FUN LEARNING

Vocabulary Activities
Think fast
Choose two or three volunteers.
Ask them to leave the classroom. They will be called to enter in turns.
The first student enters.
At this, tell him/her that he/she has 30 seconds to say words, phrases, sentences, etc,
that he/she learned in that class, as many as he/she can say. You have to tick for every
item said by the student.
When all volunteers have participated, count and decide which student has said or
recalled more utterances. Reward the winners.

Quiz

Write four to five words seen in class.

Dictate the words at the beginning of the next class.

Bingo

Bingo game.
Provide each student with playing card.
Shuffle cards and mention the phrases and/or questions.
The student who first completes and shouts "Bingo" wins.

Venn's diagram

Draw two interlaced circles.

Write, above the left circle, "men's clothes". Above the right one"women's clothes".
Write "both" above the interlaced space.
Students have to write garments which men wear in the first space and garments which
women wear in the corresponding space. Garments that both wear in the interlaced
space.

Skaanes format

This format is ideal for homework.

It is a chart divided in three columns.
In the space"Espaol", Students write in that language the name of the garment. In the
space "English", The english word.
In the space "Picture", students have to draw the garment or stick a cutout.

Four corners

Put four cardboards on the wall. Each one on each corner of the classroom.
Write a title on each one.
Divide the group into four teams
Teams have to write words related to the title.
Give a certain amount of time for each team to write in each cardboard.

I have been learning

Every time a student asks for permission to go to the restroom, tell him that he has to
say: "I have been learning" and say words or phrases that he has just been learning in
that class.

Speaking Activities
New: 20.-Survey

This activity is an excellent option to increase language use in large classes.

First, we need a table with 5 or 6 columns and 5 or 6 rows.
The first row will be for the headings.

Name Do you like pizza? Do you like hot dogs? Do you like apples? Do you like maths?
ISMAIL
AMIR
LINDA
AMIRA

Then, wirte questions.

Students choose who they want to ask for the information.
Students have to go around the classroom, ask their partners, and write down the
answers.

New: 19.-Describing visuals

Students are given with visuals; they could be about people, actions in progress, food,
etc.
They show their visuals to the rest of the class and say what's happening in it.Example:
He is playing basketball, she is eating a salad, he is wearing a white hat, I have breakfast
at 9:00, and many options. The importance here is that students are the ones who speak
mostly in class.

18.-Cross the river

Elaborate flash cards with words related to the topic you are teaching about.
Draw an imaginary river which will be crossed by the students.
Put the flash cards on the floor, facing down.
Students have to cross the river as if the flashcards were small rocks to step on.
Each time a student steps on next to a card, he/she has to turn it and say something
related to that word.
The goal is to cross the river speaking while steping on the cards.

17.-Chinese whispers
Choose a telephone number, word, phrase, sentence or address number.
You are going to say it to the student who is sitting in front of each row.
This student has to say it to the partner who is sitting just behind him/her and so on until it gets
to the student sitting at the end of the row. She/he has to write it Students can not speak in their
mother tongue.
The winner row is that which writes it accurately.

16.-Funny voices

Choose a student to stand in front of the class.

Put a handkerchief on his/her eyes.
The student wearing the handkerchief on has to ask the question "What's your name?". Another
partner has to answer "my name is..." but imitating a funny voice and saying any name.
The student wearing the handkerchief on has to guess who the person that answered the
question is. If he/she guesses, can go to his/her seat. If not, he/she stays there until he/she
guesses the real identity of the funny voice.
15.-Ball name game

The teacher first says "My name is...". and asks "What's yours?" or "What's your name?
Then the teacher tosses the ball and a student has to catch it.
That student has to answer "My name is..." , then toss the ball to another partner and ask for his
or her name and so on until students have introduce themselves.
In fact, the activity can be done with many different questions and answers.
14.-Tic tac toe

Draw tic tac toe charts on the whiteboard.

Form teams (suggested 6 or 4).
Draw a chart for each two teams.
Write a word in each space of the chart.
Two teams play on one chart. Give turns to participate.
If a team want to write its cross or doughnut on a space, they must say a phrase, question, or
sentence mentioning the word written in that space.
13.-Erase the word

Write a dialogue on the whiteboard and drill it.

Form teams.
Establish turns.
Each team has to read the dialogue aloud.
Before reading the dialogue for the second time, erase one or two words from it. Note: any
student can open the notebook or write the dialogue
They have to read the dialogue as if any word were erased.
Repeat the procedure until the full dialogue is erased.
The team which repeats the dialogue in the better way wins.
12.-Playing professions

Provide your students with a set of tools.

They will be interviewed by the group.
It can be start with questions like:" What's your occupation/profession? What do you do? Where
do you work?.
Besides answering the interview they can show the tools and say what they are for.

11.-Name the clouds

Ask a student to leave the classroom.

Ask him/her to pick a cloud.
After that ask him/her to decide a name for that cloud.
He/she has to say the name of his/her cloud.
Of course students have to use "his" or "her".
Example: his name is Cloudy.
You could do it with any object; it is just for practicing possessive pronouns.
10.-This is Juan's scarf

Place garments on a table.

It works better if they are students' garments.
Choose a student to pass in front of the class.
He/she has to say whom the garments are, example: "this is Maria's sweater".
The garments which have been mentioned have to be taken out of the table.
At the end, count how many garments the student mentioned.
The student who mentions whose garments belong to in the few amount of time wins.
It is recommended to place at least ten garments on the table.
9.-This is my book

A boy and a girl have to pass to the front of the class.

Hold the book and say: "this is my book".
After that give the book to the boy and say:" this is his book".
Then give the book to the girl and say: "this is her book".
Stand up yourself between the students and say: "this is our book".
Next both students stand up near from each other and you say: "this is their book".
After students take notes, give the book to someone else and he/she has to say whom the book
belongs to.
Stress pronunciation on possessives and at the same time point at the person whom the book
belongs to.
8.-Just a minute

Form teams.
Provide each team with a visual of people.
Students must describe what people are wearing according to the visual.
They can describe a garment and pass the visual to a partner. Example: First student: She is
wearing a blouse. Second student: she is wearing earrings, etc
All the students have to participate by saying at least one sentence.
The objective is that the whole team speaks at least for a full minute.
7.-Miming game

Provide your students with pictionaries.

Choose a student to pass in front of the class.
That student has to act an action of the pictionary.

 His/her partners have to guess the action he/she is performing. Example: he is writing, she is
drinking, etc.
Try to involve as many students as possible.
It could be also a competition on teams giving certain amount of time.
6.-Watching videos

Students have to stand up back to back in pairs. They will need paper and a pen.
One student will be the watcher and will say to his/her partner what he/she is watching. The
partner has to write what his/her partner is saying (note: only one of them can see the video).
The row of watchers has to describe what is happening in the video and the row of writers will try
to take notes of what they are listening to.
Change roles and play another video.
After seeing the videos they can share notes and create their own story.
At the end play both videos for them to notice what really happened and check if their stories are
similar or different.
5.-A-b dictation

Form pairs. Students must decide who is "A" and who "B".
Stick the cardboard in red on the whiteboard and the one in black on the opposite wall.
Student "A" has to run and read the text in red and then go back where his/her partner is and
dictate the text. Student "B" has to write it down.
Then student "B" stands up and run to the text in black, read it and go back to dictate it to his/her
partner who has to write it down.
The pairs who first write the whole texts win..
4.-Talking volleyball

Form teams of 2 or 3 players.

They have to pass to the front.
Draw a small volley ball court inside the classroom (or outside).
The balloon will be the ball.
It is played like a volleyball game but, each time a student hits the ball has to say a sentence,
question or phrase according to the content of the class.
3.-Swap seats

Place some chairs in a circle. You have to place minus one chair according to the number of
students in the game.
Put the flash verbs in the middle of the circle.
Play music. Students have to walk around the chairs.
Turn the music off. Students have to sit on the chairs.
The student who could not be seated has to pick a flash verb and say something related to the
verb.
If the sentence is correct, he stays in the game. If not, he is out of it and also a chair is taken
out.
The student who stays at the end of the game wins.
The activity can also include adverbs and days of the week.

2.-Prepositions basket ball

Place a basket in front of the group.

Give a student the ball
The student has to throw the ball (like a basket ball free throw). If he/she makes the basket at
the first time, he/she wins a point. If not, he/she has to say where the ball ended.
The sample production is as following: The ball is between Griselda and Arturo. The ball is in
front of Ricardo. The ball is next to Ana. etc.
After saying where the ball is, the rest of the class has to write it down as a feedback.
Repeat the activity as many times as possible.
1.-Hide and seek

Ask a student to leave the classroom.

Hide the small object in the classroom.
The student comes in.
His partners have to guide him to the object. Example: Walk straight, three steps, turn right, etc.
The goal of the game is to find the object with the directions given by the classmates.
In fact, it could be a competition on teams.

Listening Activities
Chinese whispers
Choose a telephone, word, phrase, sentence or address number.
You are going to say it to the student who is sitting in front of each row.
This student has to say it to the partner who is sitting just behind him/her and so on until it gets
to the student sitting at the end of the row. She/he has to write it Students can not speak in their
mother tongue.
The winner row is that which writes it accurately.
Circle the number
Form teams.
Arrange the furniture of the classroom to avoid accidents.
Write numbers on the whiteboard (as many as you can).
Provide with a marker to each team.
Each team has to choose a member who will run to the board to circle a number.
Say aloud one of the numbers written on the whiteboard.
The team which circles the given number first, wins that number.
Say again a number and repeat the procedure. The team which circles more numbers at the end
of the activity, wins.
Add and subtract
Write a number on the whiteboard, example: 10.

 Tell students they are going to play with mathematics.

Start like this: 10 add 5.
They have to listen carefully and write the result.
keep adding and subtracting numbers.
Example: 10+45-34+60=
This is a listening activity; prepare as many operations as possible.
I recommend to first establishing the number of repetitions you will do. So, students will know
that they have certain opportunities to listen the numbers and operations and distractions will be
avoided.
Funny voices
Choose a student to stand in front of the class.
Put a handkerchief on his/her eyes.
The student wearing the handkerchief on has to ask the question "What's your name?". Another
partner has to answer "my name is..." but imitating a funny voice and saying any name.
The student wearing the handkerchief on has to guess who the person that answered the
question is. If he/she guesses, can go to his/her seat. If not, he/she stays there until he/she
guesses the real identity of the funny voice.
Picture dictation
This activity is a dictation of pictures instead of words.
Tell your students that you are going to say sentences and they, instead of writing, are going to
draw the actions you are saying.
Start with easy phrases such as: "Juan is studying English".
If you want to raise the level include places, example: "Juan is studying English at the school".
Also you can try to dictate an image of a place with many people doing things.
What are they doing?
Form teams.
Provide your students with magazines or newspapers.
Describe an action in progress. Example: A man who is watching TV.
Students search for a picture related to that action in the magazines or newspapers.
The first team who finds the picture has to shout "Found" and stick it on a sheet. Then they write
the sentence besides the picture.
Say as many actions as possible.
The team which finds more actions wins.
Fly swatters
It could be played with five students at a time.
Provide each student with a fly swatter.
Put the cards face up on a table or around the clssroom.
You are going to say a word which describes the image of a flash card. You can also say
sentences, questions, phrases, or definitions related to the flash card, it's up to you.
Students have to hit the flash card related to the word, phrase, sentence, question, etc. that you
are mentioning of.
The first student who hits the card wins it.
The final winner is that one who has collected more cards at the end of the game.
Competition on clocks
Students have to stand next to the clocks.
Ask some other classmate to say a given time aloud.
Students have to place the clock-hands at the correct time.
The student who does it faster wins.
Try to get everybody involved in the competition.

Hide and seek

Ask a student to leave the classroom.
Hide the small object in the classroom.
The student comes in.
His partners have to guide him to the object. Example: Walk straight, three steps, turn right, etc.
The goal of the game is to find the object with the directions given by the classmates.
In fact, it could be a competition on teams.
Definitions game
Write the names of places of the city on the whiteboard. Example: library, hospital, market, etc.
Two students pass to the front.
You have to say a definition," It's the place where you buy medicines".
The first student who places his hand on the correct word of the whiteboard wins.
Then, that word has to be erased.

16.-A-B DICTATION
Strategy for practicing speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
Function: Descrbing actions in progress.
Preparation: Write two different texts on two cardboards. One in red color and another in black
which include descriptions of actions in progress.
Material: Cardboards.
Procedure:

Form pairs. Students must decide who is "A" and who "B".
Stick the cardboard in red on the whiteboard and the one in black on the opposite wall.
Student "A" has to run and read the text in red and then go back where his/her partner is
and dictate the text. Student "B" has to write it down.
Then student "B" stands up and run to the text in black, read it and go back to dictate it to
his/her partner who has to write it down.
The pairs who first write the whole texts win..