GAMES THAT WORK
I don’t think that you have
to use games to teach classes successfully.
Inexperienced teachers should be wary of using games if class control is
still shaky or if you have an unusually difficult class. I believe classes appreciate teachers who
make them work and with whom they get on, not teachers who play games.
That said,
games bring variety and a bit of fun to lessons. They can be very motivational. They should almost always be used when there
is a specific point to be practised.
Here is a list of some games
which I have found to work well over the years.
I have not included the blindingly obvious, such as bingo and hiding flashcards. I hope some of you out there discover
something new here or at least enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that you have
far better ideas!
Baccalauréat
This is the one where you
give pupils a set of categories (e.g. towns in
Pupils get 10 points for an
item which no-one else has got and five points for an unoriginal one.
This practises vocab and
keeps pupils quiet (if that’s what you want).
The tricky bit is the correcting of answers after each round, which can
get a bit noisy, but it does teach pupils to listen to others.
This game can work at all
levels. You just have to adjust the
categories.
Alibi
A definite
winner for intermediate groups and above. You tell the class that there has been a crime committed in the town
last night at 8.00. (Make it plausible
e.g. a mugging, a burglary.) You explain in dead-pan fashion that there are two
suspects. You go on to explain that the suspects are thought to come from this
school and that it is even thought they come from this classroom. At this point
a few pupils will see that you are joking (many won’t, however!).
Then explain that you are
going to ask for two volunteers who will leave the room for five minutes to
make up an alibi. Stress to them that
they must prepare in great detail to explain what they were doing together
last night. They should have a common
story (e.g. cinema visit, meal, night at friend’s house).
While the two volunteers are
out of the room, you prepare questions with the rest of the group. You can put these on the board/screen so
pupils can read from them later, if necessary.
Questions
will include: Qu’est-ce que vous faisiez à 8 heures?
Qu’est-ce que tu portais ?
Quel temps faisait-il ?
Comment êtes-vous allés au cinéma ? etc
Stress to the class that they
must look for details.
After five minutes the first
volunteer returns to the room to be questioned in mock courtroom style. E.g. get the pupil to swear an oath on the
dictionary or textbook. Je jure de dire la vérité, toute la vérité, rien que la vérité.
After questioning the first
suspect, you get the second one to come in for questioning. This is when the fun starts as the class
discover if the two stories tally.
At the end of the second
interrogation ask the class to sum up any discrepancies and to vote on whether
the couple are innocent or coupable.
The whole activity takes
about 30 minutes or so. With clever
classes it practises use of perfect and imperfect tenses. With most groups you might want to stick with
perfect tense, even if that makes some answers a little awkward. The lack of authenticity in tense use is
probably worthwhile for the practice that you get.
Dumb customer
A game for
pairs (near beginners or above). Explain to the class that one person is a
department store assistant and that the other one is a customer who is mute
(i.e. who cannot say a word). The
customer has drawn up a list of items for wedding presents. By using gesture alone, the customer has to
explain what he wants to buy, while the shop assistant guesses out loud. A list of ten items would be suitable.
Although only one person is
speaking, the game rehearses vocab effectively and you can soon swap partners
to play the game again. Classes like
this game very much and you could make it fit particular vocab categories e.g.
household items. Two rounds would last
about 20 minutes.
You can play this with near
beginners if you stick to simple classroom items, clothing and so on. At least you know that at any time half the
class will be quiet!
“Running to the board” games
These are dead simple and can
be adapted to all sorts of teaching points. They make a good starter or plenary
(ouch, I hate those words!). Let’s say
you wanted to practise animal vocab with beginners.
You split the class into two
groups, left and right of the class. You
give each pupil in each group a number, probably from 1 to 15. (For each number
there are two pupils in the class, therefore.)
On the board you have drawn or stuck up pictures of animals. You then call out the name of an animal
followed by a number. The two pupil with
that number have to “run” out (well, well, walk briskly – health and safety)
and the first to touch the right animal wins a point for their team.
You can imagine that this can
be adapted to all sorts of areas of grammar and vocab and can work with all
levels. Time: 10 minutes.
“Just a minute”
Ay good fluency activity for
more advanced students. This is like the
the radio panel game from BBC Radio 4 (known to many people in the
Topics could include: ma maison, ma
famille, le weekend dernier, mes vacances, mes passe-temps, mon école, ce que
j’aime manger, une visite, ma ville, ma région, mon professeur préféré.
One pupil should keep the
time. Pupils need to be of intermediate
to advanced level for this game. The
teacher can introduce the game by giving an example for one minute. Stress to pupils that they do not have to go
very fast and that fluency does not equal speed. The game obviously practises
fluency and specific topic areas. With the
best quality students you can take on more advanced topics. Allow at least 20 minutes for this.
What the queen of
This is a nice filler for
intermediate and above to practise use of ne.. .jamais. Give pupils 10 minutes to write down a list
of things that the queen never does.
Maybe let pupils use dictionaries.
Then put pupils in pairs and ask them to read of their statements to
their partner. The first person who
cannot think of an example loses.
e.g. la reine ne prend jamais le
bus, la reine ne paie jamais avec de l’argent liquide, la reine ne va jamais au
pub, la reine ne fait jamais la loterie, la reine ne conduit jamais une
voiture, la reine ne va jamais à la lune, la reine ne passe jamais la nuit dans
un hôtel pas cher, la reine ne danse jamais dans une boîte de nuit.
For a
homework pupils could be asked to write up 15-20 examples.
Total time
for game about 15 minutes.
Twenty questions
An old
favourite for intermediate to above. Pupils work in pairs. One pupil thinks of a vocab item, then the
other pupil has to work out what it is by asking yes-no questions. They must find out the item in no more than
20 questions.
Good preparation for this
would be to display a list of adjectives or adjectival phrases on screen or board
which pupils can select from. This, of
course, is the main practice point, as well as structures such as On peut + infinitive
Adjectives: grand, petit, gros, long,
court, solide, en métal, en plastique, en bois, en tissu, léger, lourd,
Plus qualifiers : relativement,
assez, très, plutôt
Jacques (a)
dit (Simon says)
This is used for practising
parts of the body and the words droite
and gauche. I include this old game
because I find it works with all levels, not just near beginners. Students like this! In case you are not familiar with the rules,
here they are. The whole class stands
up. You explain that you are going to
tell them to touch parts of their body.
If you precede the instruction with Jacques
dit, they should carry out the instruction.
If you do not say Jacques dit,
then they must do nothing. If they get
it wrong they sit down and are out of the game.
Have a practice run first, because students always fall for your tricks
at the start!
The game normally takes about
20 minutes, but you can make it flexible by speeding up or slowing down. It also, like many of the games here, needs
no preparation, which I consider to be a great advantage.
Murder mysteries
Thses are for advanced
students. I use a couple from a commercial
provider, but with some time and care you could make up your own. You need a group of at least 8 or so
students. Each student is given a a few clues to a murder investigation. You would need
about 40 clues, with one correct solution and two red herrings. The group have to solve the crime, coming up
with the murderer, weapon and motive.
The ones we use come from a file called Drama in Language Teaching. The important thing is to let the group lead
the investigation, don’t take control yourself. One pupil might go to the board and write up
details or, for instance, a chronology of events. The whole exercise might take about 35
minutes.
Planning a visit to Paris
Another one
for advanced learners in groups of about 5. Give the whole
group some tourist information about
Tell the group that they must
prepare a three day itinerary for their visit.
Students must stay in role. Allow
them about 20 minutes. They then report
back their plans. The amusement comes
from the pupils staying in their role, particluarly with regard to their
relationships with others. The activity
takes some preparation, but not an enormous amount.
Example card: Tu t’appelles
Roger Dupont, 18 ans
Tu
aimes :magasins, art, musées
Tu
n’aimes pas: aller au ciné, les hauteurs, marcher très loin
Tu
préfères la compagnie des filles et voudrait sortir un jour avec
Hélène. Tu as déjà visité Paris 2 fois.
Lateral thinking stories
For high
intermediate or advanced groups. These are quite well know
and students may have their own to contribute.
The teacher poses the problem and the class have to guess the solution
by asking yes-no questions.
There are some good ones
here: http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/p/lattrick1.shtml
Countdown
This is a familiar game show
format based on the long-running French show called Le jeu des Chiffres et des Lettres.
It is played as a whole class activity and practises numbers as well as
simple arithmetical operations such as plus,
moins, multiplié par, divisé par and égale.
You get an individual to
nominate six numbers – 4 single-figure digits and two numbers which must be 25,
50, 75 or 100. You write them on the
board. (Alternatively you can download a Countdown randon number generator if
you look around on the web.) You then
“randomly” put a 3 figure number on the board and the class have two minutes to
arrive at that figure using some or all of their chosen numbers. They must not use a number more than
once. When a pupil thinks they have
solved the calculation you get them to explain it whilst you write it up on the
board. To help them write up the terms
they will need to expalin the calculation.
This game works well with
near beginners up to intermediate.
Classes could use calculators, but it is probably better for them to use
pencil and paper solutions.
Fizz-buzz
Another
mental arithmetic game for the whole class. It’s a good filler for near beginners to intermediate. You explain to the group that you are going
to count up to 100, but whenever you get to a number with a 5 in, or a multiple
of 5, they must say FIZZ. When they
arrive at a number with 7 in, or a multiple thereof, they must say BUZZ. When 5
and 7 are involved they musr say FIZZ-BUZZ.
This can be quite hard for
pupils if they are not good at math(s), so allow them to make mistakes and
don’t discourage. Give an example of the
counting method yourself before they start.
This game is a favourite of maths teachers and they will be happy that
you are doing your bit for cross-curricular.
It takes about 15 minutes to get to 100.
Irish bingo
Not a very PC title, but I
picked this up at our local village hall!
Pupils choose 11 numbers between 1 and 90 inclusive. Instead of playing normal bingo, the class
all stand up and if any of their numbers come up they must sit down. i.e. you don’t want
to hear your numbers come up if you want to win. It’s all over in about 5 minutes, so it’s a handy filler if you want to practise numbers.
“Yes-no interlude”
Best with advanced students,
this mainly practises the use of negatives.
Put students in pairs and give one partner a list of straightforward
questions, including yes-no questions.
Explain to the class that the person answering the questions must not
say oui or non. Every time a mistake is made, they lose a
point. Have several sets of questions
available and get the partners to take turns at asking the questions. You might suggest some alternative locutions such as c’est vrai, effectivement, justement, je ne
crois pas. The whole activity might take about 15 minutes. Pupils will get very good at avoiding yes and
no with practice.
Miming games
Using mime is clearly a
necessary strategy in language teaching. Pupils like doing it too. You can get pupils in pairs and give each
partner a list of items to mime to their partner. E.g. jobs,
sports, hobbies, verbs. Simple,
but an effective way of getting pupils to use the second person when they spend
most of their class time using the first and third person. You can use this at all levels.
Why not get a pupil to mime their daily routine? Or why not describe actions to pupils while
they mime them?
Battleships
Many children know the rules
of Battleships, as it’s known in the
This is an enjoyable game and
allows for repeated practice of simple items.
Setting up the game can be a little time-consuming the first time,
especially if some pupils do not know how the game is played already.
Code-breaking games
Pupils find these very
absorbing and are effective for practising spelling, for example. On paper you can construct a code where each
letter is represented by a number (e. 1 to 26).
Give one example of a word with its code, then
get the class to solve the remaining codes.
See examples on this site in Y7 section.
An excellent oral version of
code breaking can be played. Ask pupils
to write out the alphabet, then get them to assign a number from 60 to 85 to
each letter (this allows for practice of harder numbers), where A=60 and
Z=85. Then read out sequences of numbers
from which they have to work out the word.
You can choose words to fit a particular theme. Allow pupils to guess the word before the
end. Pupils get very competitive, whilst
they listen to numbers and solve the puzzle.
This game works well, I promise!
Onze!
I am grateful to Sue Watkins
for this simple game for beginners. She
writes:
Students
stand up and take turns to call out numbers in sequence i.e. un, deux,
trois,quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix, onze. Students may choose to
call out one number, two numbers or three numbers. Whoever calls out Onze has
to sit down. It can get very tactical with the boys trying to get rid of
all the girls and vice versa. When it gets down to the last two then the
one going first should win if they think, but mine often don't
! Whoever says sept will lose. The winner gets a chocolate from the
tin or a merit. My students , some who are somewhat
challenging to teach, always play this game in a good spirit and never
moan if they are out. They play it very quickly now so we often manage two or
three games .
Speed dating
Very easy! Pupils work in pairs and change partner every
5 minutes. You can adapt this for
different levels, but with a GCSE class, for example, it’s good for
converstaion practice before an exam.
After they have spoken to about 8 different people they could select the
person with whom they would like to have a further date. Write down on the borad some areas they could
cover: tastes, hobbies, opinions on
music, recent activities and plans for the future.
Word association
A nice
starter or finish to a lesson to recap vocab.
Give pupils a theme, or let them use any words, and go round the class
getting them to play word association.
Give them an example first. They
could play the game in groups. With more
advanced learners they could be asked to justify their association of words.
Kim’s game
This is the
one where you place a set of objects on a table or tray to practise vocab. You then ask the group to close their eyes
while you remove an item (or more than one).
Pupils have to remember which item has gone missing.
Effacez
Similar to
the above, but done on the board. You
write up some words or pictures then get the class to close their eyes while you
wipe out one or more items. You can have
fun adding items too. Pupils at all
levels enjoy short term memory games like these.
Charades
Pupils mime an activity while their group or
partner tries to guess the activity. You could use this to practise jobs or
simple daily routine tasks.
Recorded sounds
I used this
once successfully, but it takes a little preparation. You go round the house recording sounds such
as: flushing the toilet, running a tap, typing on a computer, opening and
closing doors, boiling a kettle, washing up, turning on the gas, putting away
crockery, switching on a light. You play
the tape and ask pupils to say or write down what the task is. Good for intermediate to advanced pupils.
Story telling
Good for
high intermediate to advanced for about 30 minutes
work. Do some vocab brainstorming on
various vocab topics (e.g. household items, animals, sports, towns in France,
famous French people, classroom objects, clothes, furniture). From this exercise draw up a
a list of six to eight words, one from each category. Then give the group one of the words and ask
them to build a sentence around it.
Encourage interesting and humorous sentences. Then give them a second word and get them to
produce the second sentence of the story.
Continue with this until you get to the end of the sixth sentence. The results are usually weird and sometimes
amusing.
Children do
like making up silly stories based on suggestive pictures or words. Good pictures should be simple and suggest a
background story, perhaps with a past and future.
Other ideas
Thanks to
Paul Keogh for this one. For those items
of vocab which pupils often mis-spell, why not get
them to stand up, spell out the word in the air with their finger whilest
spelling out the word out loud. They
could then do the same with their nose.