Learning with games - · PDF fileasking each pupil to repeat all the words that were ... A bag...

Learning with games

The paperball gamePrep: Create a paperball using an already used sheet of paper. Put students in one or

two circles if possible

How to proceed:

Throw the paperball to one of your pupils and ask him « what’s your name?» The pupil who receives the ball answers the question. He then passes the ball to another pupil, asking the same question and so on.

Alternatives and notes:

You can throw an imaginary ball to create eye-contact and make sure pupilsstay focused. You can use this game with other questions (« how old are you? », « what are your hobbies?»…) or to reactivate vocabulary previously seen in class asking each pupil to repeat all the words that were said since the beginning of the game.

What we have in commonPrep: No prep.

How to proceed:

Ask pupils to get by pairs. The pupils must find five things that they have in common and five things they don’t have in common


Another great ice breaking activity at the beginning of the year to get the pupilsto know one another. The pupils can then report to the class what they have found in common (we both like …, we are both …). This activity can be adapted to the level of the pupils by focusing the questions on simple information (age, place of birth, pets…).

The answersPrep: Get a pin or an adhesive label to give to each student so that they can attach a

piece of paper to their clothing.

How to proceed:

Ask pupils to write ten answers to questions they would like to have answered. Tell them to write in large and clear letters (ex: Annie, French, In the South of France, 16, 51, I haven’t learnt yet…). Ask pupils to pin their answers on theirshirt. Then, ask pupils to move around the room in silence, reading the otherpupils’ answers. After 2 or 3 minutes of reading, tell them they can speak to their classmates and ask questions if they want to know more about them.


This is a great ice breaker activity at the beginning of the year for CM1/CM2.

The mime gamePrep: Print a few pictures representing actions (dance, shave, play the piano…)

How to proceed:

Ask one pupil to come to the board and show him a picture. Ask him to mime the action. The others have to guess the verb (« He’s dancing », « he’s shaving », « he’s playing the piano »…)


You can use this activity to work on other things (moods: tired, happy, sad, angry... / sports and hobbies: soccer, tennis, climbing… / jobs: fireman, teacher, policeman…)

A bag of secretsPrep: Prepare a bag with school items in it.

How to proceed:

Ask one pupil to put his hand and in it and describe what it feels like (« it’sround and flat », « it’s long and thin »…). The other pupils have to guess what itis (« Maybe, it’s a pen »).


You can reactivate the vocabulary for all sorts of (small) objects with this game.

Have a tastePrep: Prepare a number of containers (clean yogurt pot) each containing a different

taste (yogurt, lemon, lemon zest... if possible, include tastes typical of the targetcountry). Prepare a blindfold to cover your pupils’ eyes. Before the game, check for possible allergies.

How to proceed:

Ask one pupil to taste a food sample and describe what it tastes and feels like(sweet, salty, sour, bitter, spicy, hot, hard, soft, sticky, lumpy). The other pupils cantry to guess what is it ( Maybe, it is lemon / orange / peanut butter / yogurt…)


.

Simon saysPrep: Prepare a list of simple commands previously seen in class (stand up, open your

books, put your hand up, sit down, listen…)

How to proceed:

This game is the equivalent of the French « Jacques a dit ». Introduce a seriesof commands like « Simon says stand up », « Simon says put your hand up », « sit down ». The commands should only be obeyed when introduce by « Simon says ». The pupils who make mistakes or obey the command when not introducedby « Simon says » are eliminated until only one pupil is left.


It is possible to reactivate vocabulary with this game as in the followingexemples: « Simon says play tennis », « Simon says be happy ». The studentsshould mime the actions or act the feelings.

ScategoriesPrep: Choose or get the class to choose several topics and categories (sports, animals,

fruits, vegetables, sports, school items, body parts, countries, food…)

How to proceed:

Divide the class into small groups (groups of two or four). Choose a letter of the alphabet, for example the letter « t ». The teams think of a word for eachcategory that begins with « t ». The game ends when a team has found a wordfor each category.


Alternatively, you can give pupils a limited amount of time (2 or 3 minutes depending on the number of categories). You can also ask pupils to find as many words as possible. This game is great to reactivate all the vocabulary seenin class at the end of the year.

Rhyming gamePrep: Prepare a list of words seen during the year, if possible words with a lot of

rhyming possibilites (pen, ten, then, Ben / head, bed, red, Ted / ball, Paul, tall, fall…)

How to proceed:

The teacher starts the game by saying « I say pen ». The pupils must findwords that end with the same sound (ex: « I say ten »). The pupil then points to another pupil. The pupils can put their hand up to show that they know a word.


This game is a great way to work on phonology and sound matchmaking. It ispossible to do this game by groups so that pupils can help one another. It is alsopossible to work on lexical fields with this game ( « I say glue » > « I saypen » > « I say rubber »…)

Rhyming game 2.0Prep: Prepare prepare flashcards including pairs of words seen during the year and

ending with the same sound. It is better not to have the spelling of the wordsappearing on the flashcards so that pupils have to call upon their sound memory.

How to proceed:

Hand out the flashcards face down. At your signal, the pupils have to match the words as quickly as possible.


This game is a great way to work on phonology and sound matchmaking. It ispossible to do this game by groups so that pupils can help one another. It is alsopossible to ask the pupils to regroup the flashcards connected to the same lexical fields (example: kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom / football / tennis / swimming / climbing…)

Rhyming dominoesPrep: Prepare dominoes including including many rhyming words. Depending on your

pupils’ age, print pictures rather than spelling.

How to proceed:

Ask the pupils to get by groups of four. Deal the pupils a few dominoes(anywhere from 5 to 15 dominoes depending on the time you have). Let themplay traditional dominoes until the pupils either get rid of all the dominoes or until the end of a pre-determined period of time (5 to 10 minutes). The winner is the pupil who has the fewest dominoes at the end of the game.


This game is a great way to work on phonology and sound matchmaking. It isalso possible to play dominoes by connecting words belonging to the same lexical fields (example: kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom / football / tennis / swimming / climbing…)

Passing a message Prep: Prepare a few messages depending on what you have learnt. These can be

sentences seen in class (ex: « I get up at seven and I have ccereals for breakfast ») or tongue twisters (ex: « She sells seashells by the seashore ») for example.

How to proceed:

Organise your pupils in 2, 3 or 4 rows depending on their number. The teacherthen whispers the sentence to the pupils at the head of the row. The pupils thenrepeat the sentence to pupil number two behind him, then pupils number 3 and soon. This is the equivalent of « le téléphone arabe »


This is a great game to practise pronunciation with a real goal to be better thanthe other teams.

Bingo!Prep: Prepare bingo cards for your pupils. Make sure you adapt it depending on the

numbers you have seen with your students. Prepare a bag with the numbers(written on small pieces of paper) that are going to be included in the game.

How to proceed:

Ask pupils to fill their bingo cards choosing any four number they like between1 and 10 in the top four squares, any four numbers between 11 and 20 in the second row etc… . The teacher picks the numbers out of his bag. The pupil whowins is the first one to complete his card (or a line…)


This game is a great way to work on numbers and memorize them. You canalso create bingo games based on other lexical fields (colours, school objects, emotions…)

I SpyPrep: Pupils have to know the alphabet to play this game.

How to proceed:

The teacher or a pupil comes in front of the class. He needs to choose the nameof an object he can see in or around the class (example: « Bag ») and says « I spy with my little eye, something beginning with, « B » (for Bag). The otherpupils must try to guess what it is (« Is it a ball? » , « No, it isn’t ». « Is it a bag? », « Yes, it is. »


The goal is to practise the names of objects in and around the classroom, or in pictures. It is thus interesting to have many flashcards on your walls, particulary the words you want to reactivate. You can also give your students a sheet of paper showing many pictures of words you’d like to reactivate with yourpupils. You must adjust the number of words according to your pupils’ level.)

Kim’s gamePrep: Prepare a selection of objects (or flashcards).

How to proceed:

Let the pupils look at a number of objects, asking them to take a mental picture of them. After one minute, the objects (or flashcards are covered). The pupils then tryto remember all the objects.


As an alternative, you can take away one or two objects from the lot and let the pupils try to identify which objects are missing. This game is a great way to memorise new vocabulary. You can also work on preposition of place with thisgame (the pen is between the rubber and the rule).

Happy FamiliesPrep: You will need a set of 36 small same size pictures for each group of 4 players.

These pictures should be carefully selected to fall into nine different categories(ex: school objects, rooms in a house, colors, food…). Four pictures constitute a family.

How to proceed:

The dealer distributes all the cards face down. The 4 players should have the same number of cards. The goal is to have complete families.ex: « Have you got the carrot please? » / « Yes, I have » or « No, I haven’t ». The player gives the card if he has it. All complete families should beplaced face down in front of each player. The first player to complete all hisfamilies is the winner.


This game is a great way to reactivate the vocabulary previously seen in class.

Vocab in circlePrep: To do this activity, you must be able to have the pupils stand in a circle with no

furniture in the way (Use the school yard if necessary).

How to proceed:

Get everybody’s attention on you. Introduce a word with a mime to illustrate it(ex: « tennis » with a tennis gesture). The next pupil must repeat your wordwith the gesture and add a new word (ex: « Tennis » with a tennis gesture, « football » with a football gesture).


This game is a great way to memorise vocabulary, especially words that can bemimed (actions, sports, daily routine, emotions, hobbies…).

True names and …Prep: Organise your pupils in a circle.

How to proceed:

Join the circle and give your real name and another important detail about you(age, profession, hobbies…). The next pupil must repeat your name and the important detail about you and then give his name and his important detail. The next pupil must repeat everything (names and important details) and add hisown information and so on and so forth.


This is a great way to work on memorising. You can also adapt the important detail according to your objectives (age, hobbies, food you like, pets you have…).

Two choicesPrep: You need an open space for this activity (school yard?). Pupils have to regroup

at the center of the open space. You also have to create two camps on eithersides.

How to proceed:

Tell the pupils they will have to make a choice between two alternatives. If theychoose one alternative, they have to go to one camp, if they pick the other, theyhave to go to the other side. The pupils must then explain their choice to the persons in the opposite camp by pairs only (not small groups). Here are possible choices: Cats or dogs / Mornings or evenings / breakfast or dinner / rap music or rock music / England or the US…


This is a great way to start conversations between the pupils and work on argumentation. The justification can be very simple (ex: I prefer Morningsbecause I am not tired in the morning…)

All the words you knowPrep: No Prep.

How to proceed:

Ask pupils to take a sheet of paper and ask them to individually write as manywords as they know in English as possible. Then, get the pupils by pairs so thatthey can exchange and add words. Then ask pupils to get by groups of four to exchange and add even more words. Then ask pupils to get by groups of 8 to exchange and add even more words. Then, have a secretary come to the boardand write down the words. The group with the most words wins.


.This activity is for beginners but If your students have a more advanced level, you can limit the words to a specific lexical field ( house, family, colors, hobbies, sports…)

Choosing a countryPrep: Print on different sheets of paper the maps and flags of seven different countries

(preferably English speaking countries). Stick the country maps on the wallsaround the room using Blu-tack.

How to proceed:

Ask the students to stand up and go next to the map of the country they likebest. The pupils then have to explain their choice to the pupils who have chosendifferent countries.


This activity can be done with other topics (7 music styles, 7 sports, 7 hobbies…)

Stand in linePrep: Divide the class into two groups.

How to proceed:

Tell students that they will have to stand in a line in different orders dependingon the instruction. Ask pupils to stand in line from the tallest to the smallest as quickly as possible. Then ask pupils to stand in a line from the youngest to the oldest (pupils will have to exchange questions and answers).


You can ask pupils to stand in a line according to other criteria which willengage a conversation (number of pets at home, place of living from the closest to the furthest from school…).

The Alphabet in ParisPrep: Get the pupils by pairs.

How to proceed:

The two players agree that the one who says a letter (M for example) wins. They then take turns to say one or two letters of the alphabet but no more. The player who pronounces the letter wins (ex: player1: A, player2: BC, player1: DE, player2: FG, player1:H, player2:I, player1:JK, player2:LM > Player 2 wins


Change the winning letter and don’t always start with « A » so that all the letters can be practised. You can also work on numbers in the same way.

Eyes firstPrep: To do this activity, you must be able to have the pupils stand in a circle with no

furniture in the way (Use the school yard if necessary).

How to proceed:

Get everybody’s attention on you. Stare at someone in front of you in the circleand invite him to join you in the middle of the circle. Say your name and get the pupil to say his name too. The teacher takes the pupil’s place and vice versa.


This activity is a great ice breaker game and a good way to know each other’snames. Alternatively, you can ask pupils to act full dialogues in the same way(ex: « Hello, what’s your name? », « My name is … . What’s your name? »…)

TwisterPrep: For this activity, you will need a twister mat (homemade if necessary). You can

also use a deck of cards corresponding to the different colours (ex: yellow, green, red, blue) and to the different limbs (left hand, right hand, left foot, right foot).

How to proceed:

Let the pupils pick a « colour » cards and a « limb » card. The pupil thenannouces « blue with the left leg ». The pupil playing twister must adapt.


It is a nice way to mix physical education classes with English.

UnoPrep: For this activity, you will need a deck of Uno cards.

How to proceed:

The game can be played by groups of four or five. The dealer (distributeur) putsa card face up in the middle. The pupils can only put a card on it if itcorresponds to the colour or to the number of the last card. The winner is the first pupil who gets rid of all his cards.


This game is a nice way to work both on colours and numbers.

Learning with games - · PDF fileasking each pupil to repeat all the words that were ... A bag...

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