This is a project funded by CETL

Language Games for Learning Arabic

by Amal al Ayoubi

CONTENTS

Introduction – why use games?

Find someone who …
The Noughts and Crosses Game
Catch Phrase
Split Sentences
Crime Investigation
Write a Story
The Auction Game

Introduction - why use games?

There are several reasons for using games in the language classroom and for
providing examples of games here.

1 Language games can provide learners with useful language practice in a

relaxed and enjoyable way.
2 They can help improve classroom atmosphere and dynamics by
encouraging peer support and interaction.
3 Many coursebooks do not provide this type of practice material.
4 Language games are flexible and can be used at almost any time in a
lesson.
5 Games can be used for both accuracy-based work and fluency-based
work.
6 Games can be long or short depending on the time available.

Below are descriptions of six language games you might like to try out with your
learners.

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 The Auction Game
Aims: accuracy and revision work
Grammar points: mixed structures, adjectives
Level: Beginner 3 – Lower Intermediate
Time: 30 minutes
Materials: Sentences prepared by the teacher according to the student level.
A hammer if possible.
An auction sheet with a budget for spending and a list of bought
items.

Procedure

1 Create the atmosphere of an auction room with the teacher standing behind
a high desk. Ask students if they are familiar with the words used in
auctions and introduce them to the class. The game is also a chance to
reflect on the cultural interaction between Europe and the Middle East. For
example, words used in auctions are adapted from Italian words such as:––
‫تريز على دوه على اونه على‬

2 Put students into pairs and give each pair an auction sheet with the
sentences you have prepared. Tell them that some of the sentences on the
sheet are correct and some are incorrect. They must read through and decide
which sentences are correct and which are not. Tell them that if they buy an
incorrect sentence they lose a certain amount of money. After you start the
auction the students bid for sentences that they believe are correct. Tell
them that each pair has a certain amount of cash that they can spend on
buying the sentences. They should write the prices of the sentences they
buy onto their auction sheet. They must not exceed the amount of money
they were allocated. The pair with the most correct sentences and the most
money at the end of the auction are the winners.
Note that the teacher should not help the students while they are discussing
in pairs which sentences to buy before the auction starts.

3 Start the auction

a) Read out the first sentence in a persuasive way even if it is wrong,
and then ask them to bid for it.
b) Keep the bidding moving fast to convey the excitement of an auction room.
c) If the students buy an incorrect sentence, tell them that it was a wrong
and what the right structure would be, but don’t go into details at this
point so as not to lose the momentum of the auction atmosphere.

4 At the end of the auction discuss with the students the wrong sentences.

Acknowledgment

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‫‪I first used the auction game with my lower intermediate class after finding it in‬‬
‫‪“Grammar Games” by Mario Rinvolucri, Cambridge University Press.‬‬

‫‪Example Auction Sheet‬‬

‫مزاد علني‬

‫شراء‬ ‫الميزانية‬ ‫الجمل‬

‫بيت القديم في وسط المدينة‬

‫ما اسم مكتب السيارات الجديد؟‬

‫لندن أكبيرة عاصمة للفلوس‬

‫كان محمد رجل لطيف ولكن غريب‬

‫وجد لورا الشباك المكسور‬

‫سأشرب بيرة مع صديقتي أمس‬

‫‪3‬‬
 Find someone who …

Aims: to provide learners with interactive question practice

Grammar: mixed structures, question forms
Level: Beginner 3 – lower intermediate
Time: 20 minutes
Material: Sentences prepared by the teacher according to the level of the
students.

Preparation
Write a number of sentences that go with the heading “Find someone who … ”, for
example, “… is going to the Middle East this summer.” Write the sentences on cards
or on a worksheet and distribute to the students.
You can use the sentences on the card to revise a recently taught structure or to
introduce a structure you want to deal with in the lesson.

Procedure
Distribute the cards (or worksheet) among the students. Then tell them to move
around the classroom, talking to their classmates, in order to find someone who
can answer the question on the card or who fits the description on the card.

For example:

Find someone who:

- ‫سيذهب إلى الشرق الوسط في الصيف‬

‫يعمل في شركة بترول‬

‫عنده أسرع سيارة في العالم‬

‫عنده سيارة يابانية‬

‫يريد أن يذهب إلى السينما يوم السبت‬

‫يسكن في بيت قديم‬

‫يركض كل يوم في الحديقة العامة‬

‫ذهب إلى مطعم عربي و لم يحب الطعام‬

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 The Noughts and Crosses Game

Aims: Revision and accuracy work

Grammar: Modals
Level: Beginner 3 – lower intermediate
Time: 20 minutes
Material: drawing on the board

Procedure
1 First check that the students know how to play Noughts and Crosses, i.e. learners
play the game using either noughts or crosses, they take turns and they try to get
three noughts or three crosses in a straight line either vertically, horizontally or
diagonally.
2 Draw this grid below on the board.
3 Divide the team into two groups and tell them that they have to choose a word
from anywhere in the grid and use it to form a correct sentence. If you want you
can give a time limit, e.g. a student can not take more than 20 seconds to produce
a correct sentence. Alternatively, you can tell each group to select a
spokesperson who is responsible for giving you a perfectly correct sentence with
the word. This encourages lots of discussion in the team to find a correct
sentence using the word. Teams take turns and try to get three noughts or
crosses in a row.
4 This is a very flexible game which can be used at almost any level since you can
choose easy or difficult words to put in the grid.

Example grid:

‫لزم‬ ‫ضروري‬ ‫ممكن‬

(‫يجوز)بيجوز‬ ‫ما لزم‬ ‫مستحيل‬

‫ما ممكن‬ ‫ما ضروري‬ ‫معقول‬

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 Catch Phrase
Aims: Listening and speaking practice
Grammar: modals
Level: Beginner 3 – lower intermediate
Time: 30 minutes
Material: translation

Preparation
Write a number of short sentences which will use the Arabic modals you would like to
teach. Write sentences that can be used as a catch phrase. For example, “I didn’t know
such a thing was possible.” (This sentence will require the Arabic modal – ‫بيجوز‬
‫ضروري – ممكن الخ‬. ). Put the sentences onto an OHP transparency so that you can
show it on a projector in the class.

Procedure
1 Ask students to translate the sentences you show on the overhead
projector/board.
2 Put the students into pairs and ask them to choose one of the sentences that they
have translated. Then they need to create a dialogue in which they use the chosen
sentence as the catch phrase.

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 Split Sentences
The girl who…

Aims: Listening, speaking and grammar

Grammar: relative pronouns
Level: Upper Intermediate
Time: 30 minutes
Material: translation

Procedure
1 Divide the class into group A and group B. Provide each student with a card
that has part of a sentence written on it. Tell them to learn to say by heart the
words on their card. Then collect the cards. Alternatively you can let them
keep their cards if they lack confidence or have poor memories!
2 Ask students to walk around the classroom repeating their sentence to other
students until they find the person who has the other part of their sentence.
3 Note that this is a very flexible game because you can use it to practise a
variety of structures and linking words. When you write your own sentences,
make sure that the different sentence halves will match with only one other
sentence half.

Example:

Group A Group B

I saw the girl…………… who worked as a secretary.

I attended a lesson ………….. that I enjoyed a lot.

This is the car …………….. that I have been dreaming of.

‫فئة ب‬ ‫فئة أ‬
‫الذي يعمل في شركة الزجاج‬ ‫قابلت الرجل‬
‫يعمل في السعودية‬ ‫تزوجت رجل‬
‫الذي عصرته لي في الصباح‬ ‫شربت العصير‬
‫التي لحنها الرحباني‬ ‫سمعت الغنية‬
‫الذي طبخته أمي‬ ‫أكلت الطعام‬

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 Crime Investigation
Aims: Speaking and listening practice, past tense question practice
Grammar: Past Tense, Past Tense Questions
Vocabulary: family members, dates, times, places
Level: Lower intermediate 1
Time: 40 minutes

Procedure

1 Tell the class a murder has been committed: a man has been found dead next
to the swimming pool in his garden.
2 Tell two students they will work as investigators and their job will be to find
out who committed the crime. Ask them to leave the room and prepare
questions they will each ask a group of suspects. Provide them with some
help if necessary.
3 Divide the rest of the class into two groups. Each group must decide among
themselves who is the murderer and why the murder was committed. They
must also decide who they are, what relation they have to the murdered man,
where they were at the time of the murder, and what their alibi is. Allow the
learners some degree of creativity at this stage.
4 Invite the investigators to return to the class and question the people in the
group. The groups can take turns, with one group listening to the other group
being questioned and trying to work out who committed the murder.

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 Write a story

Aims: word-building activities, story writing

Grammar: Consolidation of a variety of structures
Level: Beginner 2-3
Time: 40 minutes

1 Provide students with a sheet of paper that has examples of a number of

related words and ask them to see if they can find the relationship
between the words. For example, words with a similar prefix or suffix,
nouns derived from the root verb, adjectives, etc.
2 Ask students to write down other words they remember and tell them to
try and derive related words as in the examples you have given.
3 After each student has collected a number of words, divide the students
into two groups, Group A and Group B. (The teacher has the chance here
to regroup the students according to their strengths, e.g. strong students
can be put together if it is a class with very mixed abilities).
4 Ask the members of Group A and Group B to select the words they want
to use to write a story.
5 Once the students have written the story, each student needs to memorize
a sentence from the story. The group then practise telling the whole
story.
6 Each group narrates their story to the other group.
7 The members of the other group can ask questions about the story.

‫شرب‬ ‫شراب‬ ‫مشروب‬ ‫يشرب‬ ‫شربان‬

‫رسم‬ ‫رسمة‬ ‫مرسوم‬ ‫يرسم‬ ‫رسام‬
‫طار‬ ‫يطير‬ ‫طائرة‬ ‫طيار‬ ‫طير‬

Acknowledgment: This game was used by Ghinwa Mamari and Reem el- Botmeh on
an intensive summer course at SOAS Language Centre.

Amal al Ayoubi, SOAS Language Centre, November 2005

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