My previous native teacher left me an awesome little "Teaching in Korea" guide. Part of it included games to help facilitate English conversation. Here it is verbatim.
ESL GAMES
1. Chair game: Present a dialog on the board in this pattern: This is a general favorite among the students and is a very enjoyable, yet beneficial game for the students.
Q: Question 1?
A: Answer 1. Answer 2.
Q: Question 2?
A: 1. Answer 2. Answer
3 Answer 4. Answer
Sample: Q: Does your father work?
A: Yes he does A: No he doesn’t
Q: What does he do?
A: He is a __________
1. Doctor 2. Lawyer 3. Teacher 4. Nurse
Directions:
Clear away the desks, and have the students sit in a circle in their chairs with one student standing in the middle (Student A). Give each student a number 1, 2, 3, or 4. Student A will ask any student sitting in a chair (Student B) the question “Does your father work?”. If Student B replies “no he doesn’t”, then the students sitting on both sides of Student B have to change seats before Student A can sit down. Whoever is left in the middle becomes Student A, and repeats the dialog.
However, if Student B replies “Yes he does”, then the conversation continues and Student A must then ask “What does he do?”. Student B can then reply four ways. “He is a doctor”, ”He is a lawyer”, “He is a teacher” or “He is a nurse”. Whichever job Student B calls out, the students with the corresponding numbers have to change seats. Since there is one less chair than student, one student will always be left in the middle and will have to choose a new Student B to repeat the dialog with. As the game progresses feel free to throw in a fifth option i.e. “President”, whereas all the students in the class will have to change seats.
Est time: 15 minutes
2. Speed Quiz
Divide the class into groups of 4- 6 students. 2 students from the group will have to sit in front of the tv/screen, so that they cannot see it. The other students in the group will have to act out the picture or sentence that they see on the screen, while the students that can’t see the tv have to guess what it is. Each group will have 30 seconds to 1 minute (your preference) to see how many vocabulary words or sentences they can answer correctly.
Est time: 10-15 minutes
3. Acting Game
Similar to the speed quiz game, except all the students compete at the same time. Divide the class into 2-4 groups. Invite one student from each group to come up to the front. Show them a picture or sentence so that they can see it, but the rest of the class can’t. The students in the front then have to act out what they see to the class. The students in the class will raise their hands to try and guess what they are acting. If a student guesses correctly, their team gets 1 point. Rotate students to the front. You can use simple vocabulary words, or you can have the students answer in the sentences using present tense, past tense, present-continuous, etc.
Est time: 10- 15 minutes
4. Hammer- Rock paper scissors game
This game works best with smaller classroom sizes. Form a semi-circle with 7-10 desks, and put a vocabulary word or grammar concept on each desk. Divide the class into two teams. Have the two teams form a line behind the opposite ends of the semi-circle, and give the first player on each team a plastic inflatable hammer (not essential, but certainly makes the game more fun). When you say “go”, the students with the hammer will have to smack the first desk with the hammer and say the key word or sentence correctly. They will continue to go around the semi-circle saying the key words correctly, until the two players meet in the middle. When this happens, the two players have to stop what they are doing, and “Rock-Paper-Scissors” eachother. The winner will continue going around the circle, whereas the loser has to go back to the beginning and pass off the hammer to the next person on his team. The next person starts over from the first desk and continues going until he meets the player from the other team, and they “Rock-Paper-Scissors” again. The game ends when one player manages to reach the other side. Some games take a minute, while some can go on for 15. Generally, I play the game about three or four times in a 15 minute span.
5. Drawing Game
Pretty simple game, but younger students really enjoy it. Divide the class into X number of groups. Have one student from each group come up to the front and show them a picture or vocabulary word. The students at the front will then have to draw the picture on the board, while the students in the class have to try and guess what it is. If the student in the class guesses correctly, he gets one point for his team. Rotate students to the front.
Est time: 10-15 minutes
6. Flyswatter/ Hammer game
Tape or hang up a bunch of pictures or words all over the board. Divide the class into two or three teams, and invite one student from each student up to the board. Give each student a hammer, and have them turn around and face the class. Then you will either say the vocabulary word outright or give them clues, and they will have to turn around and find it on the board by smacking it with the hammer or flyswatter. Give the student that answers correctly 1 point to his team, and invite new students to come to the front.
Great game for pronunciation difficulties (“r” and “l” words), cause and effect, or simply general vocabulary.
Est. time 10 minutes
7. Pickup (Snatch) game
Same concept as flyswatter game, except that students play at their desks. Have them divide into groups of 4-6 students, and have them spread out the cards (face-up) all over their desks. Have them ask you the key question i.e. “What are you wearing?”, and you will answer “I am wearing socks!” The students will then try and pickup the “sock” card as fast as they can. The student that finishes the game with the most cards wins. Feel free to invite the students to answer the question “I am wearing______”, as well.
Est. time 5-10 minutes
8. Flip Cup
Same as the drinking game (minus the drinking). Divide the class into two teams, and give each student a cup. Place a picture face-down in front of each student (This part is optional as you can certainly play the game without pictures). The students stand down a line on each side of the table. Game is played like a relay race. The first student will have to ask the second student the key question i.e. “What are you wearing?” The second student will flip over his picture and answer the question “I am wearing pants!” When he answers the question correctly, he then has to flip over his cup. After he completes this successfully, he has to ask the third student the key question and so on. The first team that finishes flipping all of their cups is the winner. Usually play 3-5 rounds. If the game gets too hectic, divide the class into two games. You can monitor one, and your co-teacher can monitor the other.
Est time: 10-15 minutes
9. Team bingo
Same as regular bingo except that there is a team aspect as well. Divide the class into several teams, and give each student a bingo card. Pre-make the cards, or have the students fill-out the cards using a selective word list. To play the game, show the students a picture (one that corresponds to a word on the list). If a student can identify the picture, he/she raises her hand and says what it is. If they are correct, they get one point for their team. Keep playing until a player gets BINGO, and give that individual a small prize or additional bonus points to his team. Can play the game several times if you’d like. When you are finished playing, the team with the most points is the winner.
Est time: 15 minutes
10. Flash Games: Some standard flash games that you can play. You can email me if you would like me to send them to you.
Bomb game: Jeopardy style trivia game, where “bombs” are hidden in some of the choices, resulting in the students losing all of their points. This isn’t really a flash game, but a PPT file.
Word Unscramble: Word Unscramble flash game. Can enter any word you choose into the data, and the program will automatically scramble the word for you. The students will then have to try and figure out what the word really is. Can play in teams or as individuals. The flash program allows the letters to move around and plays music, making the game more fun and difficult.
Team Matching game: Same as the regular “Memory” or “Matching game”, in which you have to match two of the same cards together. You can have them match the Korean word to the English Word, the English Word to the Picture, or however you choose. Generally, more fun than the regular card “Memory” game, because you can play with teams using the entire class. I find that the class gets much more into the game this way than the standard way.
Guess the Hidden Picture; Self explanatory
Speed game: Same game as described earlier except Flash
The first attached file is the word scramble flash file.
The second attached file is the memory flash file.
The 3rd file attached is the text file that goes with the word scramble (file 1) just replace the English words with whatever you like.
