Vocabulary Activities

CLASSROOM GAMES

Action Race: This is a fun game using actions. Use actions like jump, hop, clap, run etc. Have the Ss split into two teams and sit in lines with a chair by each team and one chair at the other end of the room. One S from each team stands next to their chair and T calls an action, e.g. "Jump". Ss must jump to the chair on the other side of the room and back, sitting down in their chair Ss say "I can jump". First one to do it gets their team a point. (Submitted by Gareth Thomas).

Airplane competition: First, have your Ss make some paper airplanes. Stand the Ss in a line and let them test fly their planes. For the competition, assign different classroom objects points (e.g. table 5 points, door 10 points, trashcan 20 points). Ask a S a question and if s/he answers correctly then s/he can throw and try to hit one of the target objects to win points. This works well as a team game.

Art Gallery: This is a great activity for reviewing vocab. Draw enough squares on the board for each S to be able to draw in. Have the Ss write their names above their squares. T calls out a word and the Ss draw it (could be simple nouns e.g. "dog, bookcase, train", verb structures e.g. "draw a man running, eating cake, sleeping") or adjectives ("draw a big elephant, an angry lion, an expensive diamond ring"). For each S give a score for his/her picture, and then move on to the next picture. The S with the highest score at the end is the winner.

Backs to the Board Game: This one is good for higher level kids. Make two teams and stand one S from each team in front of the board, facing away from it. Write a word or draw a picture on the board (e.g. "hamburger") and the Ss have to explain that word to their team member (e.g. you can buy it in McDonalds, it's got cheese and ketchup in it). The first S out of the two standing in front of the board to guess the word wins a point for his/her team.

Badminton: Good for reviewing target vocabulary (words or communicative expressions). Set a "court" into the classroom by placing a skip-rope tied up to two chairs. Make two small teams (the other Ss can be the crowd and or challengers). Give each S a flyswatter ("Racket"). Inflate a balloon (this will be the ball). Remember: the younger the Ss, the bigger the balloon must be (slower). Decides who serves and for every point one team scores, have the opposite team call out the flashcard or picture card by the T shown. Lots of fun! (NOTE: For very active Ss be careful since they might hit the others' faces when playing). (submitted by Salvador Domingo)

Basketball: Ss take a shot at the trashcan/box/etc. First ask a question to S1. If s/he answers correctly then s/he can have a shot at the basket. If the S gets the ball in the basket then s/he wins 2 points. If the S hits the basket without going inside then s/he wins 1 point. The person who gets the most points is the winner. This can also be played in teams.

Bingo: Can be played with numbers, letters, pictures or even words. The winner is the first to either get a line or or full house.

Charades: Have a S come to the front of the class and whisper a word or show a FC to that S. The S the acts out that word and the first S to guess can be the next player. This works very well with action verbs. Variation: divide the class up into teams - the first S to guess wins a point for his/her team.

Draw and Roll: Split class into 2 teams. T says Draw a ______ and Ss should draw that vocabulary word. If the drawing is correct then the student rolls a dice for points. This game can be played 2 ways: The fastest person to draw the picture rolls the dice. Or the other way is too allow any student to roll the dice as long as the picture is recognizable and correct. I made my dice out of a box from the 100 Yen store. (Submitted by Tania Bibbo).

Hangman: The old favorite. Very good for reviewing vocab from past lessons.

Label It: This works well with newcomers of all ages who need an introduction to basic vocabulary. As long as the learners are able to identify beginning letter sounds, they should be able to do this activity. To familiarize my students with names of objects found in the classroom, I label everything with an index card that has the item's name on it. Then I have them repeat what I read as they point to the item. The next day, I remove the cards and go through them one at a time and we place them on the correct item together. The third day, I let them label whatever they can on their own. I continue this for a few days. When they are able to independently label most of the items, I surprise them by having them labeled incorrectly. Then they have to straighten out the mess. You can adapt this to any noun-based vocabulary list (e.g. types of foods, body parts, parts of a room in a house, animals, etc.) that you can post pictures of. Your website has amazing flashcards and pictures that can be printed out and used for this. (submitted by KMMP).

Line True or False: Put a line of tape on the floor and designate one side "True" and the other "False". Hold up an object or flashcard and say its word. If Ss think the you have said the correct word they jump on the True side, if not they jump on the False side. Incorrect Ss sit out until the next game.

Pictionary: Good for reviewing vocab. Pick a S and show him/her a picture or whisper a word into his/her ear. The S draws the picture on the board and the first S to guess the picture gets to draw the next picture. This can also be played in teams with a point system.

Spelling Bee: Have all your Ss stand at the front of the class. Give S1 a word to spell. The S orally spells the word and the T writes it on the board as it is being spelt. If the spelling is wrong the S is knocked out of the game. The last S standing is the winner. This also works well as a team game.

Time Bomb: you need a timer (such as an egg timer) for this exciting game. Set the timer, ask a question and then throw it to a S. S/he must answer and then throw the timer to another S, who in turn answers and then throws it to another S. The S holding the timer when it goes off loses a life. This can also be done with categories (e.g. food, animals, etc.).

Vocab Tic Tac Toe: Draw a basic tic tac toe board on the white board with new vocabulary in each block. Each word is missing one, two or three letters depending on students level. One S from each team is called up and must fill in the missing letter(s) and say the word aloud. The team with three in a row wins. (submitted by Shawn).

Bang Bang

Level: Easy

Divide the group into two teams. Explain that they are cowboys and they are involved in a duel. One student from each team comes to the front. Get them to pretend to draw their pistols. Say "how do you say..." and a word in their mother tongue. The first child to give the answer and then "bang bang", pretending to shoot his opponent is the winner. He remains standing and the other one sits down. I give 1 point for the right answer and 5 extra points if they manage to "kill" 4 opponents in a row.

Editor's Note: Instead of saying the word in the students' mother tongue, it would be possible to use a picture or to say a definition ("What do you call the large gray animal with a long nose?")

Sentence Race Level: Any Level A good game for large classes and for reviewing vocabulary lessons.

1. Prepare a list of review vocabulary words. 2. Write each word on two small pieces of paper. That means writing the word

twice, once on each paper. 3. Organize the pieces like bundles, 2 bundles, 2 sets of identical words. 4. Divide the class into 2 teams. get them to make creative team names. 5. Distribute each list of words to both teams. every student on each team should

have a paper. Both teams have the same words. 6. When you call a word, 2 students should stand up, one from each team. The

students must then run to the blackboard and race to write a sentence using their word.

The winner is the one with a correct and clearly written sentence. This is always a hit with kids. For more advanced students, use tougher words. What's the Meaning? Level: Medium to Difficult You, the teacher, may need a dictionary do this activity.

• Choose a word which is long, difficult, and unknown to the students, a good word to begin with is: warmonger.

• Without using a dictionary, your students write down a definition. (They can work out the definition in groups of three). Allow them a few minutes to think and write.

• Collect the definitions and read them aloud. • When you have finished reading, they will have to vote which of those is the

correct one. (It doesn't matter if none of them is the correct one) • After they have voted and none of the groups guessed the meaning you read the

correct one aloud. The idea of this game is to let students be creative and practice writing skills. Then you can have the students to discuss their writings.

Source: http://www.fcoe.k12.ca.us/fcoe/uploads/eahangarzadeh/CLASSROOM%20GAMES.pdf