[simplyesl]

My 9-12 classes call for this game every week without fail; thankfully it's my fav, too.

I can't take create for this game; I picked it up from another teacher.

This game is called "legz" or "the feet/foot game".
It works best with even numbers and at least 8 sts.
You have two teams sitting on the floor, facing each other with their legs in front of them (The 1's are team one and the two's are team 2):

1-1-1-1
2-2-2-2

Each pair is a different vocab. >>

1-2-3-4
1-2-3-4

The 1's are on opposite teams but have the same vocab. etc.

Let's say we're doing "What's your fav. sport?", the 1's are "basketball".

The sts ask the question and the teacher (or another st) answers with one of the vocab.

sts: What's you favourite sport?
T: My favourite sport is basketball.

Now, the 1's get up, run through the middle and around the outside. The first st to sit down is the winner. Here's is a high quality graphic explanation (the 's' is where they start):
\/<<<<<<<
\/1-2-3-4 ^
S >>>>>^

S>>>>>\/
^1-2-3-4\/
^<<<<<<<

Have fun!

[Mr. E English]

Hi Mesmark,

Just one game from here on out you ask! Well for me that would have to be '20 questions'.

Of course, there's nothing new or difficult about '20 questions' - it's a real old ESL classic, but I love it because it's so easily adapted to any target language, it provides great speaking practice, set up is so straightforward and it can be used in any variety of classroom interaction - pairs / small groups / whole class.

So, the basic idea - student A thinks of a word. Student B questions student A using closed questions only. Student A can only answer 'yes' or 'no'. There is a limit of just 20 questions and when these are used up the students must guess the original word - or they can guess before using all the 20 questions if they think they know it.

For example -

Let's say you've been teaching nouns of basic household objects - chair, vase, lamp, television etc. Student A chooses one of these (and keeps it a secret of course). Student B questions -

"Is it electrical?" - No
"Is it found in the living room?" - Yes
"Is it made of wood?" - No
"is it soft?" - Yes
"Do people sit on it?" - Yes
"Is it a sofa?" - Yes

Or you've been teaching verbs for hobbies and leisure activities - swim, play golf, watch TV, go shopping -

"Do you do this inside?" - No
"Do you do this alone?" - No
"Do you use any special equipment to do this?" - Yes
"Do you need a ball to do this?" - Yes
"Is it soccer?" - No
"Is it tennis?" - Yes

This can also be adapted to practice grammatical tenses as well as vocabulary, for example the Past Simple -

"Did you do this inside?" - No
"Did you do this alone?" - No
"Did you use any special equipment to do this?" - Yes
"Did you need a ball to do this?" - Yes
"Was it soccer?" - No
"Was it tennis?" - Yes


Anyway, just one game but highly adaptable!

[Mr. E English]

This is a great game, I use in the classroom only occasionally, based on the BBC TV show “Call my Bluff”.

The purpose is to provide freer speaking practice of relative clauses but it also gives intensive listening practice as an added extra.

It can be done as a pair work activity but I usually set it up as a class competition with two teams.

Procedure –

• Divide the class into two teams. Appoint a team leader. Elicit a name for each team and write this on the board.
  
• Give each group a list of 6 words with definitions – different words for each team. The words need to be unusual vocabulary items the students will not know, e.g. a colander / a teetotaler / a pantry, etc.
  
• Set a 10 minute time limit. Each team must write two more definitions for each word which sound as if they could be correct but which are actually wrong, e.g. correct answer given from teacher = ‘a teetotaler is someone who never drinks alcohol.’ Extra incorrect definitions from students = ‘a teetotaler is someone who can not count’ / ‘a teetotaler is someone who only drinks tea’. The teacher needs to monitor this closely and assist where needed.
  
• Now the competition. Write the first word from team ‘A’ on the board. Team ‘A’ reads out the three definitions for this word trying to sound convincing for each one. Team ‘B’ listens and chooses the correct word. They can ask team ‘A’ to repeat the definitions as often as they need. If they guess correctly they get a point, if not team ‘A’ gets the point.
  
• Continue this process for all the words from each team.
  
• Finish – calculate the scores and cheer the winners.
  
• Round off – recap on the vocabulary covered and the correct meanings.

In total this will give you a good solid classroom activity which will last for about 40 minutes - and they say TV's no good for us!!