Completion Competition

Beforehand, write down all the answers to a set of exercises in small pieces of paper (one piece of paper per answer). Make enough sets for each group of 3 -5 students (depending on the size of your class).

Then put a basket or hat in the middle of the room (where you can see it clearly).

Tell the student you'll read a random sentence, and they need to find the paper that contains the answer to fill the "blank" of the sentence you're reading.

The first group to put the correct answer into the basket or hat wins a point.

After the game, you can either get them to work on the exercise again (now that they can read the sentences), or assign it for homework as review.

(This is very good for their listening skills, too).

Grab the bell

Purpose: oral practice, accuracy.


1. Divide students into groups of about 4.

2. Place a bell (or some other easy-to grab object) in the center of the room. The reason I like the bell is that it makes noise, so it's clear who is holding it.

3. Have a set of sentences or exercises ready. Give each student, or each group, a copy.

4. Call out a random sentence (for example, "exercise 2, sentence 3"). (Alternative: this can also be done with brief listening tracks, which students listen to and try to remember)

5. Someone from each group must memorize it and grab the bell before he/she can say it to you. It he/she says it correctly, the team earns points.

Note: Let students know that, in each team, the same person cannot participate twice in a row. This will give others in the team the chance to participate.

Livening up the coursebook - musical ball

This is a good way to give weaker students enough time to complete an exercise, while adding an element of fun to the stronger students who usually have to wait for their slower classmates. It's brought a lot of laughs to my class.

1. Have your class sit in a circle, each with their books/worshsheets ready.
2. One of the students gets a soft ball, and starts passing it around while you play music. Meanwhile, all the students should be working on their exercise/worksheet.
3. When you stop the music, whoever has the ball will call out the answer to the first exercise/question.
4. Then the ball starts going around again, until the music stops and whoever has the ball this time calls out the answer to the next question.

Review activity - Your number participates

1. Divide students into groups of no more than 6. Students in each group will get a number from 1-6 (if there's less than 6 students, give each student two numbers, or make the last number/s to be "all"). Give one slate (or large piece of paper) to each group.

2. Have a transparency with sentences ready (this can be used to review any topic - vocab or grammar). Show each sentence/ question one at a time, after rolling the die.

3. Roll a die. If, for example, it rolls to 3, only the "number 3"students from each group can write the answer on the slate/ paper. Their group members can help, but cannot write on the slate.

4. The group which shows their written answer first, wins a point (it can be measured in points, or the group can get candy, or whatever.

Possible idea: If there's an odd number of students, get one to be your "referee", a neutral person who decides which group presented the answer first, as it's hard to be doing all that leading at one time. Students themselves can take turns rolling the die, or your referee can do it.

VARIATION:

Have the transparency, and one transparency marker at hand. When the die gets rolled, the students with that number can (once they've decided on the answer) rush to write the answer on the transparency. There will be fun scrambles when students try to grab the marker first. (Of course, this can only be done with respectful students!)

I found this activity in an e-book called "Best ESL Practices". Unfortunately I can't find the reference right now, but as soon as I do, I will give full credit to the authors.

Livening up the coursebook

Activity 1:

I learnt this one from my students. It's a good way to brighten up a coursebook exercise. Simply copy the exercise, mount it on cardboard, and cut it up like a jigzaw puzzle. That way, before students can complete the exercise, they have to put the pieces together and have a little fun.


Activity 2:

No time to plan for today? No problem as long as each student has a book (or worksheet)! Simply sit them in a circle, and get them to complete an exercise- but every minute (or less), blow a whistle or ring a bell, and they have to pass their book on to the person on their left- at the same time, they get a book from the person on their right. They then continue where the last person left off.
This way, all students will probably finish at around the same time, and the activity brings a lot of laughs.

NB: Make sure each student has a lead pencil - some students get very upset by having someone else mess up their books!


Activity 3:

This one might sound really dumb, and I don't recommend it to happen often, but sometimes teachers have those days in which there's no inspiration... In that case, choose an exercise from your coursebook, and divide your students in groups of 2 or 3.

Beforehand, for each group, make little papers with the exercise numbers on them: 1a, 1b, 1c...

Then the students work in groups, but don't follow the order of the exercise. Rather, they draw a paper (e.g. 2.c) and complete that sentence first. Then they draw another paper (e.g. 1.b) and complete that one.

Activity 4:

1. Divide the class into 3 or 4 groups (depending on the size of your board). Also, divide the board and assign a section of the board for each group.

2. Tell Ss that they will complete exercise so-and-so on the board, but only one student from each group can go up to the board at a time (one student, one sentence). If that person makes a mistake, the next student who goes up can correct it.

3. The objective is to see which team finishes first. Points can be assigned by giving 1 (or 1000!) points for each correct sentence, plus giving 2 (or 2000) points to the team which finished first, and 1 (or 1000) points to the team which finished second).


Activity 5:

If a worksheet or coursebook exercise has either/or answers, make students stand up if it's one answer, and sit down if it's the other- or any other type of action that's appropriate for your group.

ESL Football

Instructions here:

http://www.esljunction.com/esl_games/football-print.html

I have used this in small groups (with one or two players per team, plus a referee): Each group gets a board and ball; the referee gets a list of questions, plus answer key, and monitors whether the teams are answering the questions correctly. This way, you can have three or four small groups playing independently, and you can walk around helping them.

Wheel Drill

Do your students never study outside of class? This helps them drill each other and be drilled, working with different partners every time.

1. On the board, write down the items you're working on with your class (it could be verbs that take gerunds and/or infinitives, or vocab items). Make sure all the answers (classifications, definitions, whatever it is you want them to know) are visible on the board.

2. Make Ss form two rows: one row with its back to the board, another row facing the board. At the same time, both rows should be facing each other. You need an even number of Ss for this, so if the number is uneven, the teacher can join in!

3. Once Ss are seated and facing each other, the one who can see the board starts drilling his/her partner who cannot see the board. Every minute or so, the T can blow a whistle or ring a bell, and Ss move on to the next seat, and start working with a new partner (or, instead of the next seat, they could move two seats up, or the T could vary it every time).

Pictionary/ Definitionary/ Mimictionary

1. Make cards of the vocab you're working on with your class.

2. Find a way of timing 30 seconds (kitchen timer? Hourglass? One of the students?)

3. Divide SS into two groups.

4. A SS from one group gets up, and, when time begins, picks a card. He has to define it (or draw, or mimic- up to the teacher) until his classmates guess it. Then he can go on to the next card, and try to get his/her team to guess it.

5. When time's up, a Ss from the next group comes up, and does the same so his/her group can guess the words.

6. Game ends when there are no more cards left. The team with the most cards in the end wins.

Vocab Cards

Read "phrasal verb cards" (2 or 3 entries before this one). All ideas apply.

Once Ss find that they can play while learning new words, they really get into it and even invent their own games!

Home-made Crossword Puzzle

VERSION 1: By the Teacher

Ss first need to know what a crossword puzzle is, so you could first make one for them. Options:

1. As individual or group worksheets
2. As a big poster on the board, which can be transformed into a competition between groups, with the teacher calling out the definition and each group having only one chance at a time to complete a word.

VERSION 2: By the students

1. SS should have a list of words they're working on in your class.
2. Divide SS into groups of 2 or 3, and give them each some sheets of squared paper so they can experiment with their own crossword puzzles, trying to weave words together.
3. In the end, each group should hand in: 1. The completed crossword puzzle (answers), 2. A blank crossword puzzle, and 3. The clues.
4. Groups can then exchange their (blank) puzzles, and try to complete it. My favourite part is that, if they have any problems completing it, I just say, "I don't know, ask the authors!"

This activity can also be used to practice adjective clauses when giving definitions: "A device which is used for talking long-distance - telephone".

Bingo

Ok, so this is not a very original activity, but it works!

VERSION 1:

1. Make boards of 9 squares for every two students, and randomly write vocab items and/or grammatical items (for example, irregular past tense verbs). Make each board different.

2. Give each pair of SS pieces of coloured paper which can cover up each word.

3. T calls out a definition (if the focus is vocabulary) or an infinitive verb (if the topic is irregular past). SS cover up the word which corresponds to what the teacher said. (It's ok if the Ss call out the answer- it helps them and their classmates confirm whether they're right. It's also good revision).

4. The first group to get a row of three words covered is the winner.

5. For a new round, make groups change boards.

VERSION 2:

Instead of seeing who gets three covered words in a row, see who can cover the whole board first!

VERSION 3:

Instead of 9 squares, make it 16!

• You can also get a student to give the cue.

Phrasal Verb Cards

These help to review SS' knowledge of phrasal verbs ("come out"), - or adjectives/verbs that take specific prepositions ("afraid of"/ "comply with").

ACTIVITY 1:

1. Make cards of about 7 x 10 cm. On each card, write (with thick marker) a verb particle or a preposition.
2. Divide SS into groups (of up to four people). Give each group a name or number.
3. Place cards in the middle of the room, and get SS to stand around (not too close!). They don't need to be standing close to a teammate.
4. T calls out a synonym for a given phrasal verb (e.g. "leave" for "go away"). SS have to find the preposition ONLY ("away"). The first group to show the preposition to the T wins a point (or 10 000 points - up to you!).
5. Tell you class beforehand how many round of this you'll have. At the end of it, count points.

ACTIVITY 2:

Same as activity 1, but instead of SS picking out the preposition, they pick out the verb particle.

ACTIVITY 3:

Another option is to have enough copies of the cards for each group, and in a far end of the room, to place a basket or hat for each group. The first group to put in both verb particle and preposition into their basket wins x points.

ACTIVITY 4:

SS put cards upside down, forming a neat square, and play memory - the SS who finds two cards which can form a phrasal verb studied in class, can keep them for points and have another turn.

ACTIVITY 5:

Give each SS one set of cards. In twos, SS play "snap":

1. Each Ss holds their cards in one hand in a pile, with cards facing downwards.

2. With the other hand they take hold of the first card in their pile, and together count "1, 2, 3"

3. On the count of three, both SS place their card, facing upwards, on the desk/floor, next to each other.

4. If the cards are not identical (i.e., if they show different words), SS simply count "1, 2, 3" again, and place the next card on top of the previous one.

5. If the cards are identical (i.e., if both have the same word), the first student to yell "snap!" and cover both piles with his/her hand wins all those cards.

6. The game ends when all the cards have found an "owner". The SS with the most cards wins

VARIATION:

These games can be played with any vocabulary item, one card being the actual word, and the other being a definition, a picture, phonetic script, or whatever the teacher's imagination can come up with.

Home-made Group Skits

This activity can be used to review vocabulary, grammar, or speaking functions. I've found that most of my groups have enjoyed this activity.

1. Divide students into groups of 4 or 5.
2. Tell them they have to come up with a 5-minute skit (or whatever time slot you want to give them) in which they have to include x amount of words (I usually say around 12) from their vocabulary list, or x instances of the grammar they've been learning.
3. Students work during one period, discussing their ideas and writing up their script.
4. For the next period, they present their skit (they'll usually need more time, so they'll have to meet after class and keep practicing their English!)

Possible grading guide (for high-intermediate level)

(Grade 0-3 points for each item)

1. A wide variety of props for scenery was used (at least 3 types)
2. The presentation included a large amount of the vocabulary/grammar covered in class.
3. The vocabulary was always appropriate
4. The correct forms of words were always used
5. No grammatical errors
6. Pronunciation very clear and understandable
7. Speaking always audible to audience
8. Speaking very fluent
9. Never read from the script
10. Message always clear

Total points: 30