Crazy Story

Level: Any Level This is an activity that will make your students speak in class and be creative.

Ask students to write a word on a piece of paper and tell them not to show anyone. This word should be a verb (or whatever you'd like to rewiew). The teacher starts telling a story, then stops and chooses a student. That student will continue the story and must use his/her word. This student then chooses the next student to continue the story. The last student must end the story. After the story is over, the students then try to guess what words each student has written on his/her paper. The student who guesses the most words wins the game

Classroom Rules: Must and Mustn't

Level: Easy to Medium Prepare small pieces of paper each with either one thing students must do or one thing students must not do. Tell the students that they are supposed to form sentences that explain classroom rules. Divide the class into groups (of 4 if possible, so that everyone gets a chance to speak). Give each group the pieces of paper. The winning group, the group that finishes first, reads their sentences aloud. (Each student of the group reads one or two sentences depends on size of group.) It's an easy game and the preparation does not take too much time. You can make as many rules as you wish.

Headmaster Game
Level: Medium to Difficult Have each student take out a piece of paper and their dictionary. Write on the board: You are the new headmaster of this school. You have two years to make this the perfect school. You can have as much money as you want, but you must spend it all in 2 years. What changes would you make immediately? What changes must be gradual? What would you do to make it a better school?

What changes would you make?

Be specific. For example, don't say hire better teachers. You must say how you would find better teachers or what kind of teachers you would hire. Also, remember you must think like a headmaster, not like a student! Making school easy and letting the students do no exams or homework will not make parents happy! Give the students 15 minutes to work alone. Then put them in groups of 3-5 with a leader to organize their thoughts. Each group's leader will give its "report" to the other students during the following class period. If your students have a small vocabulary you can help them out by listing on the blackboard areas of discussion: teachers, buildings, classrooms, activities, dorms, lunchrooms,curriculum, sports, playground, library, bathrooms,schedules,music, art,etc. This is a great activity for all ages. We always run out of time!

Can You Find What Is Different?

Level: Easy Ask a volunteer to go out of the classroom. While the student is out of the room, the other students change their sweaters, shoes, coats and so on. Bring the student who went out of the classroom back inside. He/she has to guess the differences

Fold-over Stories
Level: Any Level This is an old favorite. Give each student a sheet of blank paper. Write the following words on the board in a vertical line: WHO, WHAT, HOW, WHERE, WHEN, WHY. Explain that everyone will be writing a sentence story. Write an example on the board, explain, asking for suggestions. 1. Tell them to write someone's name at the top of their paper, i.e., their own, a classmate's, the teacher's, a famous person that everyone knows; fold the paper over once so no one can see it, then pass the paper to the person on their right. 2. Write on the received paper what the subject did (suggest funny or outrageous actions), fold it over and pass it on to the right. 3. Continue to write one line, how they did it (adverbs), fold and pass; where-pass; when-pass; and last of all, why (because...) and pass it one more time.

4. Have the students unfold their stories, and read them silently. Help anyone who cannot read what the others wrote, or doesn't understand. 5. Ask one student at a time to read "their" story aloud, or turn the stories in for the teacher to read.

Martian
Level: Medium to Difficult Tell your class you are a Martian and you inhabit a human body to study human ways. You then ask about virtually anything in the room, and ask follow up questions: What is this? It's a pen. What's a "pen"? You use it to write. What is "write"? You make words with it on paper. What are "words"? ETC... You can make it as difficult as possible for your higher level students; at some point, though, you'll need to say "OK, I understand", and go to the next object. Even your best students Hill eventually get stuck on this one!

Lost in a Jungle
Level: Medium to Difficult This is a game suitable for a class of pre-intermediate and up. The game can be done in groups of three to six students. It keeps everyone involved even the quietest students. The Teacher prepares a list of say 20 items and writes the list on the board or gives copies to groups. This is a list of things that people may need if they're lost in the jungle and things that they may not need. For example:

A pack of canned food 50 meters nylon rope Knife Torch

Tent Cellular phone 6 gallons of water Petrol Alchohol Blankets Candles Matches ...

Then, the students in groups decide on 5 itmes on the list which seem essential to all of them. This usually takes a whole session since they all come up with different ideas. Sometimes a creative student chooses an item apparently irrelevant, but when he/she explains how to use it, everyone agrees!

Christmas Dinner
Across
1 2

4 5

1. Used in sauce and served with turkey. 4. Large bird often roasted for Christmas. 6. A filling for pie made of raisins and dried fruit. 8. A spice often used to prepare stuffing. 10. The spiced bread mixture placed inside a turkey before roasting.

Down
2. ___ sprouts. Small cabbage like vegetable. 3. ___ pudding. A steamed dessert. 5. Mashed ___. Served with gravy. 7. Egg ___. A drink made from rum, cream and eggs. 9. ___ nog. See #7.

10

C R A N B R P T U L S U S M I N C E O L G S

E R R Y R K E Y

P O D M E A T A A G E T G O S T U F F I N G

Animals
1 2 3 4 6 5 7

Across
2. an animal which lays eggs 4. used for milk and cheese 6. found in races 9. a baby cat

Down
8 9

1. an animal with no feet 2. a popular house pet 3. "man's best friend" 5. relative of a bull 7. produces wool 8. an animal which flies

S C H I C K E N D A A G O A T C K G H O R S E W H B E K I T T E N R P D D

THE PICNIC (For Intermediate to Advanced Level Students)

This is a simple game that requires students to generate vocabulary in English. The class is asked to imagine that they are going on a picnic. Their job is to suggest things to

bring along. The teacher says yes or no to each suggestion. What the students do not know is that the teacher says yes when a student suggests something whose first letter is the same as the first letter of the name of the student. The teacher says no if the first letter of the suggested object and the first letter of the name of the student do not match. For example: Alicia: I want to bring apples. Teacher: You can bring apples, Alicia. Alicia can bring apples. What do you want to bring, Marco? Marco: I want to bring a radio. Teacher: Sorry, you cannot bring a radio. If students need a hint after a while you can interject something like: Maria: I want to bring bananas. Teacher: Sorry, you cannot bring bananas. Why not ask Barbara to bring bananas? Usually someone figures out the game. Knowing the secret forces them to narrow their suggestions to words beginning with the same letter as their name. .

STOP (For All Levels)

This is a simple vocabulary game that can be played with two levels of difficulty depending on the level of your students. In the easy version, draw five columns on a chalk board. Assign each column a letter from the alphabet and shout Go! The first student to fill in all the columns with a word that begins with the letter of each column shouts, STOP! My high school students like to accumulate extra exam points with this game. You can go through the whole alphabet like this and also use common two letter word beginnings like ex, sh, sp, ch, etc.... In the more difficult version, assign each of the five columns a general category like food, clothing, emotions, office items, things in the house, etc.... You then call out a letter from the alphabet. Students have to fill each column with a vocabulary word that begins with the letter and pertains to the category.

1. Fruits and vegetables

Aims
To practise simple personal questions: Whats your name? How old are you? Are you married? How many children do you have? Whats your job? To revise basic vocabulary To break the ice and make students relax and enjoy using English To incorporate body language and intonation in the lesson To get students moving around the classroom and changing the dynamics away from a teacher-led activity Ask students to write down the following words on a scrap of paper, keeping what they write secret form those around them Tell them to write: 1. the name of a fruit 2. the name of a vegetable 3. a number between 1 and 200 4. Ask them to write the answer to this question Do you like football? 5. How many pencils and pens do you have? 6. What is the first thing you do every morning? Now tell them that these things are actually 1. their first name 2. their family name 3. their age 4. are they married? 5. how many children they have 6. their job Now they must get up and go around the class and ask the personal questions and share information about their new selves. Encourage them to shake hands (if appropriate) and make eye contact when meeting new people. If they dont automatically use intonation appropriate for surprise etc, why not model it before the activity. e.g. How old are you? A hundred and fifty seven. Really!? (said with rising intonation and a long stretch of the word) This game ensures that students really listen to the answers of their questions as it is an information gap they wont know what the answers will be

Procedure

2. Riddles
Aims
To get students thinking. To have fun using English.

seeking. If they dont confer about the answers, they could easily lose their chance to win. You might have to allocate a secretary / representative for each team to speak on their behalf.

Procedure
Explain the game clearly. Divide the class into teams of up to 6 students in each. Write 6,5,4,3,2,1 on the board. answer is. If they are correct after one guess they score 6 points, after 2 guesses five points, etc... Gobbledegook game (PDF) If a team gives the incorrect answer they cannot have another try. Im brown on the outside. Im white on the inside. Im hard and you can eat or drink me. Im hairy. I grow in hot countries. (coconut) Im usually made of paper But in Australia Im plastic I can lots of colours I have pictures and numbers on me You use me to buy things questions (bank-note)

Communicative and icebreaker games for ESL Teachers As you read each clue to the riddles out, teams can guess what the

Yes/No Bingo
I am not a bird, but I can fly. New Friends bingo (PDF) I for eatstudents insects and fruit. Im dark. I sleep upside down. The Question Game (bat)

Two Truths and a Lie The Lying Game Who am I?

Im yellow and round Im the same size as an apple You cant eat me You hit me with a racquet (tennis ball)

Who Am I? Skill: asking and answering personal

country has one. Elementary CareerEvery Games including What do I use? and am Iday. ? (Read the clues. Im Who a special I have different colours. People buy each other presents. Guess what my job I is) need wind to fly.

Things I have

The British one is red, white and blue. done game (flag)

Im romantic. Im on February 14th. (Valentines Day)

Did You? Tic Tac Toe (PDF) Twenty Twenty

Im something you do every day. Questions Im also an Olympic sport. You use your legs to do this. Questions Its for present tenserunning. slower than (walking)

Describe the Picture Game

Im something English people eat for breakfast. Im hot. You can put butter and jam on me. Im cooked bread. (toast) Im a beautiful animal. Im found in Africa. I have the first and last letters. of the alphabet in my name. Im like a horse. Im striped. (zebra)

Im a sport. Im usually done by men. Elementary 20 questions You need to be powerful and quick. Hypothetically Speaking (game) Muhammad Ali is the most. famous man who has played sport. Conditional game this (advancedown the page) You wear shorts and gloves. (boxing)

Name that Thought & What is that Sound ?

Students could prepare more of their own riddles for homework to be

Customs, lies gestures used in subsequent games. Movie Charades

3. Jokes a silly dictation

Aim
Good with higher level students to allow processing of language. Encourage thinking skills as well as listening and writing.

classroom mood.

Procedure
Tell the students you have a cough today but you are still going to do a dictation. If they dont hear words, they will just have to guess what you said.

Elementary Games

13 basic games from English File (OUP) including Students have to guess what the missing words are and write them in, hangman, chinese whispers bingo etc (PDF) either individually or in pairs. Collection of elementary games (PDF)they found it funny. joke and why/if
After checking whether they guessed correctly, they could discuss the They could also try telling jokes they know in their mother tongue in

Read out a joke like the one below and dictate as usual but dont read the words cough instead of saying certain words e.g. Eleven forall ESL people were cough on a rope, under a helicopter, ten men and one cough.

Pic Tac Toea game for reviewing English. basic tenses

THE JOKE:

Restaurant gameEleven people are hanging on a rope, under a helicopter, ten men and one woman. The rope is not strong enough to carry them all, so they decide that Grammar Games for ESL Classrooms one has to leave, because otherwise they are all going to fall. They are not able
to name that person, until the woman makes a very touching speech. She says

Have you ever....game she will(PDF) voluntarily let go of the rope, because as a woman she is used to giving A-Z correct
up everything for her husband and kids, or for men in general, and is used to always making sacrifices with little in return. As soon as she finishes her the sentences race (PDF) speech, all the men started clapping their hands...

Advanced grammar bingo (PDF) ... Grammar Auction Sentence gamble

4. Lateral thinking
To get students thinking. This activity does not have to be linked with any others.

Aim Article Jeopardy

To allow for practice of question forms and a wide range of vocabulary. Verb Form Jeopardy

Procedure Charades: miming present continuous actions (PDF) Pic Tac Toe a game Command
Explain that you are going to read out something strange and the have to work out what has happened. for students reviewing basic tenses

The students can ask questions about the situation and you can only respond with a yes/no/maybe. prepositions game (PDF) Read out one of the descriptions below and make sure that the students have understood. language game The first student to guess what has happened is the winner.

Routine verb

game You can allow students to work in pairs or threes or teams to discuss Thereis/there are card the situation and help each other. Situations Conditional game (advanced down the page) 1. A man is lying dead in a snowy field. There are no footprints to or from his body. The man has a pack on his back. How did he die?

Tic-Tac-Toe - Conditional Forms

Conditional game 2. When Harry comes home he finds Sarah is dead, lying in a pool of water and Past tense speaking game for groups
Tom is sitting quietly on the armchair. There is some broken glass on the floor. Tom wont be charged with murder. Why not?

3. A woman lives on the 30th floor of a building. When she gets home from work, she usually takes the lift as far as the 21st floor and then climbs the stairs to the 30th. However when its raining, shell always take the lift to the 30th floor. What explains this strange behaviour?

barman pulls out a gun and points it at the man. The man says 'Thank you' and walks out. 5. Five pieces of coal, a carrot and a scarf are lying on the grass. Nobody put them on the grass but there is a perfectly logical reason why they should be there. What is it?

Phrasal Verbs Card Game

6. A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of the same year. But they were not twins. How could this be so? 7. One day a man received a parcel in the post. Carefully packed inside was a

Countable/Uncountable card game (PDF)

human arm. He examined it, repacked it and then sent it on to another man. Going to card game The second man also carefully examined the arm before taking it to the woods and burying it. Why did they do this? 8. A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three nights and then left on

Verb Tic-Tac-Toe

Past tense Tic-Tac-Toe (PDF) Friday. How come?

Command prepositions game (PDF)

Answers: 1. He jumped out of a airplane with a parachute on his back that failed to open. Noughts and crossesExample 2. Sarah is a fishquestions and Tom is a cat. Sarah was swimming in her bowl. Tom started playing with it and knocked it over. for an ESL class (PDF) 3. She is a dwarf and cannot reach the top button unless she is carrying an umbrella. Spelling list (PDF) 4. The man had hiccups. The barman recognized this from his speech and drew the gun in order to give him a shock. It worked and cured the hiccups - so the man no longer needed the water. 5. They were used by children who made a snowman. The snow has now Website: http://www.eslflow.com/games1.html melted. 6. They were two of a set of triplets (or quadruplets etc.) Introductory icebreakers for group interaction 7. The threeprimarily men had been stranded on a desert island. Desperate for food, they had agreed to amputate their left arms in order to eat them. They swore an oath that each would have his left arm cut off. One of them was a doctor and he Icebreaker in a foreign country cut the arms off his two companions. They were then rescued. But his oath was still binding so he later had to have his arm amputated and sent to his Gobbledegook game (PDF) and other colleagues. cool icebreakers 8. The man's horse was called Friday.

Icebreakers including Did You Know? Bingo , Who Done It (Whodunit), Never Have I Ever

5. Sherlock Holmes New Friends bingo (PDF)

Aim Creative speaking ideas for inspiring communication
To get all students moving and involved in a success-oriented task. To encourage a dynamic pace. you hand them out, to give everyone a chance to play the game.

Ideas for warmers to stimulate thereading Interpersonal Intelligence To practise simple questions, here how many. Games as icebreakers You can ensure that quick students get more challenging questions as "Find Someone.."icebreaker Procedure What Am I? Icebreaker How many students are wearing black shoes today? Things to
How many chairs are there in the classroom? How many students are holding pencils? get 'em talking! How many posters are there on the classroom walls? Students wander around the classroom finding the answer to their question. As soon as they have their answer, they run to the board, write the question and answer and their name. If there are a lot of students and access to the board confined, students who have finished can sit down in their seats when they are finished and then read out their questions and answers in the order they Hand out strips of paper with directions like these:

6. Noughts and Crosses

a Search B Speaking Fillers E c Discussions Roleplays

Icebreakers

Interview questions Crosswords

Teach d with Pictures Surveys Reading

f Games

T/F Quizzes Brainstorming Multiple Intelligences Pronunciation g H i Comprehension Communicative Technique Writing Collocations Dialogues Grammar Teacher Tools Idioms & Slang

Vocabulary Aim

to revise vocabulary from previous lessons in a fun, stress-free, gamelike way draw the grid above on the board.

Procedure Oral English Activitie Brit Council Speaking Idea divide the class into 2 teams. s s

teams take it in turns to nominate a square.

MESEnglish: Younger Learners

teachers asks a question about vocabulary from the previous lesson(s). Prof. Rick Shur's ESL handout UsingEnglish Handouts Breaking News Lessons s if they get the answer right, the teams symbol goes into the square (usually X or O). if they get the answer wrong, the opposition team gets a chance to Eastside Literacy Material answer the question for an extra turn. Canada-esl Collocations Exercises the first team to have a s line of correct answers in any direction is the winner.

hltmag lessons

to make Teflit easier for yourself give the class 5-10 minutes at the start eslgold Ted Power's Materials of the lesson write their own questions for the opposition team. Magic Discussion to Lessons Be very clear about the rules from the start and ensure that the students recognize that the teachers decision is final!

DevelopingTeachers.com Lessons

Onestopenglish Archive

Dramatic fool

Warm-ups for drama Body Sculpture

Olga Mella games as icebreakers MethodologyDrama 3 olga.mella@gmail.com games & exercises archive Adapted from: www.onestopenglish.com www.Iteslj.org/games

Groups of icebreakers & other stuff Excellent set of training icebreakers (PDF) Education World's Best of Icebreakers ESL Icebreaker Collection incl. Last Letter, Chinese

Whispers, Fast Words.. Ten Ways to Break the Ice! incl. What's Different, Partner?, Mind Reading Attention Getter ... Popular Icebreakers incl. The Magic Wand, Marooned, Who Done That?... Icebreakers About.com lots of stuff.. 75 short teaching/icebreaking ideas Ipod icebreaker Creative thinking and lateral thinking exercises Doodle icebreaker Conversation exercises & questions for introductions Three questions game (PDF) Get-to-know-you Icebreakers Getting to know you (for adults or upper level students) ..cool!*** (PDF) Getting to know you questions for students with jobs (PDF) Getting to Know You for students (PDF) Getting to Know You Worksheet (PDF) Getting to Know You Activities for First Meetings (PDF) A few more getting to know you activities (PDF) Conversation starters 1 At a Party | In a Sporting Group | General Conversation Interview Questions: Interests Pre-teaching ideas/picture icebreakers Picture dictation lesson guide

Partial Pictures teaching idea Icebreaker WEBSITE: http://www.eslflow.com/games1.html http://info.teachtci.com/forum/IceBreakers.aspx