Chinese drawing. Divide your students into teams. Line Compare and contrast.

Give two pictures and

them up, facing the board. Give a new or a key word to ask the students to make comparisons
the students at the back. They must use their finger to
between them. E.g. Harry Potter and
write the word on the next student’s back. This
continues along the lines. The winning team is the first Gandalph, Mona Lisa and Medusa, 2 famous
to reach the board and write the word correctly. They sportsmen or women, someone from the
gain an extra point if they can use the word in a distant past and someone from the present.
sentence, or give the definition. For beginners, work
with letters of the alphabet – upper and lower case.
Hot seat There are many variations on this activity.
Put one student ‘in role’ – he has to be a character in
Guess the object. Take or draw a picture. Then take 5 pieces of paper (all the a book/film you’ve studied and the rest of the class
prepare questions to ask. You could: Make question
same size as the original picture.). Cut various sized holes in them. Put them
cards with the wh- question words and give them
all on the picture. Take one off at a time – can they guess what the object is,
out. The students have to make questions with the
or where – street scene etc. Each time, they are allowed 5 questions to help word they are given. Or, allot ‘tense cards’ – past
them guess. You can do this as a whole class activity, or put them in teams. simple questions with did, present with do or does
and future with will.

Match–upTried and trusted; always works. Picture-

Splat/Wipeout Nice and simple, great activiity.
word or word-definition match ups. Make it
Good for revising vocabulary. Wipeout. Write or
kinaesthetic by giving the cards out and asking
draw your items on the board (about 12 is
students to match them up. Get great resources from
good.) For beginners, a simple vocabulary item
MES-English.
or letters of the alpahabet. For mainstream,
key words, or main characters, etc. Invite two
students to the board. Say the word, or give
Beat the clock Students love this!!! They take turns in the definition.The winner is the first to hit the
the hotseat. The rest of the class prepare questions – item. He then wipes it out. Call another student
the object of the exercise is for the hotseater not to
and repeat the exercise. Splat You can prepare
say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. So the students need to write
the items in advance on a slide, with picture.
questions which are the most likely to elicit a ‘yes’ or a
‘no.’ This can be general questions, ‘Have you got any The same activity, except students just hit the
sisters?’ etc, or it could be based on a topic you have item. For more advanced students, give the
studied ‘Do plants need light to photosynthesise?’ etc. definition, or some clues. You can also have a
This is an excellent way to practise tag questions, as student to give the clues. They love the
these are the most likely to get a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. ‘Mr Bean competition.
went to the dentist’s, didn’t he?’
Rules
1) Students cannot prevaricate – ‘maybe’ ‘I don’t
know’ ‘obviously’ etc are not allowed. I sometimes Eleven. Students stand in a circle. They count around.
insist on a full sentence. ‘Mr Bean did go to the The student who says 11 is out and has to sit down.
dentist’s.’ ‘Plants need light for photosynthesis.’
Each student can say up to 3 numbers, so when
2) No nodding or shaking of the head.
there are just a few left,they can calculate how to get
3) If the hotseater answers the questions for more
than 90 seconds, then he has beaten the clock!
each other out. Or twenty one...
4)If he says ‘yes’ or ‘no’, then he is out. I use my metal
bin and a boardmarker at this point, but if you can get
Little light ball Throw this to the student you want to give
hold of a drum or a bell or something, that is great. I
the answer. They return the ball as they answer. Makes for
ask a student to do this and there are alwways plenty
a good, fast question and answer session.
of volunteers. This is a great revision tool!
This
Hangman Don’t forget this old favourite! It makes a great Vary your close exercises. Cloze exercises are a
starter activity and can be used at any level – e.g. for great way of testing comprehension – but also,
beginners – classroom objects. For more advanced spelling. Try leaving all the vowels and ‘y’ out .
students, key words in any subject area. Just write on the
Students do enjoy this exercise.
board, with students taking a turn, or use a generator.

I Spy with my little eye, something beginning

with .... Another old favourite that is a great
Guess who? You need post-it notes , or pieces of paper
activity for beginners.
and blutac. Put the students in pairs. Write the target
words on the post-it notes. Stick one on each of the
students’ foreheads – without letting the student see Count round The students have to count round the
what is on his forehead. The task is for each partner to class – in 3s, (or 4s, 5s etc). Then, start from a high
guess what is on his forehead, by asking questions of his number and they have to count down in threes.
partner.. Is it an animal? Is it green? Etc. The answer can
only be ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

‘I went to the market and I bought....’

Another old favourite. Can be used as a category
Fruit bowl I call this ‘Big Cats’
game, if you’ve been learning clothes, or foods etc.
because I teach boys and they like that
better. The students must be seated in a
The first student starts off, then it goes round the
circle, on chairs. You need at least 12 class, with each student having to remember all the
students, I would say. Go round and others’ answers. This can be varied. ‘I went to the
allot each a cat – tiger, lion, panther, zoo and I saw a ...’ or with verbs ‘I went on holiday
etc (3, 4, or 5 cats, depending on group and I ... played on the beach.’ etc
size.)Stand in the middle. Explain:
‘When I say ‘lion’, all the lions have
to get up and swap seats. When I say
‘tiger’ all the tigers have to swap
seats.Etc. When I say ‘Big cats!’,
everybody has to get up and swap seats. True or false ?- variation Instead of a straightforward
Then, do this twice. By now, the T or F, put a mistake, or a piece of false information in
students are wondering what the big deal each sentence which the students must find and correct. Or
is. Third time round, take away a chair! produce a report on something the class has studied, with
Play the game again – someone is left mistakes in it. Very adaptable and can be used at every
without a seat. He must give a forfeit, level.
or answer a question. Be careful! This
can be very lively, particularly on a
‘Big Cat’ round.I only play this at the
end of term. The students love it.

Sequencing and Practising Connectives at

Odd one out – can be used at any level – this can intermediate or advanced levels. Take a story or
actually be quite demanding conceptually. report and cut it into sections for the students to put in
the right order. Also, take out all the time connectives
and substitute ‘then’. When the students have
reassembled the passage correctly, say, ‘I am going to
Storyboard. You have been teaching, now it’s time
read it out loud. How could it be improved?’ Split them
for the students to show they have learned!They
into pairs or groups, and see which group can substitute
have to divide a sheet of plain A4 into 4 or 6 squares. ‘then’ with the best connectives. Give out a list of
They need to recount, in sequential order, with suitable connectives if you need to. Let the students
diagrams, the story you have studied, or the topic. As read out their versions and discuss who has done the
well as narrative, they may include speech bubbles, best job.
or fact file boxes.
Bingo/Lotto a great, fun revision Noughts and crosses You draw 9 boxes on the
activity – need I say more? board and use some blutack to stick your flashcards/key
vocabulary face down on the boxes. Split the class into
two teams. They take turns to turn a card over. If it’s a
picture and they know the word, or if it’s a word and they
Back to the board. One student comes out and can give the definition, they get their nought or their
stands with his back to the board. You then – get the cross. The winning team is the first to get 3 noughts or 3
rest of the class to check that he doesn’t take a peek – crosses in a line. This can be adapted to pair work.
write a word or draw a simple diagram. The rest of
the class must describe it, or give clues, but they
cannot say the word. Split them into teams to make it
a competion. Great for students at all levels.

Describe and draw Put the students in pairs. Give each a

Spell it out Students have their books and pens picture. Student A describes his picture (but mustn’t show
ready. Start spelling the word letter by letter. it) to Student B, who then has to draw it. At the end, they
The object of this exercise is for them to guess compare their pictures and discuss what is different. Then
the word before you finish spelling it. A fun way to they swap roles. Excellent for beginners – colours,
prepositions and for practising ‘has/have got’ etc as well
present a spelling test!
as for advanced students.

Jumbled words and jumbled sentences. For Dominoes You can do this as a whole class activity, with
beginners, you can give out individual packs of the just one set of dominoes. Give each student one or 2. On
alphabet. For more advance students, you can have one box, there is a question, on the other an answer. The
first student reads out his question, then the studnt with the
full sentences, including adverbs and connectives.
right answer puts his hand up, reads it out and then reads
his question etc. This can be done in pairs.

Box of words Get a bag or a box and put lots of words

on pieces of paper in it. Go round the class – each
student has to take a word, read it and either make a Probability plane Strategically place your bin.
sentence out of it, or give the definition. If you like, you Give the students a sheet of paper and ask them to
can write each student’s sentence on the board. Then, make a paper plane. Then ask them to discuss the
the others can correct the sentences and/or make odds of them getting their plane in the bin. You
suggestions for improvement. This can be used to can bring in lots of language. ‘Likely’ ‘No chance’
practise basic English with beginners, or with key words ‘Impossible’ ‘Certain’ ‘50-50’ ‘6:1’ etc. Move the
or new vocabulary for more advanced classes. Or, if bin around as they get better at it!
you’ve been studying a novel or a play, your words can
be based on that.

Chinese whispers. Two teams, each forming a circle.

Charades Divide the class into 2 teams. One Whisper the key phrase into the ears of the first student
in line. They then whisper to each other, round the
member comes out and he takes a card off the
circle. The winning team is the one whose final
top of the pile – written on it is what you want statement most resembles the original. Good for
him to act out e.g. ‘dig the garden’. He then acts teaching key pieces of knowledge.
it out – he mustn’t speak or mime. The other team
has to guess the word or phrase. Put a time limit
on it, then pass it over to his own team. If you Main points After you have studied a book, make a few
slides or a worksheet with just the main points. Elicit a
want to make it easy, you can get the students to
recount by asking questions, ‘What happened before..’
prepare the cards.
‘Why did he go there?’ ‘Who did he see?’ etc.
 Place the nose Draw a blank face on the board. Call out
Add to the picture This is a good activity one student – he has to be blindfolded. He has to draw the
for a small beginners’ group. Use the nose in the right place and the others have to give
whiteboard. Draw a line. Say, ‘This is the directions. Give each student a different coloured pen and
ground’. Call up a student and ask, or show see who gets the best results. Good for practising
them, they have to add something. They may prepositions and directions. A bit of fun!
add anything -
house/flower/tree/person/animal Kinaesthetic True or false Place two posters at opposite ends of
plane/sun/birds/car etc, whatever they like. the classroom - TRUE and FALSE. Read out your statements,
Then they have to say what it is, ‘This is a ...’ Or students have to move to the position they think is correct.
Students who are wrong have to sit down. Continue until there is
ask the others if they can name the object. a winner. Then, move onto the next statement. At the end of ther
Each student gets a turn. At the end, they then activity, ask students to recite, or write down as many of the true
each say a sentence to describe the picture. statements as they can remember.
Good for practising prepositions. You can make
this into a longer, writing activity by having
Key words chart tally Ask some students to keep a
them copy the picture and write up the tally of how many times you say a certain word. This
sentences. You can then have a True/false can be a way of allowing a beginner to participate in a
session, based on the picture they have more advanced lesson.
created.

Provide writing frames. This can be in the

Differentiate by half Ask your EAL students to work on
half the number of paragraphs that you set the rest of the form of time adverbs for a sequence, ‘First, After
class. that, Suddenly.... Finally etc’ or with specific
vocabulary. You can also give support for the
answer e.g. Instead of ‘Where did he go next?’
Pre-highlight key words or phrases in the passage you are
studying. ‘Say where he went next.’

Timeline Draw three time zones on your line – Past / Now / Post it marking When marking, instead of
Future. Students take turns to come out. Read out a sentence,
correcting the student’s mistakes in his book, write
e.g. ‘He saw his friend last month.’ The student has to position
himself on the line /in the zone he thinks appropriate. This is a them on post –it notes, Then the student has to
great kinaesthetic way to practise tenses and expressions of time. correct his own mistakes. This way, you know the
student has taken notice.

Acrostics At the beginning – or the end of a topic, write

Ice breaker or an activity you can use for a
down one of the key terms e.g. E D U C A T I O N. The
speaking lesson at any time. Bring in some photos
students have to write down as many words as they can
beginning with each letter that is relevant to the topic. E.g from your personal album, or the internet.
E – exam/expectations etc. D – detention, discipline. Split Include photos of people – family, friends.
the class into groups and the winning group is the one Photos of places/big cities/countries you have
with the most correct words. Each group’s suggestions visited/food/film trailer posters/cars etc. Tell
can be written up and discussed. the students ‘These are important to me’ – or ‘I
have plenty to say about each of these photos,

Read and report back Instead of reading from a but I need the right questions.’ Give them some
book, pin the passages up round the classroom. In pairs, time to write as many questions as they can. Or
one student reads the passage, then reports back to his assign different photos to different students. A
partner, who writes it up. Then, they go up and read the fun way to practise making questions.
passage to check . This makes reading and writing fun.