The great advantage of games is that students become so engaged in the activity that they use the target language spontaneously. It's amazing what strategies they can find within themselves to put their ideas across, even if their knowledge is limited. I use a range of games for a variety of purposes, but I'd like to share these with you.
- Room 101
This is the name of a British television game in which a well-known comedian invites a famous guest to choose ten things he or she wishes to lock away in Room 101. The idea is that the key will be thrown away and whatever gives you offence will never be seen again. I use a version of this as a warm-up exercise when a group comes together for the first time. I ask each person to choose three things they would like to lock into Room 101 and tell them they have to explain why. The group then votes on whether each 'item' should or should not be locked away. Among students' choices have been: the mother-in-law, lawnmowers, politicians, tee-shirts with designer names on them, cold weather, Bill Clinton and Macdonalds. - Who am I?
In this game one student leaves the room and the group assigns him or her a new identity. The identity can be from real life, history, fiction or fantasy, but it must be an identity the student is likely to know about. The victim then returns and can ask twenty yes/no questions to try to find out who s/he is. I use this to liven up a flagging group at the end of the day. I sometimes take part too and last time it took me 19 questions to establish I was Julius Caesar. - Call my bluff
In this game I have a store of English idioms each written on a different card. The meaning of the idiom is written on the other side. The group is divided into teams of three or four people. Each team chooses an idiom at random and then each team member must give an explanation of its meaning. One person gives the correct meaning and the others have to invent plausible false meanings. The other team(s) must decide who gave the correct answer. I find this game a useful way of introducing some idiomatic expressions to the students, but be careful you have checked that there is not similar expression in their own language. - The throw of the die
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