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High School - 28 - Word Games
« on: April 16, 2008, 01:55:57 pm »
I'm not even going to use a fancy title to make this sound impressive.  It's a collection of word games, increasing in complexity as you progress through the lesson.

Word Games:
  • Native Speaker introduces the concept of Word Games. 5 minutes.
  • Native Speaker introduces Pictionary.  5 minutes.
  • Students perform Pictionary with Native Speaker.  10 minutes.
  • Native Speaker introduces Outburst.  5 minutes.
  • Students perform Outburst with Native Speaker.  10 minutes.
  • Native Speaker introduces Boggle.  5 minutes.
  • Students perform Boggle worksheet.  10 minutes.

Notes:
  • This lesson is really a survey of vocabulary games and they're perfect for lesson terminations games.  Wrapping them up in  a lesson is the same as wrapping south park up in a lesson.
  • The students loved Pictionary so much that it can easily turn into the main lesson.  I limited the 6 groups to 3 rounds, with each rounds word being pulled from a more difficult word pool.  For example, a first round word would be some easy object (e.g. cat, dog, gun).  The second round would be a more complicated drawing, but still an object (teacher, policeman, husband).  The last round would be some abstract thing (e.g. happy, sad, and strong).  The first two rounds are fairly easy to understand but the last round switched the thinking tracks just a little bit.
  • The resource sheet for Pictionary features words that have been approved by a Grade 2 high English school teacher.  But even then I had students stare at me in various stupefied states and I couldn't tell if they didn't know the word or didn't know how to draw the word.  Regardless I found words for all of the students to draw.  If I really cared about this game I would have had Korean translation included in the sheet
  • Once the students realized that Outburst was really Star Golden Bell's Speed English, they started loving this game enough that it turned into the second half of the lesson.  I gave the 6 groups 2 rounds each and then we switched to Teacher English, where they have to make me guess the secret word.
    Most of the classes loved Pictionary and Outburst so much that we ran out of time and never got to Boggle or Scrabble even though I have a feeling that both games are more geared towards more advanced students.
  • You can choose to use the physical Scrabble game or you can use a Scrabble video game with a ‘hot-seat’ option that allows multiple players on the same computer.

The Boggle sheets are from Online Boggle and solved by the Boggle Solver.

Scrabble is easy to find online but most of the games that are there only have network play.  For a hot-seat based game you should buy Scrabble Complete

More information about my lessons can be found here.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2008, 09:11:13 pm by jellomando »


  • nginsburg
  • Explorer

    • 5

    • September 08, 2010, 12:32:17 pm
    • suwon
Re: High School - 28 - Word Games
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2011, 09:39:29 am »
my kids loved boggle! I ended up just making new boggle boards and we played for the entire hour!


  • stoon
  • Waygookin

    • 12

    • March 01, 2011, 03:36:00 pm
    • Daegu
Re: High School - 28 - Word Games
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2011, 05:40:01 pm »
My students like doing Class vs Teacher boggle. Will introduce the game and get them to play against each other solo or in groups first.  Then draw a grid on the board and let them choose letters, or generate a random grid onlin (google free online boggle).  Copy down the grid onto a sheet of paper and go and sit where you can't see the board/face away from it. The students have to work together as a class, writing words up on the board and compete against you.  They should really get into it and they'll be really impressed when you write your list up afterwards and pull out some random words they've never heard before.  Not reccomended for teachers with a limited vocabulary/who are bad at boggle, personally I wouldn't be doing it if I wasn't pretty much guaranteed to win.
(letting them choose letters just makes sure they know you're not cheating and makes them think they're in with a shot)


Riddles- Game
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2012, 01:21:47 pm »
I've found this 'lesson' a great break for the students either just before or just after their exams. They really enjoy having to guess the riddles.
I have the students work in teams and we go through the riddles together. Each team writes down their answer on their answer sheets then after we have gone through all of the riddles, they pass their paper to another team to mark their answers.
We then go through the answers together.
Depending on the students level I give away hints to make the difficult riddles easier.



  • lita
  • Waygookin

    • 19

    • September 01, 2011, 01:46:39 pm
    • Jinju, South Korea
Re: Riddles- Game
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2012, 01:10:47 pm »
This is a really good idea! Thank you for posting it.

Did this take 1 whole class period?


Re: Riddles- Game
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2012, 06:20:24 pm »
I use two riddles with every lesson, one at the start and one at the end with my advanced classes. Helps initially to focus/get their attention, get their brain ready for the lesson and then keeps them awake at the end. In a similar manner I use catchphrases (compound word) for the lower classes. When lessons flop / are naturally boring topics then at least you are guaranteed to have their attention for a few minutes at the start and end of every lesson as well as giving initial structure to the lesson.

Good list of riddles, cheers for sharing.


  • Chicagohotdog
  • Hero of Waygookistan

    • 1052

    • March 04, 2012, 12:25:31 pm
    • Gyeongsangbuk-do
    more
Re: High School - 28 - Word Games
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2012, 08:59:00 am »
This is a great idea for post exams when the students' minds have all turned to mush from studying.  Thanks!
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Re: Riddles- Game
« Reply #7 on: May 07, 2012, 07:44:24 am »
I think a lesson plan based in riddles is quite interesting. Have any of you tried tounge twisters? I dont know if this is something that is only good for like a 5 minute warmup to get them started or something that could acutally help them with certain sounds the have a hard time pronouncing. To me it seems more like something fun to do than an entire 50 minutes. Thoughts?
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Re: High School - 28 - Word Games
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2012, 02:38:53 pm »
My students like doing Class vs Teacher boggle. Will introduce the game and get them to play against each other solo or in groups first.  Then draw a grid on the board and let them choose letters, or generate a random grid onlin (google free online boggle).  Copy down the grid onto a sheet of paper and go and sit where you can't see the board/face away from it. The students have to work together as a class, writing words up on the board and compete against you.  They should really get into it and they'll be really impressed when you write your list up afterwards and pull out some random words they've never heard before.  Not reccomended for teachers with a limited vocabulary/who are bad at boggle, personally I wouldn't be doing it if I wasn't pretty much guaranteed to win.
(letting them choose letters just makes sure they know you're not cheating and makes them think they're in with a shot)

Oh this one sounds like a winner--minimal prep and gets the students working together! I can't wait to try this out with my class. Thanks for this post!


  • Blanche
  • Newgookin

    • 4

    • December 01, 2017, 12:39:29 pm
    • South Korea
Re: High School - 28 - Word Games
« Reply #9 on: November 29, 2019, 04:00:48 pm »
This is a word game ppt is made up of 3 word games; 1) Word Scramble; 2) Riddles and 3) What's the word. All the content comes from ppts posted on this site. Credits to those who made it:) Hope it's helpful^^