9/5/2016

JonesTenWaystoTurnLessonsintoGames(TESL/TEFL)

TheInternetTESLJournal

TenWaystoTurnLessonsintoGames
TamaraJones
jonestamara[at]hotmail.com
HowardCommunityCollege
Competition can make even the dullest lesson exciting for both adults and children. However, motivating and fun
activitiescanbetimeconsumingforteacherstocreate.Everyteacherneedstoknowaboutthetengenericgamesthat
canbeadaptedtosuitalmostanyreviewlesson.

TheBoardGame
1.Materialsneeded:dice,markers,boardgame.
2.Beforeclass,makeaspecialboardgamepracticingthetargetlesson.
Startwithablankboard.
Ifitsahardcopy,printwords,symbols,orquestionsineachsquare.
If its on your computer (a basic board can be EASILY made with the graph feature of
Word),typewordsorcutandpastepicturesorsymbolsintoeachsquare.
3.Divide students into 23 person groups and give each group a board game, dice, and
markers.
4.Studentswillrollthedieandmovetheirmarkertotheappropriatesquare.
5.Theyshouldanswerthequestion,makeasentence,oridentifythepicture.
6.Ifastudentcannotperform,he/shemovesbacktotheoriginalposition.
7.Thefirststudenttoreachfinishwins.
8.Additionalrules:
Iftheactivitypermits,youcanaskstudentstogiveasmanyanswersasnumbersrolledon
thedice.
Otherplayersshouldactasthejudgeandcallontheteacherifdisagreementoccurs.
9.Thisgamecanbeused:
Toreviewanything.
Topracticeanygrammarstructure.
Togooverindividualsounds,wordstressorintonation.
Toprovideconversationtopics.
Toreviewvocabularywords.

TheCardMatchGame
PossibilityOne
1.Materialsneeded:Onesetofthesameormatchingcards.
2.Giveeachstudentintheclassonecard.
3.Studentsmustwalkaroundgivinghintsabouttheircard,eitherverbalornonverbaluntilthey
findtheirmatch.
PossibilityTwo
1.Materialsneeded:multiplesetsofthesameormatchingcards.
2.Dividestudentsintogroupsof23andgiveeachasetofmatchingcards.
3.Studentsracetomatcheachcardwithitspair.
4.Thisgamecanbeused:
Towarmup.
Togetstudentsintopairsorpartners.
Toreviewvocabularyoridioms.
Topracticeminimalpairs.
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Topracticecompoundandcomplexsentence,adjectives,verbforms,andothergrammar
items.

TheDiceGame
1.Materialsneeded:dice.
2.Dividetheclassinto24groups.
3.Askonepersonfromthefirstgroupaquestion.
4.Whenthequestioniscorrectlyanswered,thatstudentrollsthedice.
5.Awardtheteamthenumberofpointsthatisrolledonthedice.
6.Additionalrules:
Studentsmaybegivenatimelimittoanswerthequestion.
Othergroupmemberscannotanswerforthestudent.
7.Thisgamecanbeused:
Toreviewanything.
Asafastgrammarpractice.
Tocheckanswersfrombookworkorhandouts.
Asasummaryofwhatwascoveredinclassthatday.

TheDotGame
1.Materialsneeded:awhiteboardandmarkers.
2.Draw25dotsinasquareonthewhiteboard.
3.Dividetheclassinto24groups.
4.Askthefirstgroupstoansweraquestion,finishasentenceoruseawordinasentence.
5.If they answer correctly, one team member goes up to the board and draws a horizontal or
diagonallinefromonedottoanotherdot.
6.Iftheyanswerincorrectly,thegamemovestothenextteam.
7.Thestudentscontinuedrawinglines,onebyone,betweenthedotsuntilasquareismade.
8.Theteamthatmakesasquarewritestheirnumberinthesquareandthenmakesanotherline.
9.Ifthesecondlinemakesanothersquare,theycontinueuntiltheydrawalinewithoutamaking
asquare.
10.Theteamwiththemostsquaresontheboardwhenthereisnopossibilitiesformorelinesis
thewinner.
11.AdditionalRules:
Youcanimposeatimelimitof10secondsperquestion.
Youcanmakeitanindividualizedgame.
12.Thisgamecanbeused:
Toreviewanything.
Topracticegrammar,pronunciation,reading,listening,orwritingskills.
Tocheckanswersfrombookworkorhandouts.
Asasummaryofwhatwascoveredinclassthatday.

TheFlyswatterGame
1.Materialsneeded:flyswatters/flashcards.
2.Scotchtapesomeflashcardsonadeskatthefrontoftheclass.
3.Dividetheclassinto23groups.
4.Giveonepersonfromeachgroupadifferentcolorflyswatter.
5.Givethegroupshintsaboutwhichcardyouwantthemtohit.
6.Watchcarefullytoseewhichgrouphitsthecorrectcardwiththeirflyswatterfirst.
7.Givethefirstteamonepoint.
8.Additionalrules:
Theplayermustleavehis/herflyswatteronthecardtoearnthepoint.
Theplayersonlygetonechancetohitthecorrectcard.
9.Thisgamecanbeused:
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Toreinforcevocabulary.
Topracticepronunciationofminimalpairs.
Asaquickrevieworwarmup.

TheJeopardyGame
1.Materialsneeded:specialflashcards.
2.Beforeclass,makeaspecialsetofjeopardyindexcards.
Usefourcolorsforfourcategories.
Writethequestionononesideofthecard.
Writeanumberfrom14ontheotherside.
Makeaspecialcardforthetopiccategory.
Tape the cards so the same colors are going down the wall and the same numbers are
goingacrossthewall.
3.Dividestudentsinto23groups
4.Team One chooses the category and value and tries to answer the question or make the
sentence.
5.Iftheysucceed,theygetthenumberofpointswrittenonthecard.
6.Iftheyfail,thegamesmovestothenextteam.
7.AdditionalRules:
Youcanimposeatimelimitof10secondspercard.
Youcanmakeitanindividualizedgame.
8.Thisgamecanbeused:
Topromptstudentstomakesentencescontainingtargetlanguage.
Topracticegrammarstructures.
Togooverreadingstrategies.
Toreviewvocabularywordsandidioms.

TheM&MGame
1.Materialsneeded:M&Ms(candy).
2.PutstudentsintopairsorsmallgroupsandgiveeachstudentahandfulofM&Ms.
3.Write six different categories or topics on the board (sentence parts, conversation topics,
readingtasks).
4.Assigneachcategory/topicacolor.
5.StudentsshouldmakeonesentenceorgiveonewordforeachM&Mthattheyhaveaccording
tothecorrespondingcategory.
6.Additionalrules:
StudentscannoteattheirM&Muntiltheymakeasentence.
StudentscannotrefusetotakeM&Ms(Itellthemtothrowthemoutiftheydontwantto
eatthem).
7.Thisgamecanbeused:
Asanicebreaker.
Toreviewvocabulary.
Topromoteconversation.
Tobrainstormaboutdifferenttopics.

ThePlaydohGame
1.Materialsneeded:playdoh/flashcards.
2.Dividetheclassinto24teams.
3.Giveeachteamapieceofmodelingclayorplaydoh.
4.Askonepersonfromeachteamtocometothefrontoftheclass.
5.Showthemaflashcardwithawordorphrasewrittenonit.
6.Students should go back to their teams and form the word or phrase out of the clay while
his/herteamtriestoguessit.
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7.Additionalrules:
Themakershould(obviously)nottalk.
Noactionsareallowed.
To control the chaos, when a team guesses the correct word or phrase, they should sit
down.
8.Thisgamecanbeused:
Toreviewvocabulary.
Topracticeidioms.
Topracticeverbforms.
Forfun!

TheRelayGame
1.Materialsneeded:copesoftheworksheetwith1015sentencesforeachgroup.
2.Dividetheclassintogroupsof4or5andaskthemtolinetheirdesks/seatsup.
3.Givethefirstpersonineachrowahandout.
4.Eachfirststudentmustcompleteonesentenceorfindoneerrorandthenpassthepaperback
tothenextperson.
5.The second person must do the second sentence, but he / she can also check the first
personsworkforerrorsbeforepassingthepaperbacktothethirdperson.
6.Thefirstteamtofinishisthewinner.
7.Thisgamecanbeused:
Tocompletehandoutsorbookwork.
Toworkonerrorlocationactivities.
Topracticespelling.
Toidentifypartsofanessayorparagraph.
Topracticereadingstrategies.

TheWordGame
1.Materialsneeded:none.
2.Dividetheclassinto2or3equalgroups.
3.Askoneplayerfromthefirstgrouptocometothefrontoftheclassandsitfacinghis/herteam
withhis/herbacktotheboard.
4.Writeawordontheboard.
5.Telltheteamthattheycangivetheplayerhintsabouttheword.
6.Give the player a point if he/she can guess the word within one minute (longer or shorter
dependingontheclasslevel).
7.Additionalrules:
Theteammustnotsayanypartofthewordthatiswrittenontheboard.
Theteamcannotuseactions.
8.Thisgamecanbeused:
Toreinforcevocabulary.
Topracticewordstress.
Topracticegrammarforms.
Topracticeidioms.

Link
Games&ActivitiesfortheESL/EFLClassroom
TheInternetTESLJournal,Vol.XI,No.7,July2005
http://iteslj.org/
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/JonesLessonsIntoGames.html
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/JonesLessonsIntoGames.html

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