Grammar Games

Author :

GAUDART, Hyacinth 1991

" Using board games in large classes "

ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM, April '91, pp. 22-26

GAUDART ( 1991 : 22 )

BOARD GAMES

Gift Game

A picture of a potential gift in each squire there is also a stack of cards

that identify people.

S/he draws a card that will tell him who the gift is for. Sometimes gift doesn’ t suit

the person, which requires more justification.

BOARD GAMES

The Train – Level I

Aim: the board can be used for a vocabulary gane.

When learner reaches a market square. He picks up a card he identifies what

is on the card.

BOARD GAMES

The Train – Level II

             Pictures can be used to generate sentences.

                                     ...a sentence about the picture he draws.

  BOARD GAMES



The Train – Level III

             Hidding the card from others.

            Describing the picture in order for the others to guess the item.

BOARD GAMES

The Train – Level IV

             A player links the picture he draws to the previous picture.

The players can decide before the game how many pictures

( five has been a manageable number ) they will link before starting over again.

GAMES

Coded Dialogues

( one or two letters too many )

a.       Herow manery aerre thereer iem yerourfaermily?

Terhere arere ferive iern mery feramily.

b.       Havide yidou sideen Tidom

Nido, Iid havide nidot seiden hidim fidor Agides.

Ohid nold!

Author :

JEFTIC, Draginja 1986

" Thirty short fun-filled games "

ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM, Oct. '86, pp. 39-42

JEFTIC ( 1986 : 40 )

GAMES

Back – To – Front Writing

Si s’ rehtoM esrup no eht elbat?

On, s’ ti ni reh gap

GAMES

Scrambled Words and Sentences

a.       pctreiu; cleinp; praep

b.       to went the last I theater week.

GAMES

Hurry Up

-          On one side of the blackboard the teacher writes a list of 20 knıwn words (numbers may also be used) for team a, and the same words ( or number ) in a different sequence on the other side for team B.

-          The teacher calls out one of the words ( or numbers ), and one member of each team runs to the blackboard to cross out that word ( or number ) on his team’ s side of the blackboard.

-          During the 10 – second time limit, friends may call out valuable information: “ Fifth from the top! “ etc.

GAMES

Naughts and Crosses

Oral instructions are given by one member of each team:

e.g. “ I want my cross in the upper-right-hand corner, please! “

The first team to complete a row of three ( straigh or diagonal ) noughts or crosses is the winner.

GAMES

Listen and Draw

The teacher gives instructions such as:

“ In the middke of your page draw a big square in red. On top of yhe square a draw a green circle about half the size of the square ... “ etc.

            Obviously, the aim of this game is to review vocabulary for spatil description. The drawings can become quite complicated, and only perfectly correct examples receive a point.

GAMES

Ladders

            The teacher draws two separate ladders on the blackboard - one for team A and the other for team B – and writes two different words ( one for each team ) on the bottom rung

            Team members take turns filling in different words on each rung, each word beginning with the last letter of the previous word. The first team to reach the top is the winner.

GAMES

Find the Stranger

            Within a specified time limit, different members of each team attempt to circle the stranger ( the word that doesn’ t fit ) in a group of four words. There are 10 sets of four words in the game. The first team to complete this correctly is the winner.

            e.g. October                                      horse

                   November                                  cow

                   Remember                                  pig

                   December                                   knife

GAMES

Think Quickly

-          The teacher calls out a word, e.g. “ Treel “

-          One members of each team runs to his team’ s blackboard and writes down 10 words rhyming with       “ tree “ .( No help from the other team members! )

-          The first to supply the 10 words correctly wins a point for his team.

GAMES

Unjumble the Towns

-          On two different blacboards, the teacher draws blank maps of a country, using dots to show the positions of some cities.

-          Along side the maps are the jumbled names of 10 cities that are indicated on the map by dots.

-          Team members take turns unscrombing the city names and filling them in on the map.

-          The first team to complete the whole map is the winner.

GAMES

Buildings Words

-          The teacher writes a set of letters on the blackboard, and the teams make up as many words as possible from the letters within a set time limit.

-          The team with the most correct words wins.



GAMES

Granny’ S Cat

-          This game provides an interesting way to practice adjectives.

-          The adjectives describing Granny’ s car are to progress in alphabetical order and are to be provided orally by different members of each team alternately within a set time limit

-          Any player who fails to answers, is too slow, or repeats an answer is eliminated from the game.

-          There is one point for each correct answers, and the team with the greatest number of correct answers wins.

E.g. Granny’ s angry cat.

        Granny’ s bad cat.

        Granny’ s crazy cat, etc.

GAMES

Broken Bricks

-          Members of both teams try to mend the broken bricks as fast as possible by adding suitable syllables to the word endings given in a set amount of time, scoring one point for each correct answer, e.g. –ion, -ice, -tch, -ted, -ant, -try, -ons, -ase, -etc.

( tension, opprentice, dispatch, painted, etc

GAMES

Surprise Envelope

-          One member from each team chooses an envolepe that contains a cut-up sentence or message which, when assembled correctly, provicles instructions to be follewed.

-          The end result is some form of a surprise or reward.

E.g. The tallest member of your team must go to the cupboard and from the top-right-hand corner take an envelope, which contains a surprise.

( The surprise could be a pencil for each member of the team completing its task first. )

GAMES

Secret Codes

-          Messages containing information or even surprise are to be decoded by the members of each team.

-          The first team to decipner the messages wins.

E.g. The message ‘ We shall have games again next week ‘ may be written in the following code:

Xf   tibmm   ibwf   hbnft   bhbjo   ofyu   xffl

( The next letter in the alphabet is used. Thus Xf= We and so on )

GAMES

You’ re Next

-          Practicing adverbs through games can be very exciting

-          Teams A and B face each other.

-          One player gives a sentence, e.g. “ Andrew speaks English beautifukky! “ A member of the other team responds by substituting a different adverb beginning with the next letter in the alphabet, e.g.     “ Andrew speaks English correctly! “ and so on.

-          A team loses when it can not provide the next adverb within a certain time limit.

GAMES

Find the Litles

-          Two copies of the following set of letters are written on two separate blackboards:

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