1.

Title: 2 min Speed
Type: Concentration Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: Timer
Procedure: Set a timer for 2 mins. Challenge the students to see how many
times they can recite the vocabulary words in 2 mins. For example, if you are
learning the months of the year, see how many times the students can say all 12
months in 2 mins.
Comments: Good for practicing fluency and retention. Can change the time
limit depending on needs.

2.

Title: 4 corners
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: One student is it and stands in the middle of the class with their
eyes closed. Each corner is represented by a vocabulary word. The students
have 10 seconds to choose a corner to go to. It calls out one of the vocab words
and the students standing at that corner are out. Continue until only one person
is left and that student becomes the it for the next round.
Comments: Not very intensive on English speaking, but very fun.

3.

Title: ABC back drawing
Type: Concentration game
Target: Alphabet
Materials: None
Procedure: The teacher draws a letter on the back of the first student. The
student then tries to decipher which letter was drawn and draw the same letter
on the next student’s back. This continues until the last student must draw the
letter on the board. I usually play the same as the Telephone game, class against
the teacher. Every time the class gets the letter wrong, I get a point. Every time
the class gets the letter right, they get a point. It’s really motivating for the
students and develops class co-operation on a common goal.
Comments: This could be altered so that the student must say the letter out loud
instead of drawing it on the board. Or they must say the sound that the letter
makes instead of the name. Or they must say a word that starts with the letter.

4.

Title: Angry Gorilla
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: flashcards, angry gorilla cards
Procedure: Have a pile of flashcards that you want to review. Mix in a few
angry gorilla cards. Turn a card over and the students should say the word three
times. If the angry gorilla card is turned over then students run to the safe zone
and the angry gorilla (the teacher) tries to catch them. The caught student
becomes the gorilla through an initiation dance (pounding of fists on the chest).

Comments:

5.

Title: Ball throw
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary or sentence patter
Materials: Ball
Procedure: Throw the ball to a student. The student catches it and says a word
or sentence, for example, “I like apples.” They throw to the next student who
says a new word or sentence such as “I like pizza.” This continues until all the
children have had a turn.
Comments: This is a very simple game and fun for younger students. However,
endless variations can be made to make it suitable for all levels. For example,
the students must repeat the process and remember who threw to them and who
they threw to as well as what the person before them said. The first person says
“I like apples” and then throws to S2. S2 says “He likes apples. I like pizza.”
Then throws to S3. S3 says “She likes pizza. I like Kim Chi.” This continues
until it reaches the first student who starts the pattern over again. Everyone tries
to remember the pattern of the ball and what they said. Another variation is to
do the above and then add more balls into the mix so that after the first 2
students have gone throw another ball and the students must continue the
pattern with more balls. Or else who can speed up the rhythm of the throwing.

6.

Title: Balloon Game
Type: Active game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: Balloon
Procedure: Practice vocabulary words. The students then stand in a circle and a

balloon is hit into the air. The object of the game is to not let the balloon hit the
ground. But when someone touches the balloon, they must say a vocabulary
word. If the balloon touches the ground, or someone hits the balloon without
saying a word the round is over. Count how many touches you can get to and try
to beat your own record.
Comments: This could be altered to practice a sentence form instead of
vocabulary by having the students hit the balloon and say one word from the
sentence at a time in order instead of random vocabulary words.

7.

Title: Balloon Relay
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: Balloon
Procedure: Divide students into teams. Each team is split in half and stands in
line opposite from each other as in a relay. The first student must walk to their
team with a balloon between their knees without it falling. Once they get to their
team they have to tell the next person a vocab word that I have given them. The
next person repeats it 5 times and then takes the balloon between their knees.
Then they walk to the other side, pass it to the next person and say the next
vocab word. The first team to finish all vocab words is he winner.
Comments:

8.

Title: Banana Tree Game
Type: Game
Target: Review
Materials: picture cards

Procedure: Divide the class into 2 teams. Draw a banana tree on the

board with about 9 rungs up the tree. Each team has a mascot (monkey picture
cards work well). The object of the game is to climb the tree the fastest to get to
the bananas. The climb a rung at a time by answering questions correctly. The
first group to get the bananas is the winner.

Comments:

9.

Title: Battleship
Type: Concentration game
Target: Any vocabulary

Materials: None
Procedure: Divide the class into 4 or 5 teams. The teams are now crews on a
Battleship at war with the other ships. One person on each team is the captain,
another person is the shooter and the rest is the crew. Each ship has its own
name. The captain’s job is to answer when their ship is called, the shooter’s job
is to call out another ship’s name and the whole crew must each say a vocab
word. The teacher starts by calling out the name of a ship. The captain answers
first by saying a vocab word, for example, let’s say the theme is food, they
answer by saying bananas. Each crew member of that ship follows by saying in
turn another food word until the last crew member is the shooter. The shooter
himself says a food word and then calls out the name of another ship. That
ship’s captain must answer and their crew must say food word until the shooter
calls out another ship. If the captain doesn’t answer quickly (2-3 seconds after
their ship is called), their ship is sunk. If the shooter can’t say the name of
another ship quickly or any crew member can’t say a vocab word, their ship is
sunk.
Comments: Can be made harder by not allowing students to repeat vocab
words or else their ship is sunk.

10.

Title: Betting on Mr. Monkey
Type: Game
Target: any conversations
Materials: Picture cards, fake money

Procedure: Hand out fake money to the students. Ask each student a

question from the target theme (i.e. under, on, in) about Mr. Monkey such as
“Where is Mr. Monkey?” Each student answers where they think he is, for
example “He is on the table,” “He is under the chair,” or “He is in the box.” In
order to bet the students must place a bet from their fake money, like 1 dollar.
Record their predictions. Then pull out one of the picture cards at random. The
students who guessed correctly get the money in the pot. The students can buy
candy or prizes with their money at the end of the game.
Comments: Other suitable conversations would be “What is Mr. Monkey
doing?” ‘What is Mr. Monkey eating/wearing?” etc.

11.

Title: Bingo
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary

Materials: paper and pencil
Procedure: Students draw a 3x3 (or bigger) grid and fill in the squares with
vocabulary words. Call out vocab words at random and the first student to get a
line or any other formation decided upon is the winner.
Comments: Students can also draw instead of writ the vocab words in the
squares.

12.

Title: Body Clock
Type: Active Game
Target: Time
Materials: circle marked on the floor
Procedure: Ask students to make the hands of a clock with their bodies inside
the circle on the floor. Yell out certain times and students should make the time
with their bodies. For example, if the time is 3:30 they can point their hands
toward where the 3 would be and bend at a 90 degree angle to show the time.
Can be played just for fun or as teams.
Comments:

13.

Title: Button, Button
Type: Game
Target: Can you help me?
Materials: A button (or a small coin)
Procedure: In this game there is one searcher and one hider. The hider has a
button cupped in his hands. The rest of the students are all in a line with their
hands cupped in exactly the same way. The hider then slides his cupped hands
in between the others hands all the way down the line. Except, secretly, he drops
the button into someone else’s hands somewhere along the way. The student
who receives the button from the hider should not give any indication that he
has the button because we don’t want the searcher to know. Then when the hider
is finished everyone asks the searcher grasshopper, “Button, Button, who has
the button?” Then searcher should guess who he thinks has the button by asking
“Can you help me?” If the student he guesses doesn’t have the button they
should answer, “Sorry I can’t” but if he guesses correctly and you have the
button you say “Sure I can” and then give him the button. Repeat with new
searchers and hiders.
Comments: Perhaps could be altered to focus on another conversation theme

.

14.

Title: Card Collection
Type: Game
Target: Any conversation
Materials: mini cards
Procedure: Each student gets a collection of cards of a certain number and on a
certain theme. They write their name on the back. Then they find a partner and
ask the target question such as “What do you do?” to each other. Both students
answer such as “I’m a doctor” or “I’m a lawyer”. Then they do Rock Paper
Scissors and the winner takes the other person’s card. Repeat with new partners.
Most cards wins. Return the cards to each person at the end of the game.
Comments:

15.

Title: Charades
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Students are divided into 2 teams. One person from one team comes
up to the front where the teacher gives them a vocabulary word to act out. The
team tries to guess the word. If they get it correct the team gets one point. Teams
alternate turns and the team with the most points wins.
Comments: If the words are easy to guess you can make it harder by limiting
the time to act it out, limiting the time the students have to guess, limiting the
number of guesses and having the team say the answer together in unison.

16.

Title: Circle It!
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None (or picture cards)
Procedure: Divide students into 2 teams. Write the vocab words on the board. 2
students from each team race to circle the word I say with a piece of chalk, say
the word and then return the chalk to their team. The fastest team per round gets
a point

Comments: Can also be used with picture cards on the board, but

instead of circling the card they just touch the card.

17.

Title: Clap Attack
Type: Concentration Game
Target: Any vocabulary, song or chant
Materials: None

Procedure: Students stand in a circle with their hands overlapping, each
students right hand is in front of the others and their left hand is behind. Practice
passing the clap; the first person brings their right hand over to clap the right
hand of the next person. The left hand always stays in place. They clap should be
passed around the circle. Then add in the chant and clap to the beat of the chant.
For example, use the chant “

Cinderella

, Dressed in yella, Went upstairs to kiss

her fella. She made a mistake, and kissed a snake. How many doctors will it
take? 1! 2! 3! 4! 5!” The 2 students who are supposed to clap on the count of 5
have a duel to slap each other’s hands. The person on the right tries to clap the
person’s on the left’s hands. The person on the left tries to remove their hand so
that the person on the right misses. Whoever is successful (clapping the other’s
hand or making the other person miss) is the winner. The loser is removed from
the game. The 2 students must have the duel on the count of 5, no waiting or
fudging the time or else it gets complicated. Make sure the students say the
chant and don’t just clap. The last 2 students standing have the final duel by one
person putting both hands on top and the other putting their hands on top. They
clap and switch hands position to the beat of the chant until the count of 5. On 5
the person on top tries to clap the bottom persons hands and the bottom person
tries to remove their hands. The successful person is the winner.

Comments: You can use any song or chant or even simple vocabulary words to
play this game

18.

Title: Clap-clap
Type: Active game
Target: Any conversation pattern
Materials: None
Procedure: Make up actions for the answers to the question. For example, to
practice “What’s the weather like?” “It’s cloudy/rainy/sunny/windy, etc” make
up actions for each answer such as “It’s cloudy”=cover your eyes, “It’s rainy”=
fingers wave in the rain motion, “It’s windy”=sway side to side, etc. Then
students stand in line all facing the teacher. Everyone says the question together
in unison “What’s the weather like?” and then clap 2 times together.

Immediately after the second clap, each student answers and does the action to
go along with the answer. The teacher also answers and does an action. Any
student that does the same action and answer as the teacher is out. The last
student standing is the winner
Comments: Could be used to practice only vocabulary words and instead of
saying a question just say the theme of the words. For example “Animals,
animals, clap-clap” then everyone does the action and says an animal
vocabulary word.

19.

Title: Clothes Relay
Type: Active Game
Target: Clothes vocabulary
Materials: Old clothes

Procedure: Students line up across from a pile of clothes in teams. The first

student runs to the pile of clothes and picks one thing to put on. Then they yell
the name of the clothes 3 times and run back to the line. They pass the clothes to
the next person who must wear it and run and choose something else to wear
and yell it’s name 3 times. The team to get all their items on the fastest is the
winner.
Comments: Can also be done as a whole group and try to beat their previous
times.

20.

Title: Clueless
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: Word or picture cards

Procedure: One student has a card pinned to their back or stuck on

their forehead. The rest of the class knows what the card is and gives the
students hints about it until they can guess their card.
Comments: Can be used to practice more than just vocabulary by having the
students answer in full sentences, and having the student ask questions about
their card.

21.

Title: Concentration
Type: Concentration Game
Target: Any vocab or conversation pattern

Materials: None

Procedure: Assign each student an answer to the conversation question

or a vocabulary word. This game works really well with remembering names so
your question could be ‘Who is ____?” The first person starts by saying “I’m
Chandra.” Then asks ‘Who is Eun Ji?” Then Eun JI answers ‘I’m Eun Ji. Who is
Min Young?” However, there is a rhythm that the students must clap and speak
to. First you slap your legs, the clap your hands, then snap your fingers with one
hand and then the other. The words of the sentence must go to the beats of the
rhythm. If a student doesn’t answer to the rhythm they are out.
Comments:

22.

Title: Copy cat
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Students say a vocabulary word and do an action to go with it. The
student beside them must copy exactly the action and word that the student said.
They then say a new word and make up a new action which the next person
copies. Continue until all have had a turn.
Comments: You can vary this game to focus on intonation by having the
students mimic each other’s intonation and tone of voice while saying the word
or even a sentence.

23.

Title: Countdown
Type: Concentration game
Target: Any conversation, fluency
Materials: Timer
Procedure: The first student says the question part of the conversation, for
example, “Will you help me?” The next student answers “Of course” and then
asks the next student “Will you help me?” This continues all around the class
until the last person answers the question. The timer starts t the beginning and
finishes at the last student. The class can try a few consecutive times or over a
period of days to try and beat their last time.
Comments:

24.

Title: Cover-up
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: flashcards, cover cards
Procedure: Put pictures cards out on a table. Say each one twice and then give
the students 20 seconds to memorize their location. Give each student a cover
card (blank piece of paper with a colour on it or a number on it) to place over
top of a picure card. Mix up the location of the cards to make it more difficult.
Each student chooses a cover card and tries to say the picture card that is under
it. If they get it right then they take the card and it is replaced with a new one
and they keep going until they can’t remember. Then it is the next person’s turn.
The person with the most pictures cards wins.
Comments:

25.

Title: Cowboy
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: Word/picture cards
Procedure: 6 students with word/picture cards stand in a line with a chair
behind them. I call out a word and the student with that card sits down. The two
students on either side of the student who sat down turn and face each other.
They then have a ‘gun duel’ like in the Wild West where the quickest shooter
wins. The first of the 2 students to call out the opposite person’s card is the
winner (they ‘shot’ the other person with their word). The loser must act like
they died and is out of the game. A new student takes their place. Switch spots
and repeat.
Comments:

26.

Title: Days Card Game
Type: Game
Target: Days of the Week
Materials: cards available form genkienglish.net
Procedure: The days of the week in English have a special meaning. They each
go with a planet.

Tuesday - Mars Wednesday - Mercury Thursday - Jupiter

Friday –Venus = Saturday - Saturn. Sunday, of course, is named for the sun.
Monday

– named for the moon. Now I have these cards. Each one has one day

of the week on it and a number. The number matches how far it is away from
the sun. The farthest planet had the biggest number. Now in partners we will
play the card game. The first person asks “What day is it?” The next person
turns over a card and says “it’s _______.” The other person turns over their card
too. Whichever card has the biggest number takes both cards into their pile.
Whoever collects all 7 cards (or you can play for the most cards) is the winner.
If there is a tie of numbers, then you do it over again and the winner of the
second time gets all 4 cards!
Comments:

27.

Title: Detective
Type: Game
Target: Possessives (Is the your __?)
Materials: Student’s personal objects

Procedure: Students take turns being "it" and go out of the classroom and wait
for a while. Choose a student's item and put it on the table. All the students in
the classroom call out for "it" to come back in the classroom. "It" tries to find
the owner of the item on the table. Students say HOT if ‘it’ is close to the person
and COLD if they are far away. When 'it" designates someone as the owner,
students ask him/her "Is this your pencil?" The student designated answers,
"Yes, it is/ No, it isn't” Then the next it goes outside and waits to be the
detective.

Comments: Perhaps could be altered to focus on another theme.

28.

Title: Dice Addition
Type: Game
Target: Any conversation
Materials: None
Procedure: Divide the students into groups and brainstorm sentences on the
theme, for example what did you do yesterday; listened to music, met my
friends, studied, did my homework, watched TV, played computer games, sang
karaoke, ate supper, visited my family, went to the park, watched a movie,
played soccer. Now give each one of these sentences a number and write it on
the board. Then everyone in the group says ‘What did you do yesterday?” and
the first person rolls the dice once. Everyone remembers the number. Then the
same person rolls the dice again. The group adds up the numbers from the dice

and says the sentence that matches the number. Then it is the next person’s turn.
Play until everyone has had a turn
Comments:

29.

Title: Disappear
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: flashcards
Procedure: Put picture cards on a table and give students 10 seconds to look
and memorize. Then they close their eyes and I take one away. They open their
eyes have to figure out which one is gone.

Comments: This game can be quite easy so to make it harder use more cards,

lessen the time they have to look or remove more than 2 cards at once.

30.

Title: Duck Duck
Type: Active Game
Target: Any conversation
Materials: None
Procedure: Students sit in a circle and close their eyes. I pick 2 students by
touching them on the back. When I say go those 2 students go inside the circle
and say the conversation, i.e. “What did you do yesterday?” “I ______.” When
they are done they exit the circle through the spot where the opposite person
was sitting and race all the way around the circle. The first person to go all the
way around the circle back to the opposite person’s spot is the winner. The
winner gets to choose the next 2 people that play.

Comments:

31.

Title: Fast/slow motion
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: picture cards

Procedure: Have a pile of picture cards and show them to the class one

by one in either fast motion or slow motion. Students try to guess what the word
is.
Comments: can also be played in teams and the first team to guess the card gets
a point.

32.

Title: Find your team
Type: Game
Target: Any conversation
Materials: mini cards
Procedure: Each student gets a certain card on a theme. There should be at least
2 matching cards within the whole set. Mix up the matching cards so that the
students begin far apart. Have students ask and answer to find their team
members (those students who have the same card as them.) For example, “Do
you like apples?” If the student has an apple card they answer “Yes I do and stay
with their partner. If they don’t they move on and keep searching for their
partners.
Comments:

33.

Title: Frozen Tag
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary or conversation
Materials: None
Procedure: One student is IT. IT tries to tag all of the other students. When the
other students are tagged they become frozen. They are frozen until they say a
vocabulary word or the target conversation to the teacher after which they are
free again.
Comments: I usually play walking tag or slow motion tag, especially inside as
it results in less confusion and injuries! Slow motion tag is especially fun
because everyone has to move and talk in slow motion which can be very
funny! You can also play so that one set of vocabulary is the ‘immunity’ which
means that if they say a word from this set of vocab, they can crouch on the
ground while IT is trying to tag them and they are immune to being frozen.

34.

Title: Food Chain Evolution
Type: Active Game
Target: Animals
Materials: None
Procedure: Brainstorm with the students to develop a food chain of 5-7 animals
from smallest to biggest. Review the sounds of these animals. All students begin

as the lowest animal and must walk around the class while making the sound of
that animal. When students meet someone who is making the same sound as
they are making, the 2 students do rock-paper-scissors. The winner becomes the
next level of animal in the food chain and the loser goes down a level in the
food chain. The first student to get to the highest level wins
Comments: Perhaps could be altered to focus on other vocabulary as well.

35.

Title: Funky Mummy
Type: Active Game
Target: Health, Body parts, Halloween
Materials: toilet paper rolls, body picture cards

Procedure: Each group has one doctor. The rest are the patients. The patients

all do Rock-Scissor-Paper and the first loser picks a card from the pile. They
look at the card and then say “Doctor, doctor my ______ hurts” or “Doctor,
doctor, I have a _______” depending on the card they choose. Then the doctor
should say “Oh That’s to bad” and wrap that part of the patient’s body in toilet
paper. This continues until one student in the class is a complete mummy
(wrapped everywhere)
Comments: If they say "my eye hurts" or "my arm/leg/foot etc hurts," teach
them to use left and right. You can make the conversation longer, like "My arm
hurts!" "Which one?" "This one [holding left arm up]." or "My left arm." You
can also have a "where?" or "Where does it hurt?" and the student can point and
say "here." It gives advanced students a chance to practice a more
conversational conversation, instead of an exchange of one sentence each.

36.

Title: Giants, Wizards and Dwarves
Type: Active Game
Target: Fairy Tale theme
Materials: None
Procedure: This game is an active version of Rock Scissors Paper. Instead of
Rock there is Giants, instead of Scissors there is Wizards, instead of Paper there
is Dwarves. Each character has an action. Giants (hand above head) beat
Wizards (hands in front waving) beat Dwarves (arms crossed holding ears).
Students are divided into 2 teams and they stand in a line facing each other. The
teams have 10 seconds to decide which character they will choose. After 10
seconds they face each other and say in unison “Mirror, mirror on the wall,

Which fairy tale character will beat them all? 1, 2, 3” After the count of 3 the
teams say the character name and do the action. The winning team chases the
other team back to their safe wall and any students who were caught join the
other team. The team with the most students at the end of the game wins.
Comments: This is a very fun game, but limited in its usage. Maybe some
variations could be made to make it more suitable for other themes and more
intensive on the speaking of English?

37.

Title: Go Fish
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary, but especially phonics related
Materials: playing cards related to your theme

Procedure: Make up a set of cards for each group of students. Groups

should be about 5 students. The cards could be about rhyming words, words that
start with the same letter, end with the same letter, etc. Deal out the cards to the
students (about 4 each) and set the rest5 in a pile in the middle. Students take
turns asking each other questions about their cards to try and find a matching
pair. For example, If in my cards I have a card that says “chair” and we are
playing for rhyming words I could ask “Do you have a card that rhymes with
Chair?” If the person I ask does have such a card, they must hand it over and I
get a pair. The pair is now out of play. If they don’t have a card to match, they
say “sorry. Go fish!” I then choose a card from the middle. The most pairs wins.
Comments:

38.

Title: Going Camping
Type: Concentration Game
Target: Any vocab, or phonics
Materials: None

Procedure Tell the class you are going on a camping trip. If the students

want to join, they have to say “Hello My name is _____ and I’m bringing ____.”
But there is a secret and they have to figure it out. Give them a clue: My name is
Ms. Kasper and I’m bringing a Kite. The secret is that what you bring must
begin with the same sound/letter as your name. Write Kasper and Kite on the
board next to each other for a visual cue. Ask “Can you join me?” to the first
student. Keep going until one student gets it right, then write their name on the
board with yours for another clue. Now the people who know the secret should

ask the next person to join. “_____, Can you join us?” Students try to figure out
that the object and the name must begin with the first letter.

Comments: Can be made more difficult by only allowing students to choose
objects from a certain set of vocab, for example food or toys.

39.

Title: Harry Potter
Type: Active Game
Target: “What are you doing?” verbs, commands
Materials: None (or newspaper wands for fun)
Procedure: 1/3 of the students get wands and become Voldemorts. The
remaining wandless 2/3s are Harry Potters. I will give the Harry Potters a 10-
second head start then let the Voldemorts loose. When a Voldemort catches a
Harry Potter, they wave their wand and shout a command at Harry eg.
jump/dance. Harry Potter then has to do that action in the same spot until they
are saved. Remember that this is a wand NOT a hitting stick. If I see anyone
hitting, then you will be removed from the game. To save a Harry, a FREE
Harry Potter must come along and ask "What are you doing?" and the caught
Harry Potter replies "I'm jumping/dancing". With that complete, Harry Potter is
now free and the world is okay again! If no one is coming to save you, you can
yell “Help me Harry!!!” that means someone should go and save them.
Comments:

40.

Title: Hot Potato
Type: Active Game
Target: Any conversation
Materials: Ball

Procedure: In the background, play some music. While the music is playing the
first student should ask the target question, for example, “Is this your ball?” and
at the same time pass the ball to the next person. The next person catches the
ball and answers “No it isn’t,” or whatever the answer to the target question is.
Repeat the procedure as students ask and throw, catch and answer until the
music stops. When the music stops the person holding the ball should answer
“Yes it is!” Then they are out of the game, but the game continues. The last
person in the game wins.

Comments:

41.

Title: How many Can you name?
Type: Paper Activity
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: Paper and pencil
Procedure: This is basically a pop quiz, but challenge the students to close their
books and make a list of all the vocabulary they know on a certain topic. Some
students really get into it and challenge themselves especially if there is some
sort of competition.

Comments:

42.

Title: Last Man Standing
Type: Game
Target: Any conversation
Materials: None
Procedure: Ask one row of students to stand up. The others remain seated. Ask
“What do you want to do?” to all standing students and they should raise their
hand to answer. Choose the first student to raise their hand to give an answer. If
they are correct they can sit down. Keep going (asking students the question and
calling on the first to raise their hand) until there is only one student left
standing up. Now the column that the standing kid belongs to stands up. Repeat
by alternating between rows of kids (sideways) and columns (back to front).
Comments: This is a good game. Don't explain all the rules at the beginning,
just play it at the kids will get it as you go along. It is a real incentive to answer
questions and not sit silently doing nothing!!

43.

Title: Line by Line
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Divide the class into teams. Draw a picture of the vocabulary words
slowly, one line at a time. Teams guess what I am drawing and the first team to
get it right gets one point
Comments:

44.

Title: Line Quiz
Type: Game

Target: Any vocabulary, or conversation pattern
Materials: flashcards
Procedure: 2 teams stand in a line and I ask the front 2 people a question such
as “What do you want?” Show them a picture card and the first to answer ‘I
want ____” correctly sits down. Repeat again through the whole line. The first
team to all sit down is the winner

Comments:

45.

Title: MASH
Type: Paper activity
Target: House Vocabulary
Materials: Flashcards
Procedure: Now we are going to play one of my favourite games when I was a
kid. It is a fortune game. It is called MASH and each letter stands for
something. M=Mansion (a very big, huge house like a castle), A=apartment,
S=shack (very small, not a good house), H=(Normal House). This game tells
you what kind of house you will live in, in the future. Then we have some other
categories, like what kind of rooms you can have in your house. We will use 3
categories: Bathroom, Living Room and Bedroom. You choose 3 different
options for each category which should be the number of those rooms in your
house. (For example: 3 bedrooms, 0 bedrooms, 1 bedroom). Then one person
makes small marks on a paper until the other person says stop. The number of
marks equals the magic number. Then you count through all the options until
you get to the magic number and then you cross that option off. Keep going
until only one option in each category is left. Then you will have your fortune.
(Show an example) Okay everybody find out your future house fortune! Now
please tell me what kind of house you will have. (students should say I will live
in a mansion with 3 bedrooms, 0 bathrooms, and 2 living rooms)
Comments: The initials and content of the game could be used to meet the
requirements of other limited topics such as jobs or countries and cities (i.e.
what will you be when you grow up, or where will you live, etc.)

46.

Title: Memory
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: Word and picture cards

Procedure: Divide students into teams. On the board place the picture

cards in grid formation. On the other side of the board place the words cards
that match what’s on the picture cards in another grid formation. Label the
columns and rows of the grid. Teams take turns as one student from each team
chooses a card from each side of the board by calling out the labels. For
example, they call C3 and A2. As the cards are revealed the whole team should
say the word of the card. If he 2 cards match the team gets a point. If not, it is
the other team’s turn. Team members take turns guessing. Most points wins.
Comments: Can also be used with past tense practice, by using present and past
tense word cards.

47.

Title: Monkey in the middle
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: mini word/picture cards
Procedure: Students sit in chairs in a circle. Each student has a mini
word/picture card. One students stands in the middle and is the monkey. The
students asks the target question, for example, “Where are you going?” and the
monkey answers “I’m going to the __library__ next to the __bakery__.” (he can
choose any place/vocabulary word he likes). The 2 with those cards (library and
bakery) get up and try to sit in a seat, but it cannot be their original seat. The
monkey also tries to sit in a seat. The student without a seat is the new monkey

Comments:

48.

Title: Musical Chairs
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary or Alphabet
Materials: Picture cards, music
Procedure: Arrange the chairs into a circle and attach a picture card on each
chair. The students must walk around the chairs while music is playing. When
the music stops students try to sit in a chair. Each round a chair is removed
meaning on student won’t get a chair. The student who misses a chair is out of
the game. However, each student who did get a chair must correctly name the
picture card of the chair they sat in. If they cannot name the card a student who
is out do to missing a chair gets a chance to name the card. If the correctly
answer, they take the place of the student who couldn’t name the card. The

game continues until there are 2 students and 1 chair left. The student who gets
the chair is the winner.
Comments: Endless variations of this game exists, including saying a sentence
with the picture card instead of just naming it, spelling the word, etc. You can
also use alphabet cards and have the student name the letter, say the sound of
the letter or say a word that starts with the letter.

49.

Title: Picasso
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None

Procedure: Divide students into teams. The first student from each

team comes to the board and the teacher tells them a word in secret. On the
count of 3, each students tries to draw the word as fast as they can. The first
team to guess their drawers word gets a point. The most points wins.
Comments:

50.

Title: Pictionary
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Students are divided into 2 teams. One person from one team comes
up to the front where the teacher gives them a vocabulary word to draw on the
board. The team tries to guess the word. If they get it correct the team gets one
point. Teams alternate turns and the team with the most points wins.
Comments: If the words are easy to guess you can make it harder by limiting
the time to draw, limiting the time the students have to guess, limiting the
number of guesses and having the team say the answer together in unison.

51.

Title: Red Light, Green Light
Type: Active Game
Target: Colours, Traffic
Materials: Flashcards
Procedure: Students start at back of room and when I show green card they yell
green light and run toward the front. When I show the red card they yell red
light and they freeze. If any student moves during a red light, they go back to

the start. The first student to the front gets to be the leader.
Comments: Perhaps could be altered to focus on other vocabulary as well.

52.

Title: Relay Race
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: flashcards
Procedure: Divide the class into 2 teams and have each team form a line. The
1

st

person from each team runs up to me. They look at the card and then tell me

the word. Once they correctly name he card, they run back to their team and tag
the next person who comes up to me and repeats the process. The first team to
finish is the winner.
Comments:

53.

Title: Round the World
Type: Active Game
Target: Any conversation
Materials: picture cards

Procedure: Divide the class into groups of about 5-6 Each group will

have on leader. The leader keeps the picture cards. Then the first person out of
the 5 players stands up behind the person next to them. The whole team asks the
target question. Then the leader flips over a picture card and the first person out
of the two who are one behind each other to answer what the card says is the
winner. The winner stands up behind the next person and starts again. The first
person back to their original seat is the main winner and they become the leader
for the next round.

Comments: Could also be played as a whole class game rather than in groups

54.

Title: SLAM game
Type: Active Game
Target: Any Vocabulary
Materials: Flashcards
Procedure: Let’s review the words. What room is this? (show the room picture
cards) Okay now we are going to play a game using these words. There are 2
teams. The teams should line up on opposite sides of the room. I will put these
cards around the edges of the tables. The first person from each team should go

around and SLAM the picture and then say “This is a _________ (whatever
room)” They keep going until they meet in the middle somewhere. When they
meet they play Rock Scissors Paper. The winner keeps slamming and saying
sentences. The loser goes to the back of the line and the next person from their
team starts slamming and saying sentences. When one person gets all the way
around the tables, their team gets a point. The first team to get 3-5 points is the
winner.
Comments:

55.

Title: Snowball fight
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary or conversation
Materials: Pictures printed on paper
Procedure: Divide students into 2 teams and make a line which the teams
cannot cross. Give each student a piece of paper with a picture on it. They
crumple up the paper into a snowball and throw them at each other. When you
say stop, students must freeze. Count the snowballs on each side and the team
which has the most snowballs on their side loses. After the snowball count,
students must pick up the paper closest to you, open it and say what it is. Pass
out the pictures again and start over.
Comments: Kind of a waste of paper because they are usually extremely
crumpled after a few rounds, but fun nonetheless.

56.

Title: Sumo
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: flashcards
Procedure: 2 students come up to the front of the class. Pin a card on their back
so they can’t see it. Don’t let the other person see either. The 2 students face
each other and do the Sumo pose. Put their hands behind their back and ready-
set-go and then they try to see the other persons’ card without using hands. Once
they’ve seen it they yell out the answer. The first to get it right is the winning
sumo wrestler.
Comments: This game is very popular with boys, but some girls don’t like to
participate. This can be helped if you pair girls with another girl.

57.

Title: Teacher Says
Type: Active Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Make up actions for different vocabulary words. If your theme is
sports then make up actions for “play soccer” “go swimming” “play baseball”
etc or if your theme is animals make up actions for “act like a dog” “act like a
bunny” “walk like a turtle” etc. Actions can be made for almost any theme. The
students stand in a line. The teacher calls out a command like “Teacher says act
like a bunny.” All the students follow the command. If the command is not
preceded with ‘Teacher says’ the students should not perform the command.
Any students who perform the command when ‘Teacher says’ was not said, is
out. The last student standing is the winner.
Comments:

58.

Title: Telephone Game
Type: Concentration game
Target: Any vocabulary, pronunciation
Materials: None
Procedure: A vocabulary word is chosen and whispered by the teacher to the
first student. They then whisper the word to the next student and so on until it
reaches the last student. The last student must say the word aloud and if it is
correct the class wins. I usually play class against the teacher. Every time the
class gets the word wrong, I get a point. Every time the class gets the word
right, they get a point. It’s really motivating for the students and develops class
co-operation on a common goal. The first and last students should always
alternate to give many students the chance to be the last student.
Comments: Variations can be made to focus on different aspects of the
language. For example, instead of just saying the word aloud the last child must
write the word on the board which focuses on spelling or writing. Or they must
name the first letter of the word which focuses on phonics. Any variation could
be made to suit the needs of the class. This game works best with younger
students, but variations could make it more interesting for older classes. The
game can be mad easier or harder by allowing the students to repeat the word
numerous times, or limiting the time a student can say the word to a single time.

59.

Title: Tic Tac Toe
Type: Paper activity
Target: Past tense or any vocabulary
Materials: Paper and pencil
Procedure: Students are in pairs and write down plain present tense verbs in
each square of a 3 x 3 grid. The first students chooses a square they want to
write X or O (depending on what they are). They must conjugate the verb to the
past tense and say it out loud. If they get it correct then they can put an X or O
over that square. If they get it wrong then it is the other person’s turn. The first
student to get 3 in a row is the winner.
Comments: This can be used just to practice any vocab by writing words in the
squares and having to say the words aloud, or letters and having them say the
name, sound or word that starts with the letter.

60.

Title: Tug of War
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary, sentence forms, conversation, review
Materials:
Procedure: Divide students into 2 teams. Draw a rope on the board with a
certain number of notches. Ask a question and if the team answers correctly
they move the marker closer to their side. The first team to get the marker on
their side is the winner.

Comments:

61.

Title: Unscramble sentences
Type: Game
Target: Any vocabulary, but especially phonics related
Materials: scrambled sentences on the computer or the board
Procedure: Divide the class into teams. Put some words up for the students to
see. They have to unscramble the words with their group to make a proper
sentence. The first team to say the correct sentence aloud as a group gets one
point. If only one person from the team says the sentence, they do not get the
point.
Comments: Good for older students, but insist that the whole group says the
sentence, otherwise the smart kids will do all the work and the lower level kids

won’t get any benefit!

62.

Title: Voice disguise
Type: Concentration Game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Students close their eyes and one student is chosen by the teacher.
That student must say the vocabulary word out loud, but use a distorted voice so
that the others don’t know who said the word. The students open their eyes and
try to guess who said the word. The student who guessed correctly gets a point.
The student with the most points at the end wins.
Comments: Practice distorting the voice before playing the game as this is hard
for students who are not yet comfortable with the English language. It may help
to have certain voices ready such as ‘robot voice’ ‘high voice’ ‘low voice’
‘squeaky voice’ ‘fast voice’ etc.

63.

Title: What time is it Mr. Wolf?
Type: Active Game
Target: Time
Materials: None
Procedure: One student is the Wolf. All the rest line up far away from the Wolf.
They ask in unison “What time is it Mr. Wolf?” and the wolf answers any time.
The students then take the same number of steps towards the Wolf as the time
that the Wolf said. For example, if the wolf answered “It’s 4 o’clock” students
should take 4 steps toward the wolf. Once the Wolf is ready s/he can call out “Its
lunchtime!” When this happens the wolf chases all the students back to the safe
zone and tries to catch them. If anyone is caught they become the new wolf.
Comments:

64.

Title: Wheel of Fortune
Type: Game
Target: Any vocab, sentences, and conversation patterns
Materials: Wheel to spin

Procedure: Put a hangman sentence/word on the board in blanks.

Divide the class into teams and then spin the wheel. If a team says a letter that is
in the puzzle, then they get the amount of money on the wheel multiplied by the
number of times the letter is in the puzzle. They keep going until they either hit

the bankrupt square or they guess a letter that is not in the puzzle. Keeps going
until one team wants to solve the puzzle. Only the team who solved the puzzle
gets to keep their money from that round. The team with the most money at the
end of the game wins.
Comments:

65.

Title: Whispers
Type: Active game
Target: Any vocabulary
Materials: None
Procedure: Students are divided into 2 teams. Each team stands in a line. The
first student from each team comes to the teacher where the teacher whispers the
secret word to them. They then run to the back of their respective lines and
whisper the word to the last person in line 9they stay at the back and don’t
return to the front). The last person whispers the word to the person in front of
them who whispers it to the person in front of them and so on, until the word
reaches the person who is now at the front of the line. That person runs to the
teacher and whispers the word to the teacher. If it is correct they receive a new
word and run to the back of the line and continue the whispering game. If it is
wrong they must restart from the previous word. They first team to finish all the
words correctly is the winner.
Comments:

66.

Title: Whiz Bong
Type: Active game
Target: Any Vocabulary (small amount, 2-5 words)
Materials: None
Procedure: Get the students to stand in a circle. The first person starts by
asking “Will you help me?” and doing the action of putting their arm across
their chest in one direction. The person on the same side as the moved their arm
(i.e. they moved their left arm the person to their left is next) should answer
“Sure” and move their arm in the same direction. Then it is the next person’s
turn and they should start again with “Will you help me?” This continues in the
same direction until somebody answers something different, like “Of course.” If
someone answers something different then they should move their arm across
their body in the other direction and then the person on the opposite side

answers. Answering with a different sentence changes the direction of the
movement. Also, If someone answers with the words “Sorry I can’t” They
should put their hands on their head. Doing this mean that it continues in the
same direction, BUT skips the next person in line. Do a practice with a few
students and then begin the game as a whole class. If someone makes a mistake
the whole class should throw their hands in the air and yell out “Oh no!” Then
the game continues!

Comments: If the class is already familiar with the game, changing the key

words a few times during the game could incorporate more vocabulary.

67.

Title: Word chain
Type: Concentration Game
Target: Any vocabulary or sentence form
Materials: None
Procedure: The first student must say a vocabulary word or sentence such a “I
played soccer.” The next student must say what the person before him did, and
then something new like “He played soccer. I watched TV.” The next student
must remember all those who came before “He played soccer. She watched TV.
I played computer games.” Count the number of sentences students can
remember. Continue until a student makes a mistake or can’t remember. When a
student makes a mistake or forgets, start again with that student and see if they
can beat their last record.

Comments: This can be made more motivating by setting a limit and then

rewarding all the class if they reach that goal (“If you can remember more than
10 sentence, the whole class will get a sticker.”) It can also be made into a
competition by recording the top scores of all classes in a certain grade and
rewarding the best class. Beware as this makes the students very competitive
and they can be harsh on students who have a hard time remembering.

68.

Title: Word Delete
Type: Concentration game
Target: Any sentence, question, or conversation pattern
Materials: None
Procedure: One student at a time says one word from the chosen pattern. For
example, if the pattern is “Will you help me?” student one says “will,” student 2
says “you,” student 3 says “help,’ and student 4 says ‘me.” The next student

begins again with “will” and so on. A word is chosen to be deleted and the
student whose turn it is should clap instead of saying the word. If “you” is the
chosen word, the game is played like this: S1= Will, S2= clap, S3= help,
S4=me, etc. If a student claps when he is not supposed, says a wrong word or
says the word instead of claps he is out. The winner is the last student standing.
Comments: This can be made harder by choosing more complicated
vocabulary, deleting 2 or more words at a time, or by using patterns with more
than of the same word in it. Manipulating the speed of the game can make it
easier or harder.