1.

ABC word race

In teams, students line up at the back of the classroom. Give the first person in
each line a marker. When you say “go”, students race to the board and write a
word beginning with “A”, then run back to their teams and hand off the
marker to the next student in line. The next student runs to the board and
writes a word starting with “B” and so on until a team has gone through the
entire alphabet. You an make it more challenging by restricting students to
words within a topic, e.g. countries, foods, or verbs.

2. Around the world

Elicit a bunch of topics to the board. Have two students sitting next to each
other stand up. The teacher states one of the topics, e.g. “colours” the two
students race to say a word under that topic, e.g. “red”. The student who says
the word first moves one student to the left, who stands up (the losing student
sits down in the winner’s chair). The first student to go around the whole room
wins.

3. Balls between backs race

Divide your students into teams. Give each team a soft ball. The first two
people in each team stand back-to-back at the back of the room and put the
ball between them. They must hold the ball with their backs and cannot use
their hands or touch the ball at anytime. Once all the groups have the ball
between their back, shout out a vocabulary topic e.g. colours, animals, foods,
character adjectives, or adverbs. They must run together and race to the board
where a marker is laying on the floor. They must bend down, pick up the
marker and each write a word belonging to that category(passing the marker
between them) without dropping or touching the ball with their hands. The
first pair to do so gets a point for their team.

4. Change the letter game

Put a common four-letter word on the board. In pairs of small groups, students
race to find as many new words as they can change only one letter at a time to
form a new word. After a minute, the group with the most words wins. For
example, the starting word is hand. Students can write hand-band-bend-
mend-fend-feed-feet-meet and so on.

5. Finger bingo
Give each student a piece of paper and scissors. Have them trace their hand
and cut it out. Then write five vocabulary words from whatever topic you have
been studying, e.g. body parts. Divide your students in two teams and ask one
student from each team to do a simple board race to choose a winner, e.g.
name a colour. The first student to do this now takes the hand of the
opponent and rips off one of the vocabulary words, stating it aloud. Anyone
else in the class with that same vocabulary word written down must also rip it
off their hand. Continue with the next pair of students. Continue for about 10
minutes. Then have each team count up how many fingers they have left in
total. The team with the most remaining fingers wins.

6. Flashcard mystery
Each student gets a flashcard and holds it on his/her back; the student does
not know which flashcard he/she has. Students mingle and ask each other
questions to find out which flashcard they have. For example, students may
say “do I have a tiger?” to which the other student looks on their back and
answers “Yes, you do” or “No, you don’t”

7. Flashcards with symbols

This is a great activity to review vocabulary. Draw or write a
symbol/shape/letter or number under each flashcard on the whiteboard. You
call out the symbol and the student has to say the word or structure for that
flashcard.

8. Grid game

On the board draw two grids with 12 squares and write the number 1-12 in a
square. Divide the class into 2 teams. Each team needs a writer. The rest of the
team are given a grid with words in it (12 grid squares with 12 words – each
team has the same words, but in different places on the grid). The rest of the
team have to take turns describing one of the words without using
Vietnamese, spelling or saying the word. The writer has to guess and write the
word in correct square.

9. How many things can you think of that…?

In groups, students try to think of and note down as many things as they can
that fit a given definition and that they know in English. For example, you
might tell them to think of as many items as they can that are small enough to
fit into a matchbox. After two or three minutes, pool all the ideas on the
board, or have a competition to see who can think of the most items. Here are
some examples:

How many things can you think of that…?

…are bigger than you are?

…are round?

…make a noise?

…work electricity?

…are made of paper / wood / glass?

…you can write with?

10. Label your neighbor

Take a bunch of blank stickers to class. In pairs, students must write as many
labels as they can and stick them on their partner in the allotted time. The pair
with the most correct labels wins. This is great for labeling body parts, colours,
clothes, etc.

11. Ladder

Divide the class into teams. Draw as many ‘ladders’ on the board as there are
teams. Each team lines up in front of the ladder. Give the first person in line a
marker. Yell out a topic and students race to write a word in that topic on the
bottom rung of the ladder. The student then hands off the marker to the next
student who fills in the next rung, and so on. The first team to climb their
ladder gets a point. The make it more challenging, tell students that as each
word goes up the ladder, it has to be longer then the last word, e.g. the topic is
animals, the first student writes cat, the next writes crab, then camel, then
monkey and so on.

12. Mallet’s mallet / Bonk

Put four chairs in a small circle in the centre of the room. Call forward one
student form each group. Give them a category e.g. colours. The students take
it in turns to say a colour. If they hesitate too long or repeat a colour already
said, they are out and must sit back down with their team. Continue with the
remaining three students. The last student remaining wins a point for their
team. Repeat with a new student form every team and a new category.

13. Memory / Hidden squares (Pelmanism)

Divide the class into groups. Give each group a set of matching word cards
(you can also use picture-word matching, word-definition matching, etc.).
Students lay them out in the form of the grid e.g. if there are 24 cards, they lay
the cards down 4 across and 6 down. One student starts by turning over two
cards and reading them out loud. If they match, the student keeps them as a
pair. If they don’t match, the student turns them back over as they were. Then
it is the next student’s turn. Continue until all pairs are matched. The student
with the most matches wins.

14. Memory words

Write down a list of 13 – 15 key words from the previous units in the book.
Scatter the words onto an OHP transparency. Show the students the words for
1 minute. They aren’t allowed to write anything in the minute. They have to
remember as many words as possible. Turn off the OHP after one minute. The
students write down a many words as they can remember in pairs. The pair
that can remember the most words is the winner.
15. Mime, draw, explain

Split the class into teams. Have one student come to the front of the room.
Give the student a vocabulary word. The student begins to mime the word. If
the students can’t get the word, the student then draws the word or clues to
explain the word. If the students still can’t get the word, the student then
explains the word (without saying what it is). If a team gets it when the
student is miming = 3pts, drawing=2pts, and explaining=1pt.

16. Name two things

Divide the class into pairs. Give each a small white board, marker and eraser.
The teacher then says, ‘Name two…’, e.g. ‘Name two animals’, or ‘Name two
things that start with b’. Students race to write down two things fitting into the
criteria you stated. The first team to do so gets a point for their team. Have the
students change writers and repeat with a different criteria. The pair with the
most points wins.

17. Opposites quiz

Organize the class into teams. Say an adjective, e.g. from the list below. The
first student to call out the opposite wins a point for his/her team. The team
with the most points at the end wins.

Adjectiv Opposite Adjecti Opposit Adjecti Opposi

e adjective ve e ve te
adjectiv adjecti
e ve

beautifu ugly dry wet last first

l

better worse early late noisy quiet

boring interesti empty full old young

 ng

cheap expensiv fast slow poor rich

e

clean dirty fat thin soft hard

dangero safe friendl unfriend strong weak

us y ly

dark light high low tall short

different the horribl nice tidy untidy

same e

difficult easy hot cold worst best

18. Pass the eraser

Stand all the students in circle. Explain that they must pretend the eraser is a
different object and show us that it is. For example, take the eraser and put it
up to your ear and start talking in to it like it is a telephone. The other students
should guess what it is. Then pass the eraser to the person next to you and
they will continue to make objects form the eraser. Some ideas to help
students if they get stuck are: toothbrush, banana, marker, hat, brush, etc.

19. Pictionary

Divide your student into pairs, sitting, facing each other in two lines. Give one
line of students a mini-board and marker. Show them a flashcard or vocabulary
word. The students draw the picture as their partner guesses what it is. The
first to guess correctly (form any picture) gets a point.

Change this into a more challenging game by having the students draw whole
sentences e.g. ‘The cat is sleeping on the TV.’

20. Pyramid / Backs to the board

Divide the class into two or three teams. Place one student form each team at
the front of the room in chairs with their backs to the board. Write a word on
the board. The rest of the students must describe the word to their team mate
(over the voices of the other teams describing the same word). Student may
not use Vietnamese or spell the word, but you can allow them to act it out if
you want. The first team member to guess the word on the board gets a point.

This is sometimes played using a pyramid grid, assigning a point scale on each
line, making the value of the points raise as the pyramid builds and the words
her harder. See the appendix for a template.

21. Scattegories

This is similar to stop the bus but the categories are more obscure, e.g. ‘things
you find in the kitchen’, ‘things that are cold’ and there is a time limit rather
than waiting until the first person finishes. In groups, give the students a bunch
of categories. Tell them they have 3 minutes to write as many answer as they
can, starting with a certain letter (you will have to make sure there are
answers for all your categories with the letter you give the students). Each
team gets one point for every original answer they have (similar answers
negate each other and no team answers are up for debate and can be voted
on by the rest of the class. Continue with a new letter. The team with the most
points in the end wins.

22. Shout it out

Divide the class into teams. Have one student from the first team come to the
front of the room and drew a card. (See the appendix for some example
topics). The student tells their team the topic and the students have 30
seconds to shout out as any things on the list as possible. The number of
words on the list they get is the number of points they get for that round. You
can let the other teams have a 15 second chance to come with any more they
can think of for extra points. Then have another student from the next team
come to the front and draw a card. The team with the most points in the end
wins.
23. Steps game

Draw a set of steps for each team – about 10 levels. Each team is at the
bottom (draw a sad face). Revise vocabulary with any kind of board race of
game. First team with the correct answer gets to move up one level. This first
team to get to the top (draw a happy face) gets to choose something funny for
the other teams to do so e.g. sing a song.

24. Stop the bus / Brainstorming

There are several variations of this game. Here is one way to play it:

Divide the class in pairs or small group. Across the top of the board,
write five categories e.g. hobbies, verbs, adjectives, animals, foods, etc.
Choose a letter from the alphabet e.g. F. The teams race to think of
words beginning with F to fit each category e.g. fishing, fly, fat, frog,
French fries. The first team to finish shouts ‘stop the bus’. They can get a
point for each answer they have that no other team has gotten yet. To
avoid cheating, make sure they write down their answer onto the paper
(not just think of them). Repeat with a new letter of the alphabet.

This can also be adapted to practice pronunciation or word stress by

having topics be related to them e.g. words with / θ /, /Ѕ/, /k/, /silent
e / sounds, etc. or first syllable stress, last syllable stress, etc.

25. Taboo

Write down a list of vocabulary words from previous units / lessons. Divide the
class into teams. Call up one student from each team. Show the two students
the same word e.g. in-line skates. They have to stand in front of their teams
and try and describe the object without actually saying the word (or any words
that are in the word) or using any actions. The rest of the team has to try to
guess the word. The first team to guess what is being described wins a point. If
a student describing the word actually uses the word, they lose a point. Make
sure you and your TA monitor the team closely for any blatant cheating.
Repeat the game with new students and a new word. The team with the most
points wins.

The TSC (Teachers Service Commission) in your centre may also have the
official ‘Taboo’ game. Check with the TSC staff.

26. Tick, x, squiggle

This game only works well with five letter words. Split your class into teams. Write on board the
following key for students:

□ = right letter, right place

X = wrong letter, wrong place

WW = right letter, wrong place

Draw dive dashes on the board and tell students you are thinking of a five
letter word e.g. ‘chair’. The first team says a five letter word, e.g. ‘shirt’. You
write the word shirt in the five dashes on the board. Then write a appropriate
symbols under the words, e.g.

C h a i r
X □ X WW WW
Students know that there is an ‘h’ in the correct place, an ‘I’ and ‘r’ but in
different places than in the word chair and there is not a ‘c’ or ‘a’ in the word
you are thinking of. The next group guesses another word, e.g. ‘short’.
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Now students know there is an ‘s’, ‘h’, ‘r’, and ‘t’ in the word in the correct
places but there is not an ‘o’ on the word. The next group chooses a word. If
they guess correctly, they win a point. If they guess incorrectly continue
playing until a group gets the word. This can be played in small groups.
27. Vocabulary charades
Students write new vocabulary on cards form the lesson associated with the
topic. Collect the cards and divide the class into teams of two or three. One
student form each team comes to front of the class. Choose a card for each
student. Show student 1 a card. He/she mimes the meaning of the word to
his/her team, who win a point for a correct guess. If the team cannot guess,
the other teams can raise their hands to guess. Student 2 and 3 then take
turns to mime the words. Continue with different team members and words.
The team with the most points wins.
28. Word association
Divide students into groups of three or four. Student A thinks of a word from
the previous unit, e.g. suitcase. Student B has to say a word associated with
suitcase e.g. travel. Student C has to say a word associated with travel e.g.
train and so on… Student can challenge each other to explain their word
associations. The last person to be able to continue associations wins.
29. Word tennis
Split the class into teams. The first person on each team will shout out the
answer first, and then the second person the second answer and so on. The
teacher shouts out a topic e.g. ‘clothes’ and the first student on one team says
a word in the topic e.g. ‘shirt’. The first student on the other team says
another word from the topic e.g. ‘trousers’. Then the second person on the
first team says another word and so on until someone messes up. The other
team gets a point. Continue with another topic e.g. foods.
30. Words form words
Write a fairly long word on the board. Students work in pairs to make as many
words as possible from the letters in the initial word. For example, from the
word ‘grandmother’ the following words can be made: and, red, hot, her,
grand, heat, rat, meat, hate, dragon, mate, etc.