1.  Put large posters of “Yes” and “No” at opposite ends of the classroom. (you might also use “Rocks! – Sucks!  or “I think so” or “I don’t think so” etc….)

2.  Students stand. Read a statement such as “I love chocolate ice cream” .  Students answer by going to the side of the classroom, the poster, that represents their opinion/answer.  Or if undecided they can go to the middle. Continue reading statements.

3.  Give students a slip of paper. They write their own statements or closed questions (Yes/No). Then each take turns reading theirs and seeing the opinions/beliefs of classmates.

….

You can use this technique in many ways and to cover/introduce many topics and language items. Really good for doing surveys interactively… A perfect example of “learning on your feet” and Active Learning.

This post was submitted by David .

Students in groups pass around a piece of paper while music plays. When it stops, whoever has the paper must answer the question or do a specific task.  In this game - finish the Christmas Carol.

Pass the paper is an excellent interactive way to review the lesson / curriculum.

Get the powerpoints and more games like this HERE.

This post was submitted by David .

1. Put on the board

my ….. – mine.

your ….. – yours.

his ….. – his.

her ….. – hers.

its …… – its.

our … – ours

your … – yours

their ….. theirs.

2. Prior to the class while students are waiting, go around an scoop up some student’s items (put them in a basket / bag).

3. Take out some items and ask students. “Is this your…..? Is this yours? Whose is it? etc…

Get students to respond and give back the items one by one.

4. Give students some small pictures of items. Tell them they got a gift and they should put a secret label on it, so they can tell if it is theirs. (I get them to sign it or put a secret sign on it. – NOT their name).You could use these pictures.

5. Collect the “gifts” and shuffle/mix. Tell the students they have lost their gifts but found some others. Go around the class asking students – “Is this your…. ? Is this yours? When a student has returned all the gifts to their proper owner, they can sit down.

6. Conclude by asking which gift they got, they like the best.

This post was submitted by David Deubelbeiss.

Get a pile of nice magazine pictures. Next, tear or cut them into twos. Enough halves for the number of students in your classroom.

Then, give each student half a picture. They have to walk around the class describing their picture and finding their torn “match”. Once they find their match, they can sit down.

Make sure to make the rules clear. English only ! No showing the picture or peeking! Have some extra halves to give out incase some students finish early.

This is a great way to practice “In my picture there is / are …..

Use these picture guessing ppts for a nice game to compliment this. Load up your ppt with a picture and students must guess what it is, as you take away pieces! Use class faces – it works great!

This post was submitted by David.

The teacher (or a student(s)) instructs other students to do certain actions.

Ex.  Simon says, “Touch your nose”! or Simon says, “jump up and down”.

If the caller doesn’t say “Simon says” and only, “Touch your nose” and if a student does that action – they are eliminated and must sit out.

For older students don’t use “Simon says” but use “Please” or “Could you…” or “Don’t”. This nicely teaches the imperative to students.

Even better, get students playing this game in small groups. It will go much quicker and focus more on student talk time.

Simon says, “Get playing Simon Says!”

This post was submitted by Peter.

ie. (name) loves dancing.

However, there is another option and one that even is stronger cognitvely and pedagogically. (Go here for an explanation and part 1)

Give students a bingo card with pictures. Or even better, get them to draw/label the pictures into the boxes. Use my Bingo Powerpoint if you want.

Students go around the classroom asking people the target question (on the board) or as in this example – Do you like…….?  If the student answers yes, they write in an O, if no, an X. They also write the students name.

If they find 5 in a row (either O or X), they get bingo and can sit down.

Finally in groups, they make sentences using the names to make statements about classmates. ex.  Jennifer likes (O) / doesn’t like (X) watermelon.

This is a great visual and student created content way to play FSW!

This post was submitted by david .

In pairs, students silently “mouth” very slowly, the questions from a handout. Simple questions. Go here for many lists - use the simple ones like “Favorites” or “Getting to know you”.   The other student responds with one or two simple sentences.

Students see if they can follow the other person. Doing this they will gain important information about how to get more information than the ear allows and increase their ability to read facial information – so important for language learning/speaking. Plus, they will just have a lot of fun!

This website from the U. of Iowa is the perfect compliment for this exercise and a must site for pronunciation!

This post was submitted by David Deubelbeiss.

First, write 3 very simple sentence prompts on the board. For example something like this….

1. I like ………………………..

2. I don’t like ……………………

3. I can ………………… well.

(change these depending on the level of your students).

Next, hand out a piece of paper and ask students to write down the sentences and finish them off by writing about themselves.. The teacher also makes one.

Then, when finish, crumple up your paper and put it on your desk. Everyone does this. When the teacher says go – it is SNOWBALL FIGHT!  Let the students fight for 30 or so seconds.

Finally, pick up a snowball and unravel it. Students read each outloud and the class tries to guess who it is.

Lots of fun and just “throwing something” breaks down barriers and really helps create atmosphere for future classes.

This post was submitted by david.

Select 4-5 students and give them a flashcard/picture.

All other students put their heads down and one thumb up. The other students go around the classroom and gently squeeze one student’s thumb. They return to the front of the class.

The student’s whose thumbs were squeezed stand up and guess who did it by stating the vocabulary on the flashcard “Did a “bear” squeeze me?”.  If they guess correctly, they get a flashcard and can go to the front.

A fun game!

This post was submitted by David Deubelbeiss.

One player begins with an unfortunate statement like, “Unfortunately, there is a bat in the car.”

The next player has to counter with something more fortunate like, “Fortunately, I brought along bat repellant.”

Players continue to alternate between unfortunate and fortunate things until you’ve exhausted a particular topic.

This post was submitted by eflclassroom.