Controlled Practice Activities That Work

Controlled practice activities that work are essentially games that students will want to do. They are done after
you have taught the language and focus on accuracy rather than fluency. In most cases they are practicing a
marker sentence with vocabulary substitutions.

Try to think about what age groups/levels the activities are suited to. Which would make good warmer
activities? Which are best suited as a fun way to end a lesson?

Remember! Demonstration is much better than explanation.

Flashcards

1. Hello/Bye Bye
Line a series of flashcards along the whiteboard rail. (This may be done on the floor.) It is a good idea to
drill the language as you line the flashcards up.
Call a student up and say Bye bye______. The student then repeats what you say and turns this
flashcard around.
Keep calling on individual students until all the flashcards are turned around. (It can be fun to let the
student who has just gone choose the next student.)
After all the flashcards are turned around repeat the above but this time say, Hello_____. which results
in the student having to remember where the flashcard is and turn it back around.
This can all be done in teams for points if you think your students are old enough to enjoy competition.
Another variation is for the teacher to point at a flashcard and students have to say which one it is.

2. Flashcard reveal
Slowly reveal a flashcard while the students guess what it is.

3. Flashcard hunt
Put the flashcards around the room. The flash cards can be face up or face down depending on how long
you want the hunting to take. (Once again it is a good idea to drill as you go.)
Say the language that is related to one of the flashcards.
The students now race to find and bring you that flashcard.
This can result in mayhem and with larger classes it is a good idea to nominate which students are
flashcard hunters for each round.
Once again this can be done in teams.
It is a good idea to draw flashcards for this as the students can damage the flashcards.

4. Chinese whispers flashcard hunt

Put the flashcards around the room as above.
Put the students into lines with each line containing the same number of students.
Call the first student from each line up to you.
Tell the other students to cover their ears.
Tell the students you called up the language related to one of the flashcards.
They race back and whisper this to the next student in the line who whispers it to the next student etc.
The last student in each line races to find and bring you the flashcard.
The last student is now the first student and everyone else moves down one place in the line.
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 5. General questions circle game
Either give or have the students draw a flashcard.
Elicit/Drill the question you want the students to ask. This can be a WH or a Yes/No question.
Elicit/drill the answers.
NB. The flashcard can determine the question if it is a Yes/No question or the answer if it is a WH
question.
Have the students sit on the ground or in their chairs in small circles. (about 6 is best)
One student walks around the circle and taps another student on the shoulder.
The student who did the tapping runs around the circle.
The student who was tapped jumps up and runs around the circle in the opposite direction.
When they meet the student who did the tapping asks a question while showing the other student his
flashcard.
The student who was tapped answers the question.
They now race for the free space in the circle. NB. They keep their original direction. They dont
turn around!

6. Stepping Stones
Make a line of about 10-12 flashcards along the floor, once again drilling as you go.
Have about 4 students line up at opposite ends of the flashcards.
One student starts from each end saying the language related to each flashcard as they go.
When they meet they do Paper/Rocks/Scissors.
The winner keeps going.
A new person from the losers group starts.
When they meet they do Paper/Rocks/Scissors.
The winner keeps going.
A new person from the losers group starts.
Keep doing this until someone gets all the way through the line.

Other ideas for flashcards

They can be used as Pictionary prompts.

They can be used as conversation prompts in either practice or production activities.

Other teachers ideas

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Exploiting Textbooks

Quite often textbooks provide a game board without you having to do anything.

1. Paper/Rocks/Scissors board game

This can be done as student versus student for positive/negative forms or as pair versus pair for question
and answer practice.
Each student/pair puts something on the textbook to denote their position on the board.
They do Paper/Rocks/Scissors.
The winner(s) say whatever is required to move to the next position.
Repeat the above until one student/pair has finished.

2. Memory game
The students memorize the pictures on the page.
The teacher calls a number and the students have to say the language related to that number.
This can be done as individuals for positive/negative forms or as pairs for question and answer practice.
Alternatively, for listening rather than speaking practice, the teacher can say the language and the
students say the number.

3. Conversation line up game

Elicit/Drill a model conversation and write it on the board.
Pairs of students then come up and do the conversation using the pictures in the book to determine what
they say.
If they do the conversation satisfactorily cross off that picture in their books (with a pencil) and give
them a point or a piece of fake money. (Once again introducing a competitive element helps to motivate
the students.)
Continue until one pair has finished or until the students are starting to lose interest.
If you are worried about marking the students books you can photocopy the relevant pages.

4. Other ideas

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Card Games

1. Pelminism
To do this you need two sets of cards that are made up of pairs of cards which are producing the same
language. These cards can be identical pictures, pictures and words or words and words. Obviously,
younger learners respond better to visual stimuli so the words and words combination should be avoided
if possible.
e.g

angry angry angry

Deal out the two sets of cards face down either as individual sets or mixed.
Once again the students can play as individuals or pairs. However, I find most students prefer to play as
pairs.
Students/pairs do Paper/Rocks/Scissors to decide who goes first.
The student/pair turns over a card and produces the relevant language.
They then turn over another card and produce the relevant language.
The idea is to find matching pairs of cards which they then keep.
The winners have the most pairs.
If a student/pair finds a pair they have another turn. If they dont find a pair it is the other student/pairs
turn.

2. Go fish
This is used to practice Yes/No questions and short answers.
It is a natural follow up to the pelminism game and can use the same cards.
Once again it can be played individually as student versus student or as pair versus pair.
Shuffle the cards and deal 5-7 cards to each student/pair.
Put the rest of the cards face down between the students/pairs.
The students look for any matching pairs and remove them from their hand.
Do Paper/Rocks/Scissors to decide who goes first.
Student/pair 1 looks at the cards in their hand and asks a Yes/No question to try to get rid of one of their
cards.
Student/pair 2 looks at their hand and if they dont have a matching card they say No, _____.
Student/pair 1 then have to take another card from the pile of cards.
If student/pair 2 have a matching card they say Yes, ___. They give the matching card to student/pair 1
who now have a pair they can remove from their hand. They dont have to take a card from the pile
of cards.
Alternate turns.
The winner(s) are the first to get rid of all their cards. i.e. They have no cards.

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3. Drill races
To do this you need identical sets of cards which are placed face down in front of each team.
The first person in each team runs up and turns over a card.
They produce the relevant language and place the card face up next to the other cards.
They race back and tag the next person who then runs up and turns over the next card etc.
The winners are the first team to turn over all their cards.
A nice variation of this is the student who turns over the card asks the next student in line a question and
waits for the answer before proceeding.

4. Other ideas
Cards can be used as Pictionary prompts.
Cards can be used as Conversation Line Up Game prompts.

5 Other teachers ideas