Halloween Escape Game

I just love using escape games to get my students speaking. Here's the one I've found for this year's lessons.
  I usually prepare a list of words and grammar structures they might need and play it myself to make sure it isn't too hard. That's so much fun!
 These games can be used with different levels - you only adjust the vocabulary and grammar used to match your students' abilities.

Pass the Bomb - Timer

   I made this timer in Scratch to play the game "Pass the Bomb". It can be used for lots of speaking games to add some excitement to them. 
   The bomb explodes in 10-30 seconds and you never know for sure  the exact time.

A calendar with lots of activities (4 seasons) to practise speaking/writing

Here are some ideas on how to use this calendar:

1. As you can see, each month has three identical weeks and one different, which can be used for practising Present Simple/Continuous (e.g. I usually go to the swimming pool on Friday, but today I'm going to the skating rink.), Present Perfect (e.g. I have been to the cinema three times this month.), Past Simple/Continuous ( e.g. I called you yesterday but you weren't at home. - Oh yes, I was having a karate lesson then.)
2. Practise saying the date, review days of the week
3. Learn/review lots of action verbs/places
4. Practise using "going to", "have to", "must"
5. Revise the prepositions of place and time (in February, in winter, on Monday, on the 1st of August, at the weekend, at the beginning/end/in the middle of the month/week, at the cinema, to the theatre)
   

The calendar is editable, so you can change anything you want once you download it.

Boys and girls - a speaking game/activity for young students

   I made this game to help my first and second graders learn to talk about people's names, age and mood (sad/happy). It's also a good way to revise colours and numbers (1-14), as well as practise making affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences using to be (am, is are) and different pronouns. 
   There are 14 boys, 14 girls and 7 sets of tockens. Here's an example of how to play:

 Spread the boy cards on the table and hide 7 pots with gold and 7 ghosts underneath. Your partner looks away so that he doesn't see where you place the tockens. He turns back when you're ready and describes one of the boys (He is red and happy. What's his name? How old is he?) You answer the questions, pick up the card and put it away. Your partner gets the tocken hidden under it.  Then he chooses 6 more boys and you both follow the same pattern again. The aim of the game is to get as many pots with gold as possible. Once your partner has chosen 7 boys, then it's your turn to guess. In the end, you compare the number of pots with gold you've got and find out who the winner is.

This is only one of many possible variations. You can use other tockens as well, or only one of them (put it under one of the boys/girls cards and let your partner guess the card you've chosen - asking questions, of course). The Easter eggs could be used for Egg Hunting game. Children can also practise spelling the names on the cards, thus revising the alphabet. You can practise using have got/has got, possessive pronouns (my/her/his/their etc.) Just use your imagination :-)

The verb TO BE and Fairytale characters - Four In a Row game

 It's a game for 2 students. One of them chooses an empty square and makes a dot inside. Then he rolls a die and depending on the number he's got makes a sentence (1,4 - affirmative, 2,5 - negative, 3,6 - interrogative).
 For example: I am a princess/ He isn't a king/ Are we clowns?
If the sentence is correct, he draws something inside the chosen square (we use snowflakes and hearts or flowers). If he makes a mistake, his opponent has a chance to correct it and draw his own sign instead. The first one to make a row of four signs (either in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal position) is the winner.

There are 2 different sets to play with.

Countries and nationalities - a speaking activity

 Here's how we play this game in class:
 1. A student chooses a girl (from the first slide)and the others guess who it is, asking the following questions: Is she German? Is she 8 years old? Is she from France? Is her name Ann? 
The student has to give short answers (Yes, she is/No, it isn't, etc.) 
2. After that the student turns away from the screen and answers his fellow students' quesions about the girl he's chosen (this time special quiestions, like "What's her name? How old is she? Where is she from? What nationality is she?") 
3. Do the same with the slides showing boys and pairs of people.

  
Download the activity

Day Chart and Past Simple Practice

   I give this chart to my students and they have to fill it in every (other) day. There is an example in the first row.  In each lesson we talk about the  days we haven't seen each other. It's a good way to practise the Past Simple tense. 
  First they make affirmative sentences about each item in their chart. Then I make some false statements and they have to correct them (using negative sentences). Then they check how well I remember the information just provided by asking me questions.
    They can do this in pairs. The chart can be used for practising the Present Simple tense as well. For example, On Mondays we usually have six lessons, but yesterday we had only four.

Using Your Students' Lives and ...Phone Cameras

     Most students liven up when they become the centre of attention; almost everyone likes showing their mobile photos and commenting them. I believe it's a great opportunity to make students feel more important and significant.   
      Depending on the topic we are covering at the moment, my students are asked to take photos of their room or pets, for instance, and then they've got a chance to speak about their photos, using the grammar and vocabulary of "current interest".                    It's kind of a Show and Tell activity, enjoyed by many kids. Instead of taking photos, students can make a video. 

 You can use a lot of different activities here:

1. just describing the picture
2. comparing things (finding differences)
3. a memory game (the owner of the picture shows the others his room (pet, house etc.) for a minute, then asks questions to find out how well they remember it)
4. a betting game (for example, before having been shown a picture of a bedroom, students share their thoughts about how it might look like and make a bet - the winner has the most right guesses)
5. finding a mistake (the owner of the picture is asked several questions, the answers should not be all true, then he shows his photo and the others try to find what was false)
Here's a list of possible topics with some suggestions:

house (furniture, there is/are, a/any/some, have got) - describing, comparing (finding differences), memory game, guessing/betting game

food and utensils (in the fridge/in the kitchen/cupboards)

pets (have got, to be, like doing)

favourite things (have got, places of preposition, to be)

family and friends (appearance, character, hobbies, personal info)

housework (face expressions to show like/dislike)

daily routine (Present Simple)

school life  (teachers, school things, subjects, classmates)

There are a lot of fantastic digital storytelling tools that could be used for talking about students' photos:

Talking about people - 8 activity cards

I'm going to use these cards with my 4-th graders, so that we could review the material from the previous year. I'm planning to use them in several ways.

  First, each student takes a card and tells the class about the child/children on his card.

  Next, each student chooses a card and the others ask him/her special questions to find out as much information as possible. Then they say what they've found out about that person.

  Finally, students work in pairs and try to guess which picture their partner has chosen. They ask general questions about age, clothes, food, favourite season, hobbies, country and nationality and name.

The activity cards are editable.

My Family - a speaking activity

 Student A and student B are two siblings who " have lost their memory" as a result of a serious fight. They ask each other general/special questions to find out the facts they don't remember and circle the right words / fill in the missing information. If they don't know how to write a word, they can ask the partner to spell it.

e.g.: A   - Is our grandma's name Liz?                          A   - What's my name?       

         B   - No, it isn't. Her name is Mary.                      B   - Your name's Lucy.

        A   - Is our grandad on holiday?                               B   - How old am I?

        B - Yes, he is.                                                                 A   - You're 11.

The worksheet is editable, so you can change anything you need.

What a Pretty Girl! - Speaking and Writing Practice For the Youngest Students

I love using online games during my lesssons. It takes some time to find a proper one, but it's worth it. Here is the game I use with my 2-nd formers to give them some practice in describing people's appearance. It is ideal for their level as the vocabulary used there is just what they need right now.

Pupils click on the words one by one, choose the style they want and describe it.

 She has/has got green eyes.
or    Her eyes are green.

You can also practise other grammar aspects:

These are eyes. They are green.
This is a nose. It is small.

You can ask your pupil questions and they give short answers.

Here is a worksheet you can use as a follow-up activity (hometask).

My Room - speaking and writing for the youngest students

Children (especially girls) love playing decorating games, so I use Baby Room Maker and Pink Princess Room to help them learn how to describe a room and have fun at the same time. First, I decorate a room and describe it myself - the child listens/repeats. Then the pupil tries to decorate the room and describe it with my help. You can take several different rooms so it doesn't become boring too fast. As a hometask,  I ask the pupil to make a room (online) at home and describe it in written form (we practise that in class, too). At the next lesson s/he reads the description to me and I make a room following it. The pupil says if it's the same then. I use such online games not only to practise vocabulary (furniture and prepositions), but also the pronouns it/they + is/are and the usage of there is/are as well as articles (a/an/the).

                    
You'll find many more decorating games here. Have fun!

Here is a worksheet to practise writing.

Speaking Practice for beginners - AM/IS/ARE and prepositions of place

Here are some ideas on how to practise using the verb To Be in The Present Simple as well as prepositions of place. Take 8-10 different toys (school objects, flashcards etc.) and preferrably in pairs of various size and colour (for example, 2 rabbits - a small red one and a big pink one, 2 cars - a blue one and a black one). Put all the toys into a bag.

IS      Affirmative
Take a toy from the bag, describe it and it is "yours". (It is a doll. It is small and pretty.)
Keep your toys near you. Your partner does the same, so in the end you both have 2 piles of toys. Then you describe one of the toys your partner's got and he/she has to guess what it is.
( It is small and red. - It is a car!)


IS      Negative
Now describe the toys using "not" and let your partner guess.
  (It is not big and it is not black. - It is a rabbit!)


IS      Questions ans short answers
Your  partner turns away and you put one of the toys into the bag. He/she must guess what it is without looking at the remaining toys.    


                                               e.g.  Is it big? - No, it is not.
                                                       Is it red? - Yes, it is.
                                                       Is it a puppy? - No, it is not.
                                                       Is it a kitten?   - Yes, it is.
ARE
Do the same as with IS, but this time take 2 toys to speak about. As it may be difficult to find  2 big dolls, 2 red cars etc. you can use the prepositions of place when talking about toys. Put the toy pairs in different places and describe what you see. ( They are dolls. They are on the table.)
You can play the guessing game using the prepositions of place.


AM
Talk about yourselves: 
+ I am Oksana. I am short and thin. I am on the sofa. I am happy.
- I am not Ann. I am not sad. I am not on the floor. I am not tall.


To practise questions you can do something funny like sit down on the table and ask your partner:     "Am I under the table?" - Yes, you are. /No, you are not.
Then you can make a sad face and ask "Am I glad?"



             

There was/There were - Speaking Practice

I'd like to share with you how I teach the past form of the verb to be to my elementary students. I have decided to call the game for practising there was/were "The Thief and the Detective". It's been made for my private students but you can adapt it for a big class, too.
    The Positive Form 
Put 7-10 different items onto the table. There should be single (e.g. 1 car) and grouped items (e.g. 2-3 dolls) in order to practise the singular and the plural forms. The detective turns away/goes out and the thief "steals" some of the items from the table. The detective comes back and says what is missing (e.g. There were 2 cups, and now there is only one"). If he's right the thief puts that item back.
   The Negative Form
Put the same items onto the table, but this time the thief has a bag with "his own" stuff, too. He steals some things from the table and puts some of his instead. The detective must say what there was on the table and what there wasn't (e.g. There wasn't a red car here, but there was a yellow cup.)
   Questions and Short Answers
Write down the names of any 5 items that are on the table and keep your list a secret. Ask your partner questions to find out what there was in his room (e.g. Was there a doll in your room? - Yes, there was.) The first one to guess all the items from his partner's list is the winner.

   Prepositions of Place
You can practise the prepositions of place with this game. While your partner isn't looking, change the location of the things on the table/ in the room. He must say where everything was.