I play "Chinese Whispers" (aka The Telephone Game) a little differently.
Since my classes are usually 12-15 students sitting in a circle around a desk with me at the head, I break them into 2 teams by pointing straight in front of me. The two students flanking me get to see a vocabulary card from what we've studied. On the count of 3 they begin to whisper it down the line of their team.
When the last person on their team has heard it,
they stand up, but don't speak. When both teams are ready, I let the team that finished first try to say the word. Basically, their speed won them priority. If they are correct they get a point.
If the first team is wrong, play moves over to team 2. They get a point if they're right, but if not play passes back to team 1, next person in line. Back and forth until somebody gets it right. If nobody does, I've got a problem
* The "
we have more students on our team, cry cry cry" issue that sometimes occurs is easily solved: make the team with more students start first.