answering rather than asking questions, so this is challenging and useful as review.
Submitted by: Tim


Toilet Paper Icebreaker
Level: Any Level
This activity is used as a "getting to know you", icebreaker on the first day of class.
Teacher takes the toilet paper roll and takes several squares of toilet paper, then hands the roll of toilet paper to a student. The teacher tells the student to take some, more than three.
After everybody in the class has some paper, we count the squares we have, then we have to tell that many things about ourselves, in English.
This activity works well with substitute teachers also.
The toilet paper is such an attention getter.
Submitted by: Linda LeBlanc


Chain Spelling (Shiri-tori)
Level: Easy to Medium
The teacher gives a word and asks a student to spell it, and then a second student should say a word beginning with the last letter of the word given. The game continues until someone makes a mistake, that is, to pronounce the word incorrectly, misspell it or come up with a word that has been said already, then he/she is out. The last one remaining in the game is the winner.
This game can be made difficult by limiting the words to a certain category, e.g.. food, tools, or nouns, verbs, etc.
Submitted by: Huang Shufang


Bang Bang
Level: Easy
Divide the group into two teams. Explain that they are cowboys and they are involved in a duel. One student from each team comes to the front. Get them to pretend to draw their pistols. Say "how do you say..." and a word in their mother tongue. The first child to give the answer and then "bang bang", pretending to shoot his opponent is the winner. He remains standing and the other one sits down. I give 1 point for the right answer and 5 extra points if they manage to "kill" 4 opponents in a row.
Editor`s Note: Instead of