Games for Language Teaching

  The baking contest by Zita My game is a mixture of ideas from different games and TV programmes, including Jeopardy, Monopoly and cooking/baking shows. I think it can be played by anyone and this game can be used with any topic. My first idea is a vocabulary practice game, but it can be changed. Preliminaries Number of players: 9+ Age: 10 years of older Proficiency level: A2-C2 Play Time: 30 minutes Preparation I create cards (they can be digital or paper-based) and show them altogether on the screen or on the board face down, so nobody sees what is on the cards. Students form groups of 3 (4 if there more 15 students). I have some recipes of baked goods and each group has to choose one of them. Goal of the gam e The objective of this game is to "bake" their cake, which they can do by buying all the ingredients. Rules of play The game consist of multiple rounds. In each round, there are 2 parts. Part one: Each group chooses a card and they have to answer the question or comp...

  The four challenges by Gigacz Máté Description The game has multiple elements, the elements focus on language elements. After each segments the points are summed up after the end of the four segments a winner is declared. The game can be played in one class, but it is designed for multiple days, where students get a 10-15 minute long “challenge” at the beginning of four consecutive classes. This way we have time to get on with the book, exercises etc. but also have a little fun First challenge: Literature Play "Name That Phrase," is a game I modelled by the popular television programme "Name That Tune." Divide pupils into three-person groups. Each group should include a competitive pair and a moderator. Distribute two lists of opening lines from novels, poetry, or short stories to each team, along with a brief description of the work. Moderators should read the clue but not the opening line; students should "bid" on the opportunity to identify the work b...

 Game 3 - Alexandra Szűcs Name of game: Storytelling- marathon What inspired you in the creation of this game? I have seen a similar game in a Hungarian TV show but unfortunately I forgot the name of it. I just remembered the concept of the game. Once we played a similar game in one of my German classes at university and that inspired me to create this version of the game. Preliminaries Number of players: Groups of three or four (the number of groups depends on the number of students) Age/ Proficiency level: B2-C1 Preparation time: 5-10 mins  Play time: 10-15 mins (depends on the number of students) Preparation: The teacher should find a short text / story (approximately half page long). It is better when the text contains data about names, dates, numbers, places etc. (e.g. a text about a well-known person’s life). Then, the teacher should highlight some keywords that can be important in the story. Object of the game: Students will be able to retell stories from listening. R...

 The Stupid King's scientists I played a beta version of this game in class and it was so enjoyable that I have decided to update it. Number of players: min. 6, but the ideal number is around 12–20. Age/ Proficiency Level: B2 Preparation Time: about 10 minutes (for writing the cards) Play Time: 15–35 minutes, depending on the number of players. Preparation I have written stupid laws on cards (one law/one card). Object of the game To come up with a very convincing explanation for a stupid law. Roles Everybody gets to play the role of the scientists as well as the role of the MPs. The scientists are a team of two people, who have to come up with a convincing explanation for a stupid rule. The others are MPs, who will vote one by one whether they want to legislate the order.  Rules of Play The players are living in a monarchy ruled by a very eccentric king, who comes up with very stupid orders. However, the members of the parliament are very sceptical, so the king needs a team o...

  Preliminaries:  Players: at least 2 + a supervisor who selects the videos in advance  Age: above 12 Language proficiency level: it can be any level except for A1  Preparation:   As the teacher/ supervisor, you need to choose at least one video in advance for the players. The video should also be muted, and the title is best to remain hidden (you can already present the material in full screen mode). After that, all you need for this game is at least two participants and a screen.  Objectives:   This game targets communication skills and fluency by using all sorts of videos. Since the main goal is to give as much information about the video as possible, the narrator is in a way forced to talk constantly and fluently. This might lead to grammatical errors, but at the same time it might make players less self-conscious/nervous.  Moreover, I believe that this is an excellent way for students to get introduced to a new topic.  Roles (changing th...