Subject Games and Activities

Non-subject games and activities (to be used outside of curricular lessons;

Breaktime, lunchtime, pre- or post-class; Or to be inserted into lessons as
general warmers or relaxers

The Laughing Classroom, page 36: An upbeat entrance: Begin your lesson
by playing upbeat music to put the children in a lively mood for lessons.

The Laughing Classroom, page 40: Klutz to the Rescue! The author talks
about using simple magic tricks in class. Could also be used with balloons or
juggling, or origami or hand shadows

The Laughing Classroom, page 47: Student show time! What hidden
talents abound in your classroom? Amaze and inspire one another by having
an hour of student show time once a month (or once a week?). Have children
sign up for five- or ten-minute slots to display any talents they choose. For
example, poetry reading, story reading, singing, dancing, whistling, show and
tell, sharing personal stories or adventures, showing off hobbies or skills.

General-Purpose or multi-use Games (Can be used for more than one subject,
or non-academic activities)
* Assorted Activities Box: Herbert Kohl, in his book, On Becoming a Teacher,
says that he keeps in class an old salesmans briefcase which he keeps filled with
anything that might interest the children newspaper clippings, photos,
magnifying glasses. Other suggestions might include (harmless) electronic or
engineering parts, art materials, magic tricks, puzzles and jokes, menus and
recipes and material samples anything you can catch their curiosity with!

* Drilling Techniques:
Brisk drilling: Simple teacher say, class respond. Moves activities along at a
rapid pace. Good for quick review.
Catchball Drilling/ Point and Say: Students throw a ball among the class. The
thrower states the first part, the catcher the response. This can be used
for practicing virtually any area. Point and Say works just as well without the
 ball, and its fun for the students to say each others names (if they know
them!)
Circle Drilling: A good way of drilling lists days of the week, months,
alphabet, etc. Simply recite whatever list you want to practice around the
circle. The game is to increase speed and sureness.
Clap Drilling: "Clapclapclapclap" goes the whole class. In between each
rhythmic clap, the students, in turn around the circle or in chorus, say
whatever item youre drilling. Good for rhythm. If you want to make it more
difficult, have them stand up if they make a mistake turn it into a process
of elimination.
Milling Drilling: Half the class sits in a circle; the other half stands outside
and pairs off. They practice their language point, whatever it is; then the
outer circle rotates by one (like a mill wheel turning) and they repeat.

* Flashcards:
You can do a variety of these. They make a refreshing change from whiteboards
or speech drilling, and they allow you to use them for giving, taking, finding and
the element of surprise. You can use laminated ones or words scrawled on pieces
of paper, with or without pictures. Here are some ideas:
- Lay cards out and say "Show me/find the X".
- Revealing the card little by little race to see what it is.
- Play happy families (would take some setting up) with different groups
foods, jobs, names, etc.
- Display the cards around the room, and ask "Where is the X?"
- Play "Snap!" with sets of cards.
- Matching up word and picture flashcards.
Timez Attack Roleplay: Have you ever played the game Timez Attack? It's
perfect for learning times tables, and a free download.
OK - now that the children are familiar with it, we can introduce this game: a
roleplay version of Timez Attack (here, we'll explain adding/subtracting, but it
could also be used for times, shapes and even non-maths subjects.
You will need: a stack of cards - question on one side, answer on the other -
divide them into packs of six or so, and hide them before the start of the
game (don't foget where); an assistant (teaching assistant preferably, but a
bright child would work); a monster mask (optional); a pre-boarded table with
 Monster and Class; 6 magnets to keep score. Children and monster start each
game with 3 magnets each.
How to play:
Stage 1: puzzle - teacher chooses 1 child and gives him/her clues to find the
stack of cards.
Stage 2: monster - child gives cards to teacher who puts on Monster mask and
stands up.
Stage 3: contest - the teacher holds up one card (question side). Chooses child
to answer. If answer correct, teacher gets knocked back; if answer incorrect,
whole class gets knocked down (see the game to see what this imitates). In
either case, one magnet gets transferred from the loser's table to the
winners'.
Stage 4: end - when one table has no magnets, the game is over. Reset the
magnets, 3 for each table again. If the monster lost, take off the mask and
send a new child to find the next pack of cards. If the monster won, replay the
game until the children win, recycling difficult cards.
Notes and comments: This game could really be played for any topic, with a
little alteration. Any numeracy topic, and also literacy...science...anything! Also,
suggestion - use one card with three questions on it?
Timez Attack Roleplay Variations:
1. Using it to drill High Frequency Word cards in English: the children all have
flashcards to learn new words. Have each child choose three cards. Make a
table for Monster and Children, and have one magnet for each child. All
magnets begin on the Monsters side. The monster chooses children, who
must choose one of their words and say a correct sentence which includes it.
When one child has completed all three cards, a magnet goes to the children.

* Mind Mapping:
Used to brainstorm ideas on the whiteboard. Write down the central them in the
middle and draw lines and labels branching out from it with ideas about it. An
excellent way to get the students thinking.

* Concept Mapping:
Similar to Mind Maps. Again, there is a central concept and again words related to
the central concept are written around it. This time, though, there are no
radiating lines; instead, draw lines between the different words around the
central concept, and along these lines write connections you can think of. For
example, if the central concept is food you might think of words like fry and
refrigerator; and you might draw a line between these two words and write
frying makes food hot, refrigerators make it cold. A very good exercise to do in
both introductions and plenaries, especially when these two are compared.

* Substitution Tables:
Write out a model sentence on the whiteboard to practice a grammar point, then
elicit ideas from the students to substitute in key parts; as follows:
He Is Read ing
" " Listen"
You Are Look "
They " Eat "

* Musical chairs: As with the favourite party game the ring of chairs for the
chn to dance around; sit down at the signal; take one chair away each round so
that there is one person out each time and an eventual winner. But, to use it as a
learning/drilling game, choose one teaching point and have the children sit down
when you say it. Here are some examples:
English: Say random letters; children sit down when you say a vowel.
Maths: say numbers; children sit down when you say an odd number / a multiple of
3/4/7, etc.
Other subjects: say random words; children sit down when you say one from a
selected topic.

* End-of-class Vocabulary:
At the beginning of the lesson, fence off an area of the board; throughout the
lesson, fill it with new words that come up; and at the end of the lesson, play a
quick game point and say, a quiz, a blackboard race to review these new words.

* Rush Hour:
A fun childrens party game, which can be good for practicing vocabulary, and
would work well as a warmer. Students sit in a circle. One person, without a chair,
stands in the middle. When that person calls a description or item of vocabulary,
all the students to whom it applies stand up and try to find new seats. In the
confusion, the student in the middle also tries to sit down. One person will be left
without a seat to call the next time. Examples could be Everyone with red
clothes, all girls or people with trainers for low levels.
* Guessing the word:
Can be done in pairs, trios, groups or as a class. Very useful for revising
vocabulary. There are a number of ways to do this:
Mime the word.
Gapfill (I go to the restaurant because Im feeling __________.
Describe the word.

* Cut and Paste:

The basic idea is that there are slips of paper with words on them which the
students have to match up. These could be either words and their meanings, or
first and second halves of sentences (or even sentences cut into three or four
parts) or one sentence and a following sentence. You can throw in some mistaken
cards or false leads for more fun. You can either do this with you making the
cards, or the students preparing their own and then mixing them up.

* Blackboard Races:
A number of different games, all based on the idea of writing items to be revised
on the board, and students working in teams, racing each other to eliminate the
most of them.
* Blackboard Quiz: Write the words you want to revise on the board. Split the
class into teams. Read out definitions for the words one at a time, and give a point
to the team whose member guesses the word.
* Blackboard Race: Write words on the board and split the class into two teams.
Give the front member of each team a pen, one red and one black. Call out the
definition and have them race to circle the right word. Once one of them has done
so, they both pass the pens on to the next in their teams.
* Blackboard Writing Race: This time, start off with a blank board. Split the class
into two teams and give the first member of each a pen. Stand them in front of
the board and say a word; they have to race to write it correctly (also works for
normal and IPA alphabets). When the word has been written, rub out the wrong
one and both members pass the pens on.
* Some build, some destroy: I like to introduce this game by building a house of
cards, then knocking it down. The message being that some build (give a team a
marker pen) and some destroy (give the other team a rubber). Say a word, or give
a clue for it. One person from each team looks for it. The first one to find it
either rubs it out or draws a circle around it.
* Personal Blackboard Races: You can also have students do their own races in
pairs or small groups, using a sheet of paper rather than the board. One person
says a word and the other or other two - must point to it.
* Blackboard Relay Races: This game is self-working, with no teacher participation
necessary apart from monitoring, correcting and feedback afterwards.
Write up a load of different words on the board 15 at least and split the class
into two teams. Choose two people from each team. One of them is the
Describer, the other the Finder. The Describers must each describe a word, and
the two Finders each with different-coloured pens must find it and
circle it. The aim of each team is to get as many of the words as possible. As soon
as the Finder has found the word, he takes over as Describer, the old
Describer sits down and a new Finder stands up. In this way, each team can work
in a relay until all the words have been found.
This could also be done as a simpler version if you have the blackboard items as
self-explanatory say, as students correcting grammar mistakes or misspelled
words.
* Word/Picture Race: here, you write up a word on the board and, for each one, a
corresponding image or synonym. Split the class into two teams and give each a
different-coloured pen. They then have a relay race the first person stepping
forward, drawing a line and then passing the pen to the next to see who can
match up the most words to their images. Teacher watches and corrects. At the
end, see who drew the most lines (who won) and check the answers as a class.
* Writing Race. The students form into groups. Each group writes down ten
words. Then one person is chosen from each group and given a marker, and the
papers are swapped between groups. Each group must now get its representative
to write down all of the words as quickly as possible on the board.
* The students could review the vocabulary, choose words they are having trouble
with and write them up for a blackboard race.
* Knock their teeth out! You need a big list of questions about the book you are
using (or a good imagination to come up with some). The possibilities are endless
regarding what you use for questions. So here's the fun part: Draw two big
mouths on the whiteboard, giving each about 8 teeth. If you have a girl team and a
boy team, give one some nice lips. Ask individual team members questions. If they
get it RIGHT, you erase one tooth from the OPPONENTS mouth. It gives the
impression they are knocking out the teeth of the other team. This game is
basically Hangman applied to reviewing; and why not? What other gradual-
progression pictures could you use?
A juggler juggling balls (could add instead of taking away!)
Draw sweets and take them away
Eat up each others apples, bananas, ice-creams, etc.
Draw a person for each; then, with each mistake they make, draw a part of
something around them; if they lose, they end up with a large monsters mouth
swallowing them. But make sure you draw the same things at the same rate for
each team!
* Queueing up:
Students form up in two lines in front of a board with words on it. They race to
finish their lines (when a person has finished he goes to the back, so the line is
finished when the first person returns to the front). At low levels, just saying a
word would be enough. At medium levels, using the word in a sentence, and at high
levels, defining the word. The teacher can be the judge of how effectively this
has been done.

* Magic Ball Review (The Laughing Classroom, page 97):

Tell the children This is a magic ball, which holds all the answers to everything.
When you hold the ball, you will know the answer to any question I ask. Arrange
the class in a circle (or you can split the class up into groups to play the games.
Ask a question and throw the ball to someone to answer. Either have the child
throw the ball back to you to ask another question, or have the child ask a
question and throw the ball to someone else for the answer.

* Back to the Board:

The basic game is that one person, sitting in the hotseat, faces the class. Here
are some ways to do it:
- Simple focused conversation: the class can ask the person in the hotseat any
question they like.
 - Drama hotseating: the person in the hotseat has to assume a character. The
class can either test it by asking questions, or ask questions to guess it.
Good for reviewing stories in English or History. Could be adapted for other
subjects Geography, mathematics, music
- One person sits with his back to the board. The teacher writes up something
that the class can see but the hotseated person cant. Then:
a. The class has to give clues until the hotseated person works out what it
is,
b. the class splits into two (or more) teams and the hotseated person asks
questions of each alternately; when he guesses it, the team that last gave
him a clue gets a point or (to make them be more subtle) LOSES a point.
c. Each team has one thing on the board. The hotseated person asks them
questions alternately and the first team whose thing he guesses gains or
loses a point (depending on whether you want the easy or difficult game).
(d) The teacher writes a simple sentence on the board, "The book is on the
bed." or "My father is playing with Tim." You tell the students that they are
very curious and that they want to have more details about the sentence.
They have to come up with as many questions as they can think of and you
make up the answers as you go. For example; "What color is the book?
Whose book is it? Why is it on the bed? Where is the bed? Who is Tim?
Where are they playing? How old is your father?"
(e)One person sits in the hotseat; go around the class, with each person
asking a question.
(f) Word Lists: This can be done with any of the above methods. The
audience helps the hotseater by giving him lists of words until he gets it.
So: Chicken. Farm? No. Beef, pork, vegetables. Restaurant? No.
Trolley, basket Supermarket.

The Wizard (From The Laughing Classroom, page 106):

A fun way to review a subject, and a wonderful alternative to the usual stand-up
oral report. The students must listen carefully and work together as a team.
What happens is this: the children work together in groups of four. One group
comes up to the front of the class and stands shoulder to shoulder. They are now
transformed into a Wizard with four heads but one mind. The teacher and/or
class asks The Wizard questions, and the four children answer speaking in turn,
and one word at a time.

* Hangman games:
Classic Hangman:
In this game, one person writes up dashes indicating the number of letters in a
word, and the other players have to guess by saying one letter at a time. Every
time they guess a letter right the writer writes it in the appropriate space (more
than once, if the word has more than one of the same letter). Every time they get
it wrong, he draws another part of a picture of a man being hanged. The students
win when they complete (or guess) the word; they lose if the picture is completed
and the man hanged.
Revised Hangman:
Classic Hangman is an old favourite, but there are some ways to make it more fun.
The picture of a man being hanged is a little dull. Instead, try:
- A man walking off a cliff into the shark-infested sea; he takes another step
with every wrong letter (very quick to draw with stick figures).
- A balloon sinking into the (naturally) shark-infested ocean.
- A man sleeping at the bottom of the cliff (identify him as the teacher) while
another man at the top (identify him as one of the students) pushes a big
rock onto him. Every wrong letter means the rock falls a little further.
- A plane crashing into a mountain.
Stand-up Hangman:
Dont draw a picture, just write up the dashes for the word. Every time a person
says a right letter, it gets written in the correct space. Every time somebody says
a wrong letter, though, it gets written on the board and that person has to stand
up. This works best in large classes, because youre going to use people up pretty
quickly. In smaller classes you could do things to make it easier: give them clues,
give them two chances (the first time they get it wrong they stand up; the second
time they stand on one leg), etc.
Clues Hangman:
Here is a twist to Hangman that keeps the kids on their toes: Place on the board
the number of blanks for one word (example "police officer"). Then, provide clues
about the word such as appearance, duties, associated accessories, etc... This
requires the students know not only the word but, what it means. Works best with
occupations, locations, animals (when compared with actions words).
Two-team Hangman: Here, split the class into two teams. Each with a picture to
lose. Lots of competitive fun!

* Word Worms:
This is a fun way to revise vocabulary, checking recognition and pronunciation.
You can present the word worm on the board, or on a handout. Write a list of
words in the shape of a worm with no boundaries between each word.
Soitmightlooksomethinglikethiswithafewwigglesforawormyeffect.
Students must then find the words within a time limit. They could work in pairs or
individually.
Once the majority have found all the words, give them a few minutes to practice
saying them, while you monitor and correct any pronunciation errors. Then
feedback worm style around the class; you should be able to take away the
handouts!
Next time you teach a new lexical set, get students to make their own word worms
for homework, and use them next lesson!

* Word searches:
. Draw a grid, write answers in some of the squares and fill in the surrounding
squares with nonsense. The students then have to find the answers.
. Either you can make the word searches, or students can make them and then
swap them.
. They can do this either with looking for words (in which case, one letter per
square) or looking for sentences (in which case, one word per square).

* Crosswords:
Grids with areas marked off for words. The areas cross over each other, going
vertically and horizontally, and so must be arranged so as to share letters. Clues
are written for the crosswords. As with the Word searches, you can either do
these for students to do, or students can do their own.

* The Secret Word:

Here, the class has to fill in the clues, like a crossword, to find the secret word
that runs through them. Like so:
_ _ _ The second number
_ _ _ _ _ A round red and green fruit
_ _ _ _ When you really, really like somebody
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ An animal that lives in Australia and can jump really well.
The words are "two, apple, love, kangaroo"; and the secret word from reading
their first letters downwards is "talk".

* Circle Forfeits:
Write up a sequence of numbers with a number of points of whatever you want to
practice included. The students have to recite it around the circle; anybody who
makes a mistake pays a forfeit - for example, first mistake, stand up. Second
mistake, on one leg; third mistake, out of the game.
Tips: keep the sequence short and the game brisk. Dont let it lag.
Follow-on Cards:
This is a maths game, and works best for maths, since what it basically practices
is remembering facts. However, it could be adapted for other topics. It might
work best if the children make their own; or perhaps you could just write key
words on the cards and have the children make up their own definitions; so if the
cards for a history lesson were:
1. King Henry VIII/ Anne Boleyn
2. Anne Boleyn/ Elizabeth I;
3. Elizabeth I/ Queen Mary
The game might go:
1. King Henry/ he married this woman then cut off her head.
2. Anne Boleyn/ this woman was Queen of England after Henry VIII died.
3. Elizabeth I/ this Queen was a Catholic, and had lots of Protestants killed
Bingo:
- The basic game: the children each draw a 3 by 3 grid, and write numbers in
it. The teacher calls out numbers one by one, and the children cross off the
ones that are on their board. The first person to cross off all the numbers
shouts Bingo! and wins the game.
- Notes: the number of squares in the grid can be adjusted; the numbers need
to be within pre-defined limits.
- Numbers bingo: This would usually be maths, of course, but could conceivably
be used in other subjects; perhaps dates in history, or certain numbers in
science. The game can range from the extremely simple (choose 9 numbers,
 1-20, which the teacher will call out at random) to the advanced (practicing
calculations choose 9 numbers 1-20, which the teacher will give sums for
addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, percentages,
rounding up or downnumbers bingo can be adapted to virtually any topic).
- Words bingo: this can be used for almost any subject as well, including maths
(names of shapes, for example, or mathematical functions). In playing words
bingo, you should be careful to set limits on the words they can write down;
perhaps have them choose the words from a list, a poster or an article; or
from a clearly-defined set of words.
Feely-bag: Have a bag full of objects; children put a hand in and try to
identify the objects before taking them out. Lots of applications for lots of
subjects.
How many things can you think of that A game that can be adapted for
many subjects. Divide the children into groups and have them write lists. In
science, How many things can you think of that are made of
metal/cardboard/wood? At the end, see which group has the most items.
Spotting the Mistake: Tell a story/read an article/talk to the students
about something, but warn them in advance that youre going to make
mistakes, and see if theyre clever enough to spot them. This should excite
them and get them paying attention. But make sure that if there are any
mistakes they miss, you point them out and dont let them get fossilized!
Invisible Elephant: Perhaps not the most efficient way to review
vocabulary, but a novel and imaginative one that might make the children pay
more attention! Tell them youre going to draw a picture of something, and
they have to guess what it is. Draw the picture in the air, outlining it with
one finger in a steady movement around the edge of the object.
Odd one out: Write up a sequence of words on the board, or just say them
aloud. Have the class tell you which is the odd one out. Useful for discussing
classes of words, in just about any subject.
Selling freezers to Eskimos: A fun, unorthodox way to talk about objects, a
game that can be played in pairs, groups, or as a whole class. For high levels.
Give a picture of something to a child and challenge him to sell it to the
class, telling them why they really, really need it.
The Laughing Classroom, page 38: Back Drawing: Have the children pair
off and stand with Child One with his back to Child Two. The teacher calls
 out a question, and Child Two will draw the answer on Child Ones back, using
the tip of his finger, with exaggerated movements and clarity; Child One
writes the answer down. After ten questions, stop and have the children
check the answers with the teacher. If theres time, swap and repeat with
ten more questions. A fun way to review material!
The Laughing Classroom, page 46: A Step in the Right Direction: Create
a list of fifty or so review questions. Choose a place in the classroom for you,
the teacher, to begin, and stand there. Ask the children the questions, one
by one. For each right answer, you move forward one pace; for each wrong
answer, move backward one pace. The goal, of course, is to get around the
class. Variation: choose a child to move instead of you (NB could be a good
solution if you have one child who is miles better than the others and always
shouting out the right answer).
The Laughing Classroom, page 49: Dream-a-Theme: I believe that
imagination and dreaming are essential aspects of learning that are sadly
lacking in our educational approach today. So, each week in my classroom, we
dream a theme that relates to the world, such as Imagine a world with
plenty of food for all, or Imagine a world where everybody tells the truth,
or Imagine a world that raises all children with great love and care. We
write our dream theme for the week on the board and, when relevant, we
relate all discussions and subject matter to the theme. This has added an
element of richness and global perspective to the lessons in ways that have
exceeded my expectations. The idea for this activity was inspired by a
comment by DH Lawrence: If you dont have a dream, how can you have a
dream come true?
The Laughing Classroom, page 95: The Six Thinkers: Adapted from
Edward deBonos Six Thinking Hats. These represent different
conversational functions best used in creating new ideas. You can choose six
children to wear them, or have children put them on whenever they want to
say something. You can begin by having six children put them on and have the
whole class follow them in an opening statement:
1. Blue Hat: The Controller Cross arms and say, We must control
2. Green Hat: The Creator raise a finger and say, Aha! Ive got it!
3. Yellow Hat: The Optimist palms up, say, Lets look on the bright side
 4. White Hat: The Objective Thinker point a finger and say, Lets look at the
facts
5. Red Hat: The Feeler put your hand over your heart and say, What I feel
is
6. Grey Hat: The Critic shake your head and say, No, no, no
The Laughing Classroom, page 118: Gibberish Interpreter
Two children are chosen. One is a foreign expert on whatever subject you are
studying, and the other is his interpreter. The teacher or children will ask the
interpreter a question; the interpreter will translate it into gibberish; the expert
will reply in gibberish; and the interpreter will translate the answer back to the
class.
Alternatively, if the teacher knows a language the children do not, the teacher
can be the expert and speak in that language.
Early in the morning:
Chn sit in a circle. Teacher is postman (initially) postman stands in middle and
walks around as he sings Early in the morning at 8.00, You can hear the postman
knock walk steadily to rhythm, chn can clap. Stop at child you reach when you
sing knock. Then sing Up jumps X to open the door child X jumps up One
letter, two letter, three letter, four. (pretend to hand them letters). Works to
get them to recognise rhythm. When they are familiar, you can get them to be
lively postman, etc. Once they know the game, child X can take your place as the
postman.
Match-up Turnover cards: Have two sets of cards, different colours say,
red and blue. On one side, the red cards have questions and the blue answers
(or synonyms, or two things that fit together, or whatever youre practicing).
On the other side, the red cards are numbered 1, 2, 3 and the blue cards a,
b, c The game is to turn all of the cards over 1, 2, 3 a, b, c facing up). Turn
over a red card, showing the question. Children guess which blue card is the
answer by saying its letter, and turning it over to guess. This game works
very well when the children compete to guess the right card say, with
cards magnetized on a board and children putting up hands to guess.
Snap! The traditional game is for two or more players to lay down cards in
turn, and shout Snap! and slap your hand down on them when one card
matches the one it has just been put down on ie, a five of hearts follows a
five of spades. Here is a version even more fun: Play as described, but each
 player counts as they put the card down the first player says one, as he
puts down the first card, the second two, and so on. When the number
spoken matches the value of the card, say Snap! To make the game even
more challenging, count silently.
SNAP! VARIATIONS:
- Ordinals. Instead of saying Onetwo say Firstsecond
- The game can be played with anything that has a sequence. For example, you
could remove all the odd numbers and count in twos; or play with money
flashcards, and count one pencetwo pencefive pence

From Getting the Buggers to Behave, by Sue Cowley: Engaging lessons

across the curriculum
The following are ideas for games guaranteed to grab attention and engage the
children.
The scene of the crime:
Can be used in history (examining evidence), English (literature, eg Romeo and
Juliet), Drama (the crime genre), D & T (drawing a plan).
When they children enter the class, they find a crime scene: a roped- or taped-
off area with the scene of the crime in it maybe a chalk outline, a gun, a rope, a
handbag with the contents spilt out. Their task is to examine the scene of the
crime, discuss their findings and, depending on the lesson, draw or write about
them. NO TOUCHING (mustnt wipe off the fingerprints).
The can of dog food:
Can be used for D & T (packaging), Art (designing a label) or Science (analyzing
the contents of the tin).

Ideas for starters

(All of these starters require practically no preparation.)
Five anagram words on the board. I.e. asc sod = sac a dos etc
Write the middle or end of 5 known words i.e. ayo = crayon tyl=stylo.
Write 5 words with a letter missing each. The missing letters could spell another word, if
youre that well organised.
 On a known theme (i.e. town) write the first letter of 5 different places.
5 words each with one deliberate mistake in the spelling.
Odd one out i.e chien chat cheval chance
With times, numbers, dates or any other sequences, i.e. ma journe write 5 random on
the board for them to put in the right order.
Mime a word they know (exaggerated lip-reading)
Skywrite a word they know (you must write it backwards for them)
Write the first two letters of five words up, and they must match the endings.
Textspeak BB=bb, K7 cassette, LF1=elephant. G HT jai achet.
They have one minute to write as many clothes as possible, colours, sports,fruit,veg,
countries, pets, rooms, hobbies, furniture.
They have one minute to write as many words as they can beginning with.
Writesixorsevenwordstogetherwithoutabreak.
Show them five flashcards, jumble them up, and they must guess which one you have in
front of you.

Minimal preparation, maximum effectiveness activities (for teaching languages,

but adaptable to other subjects)

At the end of a lesson - "What word/sentence am I thinking of from the lesson". Do eith
participate. Write the one you are thinking of on a piece of paper in case they accuse you
A sweet for the winner is a great addition to this game...

A mid-lesson game or plenary: Pair noughts and crosses. They each draw a nine box grid w
each word in a sentence e.g. jml = je me leve if doing daily routine. Then working in pairs
get their nought/cross in the box. They only let them have it if they are happy with pron
every one prepared a grid. Or get them to use a pencil and they can use the same grid tw

Listening bingo - use any tape extract. Tell students the topic then they think of 10 word
down. They then listen to the tape and every time they hear the words they tick them as
words. Winner is the one with most ticks - a chewit sweet for the winner. Brill for predic

You can also use this with pupils preparing mini speaking presentations. Pupils read them
have chosen 5 words they think will come up and do the same tally idea.

A-Z on a topic - word and picture for each letter of the alphabet. Prizes for winners.
Create a puzzle page for revision of a topic - swap over and do each others' puzzles... Sli
swap!!

Heads down thumbs up. This is the basic version.4 volunteers on floor . rest of class put
their heads [wish I could draw on this!] hands making fists with thumbs sticking up and e
round room and each pushes down the thumbs of one person. No-one opens eyes till volun
have fallen asleep by this point] Four whose thumbs were touched stand up and in turn sa
say yes or no till all have said] If they are correct they come out and take place of first
floor.

Difficult to tie in with languages but if the four on the floor each have a flashcard the v
persons name.

I use heads down thumbs up to build sentences. The 4 pupils at the front are vocab eg un
une cuisine. The pupils who are touched on the thumbs guess who has touched them by sa
could combine two, or three rooms by having a series of pictures on flashcards and hangi
Does this make sense?
Also a game with post it notes. Write different jobs on them and stick them to pupils fo
partner questions eg je porte un uniforme? Partner can only respond with oui or non. Pupi
easier to have pre prepared questions for the pupils to use. Good for GCSE jobs.

Strip bingo pupils split a piece of paper into 9 sections and write a different phrase/wo
words/phrases several times pupils can only tear off the strip if the word/phrase is at
with one strip left. Advantage over normal bingo is that the teacher repeats the words/
Use a stopwatch to time pupils matching the vocab on linguascope on IWB - fastest wins
IWB. First one to get three pairs wins. Winner stays on.

When you've introduced vocab play word tennis. Eg Partner A .Dans mon sac il y a une tro
eg dans mon sac il y a une trousse et un cahier. Partner A adds another etc. Pupils score w
word, or can't remember order. Score as tennis if they know how.

Mallets mallet. Buy an inflatable hammer, or real one for difficult groups. Choose topic e
and pretend you are timmy mallet. Pink glasses and bermuda shorts are a must. Hit pupil
they pause, hesitate, repeat word or stray from topic area completely.
the word tennis game also works for questions and answers and gives them the opportuni

If you have a PALE system [don't know if this has different names but it is those fixed
classroom] pupils make their own "speaking clock" recordings which they then hand to ano

when you have marked one pupils' work hand over the red pen and send him/ her to mark

Buy a shoe bag and call it sac magique. Get pupils to close eyes and hide things in it. Cla
what is in your sac magique and have to make sentence up with word.
Dictionary Race: 5 / 10 minutes to find as many words relating to the current topic - priz
brainstorm them all onto a flipchart/the board so everyone has a wider vocab list!

Stand up Bingo. Get pupils to write down 3 words from the vocabulary that you have been
ready and sit down as soon as any one of the words on their list has been called out by yo
read out thereby being the last one standing. It's a great plenary.
Odd one out. Easy for you to put together, good to give to pupils to make up to reinforce
Get them to scramble up 5 new words they've learnt from the lesson for a partner to un

Fruit Salad (takes about 25 mins) - play with 4 different phrases or 4 questions/answers
Can do knock out round.

Chef d'orchestre (chanting and class changes line upon a previously agreed on signal from
outside when the signal and person was decided upon have to work out who is changing th
When you have lost your starter (like I did today) do a quick test of vocab / sentences f
and they write the French/English. Then go through on board together - points for each
as scared to write the TL from memory.

Write a blank for each word in a sentence. Give the last word and work backwards - pupi
think about word order especially for past tense and any opinion sentence.

Rowdy class... dictation.

Queen Victoria: One pupil at front with back to class. Teacher indicates one of class to s
disguised voice ... object is to guess speaker t=retain place on floor [ more linguistic value
aloud - but defeats purpose of this thread ..... and sometimes we just need a bit of fun]

Language Brain Trust : 4 pupils on floor . rest of class must ask each in turn a language or
on floor , if not questioner takes place[limit number of questions on football] 4 still on fl
sweets etc.

Statues : useful for verbs Teacher calls out an action Pupils must get into statue pose of
giggling etc till next action is called or sit down

What's missing : read out a list of days of the week, animals, colours. Reread list omittin

Zoo :If you have a big room and pupils can sit in a circle sit them with one fewer chairs t
porte des chaussettes blanches" "J'ai trois freres" etc All those with white socks/three
centre tries to get one of their chairs. If they call zoo everyone changes seats.
Put flashcards on floor. Send a pupil outside. Agree a flashcard with class. Invite pupil in
slowly louder till pupil picks up right card. Can time each pupil an quickest is winner.

Moving Dictation
You dictate a text, they write a sentence and then pass their exercise book to another p
sentence... After as many sentences as you want, show them the text on OHP, IWB, using
in their textbooks. They then have to correct the mistakes. Great for German - capitals
mark other people's work.

Tongue Twister
Write a tongue twister on the board, ask them to work out what it means using dictionar
Normally has plenty of volunteers.

Word Recall
Not very exciting, but useful - give the pupils the topic or idea (price, size..), and they ha
which you then go through with them on the board after. Can turn it into a competition.
Word categories
Give pupils A4 paper/card, ask them to fold it into 9. Write the topic in each box, and th
to write it in the correct box.

Same as above - but a game: write the topics on the board, name the two pupils playing e
name the topic that that belongs to wins a point for their team. Could be combined with t

Aural Dominoes
See Resource Bank (made by someone else. Can also be handwritten onto card - only take
A great way of introducing new vocab or practicing old vocab.

Headlines
Have pictures on the board (from internet on IWB or projector) and they have to write
Write the names of the people involved in recent news and the headlines in TL next to it

blockbusters - create a grid with lots of hexagons. Copy to OHT. Write numbers on with
necessary to reinforce vocab/fill time etc. The students choose a number and you give th
done. First across the board (or down) is the winner.

Snowball. thirty secs to write as many topic words down by themselves. 1 min to work wit
table. Then go round the class, table by table. Write the words on the board. Any words
count. Any unique words get a point. Table with the most points win.

Pass the parcel

Pass a ball/object around the class to music when the music stops ask who is holding the

Famous person
Ask the students for the name of a celebrity. Write it on the board. See who can find a
resources allowed

Word combs
They write their names down then find an adjective for each letter of their name.

starters:
1. GIMME 5 - say "donnez-moi 5 animaux/5 verbes irrguliers au pass compos/ 5 opinio
etc. Works with any year group.
2. Write a word on the board from a recent topic eg croissant. pupils suggest a sentence
score out of 10 for their impressiveness. Vary generosity of your mark scheme dep on ab
3. "clear the board" - write up 20 or so words or phrases randomly all over your board. S
saying one of the words/phrases and its translation. If correct you rub it out. Penalty of
beat their own previous class record each time you play.
4. PASSEZ LA BOMBE - buy a kitchen timer. Get a small box (empty Neutradol packaging
"ATTENTION-BOMBE!!! on it. Put the timer in the box. When you play, set the timer for
question you've covered recently which can have many different answers. ive bomb to fir
said an answer. Whoever is holding the bomb when it goes off has to do a forfeit, like sa

Writing
1.Write a sentence on the board such as (Yr 7) "Dans ma trousse j'ai un stylo et une gom
have 2 mins to write as many sentences as they can, substituting different items. individ
same sentence crosses it out. People left with sentences no one else has win a sweet.

Very simple - at the end of the lesson, get two kids up the front, you say the English, the
the loser sits down, to be replaced by another kid. The person left standing when the be
class. Sometimes I let to joke run on and call kids 'prince' and 'princess' as well, I did lik
'Goddess'!

Best game ever! Can be applied to all topics and levels! BEAT THE TEACHER!
Example with numbers.

Write down numbers on the board (I use flashcards a lot for this game)
Point at a number and say what it is. Kids repeat. Then you try to trick them and you say
stay completely quiet. If they were quiet: one point for them. If you managed to trick th
said without thinking: point for you. We go to ten but I refuse to carry on if I have five
to stop any of the little trouble makers to repeat the number and hijack the game! Only

There are some more ideas over on the MFLE from Scottish teachers:

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/mfle/creativeteaching/gamesandwarmups/index.asp
Snooker. Two teams alternately answer a starter (red ball) question (an easy one). Then g
furniture, personal pronouns, etre verbs, verbs beginning with 'p' etc), and after 5 secon
'colour' (yellow = 2, black = 7 etc). They then have a set time to name that number of ite
chance to claim the points. Getting 6 on a 'black' = nul points.

Also love doing vocab cards with GCSE students - they make them - a phrase in French o
you have taught them about 8-10 phrases they make the mini cards and then put their in
play in pairs. They scramble up the cards and hold them in their hands. They put one card
gets to keep the card. If they both say it at the same time then they put it to one side a
them both.

You give them about 5 minutes or so to play and then they count to see who has the more
cards so they get their own back (that's why they did the initials) and find another partn

After a bit they write the English down on the other side of their cards and do it the ot
more difficult. They can also check they are correct with the cards if they disagree by t

Very high-level of excitement always playing this game!

Gunfight: All pupils stand up with their backs to a partner, side on to the teacher, hands
a rapid fire of words/short phrases and pupils call out translation and point their 'gun' a
correct answers on their hand. Shows you where strengths / weaknesses of vocab are. Pu
homework.

Poker test: Pupils number 1-10 as per vocab test. Teacher calls out question. Pupils put ha
going to pretend to know the answer and bluff. If they don't know the answer and aren't
the relevant number on their sheet. Teacher chooses pupil to answer question - if he ans
up gets the point (whether they knew answer or not!!). If he gets the answer wrong/didn
accumulated points. Teacher then chooses another pupil and if he then gets it right - the
continues... So it is a gamble whether they put hand up and risk their points if they don't
rubbish at poker cos you can so tell who is bluffing!!
This game has a name, but I can't remember it. You need a metre stick to act as a rifle.
paper, fold it and hide it from the class. Walk around the room, point the stick at a pupil
with Je m'appelle....... Teacher then asks for le mot de passe. If pupil doesn't say the wo
If they correctly identify the password, the pupil is given the metre stick and does the s
correct. Ask pupil to make a sentence with the word in it for extension. Obviously narrow
may be there a while.

Les Animaux Bizarres. Pupils draw a pet with parts of different animals. Eg head of a rab
Pupils make up name for pet eg UN LAPSERROUGE. Ask pupils to describe pets when fini

Ideas for starters

(All of these starters require practically no preparation.)

1. Five anagram words on the board. I.e. asc sod = sac a dos etc
2. Write the middle or end of 5 known words i.e. ayo = crayon tyl=stylo.
3. Write 5 words with a letter missing each. The missing letters could spell another word
4. On a known theme (i.e. town) write the first letter of 5 different places.
5. 5 words each with one deliberate mistake in the spelling.
6. Odd one out i.e chien chat cheval chance
7. With times, numbers, dates or any other sequences, i.e. ma journe write 5 random on
order.
8. Mime a word they know (exaggerated lip-reading)
9. Skywrite a word they know (you must write it backwards for them)
10. Write the first two letters of five words up, and they must match the endings.
11. Text speak BB=bb, K7 cassette, LF1=elephant. G HT jai achet.
12. They have one minute to write as many clothes as possible, colours, sports,fruit,veg, c
13. They have one minute to write as many words as they can beginning with.
14. Writesixorsevenwordstogetherwithoutabreak.
15. Show them five flashcards, jumble them up, and they must guess which one you have

my fave plenary is the hot seat, pick a pupil they take the seat and students can ask them
usually do this in the TL. great because it's all about them!

for speaking practice with year 10 and 11, play your own version of that yes/no game. pup
topic for 30-60 seconds without giving yes or no as an answer. (based on game show but c
for getting them to manipulate the verb and turn questions around.

kind of similar idea they have to present about certain without using key basic words e.g
supermarket or shopping centre, it gets them broadening their vocab and gives them the
verbal pictionary: students describe item in TL and a volunteer had to draw representati

to consolidate gender with yr 7 I like the line game (need big room or moveable furniture
then boys and playoff after) explain one direction is masc. objects one is fem objects. th
left etc. lose when go wrong way and then have eventual champion.
My lot love pronunciation competitions- I make a big over the top fuss about mistakes (h
they love the drama and get v.competitive - is all boys though. They also love memory gam
words (in a specific order or not) in 30 seconds for example. Word tennis is the other on
so apologies for any overlap- there are a few variations on this one- not exactly a new on
theme (eg:food) and get a representative from each team (class is always split into 2 for
turn. If they hesitate, repeat or mess up a word they' drop' the ball and then the point g

Has anyone mentioned the one where you write the initial letter of each word in a senten

jsaen= je suis alle en ville

jabuc = j'ai bu un coca/un cafe
etc

for classes who are struggling to build a paragraph, this sort of modelling works well.

My idea is mini-whiteboards. Once you get the initial stuff sorted out - boards, rubbers,
bring it out for a really nice active 10-15 minutes where you tell them what to write, they
single individual. Takes virtually no time to write it into a lesson plan.

Ghosts : go round class . or get them to gently throw soft ball[!] to next person . each mu
sentence anyone who cannot add another word loses a life . 3 lives and you are a ghost . y
you think their answer does not make sense in that case they lose a life . but if they can
group who are reluctant to talk......

as ghost above but you add one letter at a time and the object is not to end a word.......

mixed up spelling ........ teacher says letters in a word at random . class must guess word e

Group game : each person has 5 paperclips to start with . One person begins a presentati
group must interrupt with relevant questions If speaker can answer straight away questi
not healthy eating week] If speaker cannot answer the questioner gets paperclip from sp

In advance prepare a coded alphabet a=1,b=2,c=3 [maybe you can hold it in your head! I c
convert into word ... without a crib ... you will be amazed at how they can do it and boys e

Ah yes - mini-whiteboards. Brill for all kinds of activities when you want all the class to j

10 pictures lettered a-j.

T says a sentence in past/pres/future linked to one or more of pictures.
P writes both correct letter and arrow to indicate tense: backwards arrow = past etc.

Great for tense practice.

With any text:
find all the nouns (verbs, past participles, infinitives, words to do with food etc)

read in pairs and peer assess accent / intonation

do paired dictation - one sentence each

stick it to wall and do running dictation

find the vocab - you choose 10 English translations of words in the text and tell them all
text for ....). In groups they find it and bring it to you whereupon you whisper the numbe

You read the text but change words. They underline words that you changed. Challenge t
some hard). Offer a house point for those that get the right number.

Translate the text out loud in pairs.

Not with a text but ace for numbers: write a list of about 15 random numbers on the boa
you make the numbers more challenging). In pairs / small groups time each other reading
class (or quickest boy and quickest girl if you want it to be really competitive) and challen
Very similar with photocopied text and coloured pencils. Circle cognates green, positive o
words with acute/grave accents. The list goes on.

draw a word snake on the board (or worksheet) with hidden infinitives. Pupils come to the
questions like ; regular/irregular, past participle, sentence in the past/present/future in

Been using the activit de glisser-dposer

on linguastars to practice the crossover Foundation/Higher question. Get them to cross o
Ask them why they don't fit. Narrow list down and ask them to choose answer and justif
things like infinitive after modal verb, plural, past participle etc.

for those who don't have mini white boards: On the first day you issue new exercise boo
pages in HUGE letters Oui/Ja etc on one page and NON/Nein on the other page.
Then when you want to do a quick listening read out some true/false sentences and get t
feedback on who has understood and all must listen.........

Miscellaneous games, puzzles, etc.

* Tongue Twisters:
* She sells seashells on the seashore
The shells that she sells are seashells, Im sure.
* How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
If a woodchuck could chuck wood?
IF a woodchuck could chuck wood, itd chuck
As much as a woodchuck could.
* Red leather, yellow leather.
* The sixth sheiks sixth sheeps sick.
* Mrs. Smiths Fish Sauce Shop.
* Eleven benevolent elephants.
* Beths birthday is on the third Thursday.
* Seven wet vets went to Venice.
* Usual Asian confusion
* Theophilus Sistle, the Thistle Sifter, sifted a sieve full of unsifted thistles.
* Once upon a barren moor
There lived a bear, also a boar
The bear could not bear the boar
The bear thought the boar a bore
Until the bear could bear no more
That boar that bored him on the moor
And so one morn he bored the bore
The boar will bore no more.

DVD activities:
* Discussion:
Watch a part of a film, and then use it as a starting point for a discussion.
* Prediction:
Watch part of a film. Whats going to happen next? Why do you think so? You
could do this as:
Discussion
Acting out
Or saying the next line.
* Imitation:
Use the film to provide a model for speaking. With scripts and/or subtitles, have
the students practice saying the lines, imitating the inflections of the actors.
* Description:
Have the students narrate the film, telling you whats happening. This is
particularly useful for practicing the present simple and present continuous.
* Novel:
Read (or, for homework or as a writing task, write) the description of a section of
the film. If youre doing it in class as a speaking exercise, you can freeze the film
on an evocative still.
* Acting:
The students can act out what happened in the film; or they can watch part of it
then act out the rest (here, dont give them too much planning time a mixture of
planning and improvisation works well).
* Exercises to do with videos:
. Do a ten-question true-false exercise before watching a video, to see who
manages to get the most questions right. This gets them all involved in watching
the video and paying close attention. Make sure they write the whole word "true"
or "false" out, as they are quite easy to change!
. Give the students a handout of questions, multiple-choice or fill-in-the-gaps,
which has to be completed while or after (or even before) watching the video.

Board Games
* Noughts and Crosses:
The basic idea is that you write letters or words or tenses along the vertical and
horizontal axes, and the teams have to shout out combinations of these as
coordinates to place their marks. So, for instance, write a, e, o on the vertical and
t, r, b on the horizontal. A player who wanted to put his mark three across and one
down would have to say a word like "otter" or "out" to do so.
* Battleships:
Much like noughts and crosses; the students shoot their shots by using
coordinates. Could do conjugations on one side and verbs on the other, or
different words to be put into the same sentence. Be a bit difficult to do the four
boards required. Perhaps the class could play against the teacher, or perhaps two
groups could play against each other using A3 paper; or perhaps students could
play against each other in pairs.
Of course, this is only a problem if you want the full, classic, two-boards-per-
player version. Perhaps you could just have the class playing against the teacher,
who doesnt fire back.

Resources:
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/more/index.htm
Clip art: A wide selection of free clipart here:
http://www.abcteach.com/directory/clip_art/
MATHS (SOME ALSO GENERAL)
http://www.uk.knowledgebox.com/
http://www.mathsisfun.com/
http://www.primarygames.co.uk/
http://www.raisingstandardsinmathematics.com/
Code: 2602
http://www.thebigbus.com/
http://www.cleo.net.uk/
http://www.andrewjeffrey.co.uk/freegifts.asp
http://www.wirral-mbc.gov.uk/maths/

MR JENNINGS
http://www.mrjennings.co.uk/