(A compilation of games I created, learned from my friends, or found online. If you guys have any game I didn't touch on, please mention it in the comment section)
Singing Contest.
Students love to sing. If it's a class of fifteen, then separate them into five groups of three (You can keep these groups consistent throughout the semester if you want). Give each group ten minutes (no more than twenty minutes) to choose an English song they want to sing. Tell them the rules. For example, give them a grading system: Volume, Clarity, Difficulty, Memorization, etc.) and then tell them the highest score for each category is five (or ten, etc.) and the lowest score is zero. Announce the prize. Give them a deadline. For example. It's August 1st. Deadline September 1st. Spend a little time each class letting them practice their song with each other in their groups. For those slacking during practice times in class, either disqualify them or take points off their final score. On the day of their performance, draw a chart on the board listing all of the scored categories (Volume, Clarity, etc.). For example, write the categories on the X axis of the chart and their group numbers (or group names- you can let them choose their band name some time before the performance date) on the Y axis. Draw their group numbers (or tell them who's going first some time before their performance date).Drama.
Students love to act. Give them the classroom as a platform to express their personality. Let them write a play and act out their English scripts. In their groups, give them a range of topics to choose from (for example: a boyfriend and girlfriend breaking up, what happened at school today, etc.) and if you want, mix that with a story genre (horror, action, romance, comedy, etc.). Or you can choose the former or latter and let the students' imaginations fly. If the group can't decide, then choose for them. Have them either memorize their scripts or use their scripts on the day of their performance. Rules: X amount of total words, Deadline on X day, each student must speak same amount of English words. Grade them by these categories: Volume, Clarity, Word count, etc.).English Videos.
Watch videos with English subtitles (if their English is good) or Chinese subtitles (if their English sucks). Before you play the video, hand out worksheets with questions about the video on there. Read the questions together and then play the video. Try to increase playback speed of the video to save time. Make sure it's not too fast, though. The students need to keep up with its speed.Hot Seat.
With the white board behind you and the class in front of you, place a chair in front of the whiteboard (facing the classroom). Get somebody into that chair. Either draw their name or choose yourself. Set the time for two minutes. Tell the students they're gonna have to help the student guess what word is going to be one the whiteboard- without telling the student the answer, without gesturing it out to them, without making a noise to them, and without using another language. They're only able to describe what's on the board using only English. Start the timer. When the student correctly guesses what his classmates are describing to him, write another word on the whiteboard. Do this until two minutes are up and tally as you go (how many answers the student got). When his time is up, he needs to choose another student to replace him. Make this game more intense by splitting the class into two (or three) teams and having two (or three) chairs in front of the whiteboard (facing away from the whiteboard). You can delegate your tasks to the students. For example, have one student handle the timer, another student write the points on the board, and another student write new words on the board for the students to guess.Hang man.
Classic hang man. Draw blank spaces and have students guess which letters go in which spaces. Review words from the ones you're currently teaching them from a book. If you don't know how to play, then think of a word and write down blank spaces on the board. Have the students guess what each letter is. For every letter they get wrong, draw pieces of a stick man being hanged. When the picture is finished, the students lose. At the end of the game, write out the word and say it together.I Have Never.
Sit in a circle of chairs and make sure there's enough running room. Have one student stand in the middle of the circle. He needs to say 'I have never___'. If someone sitting down has done what the middle person said, he needs to get out of his chair and find a seat.Name Game
Write everyone's English name on the board according to their seating chart. Make sure it's not upside down when you write them down. There's four claps. ONE (both hands on lap), TWO (both hands clapped together), THREE (first snap of fingers), FOUR (second snap of fingers). After I do ONE and TWO, I must say the students name on THREE and then I must say one (two, three, or four) on the FOUR. The person (whose name I said) needs to say his name on which beat? The beat he needs to say it on depends on which beat I said his name on. For example, if I say Simon (on the THREE count) 3 (on the FOUR count), then Simon needs to do ONE. After he does ONE, he needs to say his name three time, each time on the beat (each time he says his own name, he needs to say it on TWO, THREE, and FOUR). If I say Simon 2, then he does ONE and TWO, and then he says SIMON (on THREE) and SIMON (on FOUR). If I say Simon 1, then he needs to do ONE, TWO, THREE, and then on FOUR- he needs to say Simon (once). If I say Simon 4, then he needs to say Simon on all four counts- ONE (Simon!), TWO (Simon!), THREE (Simon!) and FOUR (Simon!). If you can't keep up, you lose. Do this student by student until the last person is left. This is a good game for learning names.Hot Potato
Have the students sit in a circle. Open a book or hand out a document. Give a student the ball. Play the music. Have the students pass the ball around as the music plays. When the music stops, whoever has the ball needs to read two sentences from the book. Later in the game- if there are enough students- add another ball to make it more intense. To make it more exciting, count down as the ball is passed and as the music plays. Rules: No throwing or playing with the ball. No passing the ball slowly. The ball must be passed at a fast, constant speed.Personal Skills.
Teach a skill that you're good in (in English). I teach rap, cause I love rap.
For example. Play some excerpts from your favorite rap songs. Teach students what is rhyme alliteration, personification, etc. Give them examples of each. Tell them to open a book or document and play an instrumental. Read the words from the book or document with the instrumental. The purpose of this is to show them that any text can become rap when it's on a beat. Next, write down ten blank sentences. At the end of each blank sentence, write down a word. Make sure the word at the end of each blank sentence rhymes with each other. Have the students give examples of words that can be used to finish the blank sentences. Read the completed sentences together with the rhyming end words. You now have a poem. Play the instrumental, and read the sentences. If they're off-beat, then edit the sentences until they're on beat without losing the essence of the underlying meaning of the sentence. When every sentence is on beat and rhyming, you have a rap.Kokology
Research various Kokology tests online and print out copies of them to hand out to the students. Make sure there are no answers on them. Read the questions and answers together and teach their meanings as you go. Have them write their answer to the question. Go over the answers, telling the students the real meanings of the answers they chose. Some answers are accurate in interpreting the true nature of your students' personalities and some answers don't match up. The tests aren't a hundred percent right- it's just a game. Laugh about it. Move onto the next question. They like these games, because it's kinda like a personality test meets horoscopes kinda thing.Nucleus
Write down a long word on the white board. Choose words from the long word and create new smaller words from it. You can't throw words in your new word that isn't from the long word. You can reuse the letters you used from a smaller word to create a new smaller word. For example, if the word is Supernatural, then you can write Natural as a smaller word. You can then write Rat. Both of these words can be created from the word Supernatural. Have students help you figure out new words from your demo word. When their imagination gets rolling, erase your words and write a new big word in the board. Make sure each student has a sheet of paper and a pencil. Set the timer for two minutes. Start your timer and let the students find out how many smaller words they can create from the bigger word. When they're time is up, have them count their words. Ask who has more than 5 words, then 10 words, then 15 words, etc. If it's a big class, then have the students with the most words read their words aloud to the class. Go around the class and ask students to say any words that the winner (the student with the most words) didn't get to. You can vary this game by having them work in pairs. You can also vary it by changing how much time you'll give them to figure out their answers.Typhoon
This game is played assuming you've already read your book or document planned for that class. This is just a review game. Draw a chart on your paper. On the top of the X-axis, write numbers. On the left side of the Y-axis, write letters. Write down how much money is in each box. On the remaining boxes, write TYPHOON. Copy this chart on the board without filling in any of the answers (don't write down TYPHOON or money in any box yet). Split the class in two and have one student from each team spell the word correctly (that you taught them that day- or compete in any other way you see fit. The possibilities are endless). The winner choose letter and number. Look at your paper to see what answer you have for that particular box and copy it onto the board. If it's money, write on the board how much money that team won. If it's TYPHOON, then the other team loses all their points. A TYPHOON in the beginning of the game is useless. If you play this game again, make sure you have another chart ready on your paper.Stickyball
If where you teach has a whiteboard, then this is your best friend. It sucks onto the whiteboard like octopus tentacles do to the insides of your throat when you're trying to swallow it. Just kidding. hah.
Write down the words of the day on the whiteboard. Under each word, draw a circle (big enough to throw a stickyball inside of). Split the class into two. Have a student from each team stand before the whiteboard. Say the word and watch the two students try to throw the stickyball into the circle as fast as they can. After they do that, they need to spell it out with their voices as fast as they can and then say it correctly. The winner gets a point.
There are a variety of ways to play this. You can draw circles (or whatever you want) all over on the whiteboard and give each circle a number. That number represents the amount of points the student will get if he throws it in correctly. Have a student from each team come before the whiteboard. Say one of the words of the day. Whichever student spells and says the word correctly gets to throw the stickyball.
You don't have to write numbers or words for every circle. You can fill the circles with anything you want, as long as it either leads to a reward or a punishment. For example, you can write down a stick figure doing pushups in the circle and then write '5x'. This means that if a student hits the circle with the stickyball, then he has to do five pushups (or he can choose a student in the classroom to do five pushups).Run and Touch
Split the class in two. Write down the words you're learning in a straight line on the whiteboard. Draw a circle under each word (big enough for the students to slap them). Have a student from each team stand on the opposite end of the whiteboard. Say the word and watch the two students run and touch the word. When they do, they need to spell the word out loud and say the whole word. The one who does this faster (with correct pronunciation) wins. You can do this with reading material, too. But instead of spelling words, you just read the whole sentence.Musical Chairs
Put two rows of chairs together back to back. If there are 20 people, there should be 19 chairs in the game. Have the students read from a book or document as they walk around the chairs. When you say 'STOP', have them all sit down. Whoever fails to find a seat- loses.Around the world
This game is like a Spelling Bee. Tell one student to stand up and go stand beside someone's desk. The stander and sitter will have to spell out the word I say to them and whoever does this correctly with faster speed wins. If the stander loses, he sits in the sitter's chair. Do this until you reach the last person. Last man standing wins.Pictionary
Have students sit in rows. The first student in each row comes to you wherever you are. Show them a compound word. Tell them they need to draw two pictures and have the class guess what the compound word is. For example, my word is SHOEBOX. I have to draw a shoe and a box next to it. I cannot merge the two pictures into a pair of shoes in a box. The pictures must be two separate ones.Number Game
Have all students sit down. Say GO! Any student in the classroom can stand up, as long as they say '1'. After they say it, any student in the class can say '2' as long as they stand up. Repeat the process until either one student is left sitting down or if two or more students stand up to say the same number. In either of these cases, the students are out and will need to sit out for the duration of the game. Every time a student is out, the game resets and you start from '1' again.Write Board
Write down the words of the day with blank spaces in certain letters. For example, "Fi_ _". The answer to this word is obviously "Fish". Write the words of the day like this across the board. Split the class in two. Spilt the whiteboard into four parts. Two parts are for TEAM A and two parts are for TEAM B. For example, write down A1 and A2 and then B1 and B2. Then, have two students from each team come before the whiteboard. Read one of the words on the whiteboard and they will write down the word in their whiteboard parts. Whoever spells it correctly, says the word correctly- in the fastest time frame, is the winner. Have them keep score by themselves by writing how many they get correct under their whiteboard part (under A1, A2, B1, or B2). Make this game more interesting by scrambling the words together in your head and saying each letter in scrambled form. Have the students write down, for example, HIFS. Whoever rearranges the word and writes FISH wins that round.Highlights
Get a page out of Highlights Magazine. Read the words together (if the page doesn't come with them, then write the words somewhere). Have the students circle or color in the pictures within the picture (that belong to a corresponding word on the page). When they find them all (give them a time limit to do this), then read the words again and teach them what they are. You can do these in pairs if you want.Loaded Questions
Split the class into five groups. Give them paper and pencil. Have one group sit out for the first round. Write something on the board, like "If I was a tree, then I would like to have ___ live on my branches." Have each group write their answers on a scrap of paper and give it to you. Read each answers in their sentences (or have the group sitting out read them). Have the group sitting out guess which groups the answcers belong to. The next team sits out and the other groups write their answers to a new question.Sing a Song.
Students love to sing. Research what's hot on Billboard, iTunes, Youtube, or turn on the TV to see what foreign songs are popular in Taiwan. Copy and paste the lyrics from the internet onto Microsoft Word. Replace certain words with blank spaces. Print out copies for however many students you'll teach. Pass out the lyrics. Play the song loud and clear for them as they fill in the answers to the song with their pencils. If the song's too hard/fast, play it again. If you do a rap song, try choosing a slower one. If it's fast, leave the rap lyrics out of the blank spaces for them to answer. Give them the answers to the song and let them check their answers. Do this by either reading/singing the lyrics to them. If you have a projection screen, then display the answers on there. Have them count how many answers they got out of how many blank spaces total.Bomb
Based on a popular board game, sit in a circle. Have one student carry the beeping machine (the beeper) and the student next to him (the speaker) carry the box of words. The speaker needs to draw a word without showing anyone what it is. When the speaker is ready, the the beeper presses the beeping machine. The speaker will have one minute to describe the word he drew as the beeping machine counts down. The machine will beep faster as it gets to zero, and when the time is up, the speaker becomes the beeper and a new student next to him becomes the speaker. The speaker can draw as many words from the box as he can- as long as each word is guessed by the students in the circle before the beeping machine's time is up.Who's Line Is It?
Based on the television series "Who's Line is it Anyway", one student is the host of a party. Before he starts, you show him a role (fireman, police officer, etc.) and he pretends he's at home waiting for his guests. Choose a student and show him another role. Have that student visit the host and join his party. The students in the audience have to guess what role each student is playing. There can be up to however many students you feel comfortable of handling at one time- at the party. Each person at the party will be a different role- a celebrity, a job profession, etc. Eliminate the student from the game after the class successfully guesses his correct role.Go!
Have your students sit in a circle of chairs. One student will be in the center of the circle. Make sure enough room is between each seat to allow running room for students. Have them read a document or book. When teacher says 'Go', then all students need to change chairs and the student in the middle of the circle needs to find a seat. If the student fails to find one, he's the center student again. Vary the game play by having students change the way they change chairs. For example, instead of running to find a seat have them hop on one leg (or two legs), spin around and around towards their new chair, etc. Also, vary the game play by having more than one student in the middle of the circle. You can keep score by separating them into boys and girls. If the girl's in the middle, give the boys a point. If there's an uneven amount of boys and girls, then find another way to keep score. For example, socks vs no socks, glasses vs no glasses. Another way to vary the game is instead of saying 'Go!', you say another magic word.Bibbity Bibbity Bop
Have all the students stand together in a circle. One students in the center. He needs to go up to someone and say BIBBITY BIBBITY BOP. If that student doesn't say the word BOP before he says BIBBITY BIBBITY BOP, then he loses and becomes the new student in the center. Add different movements. Say TREE to a student. He needs to form the tree canopy over his head with his hands. The student to his right needs to form branches with his arms (moving to the right) and the student to his left needs to form branches with his arms (moving to the left). If any of the the three students gets their movements wrong, he becomes the new student in the center of the circle. Say AIRPLANE to a student. He needs to form the nose of the airplane with his arms- which sticks out in front of him. The students on either side of him need to form wings with their arms- the student left of him pointing up and left and the student right of him pointing down and right. The students on either side of THEM need to form baby wings by squatting- the student on the right pointing down and right and the student on the left pointing down and left. I've added another one called COPYCAT. Say this word to a student and do something crazy. If he refuses to copy you, he loses and needs to move to the middle. I also did BATHROOM, where the student you say it to needs to squat and pretend he's using the bathroom and the students on either side of him waving at their noses from the stinky poopoo smell. You can choose to say BIBBITY BIBBITY BOP, TREE, AIRPLANE, COPYCAT, or BATHROOM to any student. Add each movement- one by one- over time. You can add a myriad of movements. Skies the limit. Vary the game by adding another student in the middle and have them work together.Treasure Hunt
If you're class is reading a book, then find a word (or group of words) from a page and don't tell or show the students which page it's on. Have them race each other to find the answer. If there are enough students, you can split the class in two and have them compete with each other. When a student finds the answer, have him read the sentence with the word. The more unique the word is, the easier it is to play (for example, the word 'the' is common and maybe appears on more than one page).Read and Clap
If you're reading a book or document, replace any letter of the alphabet with clapping your hands. For example, tell the students: If you see the letter 'a', then don't say the word with the letter 'a'- just clap your hands (stand up, stomp your feet, etc.). Have them do this throughout the reading. Change the letter if you sense potential boredom from students. Keeping score is optional.Murder
Sit in a circle of chairs. Tell everyone to close their eyes. None of them can see. Walk around every student of the class and choose as many murderers as you want (no limit). Tell the murderers to wake up and kill someone. Once that person is dead, tell the murderers to sleep. Tell everyone to wake up. Announce who's dead. Have that dead person turn his chair around. Ask the dead person for clues as to how he died and who killed him. Give him a time limit to accuse someone of murdering him. Once the time is up, if he didn't choose someone, then have the class choose someone. If someone's accused of murder, have the class take a vote. Then, have the accused defend himself. Take another vote from the class, asking them if the student's story is believable or not. If more students don't believe him, then the accused is dead. Have the accused dead turn his chair and then ask him if he's the killer or not. If he's not, continue finding the killer. During the duration of the game, the dead can keep their eyes open but they can't say anything. Repeat the process until you find the killer(s).Telephone
If you have four rows of four students, then have the last student of each row go to where you are. Show them a sentence (either have them make or make it yourself). The students return to their rows, where they're only able to whisper the sentence into the ear of the student sitting in front of them. That student will whisper the sentence into the ear of the student in front of him. Do this until you reach the first student in each row. As soon as the second student tells the first student the sentence, the first student needs to write the sentence on the whiteboard. When the sentence is correct, have that student's row read the sentence together. Keep score.Sparkle
Split the class in two. Have all the students stand up. Say a word to a student. He needs to say the first letter of that word. The next student needs to say the next letter and so on- until the word is completely spelled. After the word is completely spelled, the student after THAT will say 'Sparkle'. The student after the student who said 'Sparkle' needs to sit down. If any student says any letter wrong, then they sit down, too. The last standing student wins (unless he spells the letters wrong. Then he loses, too).Jump!
Split the class into two teams. Write down the words of the day on the board. Write down a number beside each word. If there are ten words, write down number eleven somewhere on the board and tell them to jump if you say this number. Have the students sit down on the floor. Whatever number you say, they need to read its corresponding word. If you say eleven, they need to jump. If they're the last ones to jump or jump at the wrong time, then they're out of the game. Do this until you reach the last student or group of students. If it's a group of students, then ask who is in Team A and who's in Team B. Write down how many raised their hands for each group.Dragon
Have the students sit in a circle and give a student the ball. Tell him a word. The last letter of your word needs to become the first letter of his word, which he tells another student (the one he throws the ball to). Repeat the process. Give each student a time limit. If they can't think of a word in time, then they're out.Question of the Day
Write down an interesting question on the white board. Below the question, write down interesting answers and leave one of the answers blank (for those students who want to create their own unique answers). Teach new words as you read the questions and answers together. Have each student answer the question with their answer.Exploding Number
Think of a number. Tell the first student you see 1 to 100. He needs to guess what the number in your head is. If your head number is 75 and he guesses 50, then say 50-100. Do this until someone guesses the number correctly. When he does, say BOOM. Exploding number.
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
For the games that use a whiteboard and words of the day, you can write the words on the board (if the student's skill level is low). You can cover up certain letters in the words or not write the words on the whiteboard at all if their skills can handle it.
For all games, do teacher vs students or students vs students (in groups of two or more) depending on what game you're playing.
HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES
Celebrate American holidays. There are crossword puzzles, word searches, and worksheets online that pertain to the coming holiday. Make Mother's Day cards for your mom or design your own monsters for Halloween and show the class your drawings of them with their monstrous abilities. The possibilities are endless.
WORLD TRENDS
If there's a world trend, then take your students on a ride and join the trend. When the Harlem Shake movement was big, we did our own version of the Harlem Shake videos.
DIY BOOKSDiary of a Wimpy Kid DIY
If your classroom doesn't have a textbook, this book is amazing. There are so many activities you can do in this book. Take it to a copy shop and make copies for your students. Do the activities together during class. If the activity is hard or time-consuming, then you can finish one lesson over a period of time. You can go over the answers by having them present their own in front of the class. Highly recommended.Wreck This Journal
This book is tricky. There are great lessons in there but tying them into your lesson plans where the students can practice their English might be a challenge. The challenge will be worth your time if you figure out a way to implement it.Wizard, goblin, giant.
Truth or Dare.
Simon Says.
Great post! Come with me!