Games in the Classroom

Expanding a Sentence

Similar to the Telescopic Text experiment, the aim of the game is to expand a phrase or a simple sentence into as long a sentence as possible by adding extra words. You can play the game with the whole group or split students into small teams. Write a single word or a phrase on the board. Then invite students to add one or two extra words to make it into a longer sentence. Each word brings one point. The winner is the one who has scored more points.

Go

Go to the shop

Go to the shop to buy a mug

Go to the shop to buy a coffee mug

Go to the shop to buy a ceramic coffee mug

I need to go to the shop to buy a lovely ceramic coffee mug

I need to go to the shop to buy a lovely ceramic coffee mug for my mom

You can use this game to make any gap-fill exercise more learning rich. Get students to suggest more words or phrases that could be added to the item (before/after).

E.g. They ______ (to plan) a trip.

They planned a trip to England.

They planned a 2-day trip to England.

They planned a 2-day trip to England so they could see ………………….

The Curious Cat

Students recite alphabet silently, the Curious Cat says ‘STOP’ and points randomly at a player. The player tells which letter he/she stopped at.

The Curious Cat asks students different questions – Who? Why? Where? When?, etc. – to which the players should give short answers starting with the letter they picked (this can be a phrase or a single word). For example, the letter ‘C’:

‘Who?’ – Captain Cook. – ‘Where?’ – Congo. ‘With whom?’ – Caitleen. ‘Where from?’ Cairo. ‘When?’ – Christmas night.

Every time a player cannot give an answer, the Cat gets one point. The game stops after the Cat gets three points.

You can also use it to practise answering and asking questions (grammar focus). Get the Cat to ask full questions:

Who?’ – Captain Cook. – ‘Where did Captain Cook go?’ – He went to Congo. ‘With whom did he go to Congo?’ – With Caitleen/He went there with Caitleen. ‘Where was Caitleen from?’ – She was from Cairo. ‘When did Captain Cook and Caitleen go to Congo?’ – They went to Congo on Christmas night.

Ask your students to make up one sentence answering the questions, “Who, does what, to whom, when, where, how, and why?” in one long sentence.

E.g. Captain Cook and Caitleen were sure nothing Congo wrong on Christmas night.

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