pentru ACORDAREA GRADULUI DIDACTIC I Coordonator științific: Lect. univ. Cristina Miron Autor: Plosca I. Simona -Adriana (căsătorită Butuc) Liceul… [625865]

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UNIVERSITATEA din PITESTI
FACULTATEA de LITERE

LUCRARE METODICO -ȘTIINȚIFICĂ
pentru ACORDAREA GRADULUI DIDACTIC I

Coordonator științific:
Lect. univ. Cristina Miron
Autor:
Plosca I. Simona -Adriana
(căsătorită Butuc)
Liceul Tehnologic Forestier
Curtea de Argeș, jud. Argeș

Pitesti
August, 2014

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UNIVERSITATEA din PITESTI
FACULTATEA de LITERE

TECHING ENGLISH THROUGH
GAMES AND SONGS

Coordonator științific:
Lect. univ. Cristina Miron
Autor:
Plosca I. Simona -Adriana
(căsătorită Butu c)
Liceul Tehnologic Forestier,
Curtea de Argeș, jud. Argeș

Pitesti
August, 2014

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CONTENT

Argument
1. Motivation
2. Games and teac hing English
2.1 What is a game?
2.2 Games and learning styles
2.2.1 Learning Styles Based on Jung's Theory of Personality
2.2.2 Learning styles based on Gardener’ eight intelligences

2.3 What makes a good game?
2.3.1 A continuous challenge
2.3.2 Based on reality
2.3.3 Interaction
2.3.4 Inv olving students

2.4 Why should games be used in the classroom?
2.4.1 Games means practice
2.4.2 Games means a student: [anonimizat]
2.4.3 Games develop creativity and thinking
2.4.4 A variety of important skills

2.5 How to use games
2.5.1 A clear objective
2.5.2 Balanced teams
2.5.3 Clear instructions
2.5.4 The timer
2.5.5 Well prepared instructor
2.5.6 Maintaining order
2.5.7 Summarising and commenting
2.5.8 Avoiding noise

2.6 When to use games

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2.6.1 Warm -up activities
2.6.2 Time fillers
2.6.3 While -teaching game s
2.6.4 Games for practice
2.6.5 Games for revision
2.6.6 Games for diagnosis

2.7 The teacher’s roles
2.7.1 Master of ceremonies
2.7.2 Scorer
2.7.3 Informant or language consultant
2.7.4 Monitor or corrector
2.7.5 Arbiter or referee

2.8 Grouping
2.8.1 Indi vidual work
2.8.2 Pair -work
2.8.3 Groups of four or more
2.8.4 The whole class

2.9 Rewards and penalties
2.9.1 Changing places or roles
2.9.2 Eliminating players
2.9.3 Collecting or getting rid of things
2.9.4 Getting somewhere first
2.9.5 Finding someone or something

2.10 Materials for games
2.10.1 Cards
2.10.2 Flashcards
2.10.3 Board games
2.10.4 Picture game

2.11 Adapting and inventing games

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2.11.1 Adapting games
2.11.2 Inventing a new game

3. Classification of games
3.1 Type of games
3.1.1 Movement games
3.1.2 Board games
3.1.3 Guessing games
3.1.4 Matching games
3.1.5 Card game s
3.1.6 Desk games
3.1.7 Role – play
3.1.8 Task –based games
3.1.9 Computer games

3.2 Types of games according to the age
3.2.1 Games for young learners
3.2.2 Games for adolescents
3.2.3 Games for adults

3.3 Games used for developing different skills
3.3.1 Games used for writing
3.3.2 Games for li stening
3.3.3 Games for reading
3.3.4 Games for speaking

3.4 Games for different purposes
3.4.1 Grammar games
3.4.2 Vocabulary games
3.4.3 Phonetic games
3.4.4 Communication games
3.4.5 Spelling games

3.5 Games for different styles of learning

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3.5.1 V isual games
3.5.2 Listening games
3.5.3 Kinesthetic games

3.6 Other types
3.6.1 Warmer and fillers
3.6.2 Games with flashcards
3.6.3 Games with letters
3.6.4 Games with words
3.6.5 Tongue twisters
3.6.6 Games with idioms
3.6.7 Games with proverbs and say ings
3.6.8 Games with questions
3.6.9 Games with jokes

4. Songs
4.1 Using songs in ESL classroom
4.1.1 Songs express culture and beliefs
4.1.2 Songs appeal directly to feelings
4.1.3 Songs can have therapeutic function

4.2 Psychological implications of Songs
4.2.1 Multiple intelligences and listening to English songs
4.2.2 Hemisphere functioning in language learning
4.2.3 Affective part stimulated by songs
4.2.4 The Affective Filter Hypothesis

4.3 Reasons for using games in ESL classroom
4.3.1 Song s help learn vocabulary, grammar
4.3.2 They can use meaningful language in context
4.3.3 Songs can be attractive
4.3.4 Songs enhance listening skills
4.3.5 They improve speaking fluency

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4.3.6 Songs are related to mixed abilities
4.3.7 Songs are fun and m otivate pupils
4.3.8 Songs build self -confidence
4.3.9 Songs are memory aids
4.3.10 Songs help with classroom management

4.4 How to choose a song
4.4.1 The length of the song
4.4.2 The type of the song
4.4.3 The difficulty degree
4.4.4 The theme
4.4.5 The acoustic of the classroom
4.4.6 Grammatical structure
4.4.7 Interactivity

4.5 When to use songs
4.5.1 Setting the scene
4.5.2 Changing the tempo
4.5.3 Setting time limits
4.5.4 Introducing a new theme or topic
4.5.5 Changing the mood
4.5.6 Teaching language
4.5.7 Teaching different skills
4.5.8 Reviewing material

4.6 Types of games
4.6.1 Didactic songs
4.6.2 Funny songs
4.6.3 Special songs
4.6.4 Thematic songs
4.6.5 Motivational songs
4.6.7 Energy booster

4.7 How to use songs

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4.7.1 Pre -listening activities
4.7.2 While listening activities
4.7.3 After -listening activities

4.8 Creative techniques used with songs
4.8.1 Brainstorming
4.8.2 Amend the song
4.8.3 E xtra-words into the song
4.8.4 Ordering the song
4.8.5 Using the text of the s ong
4.8.6 Bingo
4.8.7 Expand the song
4.8.8 Pronunciation
4.8.9 Song Review
4.8.10 Grammar Practice
4.8.11 Colloquial
4.8.12 Cloze Activities
4.8.13 Storyboard
4.8.14 Music without lyrics
4.8.15 Rhyming
4.8.16 S tory telling

4.9 Games with songs
4.9.1 Gap fills game
4.9.2 Musical flashcards
4.9.3 Musical Madness
4.9.4 Word grab
4.9.5 Word snake
4.9.6 Passive voice quiz

4.10 Worksheets for different songs
4.10.1 Everything at once by Lenka

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4.10.2 Our last summer by Abba
4.10.3 Our song used in the class

5. Games an d songs in action
5.1 Games for vocabulary
5.2 Games for grammar
5.3 Games for spelling
5.4 Games for speaking
5.5 Games for writing
5.6 Games for reading
5.7 Games for listening

6.Testing through games and songs
6.1 Testing
6.2 Good tests
6.3 Test types
6.3.1 Indirect test items
6.3.2 Direct test items

6.4 Marking tests

6.5 Standard testing
6.5.1 Continuous assessment
6.5.2 Progress test
6.5.3 Achievement test

6.6 Testing through games
6.6.1 Continuous assessment – games
6.6.2 Progress test – Millionaire
6.6.3 Achievement test – blockbuster game

7. Conclusion

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6. Appendix
7. Bibliography

ARGUMENT

Nowadays students are interested in high technology and school is something
boring for most of them. Sitting in their desks for at least six hours a day, listening to long
explan ations and lectures, writing a lot of exercises without interactive learning are not in
favour of real learning.
This work intends to find answers to the questions I have often had as a teacher:
How can I motivate my students who are bored by the monotony of school? How can I
involve them in the process of learning? How can I be more efficient and arouse their
interest in learning English? How can I make them more responsible? How can I have
them speak English?
One possible answer we have found involves increasing the use of games and
songs in our classes because this method can add some secret ingredients so that the
students learn with pleasure. Beside offering diversity and colour, these techniques fulfil
students’ needs and are suitable for all styles of learning.
The main objective of this work is, therefore, to achieve a comprehensive analysis
of this method. We would like to explore new motivational interactive methods of teaching
and how to adapt and create new games and activities with songs. An other purpose of the
present work is to make a survey of the most effective and attractive activities for my high
school students with ages between fourteen and eighteen.
In conclusion, this work will explore the relevance of game and songs in high
school, their educational value, as well as how to develop and use games in foreign
language classrooms.

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Chapter 1
MOTIVATION

MOTTO
"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken
joy in creative expression and knowledge." Albert Einstein

In this chapter we would like to explain why are games considered to be most
motivational way of teaching English and some arguments for using games in teaching
Engl ish as a second language.
The main role of a teacher is to motivate students to learn and find pleasure and
delight in the proccess of learning. A teacher who does not find a way to touch the
students’ hearts and lives, is not an efficient one. In order t o achieve this goal, we should
be more humanistic and creative in our methods of teaching. Being an “unplugged” teacher
means to be able to transmit the information to students using motivational methods proper
to their level, desire and needs.
“Motiv ation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under
you, chances are it will burn very briefly.” (Covey, Stephen. https://www.goodreads.com).
Motivation is like an energizer which helps to make the neccessary effort in order to
achieve a goal. Gardner explains the term as a combination of effort, desire to achieve a
goal and favorable attitudes towards the goal to be accomplished. (Gardner, R. C. 1985. p.
10)

1.1 Intrinsic or integrative motivation
Intrinsic motivation refers to m otivation that comes from inside an individual
rather than from any external or outside rewards, such as money or grades. An intrisic
motivated person will work naturally because of the pleasure he has when doing an
activity.
As educators, teachers could stimulate students get inner motivation by setting
meaningful goals for them, making them aware of the importance of learning a foreign
language, and creating enjoyable moments in the process of learning.

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1.2 Extrinsic or instrumental motivatio n
Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside an individual.
The motivating factors that are external can be rewards such as prizes or grades. These
rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide. An
extrinsically motivated person will work on a task even when they have little interest in it
because of the anticipated satisfaction they will get from some reward. (Gardner, R. C.
1985. p. 10)

1.3 Motivation and Language Learning
Games are closely connect ed with motivation. For example Khan emphasizes
usefulness of the game because of its motivating importance: “It is clear then that games –
since children naturally want to play them – can be motivating.” ( Khan, Julia. P. 1991: 143).
Using didactic games and songs instead of the traditional way of teaching English
as a foreign language can be motivational either for the teacher or for the students and can
be a way of enhancing creativity and learning process among the students.
Learning a language requires a great deal of effort. Only motivated students are
able to make the work seriously and perseverently. Games help students to make and
sustain the effort of learning. Here are some motivational factors while playing games.

1.3.1 A positive atmosphere
Creating a positive and relaxing atmosphere in the classroom is vitally important
for increasing students’ motivation. A positive learning environment is proper for students’
creativity development.
Because the game format is playful, the chal lenge of the material, even new
or difficult material, is less threatening. During the game seemingly difficult questions
and scenarios are “just part of the game.”

1.3.2 Having fun
First of all, games are fun, which is extremelly important, because the y can catch
our students’ attention and activate passive students. This is a very important condition to
have students involved in the process of learning.
Games determine students to look forward to our classes and learn better. What
we learn with pleasu re we never forget. In this way we can integrate information to
practise, creating memorable lessons which can be remembered for the rest of students’

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lives. Games mean the world of children. Recalling memories after years, we remember
the games played in childhood and the happiest moments of our lives.

1.3.3 Competition
Competition is not always positive for students because some students who win
the game can feel they are superior and develop a high self -esteem, while those who lose
can feel they are not precious and have a low self -esteem. I think that students should be
encouraged to learn how to manage their frustrations and develop their emotional
intelligence. Those who lose will not be considered losers, they will be given the
opportunity to try again.
On the other hand, competition is a natural part of our world: candidates compete
for job interviews; teams compete in sporting events; and, companies compete to gain
clients. Competition is also already present in our school eval uation and class ranking.
Naturally some students love to compete even if they do not love to do homework, study or
participate in class. (Rixon. 1992. P. 4)
Competition can stimulate students to learn better because they are all involved in
a group and th ey can’t remain passive and lose the game. Nobody wants to be a loser so
they have to face the challenge.

1.3.4 Cooperation
Working in a team can help students to be cooperative. It is very important for
teenagers to feel that they are integra ted and are useful for their team. Learning how to
work in a team is very important for their future career. There is more power in a group
workshop than in individual work. The main reason is that communication means
interactivity and this is possible in groups. Games are real -life activities that bring players
into teams, demonstrate the rules and roles of working together as a team, and underscore
the value of team collaboration. Games give learners a chance to know their mates as they
share the same exp eriences.

1.3.5 A good self -esteem
Playing games in groups or pairs means to socialise and overcome their own
limits. Trying to do their best, students can gain confidence in their abilities and this can
motivate them further. A confident student can cons olidate relationships and develop
friendship which is motivational.

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A shy person is not supposed to speak in front of a large group but in pairs he or
she has the opportunity to show the required ability. Little success like this develops his or
her self confidence.

1.3.6 Real life situations
Most people want to learn a language in order to be able to use it in real situations,
for example when travelling abroad, working on computer or writing to a foreign
penfriend. Games can be a very good way to pract ice these skills because they can easily
be used to reenact various situations from real life and provide students with practice in
their fluency. By using games in the classroom the teacher gives his or her students a
bigger role, allowing them to take on more responsibility. (Langran & Purcell.1994. p.12 –
14)

We can conclude that motivation is the most important factor to involve students
in the process of learning. The best way of motivating children to learn English as a
second language is playing game s. Educational games create a relaxing atmosphere, add
fun and amusement to our classes, develop students’ abilities to compete and cooperate,
prepare them for real life situation and for excelent relationships, having a self confidence.

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Chapter 2
GAMES AND LANGUAGE TEACHING

2.1 What is a game?
Ludic aspect characterises humans from early to old age. Games fascinate the
world of children through their simple nature and background. Children feel free and re –
create the real world in their im agination.
An educational game is different and is defined as an activity governed by rules,
having a certain educational purpose. Calling an activity game , even though it is not really
a game, can raise students’ enthusiasm and interest and eventually ma ke them feel
involved and carried by the wave.
The generic term ’game’ refers to any didactic activity used with a certain aim,
and achieved in a given time, containing an element of fun. It is “an activity carried out by
cooperating or competing decision markers, seeking to achieve, within a set of rules, their
objectives.” (Rixon, 1992: 3)
Games are closed activities, having a very clearly marked beginning and end.
There is a definite point at which the game is over or has been won. For instance, if a
student finishes the game, this means that the others should be near the end of the game.
An efficient user of games in the language classroom is someone who has really
thought about them, knows their ingredients and what skills and abilities they would
develop. A teacher who understands games as a professional is able to find and create
games to help students learn something while they are playing and motivate them to
prepare better at home.
The most important purpose of a game is communication and not abs olute
correctness. But we aim to achieve both correctness and communicative effectiveness with
our students, using different teaching techniques which are more appropriate for each
individual at different times.
Children love playing games as they help th em learn a foreign language in the
same way the toddlers learn how to speak their native language by imitation and
imagination. Playing games in the classroom is a re -creation of real life situations and can
inspire students for real life, developing thei r creativity and language fluency.

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2.2 Games and learning styles
Using games in different moments of the lesson can be a method of teaching and
adjust the lesson to their personalities and styles of learning. According to their level of
psychological dev elopment, children enjoy and like playing different games.

2.2.1 Learning Styles Based on Jung's Theory of Personality
Every student has his own personality and learns best in a particular way. One of
the theories about learning styles is developed by psy chologist Carl Yung , who
categorized various personality patterns: extroverted vs. introverted, sensing vs. intuitive,
thinking vs. feeling, judging vs. perceiving.
Studies indicate that approximately 60% of learners are extraverted learners. They
prefer socializing and working in groups. Learning activities that benefit extraverted
learners include teaching others how to solve a problem, collaborative/group work, and
problem -based learning. They are in favour of playing interactive and cooperative games.
Introverted learners (40%) are still sociable but they prefer to work individually. They also
generate energy from internal sources that is why they like brainstorming and personal reflexion.
We consider that introvert can play competitive games.
Sensing learners (65%) are focused on aspects of the physical environment. Jung
described these individuals as being interested in the external world. They tend to be
realistic and practical, preferring to learn through experience. They can play movement
games, so lve problems or do different tasks. Intuitive learners (35%) prefer abstract
thinking, daydreaming, new challenges, and they rather look at big picture than the details.
Probably, they would like creative games, and listening and reading for general
compre hension.
Approximately 55% of males and 35% of females have a thinking learning style.
They are logical, dealing with decisions and problems. They will learn better playing a
logical game or solving problem. Feeling learners (45% of males 65% of females) are
interested in personal relationships, feelings, and social harmony. They generate
excitement and enthusiasm in group settings. The most suitable games for this type of
learners are funny and cooperative games.
Judging learners (45%) tend to be decisiv e, well organized, they have strong
opinions and follow the rules. They would probably enjoy playing card or board games.
Perceiving learners (55%) tend to make decisions impulsively in response to new

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information and changing situations. They prefer to k eep their options open, being flexible
and adaptable. They work well in a team that is why they will enjoy cooperative games.
(Cherry, Kendra. http://psychology.about.co m/od/educationalpsychology/ss/jung –
styles.htm )

2.2.2 Learning styles based on Gardener’ eight intelligences
Howard Gardner, who theorizes that humans have eight intelligences, claims that
when a certain topic is explored in school it can, and should, be approached in six different
ways in order to increase the chances of reaching all students in the classroom. One of
these ways is “the personal way”, where the ultimate goal is to see if it is possible to
approach a specific topic by using, for example, r ole play, or other interactions (Gardner,
2006:142). In addition, Armstrong (2000) suggests board games as a teaching strategy that
might suit students with interpersonal intelligence because they provide an excellent
setting for student interaction.

2.3 What makes a good game?
2.3.1 A continuous challenge
A good game is considered to be an activity with certain strategies so that the
teacher knows exactly which game is useful in different moments of the lesson and which
skills are required according to t he level of students. Having in mind a specific goal, the
teacher has to be flexible because there are many ways to accomplish each goal. Teachers
should encourage students to develop their own strategy while keeping the game
challenging and achieving the learning objectives.

2.3.2 Based on reality
A good game is based on reality, giving students a model which can be applied in
real life, by means of imitation. That is how a little child learns his mother tongue. If we
transpose real -life situations in our games we can fulfil the students’ expectations. The
player is able to practise a useful skill without the stress of real -life situations. There are
chances for multiple practice and connection with reality.
There is support from peers as well as time to t hink and react. Situational games
allow players to assume a new identity in a simulated world where they feel comfortable
making mistakes and testing hypotheses.

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2.3.3 Interaction
A good game requires interaction with material on a variety of levels and
interaction between students. Being more or less experienced, they can learn from each
other better than from the teacher. A cooperative game should especially encourage
students to be open to understand their colleagues and help them if they have been in a
similar situation.

2.3.4 Involving students
A good game should be designed so that it may include everyone in the
classroom. Each student should be socially integrated. Games are meant to level the
playing field giving everyone an equal chance to win be cause everyone starts with the
same amount of resources and time while seeking to accomplish the same goal.

2.4. Why should games be used in the classroom?
2.4.1 Games means practice
“Games are effective tools for learning because they offer students a h ypothetical
environment in which they can explore alternative decisions without the risk of failure.
Thought and action are combined into purposeful behaviour to accomplish a goal. Playing
games teaches us how to strategize, to consider alternatives, and t o think flexibly.”
(Martinson and Chu 2008: 478). That quote summarizes that using games implies teaching,
practising and reinforcing a foreign language.

2.4.2 Using games means a student -centred method
Games are considered activities in which students an d the learning process they
are involved in are central. “Learning through performance requires active discovery,
analysis, interpretation, problem -solving, memory, and physical activity and extensive
cognitive processing” (Foreman, 2003: 16).
Students le arn better through experience just like little children, trial and error
being a part of everyday life. They build on their previous knowledge in new contexts and
add new meaning to their experience.

2.4.3 Games develop creativity and a higher order of th inking

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Closed questions and fact -based questions have only one answer, not allowing for
creativity, personal expression, or testing hypotheses. The answer is either right or wrong,
but games can allow multiple answers. They improve participation, self -esteem, and
vocabulary usage and allow the learners to see that there are many ways to solve the same
problem.

2.4.4 A variety of important skills
There are many skills that students can develop through game -playing such as
reading, writing, listening and es pecially speaking. Using different games involves a large
variety of skills as there are specific games for developing each skill.

2.5 How to use games
Games need to be carefully prepared and well -organized. Before a game is used
with a class, the teacher must be sure that the necessary facilities and materials are
prepared on a previous occasion.

2.5.1 A clear objective
The game must have a clear learning objective and purpose. The teacher should be
sure about the goal and procedure of the game. Having a certain goal in mind the teacher
knows how to adapt to the students’ level and needs.

2.5.2 Balanced teams
The teacher should divide students into balanced teams. This depends on
knowing the students’ abilities and personalities. Grouping the smarter s tudents in one
team and the weaker in another ensures the chances of having a definite winner of the
game.

2.5.3 Clear instructions
The rules and procedures of the game should be clearly presented so that every
student can hear and understand what is go ing to do and be involved in the activity. The
teacher can have a feedback and name some students to repeat what he or she said. When a
game is well known by the students from their real -life experience, they can state the rules.
Each game will need a pro per instruction, which means a proper explanation and
a demonstration of a few moves or rounds. If it is necessary native language can be used.

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The teacher can make a lively and appealing demonstration so that the students would be
attracted and motivated to play the game.

2.5.4 The timer
Using a timer is a good way to be consistent and make sure that everyone has the
same amount of time to do the task. The teacher should decide if only the first answer is
taken into account.

2.5.5 Well -prepared instruct or
The teacher makes sure that he/she has enough worksheets, time, questions and
materials needed for the game. As a facilitator, a teacher should be well -prepared and
know exactly how the game works.

2.5.6 Maintaining order
The teacher should observe di sruptive behaviour like cheating, breaking the rules
and negative reactions. It is extremely important for the class to work in a non -threatening
environment and not to have negative feelings caused by some classmates. The teacher will
punish what is calle d unacceptable and establish from the very beginning how to treat and
respect the others.

2.5.7 Summarising and commenting
Whatever the game may be, students need to be controlled and to hear a remark or
an encouragement from the teacher. Positive comme nts on a clever move or an amusing
situation can encourage them to go further. The teacher needs to make the correction of
possible errors.

2.5.8 Avoiding noise
When we have to deal with a large class which is impossibly noisy, we can use a
silent way of response or a body signal for the choice between two answers. A game
suitable for large classes divided into two teams can be Ship or sheep, a game for phonetic
goals. Everyone can react at the same time, and an advantage of this method is that they
do n ot have the time to change their mind. Another game is Bingo, a game with cards,
either for big or smaller classes. Each player has a card ruled into a number of sections.
Each section contains a word, a number or a picture, depending on the version played . The

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caller calls out words from the card and if a player has that word on his card, he covers it.
The first player to cover all of his cards shouts “Bingo!” and is the winner.

2.6. When to use games
Taking into account the fact that games are not only enjoyable extras, we can
integrate them into the lesson and the teaching syllabus so that they become one of the
means of achieving teaching objectives. Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign
languages. Rixon (1992: 73 -75) suggests that games b e used at all stages of the lesson,
provided that they are suitable and carefully chosen.
The teacher can use the game as a warm -up activity or revision of the previous
lesson at the beginning of the lesson or as a summary of the skills at the end. Howeve r,
games can be used during the whole lesson as well. This variety of possible uses depends
on the ability of the teacher to use the game in the right moment.

2.6.1 Warm -up activities
Icebreakers are important at the beginning of the lesson in or der to create a
positive atmosphere for the lesson. They are even more important if the students do not
know one another well at the beginning of the school year.
Icebreakers are excellent because they give students the opportunity to share
things about t hemselves and learn about their peers. These activities often get students
moving or thinking creatively. They can be lots of fun and solve any tension or
nervousness there might be in your classroom. It is important that students be able to
interact with one another easily because learning English is all about communication.
Students will need to be comfortable sharing ideas with the class and talking with other
students in groups or in pairs on a regular basis.

2.6.2 Time -fillers
When we are tired and st ressed we can use time -fillers in order to make students
relax. They are useful in different moments of the lesson. We can start the lesson with a
filler particularly when waiting for some latecomers, or in the middle of the lesson as a
way of changing the pace, or of breaking up similar activities. (Scrivener, 2005: 345)
An example of a filler can be a tongue -twister. Repeating phonetic words faster
and faster can be fun and creates a good atmosphere.

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2.6.3 While -teaching games
While -teaching games a re the greatest way to get students focused to the topic of
the lesson. Students can learn through games a lot more than from a very serious lecture.
When using a game as part of a lesson, it is important to make sure that the way in
which it is played is proper for each stage of the lesson, either for student -student
interaction or for teacher -students interaction. During the presentation stage it is important
to focus the students’ attention on the teacher in order to understand correctly the meaning
of the new words and the new structure. That is why a game in which the teacher acts as a
master of ceremonies and as a judge with students competing under his or her control
would fit this stage much better.
In the final stage of the lesson, when the studen ts are ready to use the newly
learned language, the teacher can use a game in a freer and flexible way. The students can
work in pairs or independently. In this stage the teacher is no longer a controller but an
informant or an adviser.
An example of such a game is Which one is it? Students have to repeat some new
words while they see some pictures. They have to distinguish one object or person from a
number of similar ones. They have to pick up a picture after listening to a description
which the teacher g ives. The class is split into two equal teams. Students must answer in
turns within each team, for every turn, two students are competing to see who can answer
first. The teacher describes the picture, for example, The lady who has green eyes and long
curly hair . The student who calls out the first name correctly wins a point for his team. If
he calls out a wrong name his team loses and the other team gets one point. During this
stage the teacher should give students the opportunity to produce the language themselves.
This time one student from each team has to take turns at describing one of the picture and
challenging one of the other team to identify it.
The same idea may be used in a more personal way in a game called Who is it?,
which is not a team gam e but a turn taking game so that the first person to guess who is
being described from the classroom will be the challenger. Rixon (1992: 73 -75)

2.6.4 Games for practice
This category covers the games which can often be used gradually, building up
skills by constant practice. Some games which can be played are pronunciation and sound
discrimination games like bingo, sheep or ship, how many words can you make?

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Vocabulary games or pencil -and-paper games are good opportunities for students
to learn from ea ch other’s answers and develop word building and writing skills. (Rixon.
1992: 80)

2.6.5 Games for revision
Some games which are liked and well -known to the class can be repeated in order
to revise and students may not repeat the same mistakes and remem ber words. An example
of such a game can be Past-Tense Knockout for revision of irregular verbs. Players stand
up and the teacher gives each in turn the infinitive form as a stimulus for them to produce
the other forms. Any student who makes a mistake is e liminated and has to sit down. The
last player standing up is the winner. As an option for advanced students, they can be
challenged to change sentences. Example: Have you seen Tom this week? – Yes, I saw him
yesterday. Are you seeing your friend today? – No, I saw him yesterday. (Rixon. 1992: 80.
82)

2.6.6 Games for diagnosis
Communication games can be a way of evaluation students in pairs. Giving
students games like describe and draw or describe and arrange , we can test their
comprehension. Taking no tes on the monitoring sheets, we can have a record of errors and
language area to deal with in the later lessons. (Rixon. 1992: 73 -75)

2.7. The teacher’s role
Whatever the type of game, the activity has to be well organized. It is very
important to unde rstand the instructions and know exactly what to do. At this stage the
teacher has to give clear instructions in English and, if it is necessary, in Romanian too. In
the following stage, the teacher has to make a short demonstration of the game, using the
structure and vocabulary needed in the game. Students also need to be encouraged,
appreciated and gently corrected while they are playing.
The teacher’s role differs according to the game which is being played. For
instance, in code -controlled games point s are given for correctness and the teacher is the
judge, while in communication games the teacher’s role is not so prominent.

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2.7.1 Master of ceremonies
The master of ceremonies is the master quiz or challenger, who is in control with
the game keeping the pace and correct score. If marks are awarded in a game, the teacher
has to judge correctness. Even in games in which students take the role of quizmaster or
challenger, the teacher has the last word. Accepting and rejecting an answer can be done
on the scoreboard but it is more enjoyable to pantomime (a thumb down or up, an
exaggerating grimace, a big smile, etc.), or hesitate, giving students opportunity to correct
themselves. (Rixon. 1992: 59)

2.7.2 Scorer
The teacher is usually the sc orer, but sometimes, students are motivated to make
the mark on the scoreboard. According to Rixon (1992: 61 – 62), there are many types of
recording scores: building up a picture (a stick man) like in the spelling game hangman ,
drawing a house, or a spider with a line for every mistake until the game is over, a giant
game of noughts and crosses, climbing up a ladder or a mountain, completing the alphabet
from A to Z, or competing to finish a long word letter by letter, the days of the week or the
months of the year.

2.7.3 Informant or language consultant
Instead of judging what students say, the teacher should be on hand to help them.
The teacher is a source of information on vocabulary or new structures. When a teacher is
asked for help, it is much bette r to elicit the answer from students than to say it directly.

2.7.4 Monitor or corrector
Making mistakes is a result of the students’ involvement in the task, but at the
same time errors are an essential part of experimentation. Some minor mistakes can b e
rapidly corrected and some major errors can be recorded and explained next time
individually.

2.7.5 Arbiter or referee
In some competitive games there should be disagreements or blockages and in this
case the teacher should act as an arbiter. Instead of giving them a solution, the teacher
generates a discussion about the rules and asks for the students’ vote. As a referee, the

25
teacher should remind students the fact that the main purpose of the game in not to win the
game but to succe ed in using the language. (Rixon.1992: 63 -69)

2.8. Grouping
There are many types of groupings. The concrete way of grouping usually
depends on the activity and proper grouping can influence the achievement of the game a
lot. However the same type of g ame can be successfully achieved in different groupings.
The most common groupings are individual, pairs, groups and whole class.

2.8.1 Individual work
Competitive games usually require individual work, offering students the
opportunity to show their abil ities and knowledge. They rely on themselves and can
become either selfish or proud of their achievements. This is the main drawback of this
type of work, but a person who sometimes fails, can develop self -confidence with winning
a game repeatedly. Another disadvantage is that the learner does not have the chance of a
conversation or confrontation.

2.8.2 Pair -work
It is the most commonly used type of grouping, used with the role -play or
speaking practice activities. The main advantage of pair work is the opportunity of the
students to speak and learn from each other, having a low level of stress. They learn to
cooperate and discover the work can be done more easily and more quickly. If they
succeed they feel happy and content but in case of failure they c an blame each other. The
teacher can adjust the situation or rearrange pairs properly, combining weaker with better
persons.

2.8.3 Groups of four or more
A group consisting of four or more learners is suitable for role -play games,
speaking activities o r task -based games. The main advantage of such a group is that they
can develop the highest quality of cooperation. The most common disadvantage seen from
the teacher’s point of view is discipline. This usually depends on the personality of the
teacher, on the type of activity and on the relationship between teacher and learners. The
group can choose the best learner to be their leader and help them to succeed. The leader
can act like a mediator between teacher and his group members.

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2.8.4 The whole class
Children can also work as a whole class with the teacher acting as a monitor. The
advantage of this grouping is the chance for learners to speak with and understand their
classmates, to hear their mistakes and confront different opinions. Cooperation among
learners is an important element of ‘whole class’ grouping and students can play task –
based games. This type of organisation can lead to different attitudes of learners – active
and passive. Doing teacher -controlled team games is sometimes unproductive be cause of
the very limited opportunity for each student to take part in an activity.
Different groupings usually require organizing the classroom. The most suitable
classroom organization is so -called U -shape because it allows students to move freely.
Howe ver the teacher does not always have the possibility to organize the class like that but
they can organize the pairs or groups of learners to see each other. In the traditional front –
facing desk, learners just turn their chairs round to face the people beh ind them.

2.9 Rewards and penalties
These methods within a game keep the interest of the players high and give them
some feedback on the success they have. (Rixon.1992: 10 -13)

2.9.1 Changing places or roles
A motivating immediate reward is the opportuni ty to become the leader of the
group. That keeps the game alive and raises their interest. For instance, in a game like hot
seat, students are very attentive in order to give the right answer. This is the first reward,
which is, according to Maslow’s pyra mid, a motivational factor of personal satisfaction
and recognition. The next step is a new role of challenger.
Another game could be I spy. The challenger thinks of an object in the classroom
and says: I spy something beginning with A, B, C, etc., as appr opriate. The players ask him
‘yes or no’ questions to help them guess what the object is. The player who guesses the
object is the challenger.

2.9.2 Eliminating players
Another way of getting a reward is staying in the game the longest. The student
who makes a mistake will be punished, by being eliminated from the game. A variation is
to give each player a number of lives which allow him to make some mistakes until he

27
loses all his lives and is finally out. The winner is the player who remains in the ga me until
the end of it. An example of such a game is I went shopping and bought… Players have to
repeat what the player said before and add their own items. The player who does not know
the articles will be eliminated from the game.

2.9.3. Collecting or getting rid of things
Another way to win the game is getting as many cards as possible. The winner is
the player who eventually has the most cards. In a game like picture domino, the main goal
is to find a connection between cards, using your imagination and get rid of cards as soon
as possible. The student who gets rid of all his cards first, will be the winner.
In Gifts for the Family the aim is to collect gift cards rather than to get rid of
them, but the principle is the same: players must argue in o rder to achieve what they want.
Players take turns to pick up one card from the central pack. Their aim is to
collect as many gifts for their relatives as possible, but they can only keep a gift card if
they can justify to the other players giving the obje ct shown on it to their relative. When
all the cards have been claimed or after a time -limit, or a fixed number of rounds, the
player with the most gift cards is the winner.

2.9.4 Getting somewhere first
The goal of some types of games is to get to a pl ace first. For instance, in a board
game, players fight to win the game, reaching the finish line. In this case, it would be a
matter of luck when throwing the dice like in Snakes and ladder .
For language learning games, successful moves depend on langua ge rather than
on luck. Players are competing to reach the end of the track on the board. Each space on
the track has a picture with an object or a living creature on it. Players move by following
instructions read to them by another player. These instruc tions are on small cards kept in a
pack in the centre of the table. E.g. Move forward 10 if you are on a square showing
something dangerous. If not, go back 3. Players are motivated to interpret their square in a
way that allows them to go forward. (Rixon. 1992: 18 -19)

2.9.5 Finding someone or something
Another reward can be finding a partner or an object somewhere in the class. For
example, the game Find Someone Who is game in which students have to ask classmates
the questions implied by the chart such a s: “Can you swim?”, “Do you have a pet?”, etc.

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Students have to mingle around the classroom to find colleagues who fit the description
and then write their names in the appropriate places. Whoever can fill their page first will
be the winner.
Find your pa rtner is a game that can be adapted to practise many different
language points. Every player has to look for a partner who has got an identical word or
picture to his own, by talking to one another, without looking at the partner’s card.

2.10 Materials fo r games
2.10.1 Cards
Cards are small visual prompts which enable each player to talk and be involved
in the game. Without a physical means of structuring, some students would dominate the
game or there are long moments of silence while they are thinking of whose turn it is.
Cards from a game should be similar in colour and size and should have an identification
on back of them to indicate which game they belong to. Cards should have pictures or
words on the fronts and if it is possible, covered with plastic film with a laminating
machine.
Another way of using cards can be sayings or proverbs. Students can take a card
by turns and talk about the saying and eventually make an essay. They should be kept in an
envelope or a little box.

2.10.2 Flashcards are goo d instruments for learners to intensify their vocabulary
acquisition. They are cards of different dimensions with an item of information, either a
picture or writing. There are many kinds of games which can be done: bingo game which
has the goal of matchin g the picture with the corresponding writing, memory game, etc.

2.10.3 Board games
A board game can be bought or handmade. It should be as large as possible so that
the writing and pictures should be visible for all players sitting around. It should be made
by two sheets of cardboard glued together to make a thicker and heavier board. Game
boards can be fold in two for easy storage.
The first thing to do is to draw the track and its divisions, then pictures, numbers
and instructions. Players also need t okens and a dice or a spinner.

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2.10.4 Picture games
We also can make pictures with different stories, stages or a single picture with a
different theme. For instance, a game for speaking can be easily made. Students have to
describe what they see and f inish the story after their imagination. The student who
finishes the first is the winner. Another possibility is to arrange the pictures so that the
story could be credible.

2.11 Adapting and inventing games
The real art of a teacher is to know exactly w hen and which game to play. The
next step is to adapt or invent a new game, according to the students’ needs.

2.11.1 Adapting games
As Rixon (1991: 86) wrote, in order to make students speak more, the teacher can
add a rule to a classic game. For exampl e, Scrabble is a board game dealing with
vocabulary, and can be livened up by building in a rule that the player who makes a new
word should be able to explain the meaning before getting the score.
Another way of adapting a game is to change the subject ma tter. A good example
of this is Happy families. It consists of a set of cards with members of the family. Students
have to ask each other questions and claim any card that they guess another player to have.
The teacher can change the subject in order to ob tain interests from students and adapt the
theme to the students’ level.

2.11.2 Inventing a new game
Inventing a new game would be interesting and develop the teacher’s creativity.
In order to make a new game, we should know some principles.
1. A new edu cational game should respond to the students’ needs for
communication and practice.
2. The game should be played for educational aims rather than for entertainment.
3. The teacher should have a certain goal with corresponding strategies when
thinking of a new game.
4. Any successful game must specify some rules, procedures, materials needed,
and class -organizing.
In conclusion, we think that this section of theory about games is very important
in explaining the usefulness and educational value that games can have in a classroom.

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When we started having students play games, it was mostly for taking a break from the
monotony of teaching from a book, filling extra class time. Now, having researched and
learned about learning that takes place while playing game s, we realize that games have
more purposes than creating fun in the classroom. They are an important source of
activities which can be used frequently in different moments of the lesson.

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Chapter 3
CLASSIFICATION OF GAMES
It is a difficult task to classify and name all the games which could be proper to
learning English as a foreign language. It is a real challenge for the teacher to know exactly
what type of game should be appropriate in a certain moment of the lesson so that h e can
apply the principle of accessibility (the game should be adept to the level of students),
efficiency (the game should be carefully chosen so that it suits to the lesson goal) and
variability (to colour the lesson, offering student diversity).
There are two main types of games: competitive and cooperative games.
Competitive can be considered those games which are more selective because students
compete in order to be the first, while cooperative are more productive and efficient for
students who coop erate in order to accomplish a goal.

3.1 Types of games
In the first chapter, we would like to classify games according to Gordon Lewis
and Günther Bedson, as it is mentioned in their book Games for children.
3.1.1 Movement games
This type of games i mplies physical activity beside other goals like recognizing a
certain language structure, activating listening comprehension and developing the skill of
speaking and writing. Scientists discovered that there is a higher level of understanding and
learning when children are physically active. The association between physical activity and
learning has been evidenced in many studies. The results have suggested that being
physically active produces positive effects on many cognitive functions, such as memory,
attention, information processing and problem solving.
Exercise can improve learning ‘on three levels’. “ First it optimizes your mind -set
to improve alertness, attention, and motivation; second, it prepares and encourages nerve
cells to bind to one anoth er, which is the cellular basis for logging in new information; and
third, it spurs the development of new nerve cells from stem cell in the hippocampus. ” The
hippocampus is the brain region primarily involved in learning and memory. (John J. Ratey
and Eri c Hagerman, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain ,
p.53)
The benefits of movement on the brain do not stop with the cerebellum.
According to John Ratey, MD (2000). “Movement is miracle grow for the brain.” In the
1990s, neuroscient ists discovered something called brain -derived neurotropic factor

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(BDNF), which nourishes neurons like fertilizer. This substance is present in the
hippocampus, which is related to memory and learning (Ratey. 2000. p. 23).

Walking th e line
An example of a physical game is “Walking the line” where participants have to
walk a line and perform various types of tasks at the same time, for example walking
backwards, or balancing a book on their heads. In order to make this game more fitti ng in a
language classroom the teacher should give the instructions in the target language, for
example “everybody has to walk backwards”.

Simon says
Another example of a physical game could be the game “Simon says”, where
someone is Simon and gives the others orders, for example “Simon says: jump” or “Simon
says: clap your hands”. The aim of the game is to motivate careful listening, to reinforce
command forms of verbs, parts of the body and objects in the classroom.
Simon is the king and that is why we have to obey his command. If they do the
command without S imon says they will be punished. Another possibility is to put them out
of game and sit down. The person who remains in the game is the winner. As a variation
we can change the name with a student’s if it is his birthday or with a personality’s name.

I see something
An action game could be “I see something…” The class is divided into teams
and they stand in lines and the teacher has to say I see a table or any classroom object, the
first student in line goes to that object. The first one to reach, scores a point for his team.
Students can help their teammates by pointing or naming objects but not translating it.
E.g. I see something: red, tall, new. I see something that you can sit on it. I see
something that has two hands, numbers and tells us the time. I see something made out of
(paper, wood, metal, cloth, glass, plastic, etc.).

Giant steps
The aim of this game is to practice permission. One person is the “teacher” and
must be addressed as Mr. or Mrs. and last name. Others in turn request permission to
advance, using the request form: Mrs. …, may I …? The teacher says ‘Yes, you may.’ The
student may take a giant step (the longest step one can take), a baby step (the length of one

33
shoe), an umbrella step (whirling around as one advances two steps), according to the
teacher command. If the student advances without the teacher’s permission, he must go
back to the start.

3.1.2 Board games
Teacher needs whatever kind o f boards. They can be played in all types of
grouping and teacher needs to prepare some material in most of board games. Learners can
practice all language skills and they are expected to obey given rules. This type of the
game can be either competitive or cooperative; it deals with the type of grouping. Teacher
can operate as a controller, organizer, participant and facilitator.
Board Games can be played by students from beginner to advanced level,
developing their skills for grammar and vocabulary, quick thinking and listening
comprehension. Materials needed for this type of game are: game board, die, game pieces,
clues or questions for the students to answer.

Game Day can be an example of board game, played in groups of four. Each
group shoul d get one board, one piece per person, and one die, as well as a pack of cards
that contain the clues. The group members should take turns rolling the die, answering the
questions and moving their pawn, until one person reaches the end.
As a variation, we can colour the squares on the game boards in 4 or 5 rotating
colours, each colour representing a different category coinciding with the questions/clues.
Then we write the questions, sentence starters or clues on the board itself. The
students may only m ove if they answer the question correctly. For incorrect answers they
have to move backwards.

Hidden words
It is another board game which can be played to strengthen understanding of new
words or to revise new words. In order to prepare thi s game we need worksheet with
numbers from 1 to 15, worksheet with 15 words, 15 cards with pictures (appendices 1, 2,
3).
Procedure: Players sit in groups of four people at their desks. They prepare
pictures on their desks to see them all. Students choose one number from the chart on the
board. Teacher tells them hidden word. Pupils have to show picture representing that word
and explain the meaning. They get one point for correct picture, one point for correct

34
explanation. The winner is the group with the most points. When one group does not know
the picture or the definition, second group can answer it and when it is correct the second
group gets the points and continues their turn. When one group does not know the picture
or the definition, second group c an answer it and when it is correct the second group gets
the points and continues their turn. ( Lucie Kupečková. 2010 )

3.1.3 Guessing games
Guessing games are based on the principle of finding the truth when one holds the
information and another tries to guess it (e.g. Back writing). There exists a wide variety of
guessing games with teacher as a participant or facilitator. Teacher needs to prepare none
or some material and learners practice their speaking and listening skills while cooperating.
Learners f ollow given instruction and rules which do not have to be strict.

Back writing
The main aim of this game is to revise new words, to strengthen the process of
remembering the new words, involving all students.
Procedure: Pupils are said to sit in pairs at their desks. They write words
connected with describing people (appendix 4) on partner’s back. Pupils switch their roles
after each five words. The main goal of the game is to practice as many words as possible
but there is no rule how many words they must write or guess.

Truth, Truth, Lie
This game can be played by students of all levels from intermediate to advanced
learners. The main purpose is: sentence writing, community development, listening
comprehension.
Procedures: Each student s hould write his/her name on a sheet of paper. Next,
he/she should write three sentences about him/herself. Two of them should be true, and one
should be a lie. The teacher collects the sentences, reads them to the class and makes them
guess which one is a lie. The listeners explain why they think the statement is a lie. The
author elaborates on one or both of the true statements. If the students are already familiar
with each other, they have to guess which person in the class wrote the sentences.
Suggestio n:
This game is fun without needing to declare a winner. The teacher asks the
students to write lies that are close to the truth instead of something really outrageous.

35

Pictionary
The teacher divides the group into teams. Students will take turns being the artist.
Repeat artists will only be permitted when all students have had a turn. The artist will
receive a word or phrase to draw from the teacher. He/she shouldn’t use letters or numbers
in his/her picture. Symbols are allowed. The other players will attempt to guess the word
from the drawing. If their guess is correct, then they score a point. Then we move to the
next team for the next artist.
Variations:
The group can play as individuals and the person who guesses the word is t he next
to draw or may select someone to draw in his/her place. The teacher can challenge them to
draw with their non -traditional hand, with their eyes closed, or without lifting their pencil.
Other Suggestions:
The teacher requires hand rising for correct ing pronunciation from the guessers.
Use a timer if necessary. We should give a category for the word if we use it for
vocabulary review.

3.1.4 Matching games
This type of games involves matching correct pairs (e .g. Vocabulary Scramble).
Students need to have material prepared. The goal of the game and the type of grouping
can make the game cooperative (learners in pair, learners of one group, whole class) or
competitive (pair/group vs. pair/group). The teacher’s role is to be a facilitator.

Matching a picture with word and definition
The main goal of this cooperative game is to involve all pupils in matching words
with pictures for better remembering of some new vocabulary, describing the appearance
of the peo ple.
Materials: worksheet with 15 pictures, worksheet with 15 words in bold and their
definitions ( Note: Both worksheets should be cut into cards and put to the envelope before
the distribution among pupils)
Procedure: Pupils sit in pairs at their desks a nd get the envelopes with pictures and
words in it (one envelope per pair). They match pictures with words and their explanations
in the shortest time limit. The winner is the pair with all correct picture -word pairs in the

36
shortest time or the pair with t he most correct pairs in case there is no one with all correct
pairs.

Word Pyramid
This game is designed for all students from beginner to advanced level for
vocabulary development. We need materials such as triangles to match together and
eventually make a pyramid.
Procedures: The teacher should take the triangle template and add synonyms in
various locations then multiply them as needed and cut the pyramid into its individual
components. The teacher divides the class into groups and gives each gro up a packet of
triangles. The students should match the synonyms to make the pyramid.
Variations:
We can turn it into a competitive game, turn the pieces upside down. Have the
students pick up 5 triangles. Pick one to be the centre of the triangle. Each s tudent will take
a turn trying to match their words as a synonym to the pieces already played. At the start of
each turn, he or she should pick up another triangle so that they always have 5 triangles in
their hand. We can use other word pairs like antonym s, rhyming words, countries and
cities, occupations and what they do, etc.
Suggestions:
We can use durable paper like cardboard or laminated paper. Students can be
challenged to make their own pyramid for other groups to complete.

3.1.5 Card gam es
It is amazing how many stimulating and interesting games can be played with a
pack of cards rather than with a single handout.
Who, where and what
This is either a card or a matching game. The aim of the game is to practise basic
job and workplace vocabulary.
Students work in pairs and the teacher asks them to draw three columns with
headings who, where and what. The teacher gives each pair an envelope with cards and
tells them to sort pictures in ten sets of three. Then they have to match the thr ee pictures
and write down the words in their grid: the worker, where they work and what they use.
Variation

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This can also be used as a follow -up after doing the main activity. The teacher
gives each student a set of 25 cards and 20 counters (coins or smal l pieces of paper). Each
student takes 25 cards from the envelope and arranges them faced up in five rows of five.
The teacher calls out the words from key vocabulary in random order. The first student to
complete the vertical, horizontal or diagonal with counters shouts bingo and is the winner.
(O’Dell, Felicity and Head, Kathy. 2011. P.90 -91)

Getting to Know You
This game can be played by students from intermediate to advanced level. The
main goal is answering questions and team building.
Proced ure:
All the students sit in a circle and get a card with a question. Each student has to
read the card and each person around the circle will answer. After each student has read
their question, go back around soliciting information about each person fr om the other
students.
The students write their own question.
Suggestions:
• If we have a lot of students, then we just have a few questions or perhaps select
five students answer each question.
Example questions:
• What is your favourite movie (colour, f ood, dessert, etc.)?
• What is your ideal job?
• What would your best friend say about you?
• Where do you work?
• What sport do you play?
• What is your least favourite chore?
• How did you get here and how long did it take?
• What did you do before you c ame here?

Phrases with card games
We need some sets of cards with one useful phrase (functional language) on each
of them. We give one pack of cards for each group of four and ask them to deal out. Every
student has to use the phrase in conversation and i f this is correct, he gets rid of the card,
placing it face up in the middle of the table. If the other student thinks the phrase is not

38
used correctly, the card has to be taken back. The first person to discard all the cards or
with the fewest cards is th e winner.

Pelmanism
This is a well -know TEFL game called Paris or Memory Game. Cards are placed
face down on the table and students take turns to find pairs such of two adjective which
take the same preposition, two verbs with the same vowel sound in the past, or collocation
with the verb to make.
As with these examples, to make sure there are plenty of matches this game
works best if the cards have to have something in common to form a pair, rather than (as in
many textbook examples) having to go toge ther (e.g. a “do” card with a “the laundry”
card). (http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/21 -classic -esl-card-games.html)

3.1.6 Desk games : these games can be played as an individual work game (e.g.
puzzle) or pair and group game (e.g. scrabble). Desk gam es need material and they can
work both competitively and cooperatively. For example, scrabble or memory games are
competitive games whereas puzzle is cooperative game. It can be the competitive game
thus (the rule for puzzle as a competitive game is: the winner is who finishes the puzzle
first). Teacher can be a controller and facilitator.

Scrabble
Aims : to involve all students, for practice spelling and revise known words.
Materials : four Scrabbles, paper and pencils.
Procedure: students are said to crea te pairs or groups of four according to their
choice. Two pairs sit to one Scrabble. The teacher asks students if they know the rules and
makes sure they really do so. The teacher instructs players to create English words and
write down these words. Studen ts play Scrabble for the rest of the lesson. At the end of the
lesson they have all created words written down and calculate the score.

3.1.7 Role -play games
It can be either the game itself or an element of other games. It needs active
performing of t he learner (e.g. At the shop) cooperating in pairs or smaller groups.
Material is not necessary but can be useful. The teacher is a controller and facilitator, he

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gives the instruction but strict rules are not necessary. They practice speaking, writing and
listening skills.
Parents, Parents!
This is a role play activity in which students act out being parents and teachers.
The teacher begins the lesson by asking students to discuss about parents and what they
think of them in terms of their role s, how they should behave etc. He/she can dictate a few
statements questions to get the students talking about the subject.
 Parents do not pay enough attention to their children these days.
 Most parents do not know much about their children e.g. if they sm oke or not,
who they hang out with etc.
 Television is the reason children are so violent these days; parents are not to blame.
 The Internet is causing children more children to be anti -social and for parents to
have little time with their children.
Then , the teacher asks students to discuss the sentences in pairs and then bring the
class together into a big debate. At this point, we may want to go over some useful
vocabulary i.e. the sheet below. Once we have gone over the lexical set, students use the
language to answer the questions. –see appendix 5

Reported speech role play
After the teacher has taught reported speech, he/she puts the students into groups
of three. He/she explains that one person in the three is a rich actress/actor, one is his/her
niece/nephew and the last person is the butler. The actor/actress is hearing impaired and
dying. She is going to decide what to do with her money and house after her death.
The teacher sets up the class so that the actors/actresses are on one side of the
room, the nieces/nephews on the other and the butlers in the middle. The butlers need to
give messages from the nieces/nephews to the actor/actress. The aim is for the butler and
the nephew/niece to be nice so that the actor/actress will give them her money. As they are
doing this the butler will use reported speech e.g. She said that you are lazy and never
visited her. He said he was busy and didn't have time. He said that he was helping animals.
– appendix 6 – (http://eslsite.com/rd/Drama -Role_Plays/quick_ drama_ideas.html)

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3.1.8 Task -based games : belongs to popular games nowadays, especially because
of its connection with cooperative schooling. Usually pairs or groups work on meaningful
task in the way they enjoy. Learners obey clear rules a nd they have got a chance to practice
all language skills. Teacher is an organizer and facilitator. Teacher pre -prepares material
for the game or learners prepare it themselves later.
Task -based activities are activities that require the use of the target language in
order to complete a task. The goal is the completion of the task and not the use of the
language, though the expectation is that the target language is being used to complete the
task. This sort of activity does not focus on drilling grammar or vocabulary, but rather on
how the task cannot be completed without using the target language.

The Party
In this activity focused on food vocabulary, students are given a grocery list (in
the target language) of as many items as there are st udents in the class. They are also given
a page with various photos of some of the items on the list. In an effort to “figure out” who
is bringing what to the party, students go around and check in with each other and ask if
they are bringing in certain it ems on their list.
A sample question will need to be given to students as a model or it can be
generated by the class. When a student answers yes, the one asking the questions writes
down the name of the student who has the picture of the object. Once some one has a full
list, the group comes back together and the teacher creates the master list with the class.
There are many possible follow -up activities, including the actual planning of a
party, some form of a writing assignment involving all of the inform ation gathered, or pair –
work in which students compare their lists. This task -based activity gives students the
opportunity to say the vocabulary many times and also to hear it numerous times within a
meaningful context. (http://wlteacher.wordpress.com/200 9/04/23/task -based -activities/)

3.1.9 Computer games are a very popular type of the games nowadays. It can
be played either at school or at home. It requires individual or pair work and learners
practice their reading, writing and listening skills. The teacher can be tutor or play none
role. There are usually given clear rules and the computer is necessary here.

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There are a lot of computer games for learning English and students like to use
modern technology. The main advantage of using computer game s is that there are a large
variety of computer games on the internet and player can choose their favourite games.
This is an un -threatening environment because it is their world and they can check their
answer without being exposed to a test or a public a nswer.

3.2 Types of games according to the age
The key of making games acceptable to any groups of students is suitability. The
games must be adapted to the students’ level and age so that they will be suited to their
language needs and personalities. For children age 6 -8 repetition is very common in
games, rules are often few, and the games usually do not take a very long time. When it
comes to children age 9 -11 they have patience for longer games, which often include much
more suspense. Also when childre n reach this age they start to be able to augment the
games themselves, for example to bend the rules to make the game more suited for their
group. For children older than 12 games are often much more planned and they often
emphasize teams and teamwork.

3. 2.1. Young children
Philips (1994:5) defines young learners: “…children from the first year of formal
schooling (five or six years old) to eleven or twelve years of age.” Nevertheless she also
emphasizes that not children’s age but their maturity is that counts in the classroom. It has
already been mentioned that teachers should not forget learners learning. Young learners
need to help with how to learn. Philips (1994) explains it that “learners’ education and
learning should not be confirmed to the limit s of their classroom and textbooks.” Teacher
should be able to teach them how to learn outside the classroom, to absorb and join new
information to the old one learnt during the lessons.
Teaching of young learners can be cheerful because young learners ar e usually
active, enthusiastic, open and cooperative. They are usually happy with new activities that
teacher prepares, most of them are not sheepish and they do not hesitate to use gestures as
older learners do. Shelagh Rixon (2002) asserts that young lea rners learn more through
play or activities intensified by fun.

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Principles for learning little children
1. Listening is the first skill
Children learn to understand and speak by hearing and using language in natural
situations. We should repeat patiently s ingle words while the child is focusing on real
objects, people or activities like singing, chanting, playing rhyming, language games.
2. It is the content not the form that is of interest to the child
A little child will learn to ask „Cookie, please” because he is practicing the
request form, but because he wants a cookie. The natural need is the most important for
language acquisition.
3. Little children learn with their whole beings
Whole child involvement means that we should integrate as many senses as
possible: seeing, hearing, smelling and feeling. Manipulating real objects, following
directions, going on trips, working on art and crafts, cleaning up, singing, cooking, eating
and learning to play games are all opportunities to use language with whole bein g
involvement.
Little children should learn through total physical response games, action games,
song and chant games, seat and chalkboard activities, speaking and guessing games.
(Claire, Elizabeth. 1987: 1 -2)

3.2.1.1 Total physical response activities greatly multiply the amount of
language input that can be handled by beginning students. The main skills involved are
listening comprehension and physical response which means that speech is not required.
Students build self -confidence along with a wide -raging passive vocabulary base. This type
of activity should be used at the beginning or end of every beginner’s class for at least ten
minutes. Students will use their energy and they will become ready to speak sooner when
they are under no pressure to do s o. Much more material may be taught for passive
recognition than when production is required.
Examples of TPR activities can be:
1. Stand/ sit/close/open + eyes/mouth/ hands/books, etc .
The teacher should give command until most students participate withou t
hesitation. After we repeat and review commands we can add new ones. Then we repeat
and combine them before we add new ones, keeping students feeling successful.
2. Touch/put + ears/pencil/chairs/table/crayons/erasers .

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Students should recognize some items and identify them by means of touching. At
this age students learn better through feeling and touching.
3. Around the room .
Students walk around the room and do some activities according to the
command: put your chairs under the desks/ go to the window/ boy s go to the map/ girls go
to the blackboard, etc .
4. Verb commands + negative command with ‘stop’
It would be great fun for students to move around the class and do some activities
like walking and then stop walking.
5. Verb commands + negative with ‘don’t’
Don’t run to the door, walk to the door.
6. Verbs of motion + places.
The teacher gives commands like: walk tiptoe/ walk tiptoe to the teacher’s
desk/walk tiptoe to the teacher’s desk.
7. Write/erase + names/numbers/letters/words.
At this level, students use the ir knowledge to write easy words and then erase
them from the blackboard or from their sheets of paper.
8. Draw + an animal/a face/an object.
Some students feel very happy to sketch or to color some objects on a paper or on
the blackboard.
9. Copy + word (numbe r) times
The teacher could say: go to the blackboard/ write the word ‘boy’/ copy it three
times.
10. Shoe box can be a source of endless games for little children. The teacher
can collect small things or toys and sort them into a number of shoe boxes. They c an be
sorted according to the beginning letter or the lexical family. The student can play various
games like taking out a thing which is he feels with eyes closed. ( Claire, Elizabeth. 1987:
27-45)

3.2.1.2 Action games with songs and chants
Tall and small
Students stand in a line and the leader is the last one. Students learn the song and
sing it doing the corresponding action.
I am very, very tall (raise hands above heads and stand on tiptoes)

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I am very, very small (squat down)
Sometimes tal l (up again)
And sometimes small (squat again)
Guess what I am.
The leader stands or squats as he chooses and the first in line must guess how he
is tall or small. If he guesses correctly, she becomes the leader and so on.
(Claire, Elizabeth. ESL Teacher' s Activities Kit. 1987: 73)

The little bus
Students form a double line. One student at the front of the line is the driver.
Several students will be the passengers waiting at a station.
The wheels of the buss go round and round, (The driver mimes steer ing and leads
Round and round, round and round. the bus slowly around the room.
The wheels of the buss go round and round. (The other students move their arms
All on a rainy morning. as whe els go around.)

The driver of the bus says, “Move on back, (The passengers board the bus and
Move on back, move on back” the driver waves his hand back.)
The driver of the bus says, “Move on back”
All on a rainy mornin g.

The people on the bus go up and down (Passengers go up and down as
Up and down, up and down. the bus travels slowly.)
The people on the bus go up and down
All on a rainy morning.

The horn on the bus says beep, beep, beep, (Students mime pressing horn.)
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep,
The horn on the bus says beep, beep, beep,
All on a rainy morning.

The windshield wipers go swish, swish, swish, (Two hands imita ting
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish. windshield wipers)
The windshield wipers go swish, swish, swish,

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All on a rainy morning.

Summer is hot
The teacher says the rhyme as students listen and repeat and add the hand
movem ents, without partners.
Summer is hot. (slap your lap, clap your hands, face palms front)
Winter is cold. (repeat above)
I had a birthday. (slap your hands, clap your hands, right palm front)
And I’m 9 years old. (slap your hands, clap your hands, both palms front)

After students learn the poem they can practice with a partner.
Summer is hot. (slap your lap, clap your hands, slap other’s hands)
Winter is cold. (repeat above)
I had a birthday. (slap your han ds, clap your hands, partner slap right hands)
And I’m 9 years old. (slap your hands, clap your hands, partners slap both hands)
(Claire, Elizabeth. 1987: 91)

3.2.2 Adolescents
This group of learners is very challenging and demanding and can be very
motivated. It is sometimes very difficult but it can be also rewarding for the teacher to
work with them. They often respond well to a clearly organized task. They can be really
enthusiastic and become focused in the topic they are interested in.
Teenagers are demanding for the teacher because they are in a difficult period of
life, they are emotionally unstable, they have changing interests, get bored quickly, their
choice is very important and they are sometimes averse to things that seem to be imposed.
That is why we should do interesting activities proper to their age.
Although teenagers might pretend they are not interested initially, once an activity
gets started, they are excited. As a teacher of English Language, organizing games for teen
classes can serve many purposes. It helps students that are still insecure with their English –
speaking abilities feel more confident. ESL games also help students practice their
language skills and work cooperatively with their peers. The more they are in control wit h
what they do, the more they are likely to be engaged and achieve something.

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Here are some types of games for teenagers: flashcard games, picture stories,
lexical and DVD or video games. Some successful games for lower adolescents would be
What is there i n the bag? and Spelling Bee, or How many words can you make?

What is in the bag?
The main aim of the game is asking yes or no questions and practicing new words.
The challenger has a bag in which he hides an object and asks players what is in
the bag. Pla yers ask him questions until they guess what it is. The player with the right
answer wins a point and is allowed to be the challenger. (Rixon.1992:36)

Spelling Bee
The two teams stand up to begin the game. The teacher reads a word to one
member of the tea m who must spell it correctly. If he fails he must sit down and the word
passes to the other team. If he spells it correctly, the teacher reads out another word. Teams
take it in turn to start. The game ends when the whole team has been eliminated.
(Rixon. 1992:37)

How many words can you make?
In a mixed ability class is productive to have work in groups of four students.
After they finish the teacher can collect all the words on the board. It is a creative game
and the goal is to create as many acceptable words as they can.
A fairly long word is written on the board and players try to combine letters to
produce new words. They may not use letters more than in the original word. The winner
may be the one who has the most words or extra points can be awarded to player who find
a word that no other player finds. (Rixon.1992: 38)

Word Chain
Genki English recommends this game for junior high ESL students but adds that
high school and adult students can play it, too. We divide the class into two teams. Both
team s line up in front of the board single file. The first person from each team writes any
English word on the board. The next player writes a word that starts with the letter that the
original word ends in. For example, if the first player wrote "travel," th e second player
could write "love." Provide the teams a specific time limit. When the time is up, the team
with the most words wins.

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Vocabulary Game
This game is based on Genki English's Hammer Game. The teacher divides the
class into two teams and lines them up on either side of the room. The first student in line
from each team comes to the front. Provide them a category such as food, colours or
clothing. The students must take turns saying English words that represent that category. If
one student hesit ates, speaks in his native language or repeats a word, he must drop down
and do five push -ups. Both players go to the back of their lines, and the next players come
up to the front. You can keep score to make it more competitive.

3.2.3 Adults
Adults seem to be serious and many teachers consider that is inappropriate to play
games with these students. However, their attitude proved to be an advantage: they are
prepared to believe that the teacher knows best and are happy to try out what is suggested.
They are very receptive and communication on specific purpose both
academically and socially is very important for students at this age. They need tasks to be
solved, activities in pairs or small groups. Students also need to exchange information or
cross -question each other.
What’s the word?
The main goal of the game is to give definition of the word or guess the word.
Players have a pack of 10 cards between them. Each card has one word written on
it. Each player in turn picks up a card and does not let the other player see it. He asks a
question or gives a definition or example which will give the other player a clue to the
word. If the word is guessed correctly, the card is taken by the player who guessed it. If the
player fails to guess it, the card is rep laced to the bottom of the pack to be tried again later.
The winner is the player who has the most cards.

3.3 Games used for developing different skills
3.3.1 Games used for writing
Writing is a skill that requires perseverance, work and effort. Student s usually
associate writing with homework which does not have a positive connotation for them. On
the other hand, writing demands a completely different language than normally used in oral
language.

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Games can be a good way to prevent this because not on ly are games fun but
they can provide writers a reason to write and it is obvious that writing will become easier
when there is a clear reason instead of just having to write because the teacher said so.
Another thing that games can provide for writers is an audience. In many games other
students will play the reader’s part and therefore provide the writer with the necessary
feedback that writing often lacks (Hadfield & Hadfield.1990: 5 -6).
The main areas for developing the skill of writing are letters, wo rds, sentence,
paragraph, and text. There are games for developing each area.

Copying from the board
Frequently students have to copy a word, list of words, a diagram, a paragraph or
a text. This can sometimes be a boring activity and very often students do not copy
accurately. This activity can be turned into an interesting game. The teacher writes up on
the blackboard words or phrases with difficult spelling (trying, saying, writing, scanning,
etc.) and gives students 30 seconds to look at the words bef ore she/he rubs them off the
board. The students then have to try to write them correctly in their notebooks and get one
point for every correct word. The student with the most points wins the game.
Follow up: students can identify the spelling rules for -ing ending. (Harmer,
Jeremy. 2007: 54)

Whisper writing of a sentence
It is a game which involves students to whisper a given sentence. The game is to
see whether the sentence at the end of the line is the same with the given one at the
beginning the writt en version of the game begins with a student at one end of the line being
written a sentence. The student is allowed to only half a minute to read the sentence and he
is told that the spelling is important. Then the student has to write the sentence from
memory. Then he shows the sentence to the next student and so on. The last student writes
the sentence on the blackboard and the teacher writes the original.
In order to stop students getting bored either before or after they have written their
version, two sentences might be given from either ends of the line. (Harmer.2007: 54)

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General Questions
How does the game work?
Before play begins, each player takes a question sheet and clips it to a question
sheet holder. Each sheet contains a set o f 28 questions plus answers. The questions are in
four color -coded categories: Missing Word (Orange), Crossword Clues (Green), Multiple
Choice (Blue) and Spelling (Yellow). During the game, players throw the dice and move
their pieces around the board. If they land on a square bordered by one of these colours,
they are asked a question from the corresponding category by the player to their right. If
they answer correctly, they earn a scoring token of the appropriate colour and another
throw of the dice. If they answer incorrectly, their turn is over and the next player to the
left throws the dice to begin his or her turn, and so on. The first player to collect two
scoring tokens of each colour is the winner. The game also involves strategy and luck
through t he 'Word Up' cards plus option, penalty and bonus squares.

The questions are arranged into five levels of difficulty, with level 1 being the
easiest and level 5 the most difficult. Each player answers questions from the level best
suiting his or her abil ity. (http://www.teflgames.com)

3.3.2 Games for listening
The skill of listening is one of the most important you can have and how well we
do it can affect a variety of things in our lives. People on average only listen to between 25
– 50% of what is said so as teachers we've got to help those young people become more
effective listeners and these games will help.
Students want to be able to understand what people are saying to them in English,
either face to face on TV, or on radio, on cinema, theatre, or on tape, CD -s or other
recorded media. They should be encouraged to listen as much as possible. The more they
listen, the more they absorb the appropriate pitch, intonation, stress and sounds of both
words and those which blend together in connected speec h.
There are two kinds of listening: intensive and extensive listening. Intensive
listening is in the classroom when students are listening to an audio or video material from
a course book and detailed information. The extensive listening consists of wor ds from
film or songs students listen to and understand more or less, without intervention of the
teacher.

50
Because there are different things we want to do with listening text, we need to set
different tasks for different listening stages. For the first li stening stage, we need to check
students’ general understanding, and for the second stage we should be focused on detailed
information, language used or pronunciation. (Harmer. 2007: 133 – 136)
Listening activities might be an effective way of training th at particular skill but
teachers need to involve students to do interesting follow up or they might get bored. By
combining listening with games, teachers keep students interest and increase the chance of
the students to achieve their goals.

Jigsaw list ening
The class is divided in three groups and they have to listen to three different tapes
which are about the same thing (e.g. witness report after an accident). Students have to
assemble all the facts by comparing notes. In this way they may find out w hat happened or
solve a mystery. This type of game gives students a purpose for listening: solving the
problem or understanding all the facts.

Poetry
Students work in groups of four and they are given three titles of poems. They
have to predict what they are going to hear and write down as many words as they can.
Then they listen carefully and underline the words on their notebooks their right
predictions and get one point for every correct word. The winner is the team with the most
points.
Learners can also compete for testing their listening comprehension. Students
listen carefully to the poem for two times and try to come up with an appropriate title.
They can listen ta poem which has no punctuation and put in commas and full stops where
they think the y should occur.

Video without sound
Students can compete in pairs or groups. After they see the action without sound,
they discuss the clues and predict what the characters are actually saying. Once they have
predicted the conversation, the teacher rewind s the video and plays it again with sound.
Who was right wins.

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As a variation, the teacher plays the video without the picture. While the students
listen, they try to judge where the speakers are, what they look like, what is going on. Then
they listen a gain with visual images as well.
Another possibility is to divide the class in half, one half facing the screen and the
other half sitting back to it. The ‘screen’ half see the short film without sounds and
describe the visual images to the ‘wall’ half. Th en they see it and describe the different
perceptions. (Harmer. 2007: 133 – 136)

3.3.3 Games for reading – fill in the missing words from a text
Reading is an important skill to possess especially for English language. First of
all it is important becaus e of the fact that to be able to write people need to know how to
read. Secondly, it is important for people if they plan to visit the country where the
language is spoken because then they will have to be able to read, for example, various
directions, men us, and tourist brochures. Thirdly, knowing how to read is important if
students are planning on getting an education beyond elementary school because that
requires reading (Harmer. 2009: 77). Because of how important the skill reading is it is
crucial tha t teachers seek appropriate means in order to keep students interested. As with
the other skills, games can provide diversity and help keep subjects fun and interesting.
The term extensive reading refers to reading which students do often away from
classro om. They may read novels, books, web pages, magazines which mean reading for
pleasure, what Richard Day calls joyful reading . Intensive reading refers to the detailed
focused on the construction of reading texts which takes place usually in the classroom.
(Harmer 2007: 99 -100)

Jigsaw reading
Students read a short text which sets up a problem and then, in groups of four,
they have to read three different texts with the same theme. Then, they rearrange in groups
of three where each student has read a differ ent text, and try to work out the whole story or
describe the whole situation. The team who finish solving the problem first, will be the
winner.

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Reading puzzle
We have to print a text and cut it in many parts: paragraphs and then each
paragraph in lit tle pieces of paper. Students have to reassemble the papers so that every
group has a logic paragraph. The team which finishes first will be the winner.
Then we have to put arrange the stanzas and discuss the poem, giving the most
suitable title. The playe r who guesses the title gets a point for his team.

Poetry
The class is divided in groups of four, then each member of the group is given a
line from a poem, they can read the line to the others but shouldn’t allow others to see it.
They have to reassembl e the poem by putting the lines in order. (Harmer. 2007: 107 -108.)

Memorizing the poem
Another way to use a poem is to write it on the blackboard and read it aloud with
the whole class. Then the teacher erases different words and the class read again
comp leting the missing word from memory as many times as possible until the poem is
out. The student who remembers the poem, reciting and writing it correctly, will win.

Reading a story
The teacher selects a story for every group of three learners. A studen t is the
'runner' who relays between reader and writer. One student reads the story, the writer
writes it down and the runner tell the writer the punctuation and capitals. The writer is not
allowed to see the text. The first team to finish it correctly win s.

3.3.4 Games for speaking
Games could be helpful in solving this problem because they call for
communication, and they emphasize fluency instead of accuracy, which should encourage
students to communicate because when the emphasis is on fluency student s usually do not
receive much criticism although they might make errors. Fluency is an important skill to
practice because it is what is needed in the real world, and in that sense it could be said that
games provide a necessary connection between the clas sroom and the real world
(Hadfield.1990: 5). Although games in general might emphasize fluency the category
speaking games can be divided into two main categories. Those categories are: linguistic
games and communicative games. Even though they both aim to wards teaching speech in

53
the target language they put emphasis on very different things. While linguistic games
emphasize speaking correctly the goal when playing communicative games is fluency
(Hadfield. 1999: 8).

Disappearing dialogue
The teacher writ es a text of a dialogue on the blackboard and students practice
reading it aloud in pairs. Then the teacher starts removing parts from it, initially words and
then lines. At the end of the activity, students have to make a dialogue similar to that one.
They can be challenged to write it down from memory.

Dialogue building
It is similar to the previous game except that the dialogue is not presented to the
students but is elicited from them, line by line, using visual and verbal prompts.
The process of building a dialogue can be realized in the following steps:
1. Establish the situation using drawings of stick figures.
2. The teacher starts to elicit line by line conversation.
3. The first line of the dialogue is drilled, insisted on natural sounding rhythm
and intonation.
4. Then the teacher elicits ideas for the second line of the dialogue, shapes and
corrects the answers.
5. The two lines are put together and practiced with the teacher.
6. The process continues until the dialogue is complete.
7. Two students are chosen f rom two teams to perform the dialogue. They receive
one point for each correct question or answer. As a variation, they can write down on the
blackboard and notebooks. (Thornbury. 2005: 77 -79)

Info-gap race
The teacher pre -teaches or revises nouns relat ing to geometrical shapes (line,
circle, rectangular, square, triangle and rectangle) and prepositional phrases such as on the
left, on the right, above, below, outside, inside, so that the learners can describe a design,
landscape or room interiors. The t eacher dictates a design so that the students draw it
correctly.
Now the game element is introduced. The class is divided into two teams and the
blackboard is divided into two columns. Each team is given a paper with a design on it and

54
members try to descr ibe the picture so that their representative draws the picture on the
blackboard. The first to finish is the winner of the round. The teacher selects another
design and the game continues. (Thornbury.2005: 82)

Guessing games
The main task of this kind of game is to develop speaking fluency. One student
thinks of a job and the others ask yes/no questions to guess what it is. We can provide ideal
conditions for automating knowledge which are repetitive: Do you work indoors or
outdoors? Do you work with hand s? Do you wear a uniform? The game takes place in real
time so there is an element of spontaneity and unpredictability.
The game can be played in pairs, in two teams or with the whole class. Students
ask questions in order to guess the job and the winner is the leader of the game and thinks
of a new job. The format of the game can be applied to almost any topic, including the
learner’s own lives. For example, students can reconstruct the student weekend activities
by asking yes/no questions.

Party jokes
Students first learn and rephrase a joke that has a narrative element. Then, in pair
or in groups of three, they exchange jokes. They should be taught some basic joke -framing
expressions like: Did you hear the joke about …? That reminds me of the joke about …
The repeated practice fulfils an important function of good speaking task. At the
end of the activity, the class can vote on the best joke. (Thornbury. 2005: 96)

Alibies
This classic activity has a game element. The basic format starts with two student s
being ‘accused’ of having committed some crime, such as a robbery in an institution where
the class takes place between 10 and 11 on the preceding day. The two students go out of
the room to establish an alibi. It is important to establish they were toge ther for all that
time. The class and the teacher prepare some questions of the type: What were you doing?
What did you do next? Did you meet anyone? What did you say? How much did it cost?
Who paid?
The accused are led in, one at a time, and have to answe r the questions put to
them. They are not allowed to claim that they do not remember. Any significant
discrepancy in their answers means they are guilty.

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As a variation, we can play ‘green card’. Immigration officers interview
separately two candidates wh o pretend to be members of the same family. In this case they
have to answer some questions about some members of the family. Their answers have to
be similar. (Thornbury. 2005: 98 -99)

Sentence star
The learners draw a five -pointed star on a piece of pape r. The teacher asks them to
write on the tip of the first point can, on the second point like, on the third have, on the
fourth used to and on the fifth point going to.
Individually, they write true sentences about themselves using the prompts. In
pairs or in small groups, they take turns to read each other their sentences. E.g. I can speak
a little Portuguese . The others in the group have to ask questions about each of the
sentences. E.g. Where did you learn Portuguese? How well can you speak? Can you writ e?
The main purpose is to talk and know each other. In the end, they can report to the
class interesting and new things they have just found out about their colleagues.

Potato game
The game may be played in groups of 4 students. Players take turns to nam e one
thing that can be done with a potato. If one can’t think of an idea, he or she is out of the
game. The last person to give a use is the winner.
As a variation, students take turn to think of a vegetable and answer ten questions
without naming the veg etable. After each question, one of the others in the group will have
a go at guessing what the vegetable is. Whoever guess it right, get 10 points, the next 9
points, and so on. Questions can be written on a sheet of paper or on cards:
1. Can it be boiled?
2. Is it countable or uncountable?
3. Does it grow in the ground?
4. Can you eat it raw?
5. Is it bitter or sweet?
6. Do people eat a lot of them in Romania?
7. What do you eat it with?
8. How big is it?
9. What colour is it?
10. What is the first letter?

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(Seymour, David and Popova, Maria. 2005: 14)

Keep talking
In pairs, students take turns to continue these monologues for as long as possible.
Each student has to pick up a card with a prompt on it and talk about for about three
minutes. I always feel good when …
It’s a long time s ince…
When I was young…
I wish…
I’m proud of …
The best time of the day is …
I prefer …
In England …
There is nothing wrong with …
When I drink tea I …
(David Seymour and Maria Popova. 2005: 25)

Good and bad
The class is divided into two teams A and B . When the teacher calls out the topic,
someone from team A must quickly give an advantage. Then someone from team B must
quickly give a disadvantage, beginning with ‘Yes, but …’
The team which does not know to continue giving arguments, will lose the tou r.
The other team will get a point for that tour. The team with the most points will win.
Some examples of topics: TV, cars, clothes, alcohol, coffee, having a baby, the
welfare state, freedom, being self -employed, hitchhiking, cats and dogs, living in Ro mania,
computer, being a man, being a woman, getting married and getting divorced.
(David Seymour and Maria Popova. 2005: 29)

3.4 Games for different purposes
3.4.1 Grammar games
Grammar presentation and practice activities can be evaluated by how effici ent
and appropriate they are.
The E – factor : Whatever grammar exercise is done in the classroom, it should be
as efficient as possible. Efficiency should be broken down into three factors: economy,

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ease and efficacy. When we present a grammar rule, we sho uld be economical: the shorter
the better. The ease factor recognizes that most teachers lead busy lives and don’t have
time to sacrifice and prepare a long time for the exercise. The easier an activity is to set up,
the better it is. The most important o f all, we should ask ourselves how what it is its
efficacy or if it will work.
The A – factor: every class of students is different because of their needs,
interests, levels and goals or their beliefs, attitudes and values. That is why what is
appropriat e to a class is not appropriate to another one. (Thornbury. 2007: 45 -46)

Happy grammar families
It is a card game with verbs, subjects, objects and articles. Students play in groups
of four, two against two facing each other and pair A can’t see pair B’ cards. Students
shuffle the cards and each pair has five cards and the rest of them are in a pool, facing
down.
The aim of the game is to put down as many words as possible in meaningful and
grammatically correct sentences. The winner is the pair that h as the most words in the
sentences put down by the end of the game. They can also win by getting rid of the cards at
any points in the game.
Pair A begins by taking a card from the pool and asking for a card from pair B.
they ask for a grammatical category . i.e. Have you got a subject? If pair B has the card in
that category they must give it to them and they may lay down a sentence if the
combination makes it possible. If the sentence is not correct the other team must explain
the rule and the cards return ed to the pool.
Verbs: give, hate, like, love, want, must, don’t, go, can’t, have.
Subjects: I, we, you, bread, CD player, man, woman, car.
Objects: us, me, you, bread, CD player, man, woman, car.
Article: a, a, the, the.
(Rinvolucri and Davis. 2010: 5 -7)

Present perfect love story
The teacher tells the students they are going to play a grammar game and read a
romantic love story at the same time. I gave each group of three students a jumbled sheet.
They have to sort out the jumble and add any necess ary punctuation. Three points will go
to the team that shouts out an unjumbled answer. Team that shout out a wrong answer will

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lose one point. In addition to being jumbled, three out of the thirteen sentences contain
grammar mistakes. A team that spots a g rammar mistake will get three more points and if
they can correct they get additional two points. A team that sees a mistake where there
isn’t one loses one point. If they are stuck the teacher can help them by giving the first
three words and if they cont inue correctly they get two points. The teacher keeps a record
of the score as she goes along. – appendix 8 – (Rinvolucri and Davis. 2010: 21 -22)

Present tense simple and continuous
Progress report
The class has to be arranged into pairs and as k each pair to make two large voting
sheets one marked with a large A and the other one with B. The teacher writes the
student’s names in pairs on the board. And gives each pairs a bank of twenty -five points.
Then the teacher gives each student a copy of ‘progress report’. Using the
‘progress report: master sheet’, the teacher reads out one of the sentences in bold. These
sentences are missing from the students’ copies of ‘progress report’.
Then we give the students a short time to decide which of the sen tences on their
sheet fits. At a given signal, a representative from each pair votes by holding up the two
prepared sheets with A or B. Pairs with wrong answer will lose a point. The teacher can
give an explanation for the correct sentence.
As a variation, the students complete their ‘Progress report’ sheets selecting
sentences from the ‘Progress report: jumbled’ list. This could be done as homework. –
appendix 9 – (Hall, Nick and Shepherd, John. 1991: 23)

Volleyball
The aim of the game is to memorize and repeat the three forms of irregular
verbs. The class is arranged into two teams facing each other. The teacher gives each
student a set of verbs. A student from the first team selects a verb from their set and calls it
out to the second team. A student from the second team must call back the past simple, the
first team must then call back the past participle . Now the second team selects a verb from
their list and so on. For a correct answer they get a point for their team and for a mistak e
they get one point for the other team.
The teacher sets either a target number of points or a time limit. The teacher does
not correct the mistakes but simply shouts mistake and writes the infinitive on the

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blackboard. At the end of the game each team ha s the opportunity to give the second and
the third form of the verb on the board. The team with the most points wins.
(Hall, Nick and Shepherd, John. 1991: 44)

Did you write that?
The main aim of the game is to drill a structure of like and dislike verbs and get
students to listen to each other.
The teacher divides the class into groups of ten to twelve students and appoints a
leader. The teacher writes two columns of verbs expressing likes and dislikes (I don’t like,
I can’t stand, I hate, I loathe, I det est and I like, I really like, I love, I’m crazy about).
Students have to write secretly, on a slip of paper, one thing that they hate and love but
their mates would be surprised to find out. Everyone has to write down all the names of the
classmates from the sub -group. After the leader of the group collects in the slips, he has to
read out the favourite word list. They have to write each favourite word next to the name
they supposed to write it.
The teacher writes the question: Did you write that your fav ourite word was…?
Every group has a round of questions simultaneously. Each student can ask only one
question to any other member of the group. There may need to be at least three rounds. If
they are right, they get one point. (Rinvolucri, Mario and Davis, Paul. 2010: 61)

Achievements
The aim of the game is to practice present perfect and by + time phrases. The
teacher prepares 10 -15 sentences about himself or herself.
E.g.: By the time I was six I had learnt to read.
I still hadn’t l earned how to ride a bike by then.
I hae got over my fear of water by the time I was eight.
By the time I was nine I had ridden a bike.
By thirteen I had read a mass of books.
I have got over my fear of dark by around ten.
The teacher asks students to ha ve two different colours to write the dictated
sentences, one colour for true sentences and the other one for false sentences.in groups of
two, students explain their mates which sentences were true of their lives. Then, they have
to ask each other some qu estions like : At what age had you learnt to ski/dance/ sing/play
table tennis by? I’ve learnt to ski by seven.

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Each student has to write some fresh sentences about his or her achievement by a
certain time and tell it to the teacher. If it is correct, the student gets one point.
Variation
The teacher can use the same procedure for any area of grammar he wants to
personalize. For instance, she can write sentences about thinks she haven’t got round to
doing yet, things she likes having done, things she ought to do and feels she can’t.
(Rinvolucri, Mario and Davis, Paul. 2010: 58 -59)

Picture the past
The aim of the game is to practice past tense, past perfect and future in the past.
Students work in groups of four. They have to draw a picture in the middle of a paper with
something interesting they have done. Then they pass their picture to a neighbour of a
foursome. Student A has to write a past simple sentence under the picture related to the
picture. Student B writes about what had already happened before th e picture action and
student C about something that was going to happen. Each student should work similarly
passing his paper to the next until it returns to him or her.
All this is done in silence with the teacher going round, helping and correcting. In
their fours, they compare the pictures and sentences. The sentences frequently reinterpret
the pictures in an amusing way. (Rinvolucri, Mario and Davis, Paul. 2010: 85)

Whose am I?
The aim of the game is to practice genitive + human or animate . The teach er
revises some words and teaches others about relatives or relations. Then she is going to tell
them about some people close to her. She could say something like this: I am Maria’s and
John’s daughter, Adrian’s wife, Naomi’s mother, Cornel’s granddaughter and I am not a
twin. The students have to repeat back to the teacher as best they can.
The next step is to work in pairs and do exercise that the teacher has just
demonstrated. It is very important for students to be good listeners. In turns, they have to
speak for one minute and the others repeat what they have said. They can receive a point
for each correct genitive. (Rinvolucri, Mario and Davis, Paul. 2010: 90)

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Future forms
This game can be played while we are teaching or repeat future forms o f the
verbs. We need three chairs spaced out in front of the classroom. They represent the
present continuous, near future with to be going to and future simple.
As a procedure, the teacher gives a few examples from real life sitting in the
appropriate ch air. For instance, she sits in the first chair saying: ‘I am meeting an old friend
who is leaving town tonight’. Then she moves on the next chair and says: ‘we are going to
go out for a meal’ and on the third chair, ‘then we’ll go back for a coffee or go for a drink’.
The next step is to invite students to come, sit down and make up a sentence about
future. If we find students are sticking to one structure, it’s worth introducing the rule that
no chair can be used more than twice consecutively.
This exerc ise can be adapted to other structure like: present continuously for
‘around now’ versus present tense, various types of conditionals, modals etc. (Rinvolucri,
Mario and Davis, Paul. 2010: 110 -111)
For every correct sentence they get a point. The stud ent with the most points will
win. The game can be played in teams and students can accumulate points in turn for their
team.

3.4.2 Vocabulary games
According to Rixon, “Games help students revise vocabulary and recalling
something that happened in a game may help a student remember the language connected
with it” (1992: 82). Moreover, the author continues, “Vocabulary games provide a good
chance for students to learn something from one another” (1992: 80).
Charades
The teacher writes vocabulary words on i ndividual index cards . The class is
divided into two teams, and one individual from each team act out the same word. The
team which correctly guess the word first scores a point.

Pictionary
The teacher writes vocabulary words on individual index cards or uses sets from
charades. He/she breaks the class into two teams, and one individual from each team
draws a picture on the board. Drawers cannot use letters numbers or symbols in their
drawings. The first team to guess the word correctly scores a point.

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Memory
The teacher creates his/her own memory game using vocabulary words . Write
each word on individual index cards. For each existing card, make a matching card with
the definition, a synonym or an antonym. Students shuffle the cards and arrange them a ll
face down on a table. Students take turns flipping over two cards. If the cards make a set,
the student keeps the cards and takes an additional turn. The person with the most cards at
the end of the game wins.

Modified Catch Phrase
The teacher makes v ocabulary cards . Students sit in a circle with a timer set for a
random amount of time (3 -8 minutes works well). Shuffle the cards and give the deck to
the first person in the circle. That person draws a card and tries to get his classmates to
guess the wo rd by giving verbal clues. He cannot say the word or any part of the word.
When someone guesses the word, he passes the stack to the next person who takes a turn
with another word. The person holding the stack of cards when the timer goes off loses.

Scattergories
The teacher chooses ten categories with your students or before class starts (e.g.
types of pets, city names, sports, items in a kitchen, etc.).he/ she uses an alphabet die to
determine the letter for each round of play sets a timer for three min utes. Students must
think of one word for each category that begins with that round’s letter. Students score one
point per word, and the person with the most points at the end of three rounds is the
winner.
The Dictionary Game
The teacher choose s an unus ual word from the dictionary and spells it for
his/her students. Each person creates a fictional definition for the word and writes it on
an index card. Then the teacher writes the actual definition on another index card. He
collects and shuffles the cards , and then reads all the definitions. Students must try to guess
which definition is the real one.

A-Z Pictures

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Using a picture with many elements, students attempt to find an object in the
picture that begins with each of the letters A through Z. After a bout five minutes, students
compare answers. The person with the most correct answers wins the round.
(http://busyteacher.org/13612 -7-best-games -for-vocabulary -class.html)

How special am I?
The teacher writes on the blackboard some categories: positive a nd negative
characteristics, hobbies and talents, places for holiday, significant years, influential
persons, treasured possessions, favourite colours, and four seasons. Then she writes two or
three example on the blackboard. The teacher gives each studen t a copy of the sheet and
asks them to complete it individually, setting a time limit.
Each student starts with ten points and the aim is to prove that they are different
from the other students from the group. Students work in groups of four and have two dice
for each group. They take turns to throw the dice and speak. For example, if they throw
three and five, they can speak about item three, five or eight (the sum of them) from the
sheet.
When they talk about their item, they can be challenged by anoth er student in the
group, if he or she has something in common with them. If the claim is successful, the
student who was challenged has to give one point to the other student. Only one challenged
can be made on each turn. The winner is the student with the most points at the end of the
game.
Variation: instead of throwing the dice, the person to the right of the player may
say which number he would like the player to talk about.
Follow -up: students write their name on the top of the sheet, then collect the m and
ask one student to come in front and read without telling the name. The other students have
to guess the student’s name according to the description. (O’Dell, Felicity and Head,
Kathy. 2011: 12) – appendix 10

At home
The aim of the game is to learn and revise common vocabulary items related to
houses. The teacher divides the class into teams of four to six students and gives them an
envelope with picture cards. They have to spread them on the table and hold up the correct
picture when the teacher pro nounces the word. This can be considered a warm -up activity.

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Students return their envelope of cards and place them on the teacher’s desk. A
student from each team picks up a card from the envelope of their team and has to mime it
to his team to guess. Eac h team gets a point when they guess the word correctly. After
fifteen minutes, the team with the most points is the winner.
As a follow -up, students discuss with their partners which things they have in
their own home. (O’Dell, Felicity and Head, Kathy. 20 11: 28)

Five things
The class is divided into two or three teams. The teacher tells them a category and
they have to choose a leader of the team. They discuss in their group and the leader runs to
the blackboard and writes five things in that category. The fastest team wins a point.
Things that: come in pairs, can fly, float in water, move fast, are symmetrical, make a lot of
noise, are invisible, you can’t buy, are soft, can be full or empty, have holes, are difficult,
fit together, make you feel good.
As a variation, teams take turns to shout out words in this category. The last team
to think of one wins a point. The teacher has to set a time limit for the last item.
(Seymour, David and Popova, Maria. 2005: 123)

Clothes
Find someone in the class who i s wearing something green / designer clothes /
blue jeans /something striped / the most zips / the most interesting buttons. The student
who guesses the right name wins a point. As a variation, they can point the right thing
either on himself or on another student and win a point too.
Another variation of the game can be to tell all the students to stand up and tell
them to sit down if they are wearing green socks / a belt / trainers / a sweatshirt with a
logo. The teacher can vary according to what student s are wearing. The last person
standing is the winner. ( Seymour, David and Popova, Maria. 2005: 124)

3.4.3 Functional language games
The aim of this kind of games is to practice and develop different kind of
functional language like: giving and asking advice, offering to do something and
answering to an offer, making and replying to a suggestion, inviting and answering to an
invitation, asking for permission, complaining and apologizing, giving directions and
opinion, agreeing and disagreein g.

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Advice
In small groups, students continue these tips and write their own ideas down.
Swap them with another group, and see if they agree with their advice.
To look after your heart you should or should not ….
To be happy in life you should (not)…
To learn a language you should (not)…
To drive safely you should (not)…
To bring up children well should (not)…
To go on well with people should (not)…
In pairs, students agree what they would do if someone: has hypothermia, goes
into labour, stops breathing, swallowed something poisonous, has been electrocuted or has
been beaten by a snake. (Seymour, David and Popova, Maria. 2005. P. 46)

Complaining and criticism
Students imagine they are in a shop complaining to a sales assistant. In pairs, they
write a min i dialogue with the following pairs of words: brown/black; satin/matt;
larger/bitter; brown/white; hamburger/cheeseburger.
E.g. -Customer: I asked for size 14, but you gave me 12.
-Assistant: I’m terribly sorry, madam. I will bring you a 14 size.
(Seymour, David and Popova, Maria. 2005: 47)

Offers and requests
The aim of this activity is to make requests, using the following prompts:
I’m hungry. I’m fed up. I’m lonely. I’m stressed. I’m tired. I’m broke. It’s hot in
here. I can’t reach. I can’t get to sleep. I’ve got a headache. I need to sit down. There is no
sugar in my tea. I don’t understand. My car is broken down. I feel sick. (Seymour, David
and Popova, Maria. 2005: 61)

Booking a room
Students work in pairs. One of them is the receptionist and the other is a guest
checking into the hotel. They have to role -play a conversation, using these words:
single/double, en suite, one night/two nights, suitcases/, alarm call/time, champagne,
sauna/pool, internet .

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When they finish, they have to write the conversation down and compare with
another pair. (Seymour, David and Popova, Maria. 2005: 62)

3.4.4 Phonetic games
Spelling Bee
A Spelling Bee is a classic spelling game which will help your students spell and
review words from their vocabulary lists. The class is divided into two teams and each
team stands along an opposite wall of the classroom. The teacher gives one word at a time
to each student, alternating teams. If the student spells the word correctly, she goes to the
end of the line until her turn comes up again. If she spells the word incorrectly, she sits
down. The last team standing wins. This game is a great way to review vocabulary and
spelling.

Find the vowels
The teacher makes a set of go fish cards using spelling words. For each spel ling
word, he/she writes the word on one card minus the vowels in the word (for example “ H—
D”). On another card, he/she writes the vowels which complete that word (for example, “ –
EA-“). Students play the card game go fish style by matching the spelling wor d with the
vowels it needs to complete the word. You can add cards to the set as you add spelling
words throughout the year.

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Invisible Man
For a team spelling game, the teacher draws two stick figures on the board.
Each figure should have the same number of parts. The goal is to make your team’s stick
man invisible before the other team does. The teacher gives each team a word to spell. If
they spell it correctly, erase one piece of the stick figure. If they do not spell the word
correctly, leave the stic k figure unchanged. Then repeat with two new words. The first
team to make his man invisible wins!

Magnetic Letters
Using a magnetic board and a few sets of magnetic letters (available in most
stores), see which player can create the most words in a set a mount of time, around
five minutes, from his set of letters. After the five minutes is up, check the words and
explain any unfamiliar vocabulary. The person with the highest number of words wins the
game. As a variation the teacher can use letters from pap er and give a certain number so
that each student can make words and spell them correctly.

Word Search
A word search is a fun way for students to review spelling words . Give each
person a sheet of graph paper and have him write the spelling words in the grid before
filling in the remaining boxes. Have students exchange their word searches and see who
can find all the vocabulary words first. ( http://busyteacher.org/1 1555 -10-fun-spelling –
games -for-your -esl-class.html )

Stress moves
This is a game of physical movement for the whole class. The teacher chooses
twenty words from the course or asks students in turn to suggest a word. The teacher
makes sure that the words contain a number of different stress patterns. We can write them
on flashcards.
The teacher decides on some ‘stress moves’ before the class. The stress moves are
physical movements which are made when players pronounce the word (e.g. they can
make a fist for each unstressed syllable open fingers for stressed syllable or clap hands for
unstressed syllable and bang the desk for stressed syllable.)

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The teacher asks students to sit in a circle so that they can see each other. Each
student receives a flashcar d and says the word on the card with a stress move to
accompany it.
One player begins the game by saying his own word with the appropriate stress
move and then saying another’s player word and so on. The game continues until a player
makes a mistake. A mi stake occurs when a player fails to respond when his word is called,
forgets to repeat his own word, pronounces words incorrectly, or makes the wrong stress
move.
Each player begins with ten points and loses one point for each mistake. The
game can be re started by the teacher or by the player who made the mistake. The game
finishes when one student has lost all ten points. (Hancock, Mark. 1995: 15)

Happy families
It is a card game played in groups of four or five players. The aim is to collect
complete f amilies of words such as: civil, civility, civilize, civilization . The monitor deals
out five cards to each player. Players take turns to request cards from any of the other
players. For example, Mary, can I have civility, please? If the player has the wor d, he must
give it. Then he continues asking for cards until the player doesn’t have the card and take
one from the monitor. Then the next player asks for necessary card and so on. When
someone completes the family word he puts the cards face down on the t able. The player
with the most complete families is the winner. The job of the monitor is to make sure that
the players pronounce words correctly when they ask for them. (Hancock, Mark. 1995: 27)

Hidden names
The aim is to identify the common sound in the group of words. The teacher
makes a copy of the puzzle for each student of the class. The game can be played
individually or in pairs. The names of the four members of the family are hidden in the
columns of words beside them. To find names, it is necessa ry to find the common sound
that all the words in the column contain. Then put these sounds together to make the name.
If students are familiar with the phonetic script, it will be useful for noting down the sound
below each column. Otherwise, they will ha ve to note it by underlining it in the words.
For instance, mother’s name is hidden in the following w ords: suggest, soldier,
jacket, fridge / ʤ/; although, saxophone, postman, follow / əʊ/; stranger, danger, enters,
revenge /n/. The name is Joan.

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For father’s name, we have: autumn, combining, comfortable, handsome /m/;
apples, parrot, expand, backache / æ/; eighth, thought, through, tooth /θ/; university, future,
yellow, newspaper /j/; teaspoon; juicy, movement, twenty -two /u:/. The name is Mathew.
Another hidden name is daughter’: ocean, shop, sugar, fishing / ʃ/; reading,
complete, seventeen, pieces / ɪ:/; castle, battle, arrival, pills /l/; America, psychology, water,
kitchen / ə/. The daughter’s name is Sheila.
The last name can be found in the following words: nature, fetch, question,
children / ʧ/; heart, tomato, calmer, marching /a:/; elephant, eleven , golf, hopeful /l/; gives,
zero, apples, those /z/. The son’s name is Charles.
We can make our own names or any other names. Students can also work in small
groups and make their words for their colleagues and change papers between them. The
first group w ho discovers the word is the winner. (Hancock. 1995: 34 -35)

Win a word
This is a matching card game pointing to vowel sounds in words spelt with e. the
vowel in on syllable words with a final e tends to be pronounced as it is in the alphabet.
The teacher divides the class into small groups and gives them cards. There should be two
piles of cards with word beginning and word ending. Students have to place cards on the
two piles and the first player who notices a word must put a hand over the cards and says
the word. Students check it and if the word exists, this player wins all the cards in the piles.
The player with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner. (Hancock. 1995: 46 –
47)

Bingo
This is a listening and searching game for students at eleme ntary level. The aim is
to discriminate sounds and is to be played with the whole class.
The teacher copy and cut the sheet of cards so that there is a sheet of card for one
student. After the teacher gives out the prepared cards, he/she reads out each of the words
from one of the cards in random order, ticking off the words in order to avoid repetition.
Students have to cross out the words on their card as they hear them. When a player
completes a horizontal or vertical line, he/she should shout bingo. The teacher asks this
player to read back the words in the completed line for checking it. If this is correct, the
player is the winner. The game continues to give other players the opportunity to win
second and third positions.

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We can make our own version, making a list of 16 or 25 words. Students can draw
the grid and write words in random order after dictation. If they are unsure they can ask for
the spelling at this stage. Then the game can be played as above. -appendix 11 – (Hancock.
1995: 70)

Phonetic code
It is a search puzzle for intermediate students working individually or in pairs.
The aim is for awareness of sounds.
The teacher makes a copy of the puzzle for each member or writes it on the
blackboard. Numbers refer to sounds which are common to di fferent words. If students are
familiar to phonetic script they can use symbols.
The three sentences contain a secret message from one spy to another. To find the
message, students must break the code. They have to put the sounds together in numerical
order and get the secret message. The first student who finds it is the winner. – appendix
12- (Hancock. 1995: 74 -75)

1.4.5 Spelling games
Spelling auction
The aim of this game is to detect the badly spelt words. Students work in teams of
four. They have five hund red euros to spend on the vocabulary in this list. The teacher
auctions each word. Students have to bid against the other teams. The badly spelt words
are worth nothing. At the end, the team with the highest number of correct spelling words
is the winner. In the event of a draw, the team with the most money left wins.
Here is a list of selection of words with the correct spelling given in the brackets:
across (across), necessary, bicause (because), foreign, ieither (either), forty, buisness
(business), rec eipt, government, Wendesday (Wednesday), people, adress (address),
tommorow (tomorrow), biscuit, begining (beginning), yesterday, beautifull (beautiful),
neighbour, restorant (restaurant), cigarret (cigarette), sentence. (Seymour, David and
Popova, Maria. 2005. P.145)

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Grid wars
The aim of the game is to repeat the new words with proper spelling. The teacher
selects 25 recently learnt words and writes the initial letters in the grid of five squares on
the blackboard. The class is divided into two teams. Team A has to win a line of letters
from top to bottom and team B has to win a line of letters from left to right. The line can go
in any direction but not diagonally.
The teams take turns to choose a letter and give a definition for a word that begins
with that letter. The other team has to guess the word and gets one square. If they get all
the line of squares, they win. If not, the letter is out of bounds and no team can choose it.
(Seymour, David and Popova, Maria. 2005: 145)

Spellbound
This game i s played any time to check students’ spontaneity and vocabulary.
Students take turns to say and write a word beginning with letter c. They can’t
repeat a word which has already said and written. Any student who can’t say a word is out
of the game. The win ner is the last student left.
When most of the students have had a go, the teacher can change the first rule. If
the class finds this too easy, the teacher can change several rules at the same time: a verb
including the letter b, a noun including two vowel s, a word with two consonants together, a
word with a double letter, a word with two syllables, a word containing at least three
different vowels, a word with a silent sound. (Seymour, David and Popova, Maria. 2005:
146)

1.5 Games for every style of learning
The style of learning is very important for because each student has his/her own
style in which he learns better. That is why a teacher has to know students very well in
order to answer all their needs. There are many kinds of games and most of them access
the multiple learning styles. Because students have different learning styles, it's important
to incorporate multiple teaching techniques into the classroom experience.
There are many models of different learning styles in education. The most widely
used is the VAK learning styles model, developed in 1987 by Neil Fleming, a high school
and university teacher from New Zealand. Its letters stand for the three learning styles:
visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Fleming later added a fourth, read/write, changi ng the
acronym to VARK. ( http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Teaching_Tips/ )

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Visual learners process information most effectively when the information is
seen. Depicti ons can include charts, graphs, flow charts, and all the symbolic arrows,
circles, hierarchies and other devices that instructors use to represent what could have been
presented in worlds. These learners think in pictures and have vivid imaginations. They
often enjoy reading, have good handwriting, are very detail -oriented, are organized, and
have a keen awareness of colours and shapes. They replace words with symbols or initials,
translate concepts into pictures and diagrams, underline or highlight your no tes or
textbooks with different colours, turn your visuals back into words, and use flashcards of
key information with words, symbols, and diagrams.
Aural learners process information most effectively when spoken or heard.
These learners respond well to l ectures and discussions and are excellent listeners. They
also like to talk and enjoy music and dramas. When trying to recall information, aural
learners can often "hear" the way someone told them the information. Play word games
and use rhymes to practice language. These students read aloud and are good public
speakers. They also use beats, rhythms, and songs.
The read/write learning style was added to Fleming’s model after the initial
three. Read/write learners specifically learn best through the written word. They absorb
information by reading books and handouts, taking lots of notes (sometimes word -for-
word), and making lists. They prefer lectures, diagrams, pictures, charts, and scientific
concepts to be explained using written language. They are often fast readers and skilful
writers. This kind of students learns by writing plenty of notes, rewriting them in their own
words, and studying from them. They like playing games using dictionaries and answer
multiple -choice questions.
Kinesthetic/tactile learners process information actively through physical means.
Kinesthetic learning refers to whole body movement while tactile learning refers only to
the sense of touch. These learners gesture when speaking, are poor listeners, and lose
interest in long spee ches. Most students that do not perform well in school are
kinesthetic/tactile learners. The learner is connected to real situations through experience,
example, practice, or simulation. Take in information through field trips, laboratories, trial
and erro r, exhibits, collections, and hands -on examples. They put real life example into
notes summary and use pictures and photographs that illustrate an idea.
(http://www.educati on.com/reference/article/Ref_Teaching_Tips/?page=2 )

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3.5.1 Visual games
This type of games can use materials like flashcards, colourful pictures, posters,
videos, story books with pictures, computer graphics, maps (e.g. treasure maps), charts,
cartoons, board games, worksheets and puzzles.

Flashcards
They stay for pictures that can be hold up when standing in front of the whole
class. They are a very useful teaching aid, used for showing the meaning of a lexical item,
telling a story, prompts for a gram mar problem or prompts for guessing, definition,
description games. (Scrivener. 2005: 333)

Memory games
The teacher puts large flashcards on the blackboard and asks students to say and
repeat the correspondent word for each of them. Then, they have to look at them for a few
minutes and try to memorize them. The teacher takes them and the students have to write
down as many words as they can. After a given time, the teacher gives them one point for
each correct word. The winner is the student with the mo st points.
For a higher level, the teacher can ask them to give a definition to each correct
word and adds an extra point for it.

Memory story
This game can be used with cards representing activities. The aim of the game is
to identify picture with the r ight English verb and remember all the other activities.
The teacher divides the class into groups of four or more. They have to tell a story
using past tense form of the verbs. They can begin with: Yesterday I went shopping and
bought… the next one has to repeat all that has been said and add his activity suggested by
the picture. The game continues until one student doesn’t know what to say. He is out of
the game and so on. The last student who stays in the game is the winner.

Concentration
There are tw o sets of flashcards, either picture/picture or picture/word. Students
attempt to turn over and match from both sets. If they do so, they may continue. The
student with the most pairs, at the end, wins.

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As a variation, the teacher divides the class in thr ee groups, each of them standing
in a row. Each team has some flashcards spread on a table. In turn, they have to match
them with the corresponding words. The fastest team wins.

Snap
The cards are face up on the table. The teacher says a sentence and t he first
student to “snap” or slap the right card gets to keep it. The most cards at the end, wins. You
can play this full class by putting large flashcards on the board and having students run up
to the blackboard and slap the correct flashcard.

Go fish
This is a grammar game using some closed question / answer (ex. Did you …..
last night? – Yes, I did / No, I didn’t). Students in groups of 3 or 4 ask each other questions
using the target language. If the student asked has that card, they must give it and that
student collects a pair. They may continue until they don’t collect. If a student runs out of
cards, they pick up some more cards to continue. Most pairs at the end wins.
(www.eslkidstuff.com/ flashcardgames content)

Posters
We can use posters with st ars or celebrities for teaching students how to describe
someone or posters with places or objects for describing them.
Students have to look at a poster for 2 minutes and try to describe it. Then they
have to write down as many characteristics as they can . Those with the most points win.

Picture stories
They can be in a book or handout and “traditionally they have been used as a
starting point for writing exercises, but they are also very useful for focusing on specific
language points or as material for speaking and listening activities. Most picture stories
seem inevitably to involve practice of past simple and past progressive.” (Scrivener. 2005:
334)

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Students can play different games with picture stories. Students work in groups of
four and they recei ve six pictures with a story. They have to put them in order so that they
have a logical sequence of a story and talk about it for at least one minute.

3.5.2 Listening games
Language games for this type of learner are mainly listening based. They include
games that involve repetition, dictation, and listening for clues. Songs are what work best
for musical learners, but they will be debated in the following chapter.
Songs work best with musical learners and we can do a lot of things with a song:
listening for a gap – filling, listening for vocabulary development, listening for discussion,
listening and write a story based on the song, listening and act out a role play.
Chants are also an ideal way to reach musical learners. They are very rhythmic
and easy to remember. We can have classroom rules in a chant or grammar chants to
practice any verb tense. Rhymes have a particular rhythm that is very attractive to musical
learners. We can play games with rhymes, teach irregular verbs in rhymes or use creative
exercises asking students to come up with words that rhyme.
Reading is another way to reach musical learners. Students can read out loud
individually, in chorus, or after a model from a recorded native speaker or from the
teacher.
Listening to real audio m aterials can be challenging for this type of learners.
They are also able to detect rising or falling intonation. By means of pronunciation
practice, they also can hear the differences between vowel and consonant sounds as well as
specific consonant combin ations.
(http://busyteacher.org/15551 -how -to-teach -musical -learners -9-ways.html )

Match the Pairs
This type of game can be played on the computer, either individually or in pairs.
Students have to match two cards which have the same sounds and if they are right, both
cards disappear. The student who is the first is the winner. As a variation the winner has to
explain some word with similar sounds and different spelling.

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Jigsaw listening
It is also an excellent team building game, as the teams send representatives to
different listening stations, and then try to reconstruct the story when all the listeners have
returned to the team. These kinds of games also help stude nts learn how to make use of TV
and radio broadcasts in English to practice on their own.

Who’s got what?
This is a game for practicing listening skills in a fun and exciting way.
Students work in groups of four. Put the following 4 objects on a table or chair:
I’ve used common objects: a coin, a book, a pen, a ball . Each student will represent a
number, 1 -4. Students will hear instructions. For example, “Number 2, pick up the book.”
“Number 1, hand the coin to Number 4.” “Number 3, don’t pass the pen to Number
1.” The directions on the audio speed up as it plays. The object is for students to follow
the directions perfectly. At the end of the audio, we see who’s got what. If something
doesn’t work out, let the students start again from the beginning.
There are two versions so far. One is the Easy Level. Even beginning students can
follow the instructions with some pre -listening help. The verbs used: get, give, hand, pass,
pick up, take.
There is more variety in the instructions here, and they come fast. Verbs used:
get, get rid of, give, hand, pass, pick up, put down, take, trade .
(http://www.etseverywhere.com/action -listening -games/whos -got-what -an-action –
listening -game)

Magic eyes
The teacher sticks a set of no more than six flashcards in a row on the blackboard.
He says the names and gets the children to repeat them two or three times. Then he takes
cards one by one and children repeat the names as if they were still there. When there
aren’t any flashcards on the blackboard, students write them down on their notebooks and
get one point for each correct word. They count the points and add extra points for correct
order.

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3.5.3 Kinesthetic
Tactile and kinesthetic learners are often the students who just don't get what
you're trying to teach in a tradit ional lecture or worksheet based lesson. Kinesthetic
learners take in information best when they use their whole bodies to complete practice
exercises. Tactile learners are also physical learners, but they are more likely to learn
things form model buildin g and hands on instruction.
Movement enhances the mind, body, and emotion connection
For years, centuries even, the mind, body and emotion have been treated as
separate entities. In his lecture based on his book, The Kinesthetic Classroom , Mike
Kuczala ex plains, “The brain and body have unfortunately been separated for both medical
and educational purposes for far too long. The body is simply an outward extension of the
brain. Using the body to learn is a simple, readily available, and efficient way for st udents
to learn and remember content” (Kuczala, 2010, p. 8).
Another important factor that is simple but still over looked is that the brain is
housed in the body; therefore, the actions of the body directly affect what happens in the
brain. Movement sends more blood and oxygen to the brain. We can conclude that since
we use our brains for learning, this increase in oxygen and blood flow, which enhances
brain activity, also enhances learning.
Learning is also an emotional experience. Therefore, the emotiona l state of the
learner must be taken into account. Kolb addresses this in his research of the experiential
learning cycle. He says, “Indeed it appears that feelings and emotions have primacy in
determining whether and that we learn. Negative emotions such as fear and anxiety can
block learning, while positive feelings of attraction and interest may be essential for
learning.” Simply stated, “To learn something that one is not interested in is extremely
difficult.” (Kolb, 2005, p. 16) This statement means th at we do not pay attention to boring
things. Adding movement to a classroom setting can create positive feelings of excitement,
suspense, interest, and comfort, thereby addressing the emotional needs of the learner.
(http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/envir oprojects/what.html)
Doctor, doctor
The aim of the game is to do the role plays and practise vocabulary related to
everyday illnesses, their symptoms and treatments. The teacher needs to prepare some
materials like sticky labels for each student, one patie nt card for each patient, one doctor’s

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treatment card for each doctor, instructions for patients and doctors, six gold or silver stars
for each patient.
The teacher asks the class to brainstorm reasons why someone might go to see the
doctor. He/she can mak e a list on the blackboard of the problems and symptoms, focusing
on the key vocabulary. Students have to discuss in pairs ways of treating each of the
problems. The teacher writes on the blackboard a typical dialogue and they have to practise
the dialogue in pairs, substituting different health problems and treatments.
For main activity, the class is divided into two equal groups, one representing
doctors and the other patients. The class is arranged so that each doctor has a surgery
behind the desk, with a chair in front of it, and one part of the class is made the waiting
room. Then, the teacher gives a label to each doctor and patient and asks them to choose a
name and wear it as a badge. Then they go through the instruction sheets with the whole
class a nd do the role plays.
As a follow -up, the teacher gives each patient six stars to be awarded to the
doctors as follows: three stars for the most helpful doctor, two stars for the second best and
one star for the third best. Students go and stick the st ars on the doctor’s badges. If we
don’t have stars we can write the doctor’s names on the blackboard and draw the stars the
students awarded to each doctor and ask them to explain their choices to the class. Then,
the teacher asks doctors which patients we re the easiest and which were the most difficult
to deal with. –appendix 13 – (O’Dell, Felicity and Head, Kathy. 2011: 73 )

Bring and buy sale
The aim of the game is to practise talking about things they want to buy and sell.
We need a set of picture cards for each pair of students.
The teacher pretends he/she wants to buy an item from a student in the class. Ask
him how much it is and try to buy for a cheaper price. Then write down the blackboard
some key sentences. (e.g. I want something cheaper. / It’s not worth ten euros. / I’ll give
you five euros for it. / It’s worth much worth than that. / I’ll take it. / It’s a deal. / It’s not
what I’m looking for. / It’s too expensive, I can’t afford it.)
This is a sale where everyone brings something to sell as w ell as looking for
things to buy. The aim is to sell and buy as many objects as possible on their list for the
best price. Each student is given a card with what he would like to buy and four picture
cards with items he would like to sell. All the items ar e second hand and some are older
than others, but they are all worth approximately the same.

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They have 50 euros to spend and may spend any money they receive from
selling. They need to move around the classroom trying to buy and sell their items. The
teacher encourages them to talk to as many people as possible in order to get the best price.
If a student buys an item, he takes that picture of the item. They also keep a note of much
they spend and receive for each item they sell.
After the teacher stoppe d the activity, students count up their scores. They get two
pints for every item that has been sold and bought and one extra point for every five euros
they still have.
As a follow -up, students tell the rest of the class what they have bought and what
they have sold, the price and how much money they have left. The class decide which
student did the best. ( O’Dell, Felicity and Head, Kathy. 2011: 96 -97)

A game for movement and revision of tenses
Change places if…
The aim of the game is to practise the l anguage needed to talk about everyday
activities. As a warm -up, the teacher gives students a copy of the sheet and brainstorm
answers for two or three sentences. Then the teacher asks students to complete their sheet
individually with either positive or ne gative forms.
For this exercise students need to sit in a circle with their completed sheet. The
chairs should be less than the number of student. The remained student stays in the centre
and read the following statement: ’Change places if you ate an egg f or breakfast.’ All
those students who ate an egg for breakfast change places and the student in the middle
tries to find a place in the circle. The remained one will read the following sentence. The
game can continue until most students have had a turn st anding in the middle.
A variation of the game could be with the same sheet but all students sitting down.
Students take turns to read a statement from their sheet. They can begin with: ’Give
yourself a point if you…’ After each student has had the opport unity to make a sentence, all
players total up their points, to see who the winner is. -appendix 14 – (O’Dell, Felicity and
Head, Kathy. 2011:24)

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3.5 Other types of games
3.5.1 Warmers and fillers
The idea of a warmer is to increase student talking time at the beginning of
lessons, to lead in to whatever is going to be taught during the lesson and to warm the
students up. This should encourage the students to speak English and to feel comfortable in
a completely English speaking environment.

A stran ge dream
This game is meant for fun and writing comprehension taken from a seminar with
my colleagues. It can be done at the beginning of school or at the beginning of a regular
lesson. Students will have fun with the context and there will be a nice atmos phere to begin
the lesson.
The teacher asks students to open their notebooks and write a list of words as it
follows: a name of a tool, a singer’s name, a name of an animal, an occupation, an actor’s
name, a name of a place, a part of the body, a favourite line from a film, and something
done on weekend.
After the students finish their task, the teacher gives them a worksheet and they
have to complete their words in the paper. The result will be a very funny piece of writing.
-appendix 15

Spelling Chain
The aim of this game is not to finish spelling a word. The class is divided into two
teams or more if we have a large class. The teacher writes a letter on the board. Nominate a
team to add another letter. The next team has to add a letter; reme mber the object is not to
spell a word. For example, you could write B on the board. The first team could add e; the
next team could add t. If they did, they would be out because BET is a word. The object is
for each team to continue to add as many letters as they can and make the opposing team
spell a word. The teams cannot just add any letter e.g. AZQRS. If they do, the opposing
team can challenge them to what could be spelt in this way. Points are given to the team
that doesn’t spell a word.

Touch Bodie s
This is very similar to ‘Simon Says’. This reviews the parts of the body like: head,
legs, chin, shin etc. When the teacher shouts out ‘Touch your head’, the students should do

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that. The teacher does this very quickly and tries to catch the students out i.e. so that they
can’t remember where the chin is etc. or they don’t have time to touch a certain part of
their bodies. This is a very good activity for younger learners.

Spelling Bee
The aim of the game is to spell out words which have be en taught in previous
lessons; however, we can jumble the letters e.g. YUFNN. Students have to write down the
letters that they hear and then un -jumble them i.e. FUNNY.

Find someone who …
Write out a questionnaire such as the one below. Make enough copie s for each
student in class. Tell the students to stand up and mingle. They should ask their classmates
whether they, for example as in sentence one, like chocolate.
For example:
Find someone who…
1………………………likes chocolate.
2……… ………………can speak three languages.
3………………………enjoys swimming.
They should then write the name of a classmate that the sentence applies to on the
dotted line.
You could review a particular grammar structure with this activity:
1………………………has learnt to drive.
2………………………has been to Beijing.
3………………………has been to Hong Kong.

Prove it!
This is very similar to the activity above. This time give the students statements.
For example:
Someone in this class loves playing tennis.
Someone in this room likes fish.
Students must then mingle and find out if these statements are true or false.

Famous for five minutes

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Tell the students to think about a famous person that they wo uld like to be. The
other students must guess who they are by asking questions. The students can only answer
yes/no so therefore the questions have to be either: Did you… Do you… Were you… ?
I want to be famous for…..
We ask the students what they would like to be famous for; for example, 'I'd like
to be famous for writing a very important book about history.' Give them a few minutes to
think about it, and then tell them to tell their partners what they would like to be famous
for and why.

Unfinish ed sentences
Write out sentences which the students have to complete, for example:
If I were rich, I ………………………
If I were famous, I ………………………
If I could change something about myself, I ……………………….
The t eacher gives students a few minutes to complete the sentences and then put
the students into pairs. Tell them to explain what they have written and why they wrote
what they wrote.
A good resource for more ideas is 'Five Minute Activities' by Penny Ur,
Camb ridge University Press
(http://eslsite.com/rd/Warmers -Coolers/warmers_ideas.html )

Fillers
This type of game can be done whenever there is a free time and the lesson is
ready. The a im is to have fun and learn something interesting and have a relaxing
atmosphere in the class. There are many kinds of games which can be considered fillers:
word games, games for fun.
Fillers can be used at the beginning of a class as a warmer (when we a re waiting
for latecomers) or mid -lesson as a way of changing the pace, or of breaking up similar
activities. They can be quite separate from lesson or can have a connection with it. They
can also be a way of revision or can be used for team building.

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Revision dictation
The class is divided into teams of four students. Then we choose between five and
fifteen sentences from the lesson and dictate them, challenging the team to write down the
words with correct spelling. At the end, the correct sentences a re pointed.

Yes and no questions
The teacher tells students a quick story puzzle and students have to ask yes and no
question in order to solve the problem.
E.g. Fergal MacDonald lived on the twentieth floor of a block of flats and every
morning took the lift down to the ground floor and caught the bus to school. When he came
back, he took the lift to the seventh floor and climbs the stairs all the way to the twentieth
floor. Why? (He is a schoolboy and couldn’t reach the lift control buttons higher than floor
seven.)
A man is pushing a car on a road. When he gets to the hotel, he will lose all his
money. What’s happening? (It’s a game of Monopoly.)

Commonalities
The aim of this warmer is to help students find some things they have in common
and share them with one another. Students have to find somebody they don’t know very
well but they have a colour in common. As a threesome, they have to squat down. They
will have exactly two minutes to talk about themselves as fast as they can. Their goal is to
find ten share things in common. When they discover one thing they are going to be so
excited that they will leap and shout one, and so on. ( Loomans D. & Kolberg K. 2002:
88‐89)

What are doing?
This game is designed to wake up students and make them ready to continue the
lesson. Their body is saying one thing while their brain is asserting the opposite. The result
is mental implosion and physical explosion in the form of hea rty laughter.
In pairs, students have to say an activity and his partner should do that activity
immediately. Then the other asks what are you doing? He has to act that activity and say
something completely different or opposite . For instance, one student says he is combing
his hair and the other is asking him what is he doing? While he is acting combing his hair

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he says: I am taking a nap. The game has a time limit of two minutes. (Loomans
D. and Kolberg K. 2002: 88 ‐89)

3.5.2 Games with flashcards
There are some excellent ideas of games which can inspire us to integrate
flashcards games in our lessons. They can be found on the following site:
http://www. carolread.com/ideas/flashcards.pdf

Flash!
The class is divided into three teams and students stand in line. The teacher shows
each flashcard to the children in turn very quickly, turning it round very quickly. Children
look and guess what it is. The fir st student in line has to run to the blackboard and write it
down and gets one point for each correct answer. The next students do the same and the
winner team is the team with the most points.

Slowly, slowly!
The game is similar to the p revious one but instead of flashing the cards, the
teacher has to cover it with a sheet of paper and slowly uncover the picture until the
students can understand the image.

What’s missing?
The teacher sticks a set of flashcards on the blackboard, holds u p each one and
gets the children to say the names as you do this. The class is divided into two teams. Then
the teacher says ‘Close your eyes’ and quickly removes one of the flashcards from the
blackboard. Children open their eyes and call out the name of the missing flashcard. If they
are right they get one point for their team.

Flashcard instructions
The teacher sticks a set of flashcards on the walls around the classroom and
divides the class into teams. Then, in turn, he gives instructions like: “ Go to the kitchen” –
for group1 and “Jump to the dining room” -for group 2 . The player who does the activity
correctly, gets one point.

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Lip reading
The teacher sticks a set of flashcards on the blackboard. Then he/she chooses one
flashcard and mouth the word s ilently to the class. Children lip read what they are saying
and respond by saying the word out loud. This activity can be done with the whole class or
individually.

Guess the flashcard!
The teacher sticks a set of flashcards on the blackboard. Secretly he chooses one
and encourages children to guess which it is by asking you questions e.g. Is it red? No, it
isn’t. / Is it blue? Yes, it is. Then, we can invite individual children to the front of the class
in turn and get them to secretly choose a flashcar d while the others guess in the same way.

Flashcard charade
The class is divided into groups of three or four. Each group receives a flashcard
and makes sure that other groups don’t see. Children must think of a way to mime their
flashcard. They have a minute or two to prepare this. Each group then takes turns to do
their mimes to the rest of the class and guess each other’s flashcards.

Stand up!
The class is divided in two teams. The teacher sticks 6 flashcards on the left of the
blackboard for one team and 6 flashcards on the right of the blackboard for the other team.
He/she says the words in random order. Children listen and stand up as fast as they can if
the word belongs to their team.

Who’s got the flashcard?
The teacher prepares a music CD f or this activity. Children stand close together
in a circle with their hands behind their backs. They choose one child to stand in the
middle of the circle. Then the teacher shows the flashcard he/she is going to use first and
elicit or remind children of the name. Explain that when you play the music, children
should pass the flashcard round the circle behind their backs. When the music stops, they
should stop passing it round. The child in the centre has three chances to find out who’s got
the flashcard b y asking questions. e.g. Have you got the sweater? Yes, (I have). / No, (I
haven’t). If he or she finds the child with the flashcard, that child has the next turn. The
game continues in the same way using a different flashcard each time.

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Flashcard bingo
The teacher sticks 10 -15 flashcards on the blackboard. Children draw a grid with
six squares and write the name of one favourite flashcard in each square (encourage them
to check spelling to do this as necessary). When children are ready, the teacher remo ves
the flashcards from the blackboard and shuffles them. Then holds up the flashcards one by
one and say the names. Children listen and write a cross on the word if it is in their grid.
The first child to write a cross on all six words in their grid calls Bingo and is the winner.

Classify the words
The teacher draws two or three large circles on the blackboard and write the topic
words at the top of each one e.g. animals, food, clothes. Children take turns to come to the
front of the class, either indivi dually or in pairs, read a word card that you give them and
stick it in the correct circle. ( http://www.carolread.com/ideas/flashcards.pdf )

3.5.3 Games with letters
Letter Game
This is a word scramble game in which teams try to make a word containing as
many letters as possible. It is designed for intermediate and above level.
The teacher b egins this game by writing ten letters on the board. He/she chooses
the letters at random and makes sure that there are vowels and consonants in the mix. If we
would like the students to help us, we can ask them to shout out either consonant or vowel.
We write either a consonant or a vowel on the board accordingly. In groups, students are
told to try to spel l a word using the letters on the board. They are allowed a few minutes to
work in pairs and then we go around the class asking each pair to tell the word that they
have. Students with the most letters in the word score a point. Then we repeat this but t his
time the class work into teams of four. They have paper and pens to write down words. We
score a point for the team with the word with the most letters.
Note: This is a fun spelling activity. It is a nice activity to do as a cooler at the end
of a les son. Younger learners can play this game also.

Remove a letter
Students have to race against each other to make a word by removing one letter
from an initial word. We can change the words according to the level that we hav e.

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The teacher writes a word like “MATE” on the blackboard. Tell the students to
shout out the answer i.e. MAT. What they have to do is to remove one letter and create a
new word based on the clues that you read out. Students work into two teams. We are
going to dictate words to them which they should write down. Then the teacher dictates all
of the words below: play, bring, bite, buy, eat, feed, wear, think, win, sit, mean, hurt, can,
bend, shine. (Answers: pay, ring, bit, by, at, fed, war, thin, in, it, men, hut, an, and, shin)
Clues:
1. You have to do this when you buy something
2. People wear this on their fingers
3. A very small part
4. A preposition which means near
5. Fill in the missing word: Come to the party_______ 8 pm.
6. The past of this word
7. A big fight usually between countries
8. The opposite of fat
9. What’s the missing word: I am just __________ time
10. A pronoun for an object
11. The plural of man
12. A very small house made of wood
13. Indefinite article
14. What they say when a film finishes
15. A part of a leg
Once we have read out the clues, we give the teams a few minutes. The first team
to finish working out the new words should shout out and then read out the answers. They
should score one point for each correct answer. Alternatively: the teams could answer the
clues one at a time. (http://eslsite.com/rd/Games/remove_a_letter.html )

Add a letter
This is a vocabulary game in which students add one letter to a word to create a
new word using clues. It is designed for pre -intermediate and above.
The teacher has to write a list of words and dictate to the students. Then he or she
reads out clues and what they have to do is to add a letter to the original word to create a
new word and to answer the clue. Words: he, mad, men, man, me, year, see, ten, we, wet,
met, be. (Answers: her, made, mean, main, met, earn, seen, tent, wet, went, mate, be)

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Clues:
1. The possessive pronoun of she
2. The past of to make
3. A person is this when they don’t like to give or spend money
4. The most important or biggest thing
5. The past of to meet
6. We do this with money when we work
7. The past participle of see
8. We sleep in this when we camp
9. When it rains we get this
10. The past of to go
11. An informal word for friend
12. A flying insect that st ings
Note : the students could work in pairs to make their own ‘add a letter game’ for
the other students. (http://eslsite.com/rd/Games/add_a_letter.html)

Making Words from Letters in a Long Word
Level: intermediate to advance
This game is a good activity for learning new words and for reviving some word
knowledge and for giving a teacher time to prepare other tasks for students.
The class is to be divided into 2 -3- teams. The teacher gives each team a
dictionary and writes on the board a long word. Studen ts should compose different words
from the letters of this word. After some time, the teams give their words. The team that
has the most correct words wins.
For example:
R E T R I B U T I O N :return tribute iron notion note tone rib tube bruit tent trib e
bur button rent burin nob bite burr run route tire tore bent bet bonnet rub nib net nub bin
nut bit rube ruin rob rot unit union unite tier tie tin tint tone toe brute burn brunt butt butter
riot tot tenet tenure terrier retro bone boot born bout totter tote tour bore
Then we can ask them to learn these words.

Anagrams
The teacher writes th e word 'anagram' on the board. Then he/she asks the students
to tell him/her what an anagram is. Once we have clarified what an anagram is, show them

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an example. The n he/she writes 'desperation' on the board and asks the students to use the
letters from this word to make a sentence or other words. They work in pairs while they are
doing this activity. The teacher asks students for their answers and then writes the re al one
on the board. Then he/she dictates the words below to the students and asks them to think
about the anagrams for those words: snooze alarms, conversation, punishment, Elvis.
As a variation, students can make one word out of another by rearranging l etters
to form a new one. The teacher dictates the words on the left to the students and gets them
to come up with a different word: stop, ten, note, step, sent, stone. (pots, net, tone, pit, pets,
tens, notes) – (http://eslsite.com/rd/Games/anagrams.html )

Crossword
The students have to fill in the gaps of the similes and then complete them in the
crossword having fun with vocabulary. -Appendix 16
Across
1. As _____________ as a feather.
3. Fly l ike a ___________.
4. Swim like a _____________.
7. Cry like a ___________.
9. As ____________ as a bunny.
11. As ____________ as an ox.
12. As ____________ as an eel.
14. As slow as a _____________.

Down
2. As tall as a _____________.
3. As ___________ _ a bee.
5. As ____________ as a mule.
6. Waddle means to walk like a _____________.
7. As blind as a _____________.
8. As _____________ as a mouse.
10. As _____________ as ice.
11. As ______________ as a fox.
13. Eat like a ___________.
14. As white as __ _________. ( http://bogglesworldesl.com/crosswords.htm )

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Hangman
This classic game is a favourite for all students but it can get boring quite quickly.
This game is best used for 5 minutes at the st art to warm the class up or 5 minutes at the
end if you've got some time left over. It works no matter how many students are in the
class.
The teacher thinks of a word and writes the number of letters on the board using
dashes to show many letters there ar e. Students have to suggest a letter. If it appears in the
word, write it in all of the correct spaces. If the letter does not appear in the word, write it
off to the side and begin drawing the image of a hanging man. The game continues until
the students guess the word correctly or we complete the diagram.

Noughts and crosses
Apparently, this is not a communicative game. It can be played either in pairs or
in two teams. They take turns to place their marks a nought or a cross in a square of their
choice, the winner being the person who creates a straight line of three squares in any
direction. Students take turn to choose a square and to win it they have to talk about the
corresponding topic for about twenty seconds.
Here is an example of this kind of gam e:

clothes
alcohol
fruit

police
mum
happiness

London
cars
music
(David Seymour and Maria Popova. 2005. p.26)

3.5.4 Games with words
Grab the word
The aim of the game is to find out who is the fastest reader and grab the most
words. The cl ass is divided in groups of four or five. The teacher makes cards with new
words and gives a pack to each team. Students have to spread them on the table face up
and put their hands on their knees. The teacher pronounces a word and their task is to grab
the card with it as fast as they can. The student with the most cards is the winner.

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The next step is to see who knows the most words’ meaning. The teacher says a
word and all the students who know have to stand up. They mime it and the rest of the
class loo k at them and try to guess the meaning. The player, who mimes the best so that the
others guessed the meaning, gets one point. If nobody knows the word, the teacher can
give them a hint and the student who guess, gets one point.
As a variation, instead of miming, students can give synonyms, antonyms, make a
sentence or draw on their notebooks and show it to the class.

Word Formation Game
This is a fun quiz in which students change words to make various parts of
speech. The teacher begins this activity by writing the word ‘different’ on the board.
Then asks the students to tell which part of speech the word is (an adjective) and
tells them to change the spelling of the word to make it into a noun e.g. ‘difference.’ Then
the class is split into small teams o f four people. The teacher explains that he/she is going
to say a word and then a part of speech. The teams have to change the word into the part of
speech that you say as quickly as possible.
As soon as the team has the answer, they should put their ha nds up or stand up.
We can choose the team that worked the word first and score one point if the team got it
correctly. If they didn’t get the right answer, we ask the next fastest team. We can make
your own list of words depending on what we have recently taught or use the list below.
This is a useful activity for students who are about to take an examination; it is often useful
to remind the students of parts of speech so that they can develop lexical sets.

Acronyms
The aim of the game is to practise lan guage talking about friends finding the
acronyms. The teacher prepares copies of the worksheet for all students.
As a warm -up, the teacher writes an example of this activity on the board.
Students have to find out the missing letter of each line of the poe m which makes up a
name.
Main activity
The teacher gives a copy of the worksheet to each student. They work out
individually who the three poems are about. –appendix 17
The class is divided into pairs and asked to complete the phrases on the
worksheet, usi ng one letter of the alphabet once. Then they have to write their own names

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on a blank sheet of paper and collect and shuffle and give one to each student to write an
acronym for the person whose name is on their paper. At the end students give their paper s
to the people they wrote about. (O’Dell, Felicity and Head, Kathy. 2011. P. 64 -65)

Games with synonyms and antonyms
Vocabulary Growth
The teacher starts the antonym lesson by reviewing the words synonym and
antonym , pointing out that they are antonym s. As a warm up students are encouraged to
brainstorm as many synonyms of “ big” as they can. Then brainstorm a list of antonyms for
that same word. Ask your students to share why they think it would be beneficial to add
synonyms and antonyms to their vocab ularies. What might they gain through a more
extensive vocabulary?
To give our students an engaging method to practice using synonyms and
antonyms, you can play the game of trees . We will need to do some preparation ahead of
time, but the set up could be u sed many times throughout the year for reviewing and
learning new vocabulary. The teacher can start by choosing one specific word and make a
list of eight synonyms and eight antonyms for that word. For example, we can choose
intelligent as the main word. Synonyms could include clever , bright , smart , gifted ,
intellectual , sharp and able. The antonym list could include stupid, dim, unintelligent,
thick, slow, dull, brainless and dim-witted . We will need to write “intelligent” on a full
sheet of paper and then write each of the synonyms and antonyms on a smaller piece of
paper cut in the shape of a leaf. We post the intelligent paper in the middle of a bulletin
board and then cut out the shapes for two large trees to fill the space on either side of the
word. W hen it is time to play the game, the class is divided into two groups and one
student at a time will draw a leaf from the stack. His group must determine whether it is a
synonym or an antonym of intelligent and then use it correctly in a sentence. If the g roup
can do both, the person who drew the leaf should pin it to the correct tree. Then a person
from the other team takes a turn. Once you have made your way through all the leaves,
whichever team was able to put more leaves on the trees is the winner.
We can repeat this activity several times throughout the year using a new set of
vocabulary. You may choose words that will enhance vocabulary you are teaching for
another unit, or you may choose new vocabulary at random. Either way, the leaves will
remain on the trees to remind your students of the new words they have learned. You

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should also make blank leaves available to the class to add words to each tree as they learn
new synonyms and antonyms . (http://busyteacher.org/8044 -opposites -attract -having -fun-
with-antonyms.html )

Antonym BINGO
Bingo is a useful way to review vocabulary with our students for just about any
vocabulary unit we are teaching. To play antonym bingo , we will need a list of words and
their antonyms with which students are already familiar. Ideally, we should have twenty –
five pairs to draw from. We have to print out blank bingo boards for our class, one per
person, and give each person a list of the antonym pairs. Then ask each student to fill their
bingo board with random words from the list using some words from both sides of the
paper. You should have already written each word on an index card and shuffled the deck.
To play the game, we draw a card and read the word on it. The students may then mark a
box on their board if it contains the opposite of the word you have read . We remind our
students as we play that they should not mark the word that they hear but they should mark
its opposite . When someone calls bingo , we review the words we called and the
appropriate antonyms to make sure the win is true. This will also be anoth er opportunity to
review the antonym pairs with our students. We can play as many rounds as we like.
In a similar manner, you can make word searches or crossword puzzles using
antonyms as the clues for the words your students must either find in the puzzl e or fit into
the boxes. ( http://busyteacher.org/8044 -opposites -attract -having -fun-with-antonyms.html )

Gone Fishing
It is a game with cards in shape of fish. We ca n encourage students to find pairs of
antonyms in the textbook or from their mind. Then let them use their own decks of cards to
play the game in class and then take home to play with friends or family. In turns, they
play cards taking a card from the two piles and if they match they can take the pair of fish.
The student with the most fish cards is the winner in the group and in the class.
For another activity with the same cards, students can use the antonym deck of
cards in a Memory style matching game. On a large, flat space, have one student lay out all
of his shuffled cards face down. He and his partner must then take turns flipping over two
cards. If the two cards make an antonym pair, he may keep the cards and take an additional
turn. If he does not find an antonym pair, his opponent gets a turn. Players continue until
there are no cards left. The one with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.

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The aim of the game is to expand students’ vocabulary with synonyms and
antonyms, so that they increase their comprehension of English and communicate with
greater clarity.
(http://busyteacher.org/8044 -opposites -attract -having -fun-with-antonyms.html )

Word charades
This game is always popular with most groups and is fun to do. The choice of
words has been chosen deliberately to make miming easier. It can be do ne as a whole class
exercise but in groups of 5 -6 students.
The teacher copies the handout and word cards for every group. Before starting,
the teacher explains the rules and common gestures used in charades while doing it. Then
students place the word car ds face down on the table. In turns, they take a card and mime
the word on the card. The person from the group who guesses the word, keeps the card.
They have only 2 -3 minutes to mime a word.
The student with the most cards at the end will be the winner.
The gesture:
 At the start of the game, students can show how many syllables the word
consists of. E.g. three fingers for three syllables.
 During the game, students hold fingers to show the number of syllable they
are trying to mime. E.g. two fingers for th e second syllable.
 For a similar word, they can put their hand at the ear.
 When someone guessed a syllable correctly, they can show their thumb up.
-appendix 18 – (Watcyn -Jones, Peter. 2007: 2)

Word square
The aim is to make words using the letters in the square. Play this wonderful ESL
word game with our students.
We can draw a square on the board and divide it into nine, three rows of three
squares. The aim is to make words using the letters in the square. We can use any nine –
letter word for this game. Ideally, it should be one with a few different vowels.
Examples: scrambled, Christmas, blueberry. Every word the teams write must
contain the centre letter, which should be a vowel. Students cannot use any letters twice,

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unless it is in the nine -letter wor d. There is a bonus score if they can make one word using
all nine letters. The teacher puts the students into small groups of three or four and set a
time limit of ten minutes. The teams should try to write as many words as they can from
the square within ten minutes.
When the time is up, get the teams to swap sheets with another team and count out
the letters and words. The teams check for the correct spelling, and the teacher answers any
queries by the students.
The game is scored by the length of the w ords. So, a three -letter word is worth
three points, a four -letter word is worth four points and so on. If a team gets the nine -letter
word, they win 18 points. The team who gains the most points wins.

Tongue twister
All levels and ages enjoy tongue twist ers. They work well as a warm up to get
students speaking, and they help students to practise pronouncing difficult sounds in
English.
The teacher writes some English tongue twisters on the board or on pieces of
paper to distribute to students. He/she ask s them to read the tongue twisters aloud, then
faster and faster, then three times in a row. Here are some examples:
She sells sea shells on the sea shore.
A proper copper coffee pot.
Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.
Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.
A big black bug bit a big black bear.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers
Peter Piper picked?

Tongue twisters
A lot o f fun can be had from trying to read out tongue twisters. This is a group
contest based on tongue twisters.
The teacher writes tongue twisters, copies and cuts them into sets of cards.
Students work in groups of four to six. They shuffle the cards, placing them face down on
the table. One player starts he/she picks up the top card and tries to say it three times as
quickly as possible. If the others think that he said it well he can keep the card. If not, the

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person on he is right has a go and so on until o ne student pronounces correctly. After a
setting time of 15 minutes, the player with the most cards at the end is the winner.
Variation
The class is divided into six groups with three students acting as judges. The
teacher divides the class into four team s and gives them a set of cards arranged in the same
order. One person from each group comes in front of the classroom.
They are all given the same tongue twister. They are allowed three minutes to
look at it before starting. Then they take it in turns to say it or read it three times. After that
the three judges say who said it best. If they can’t agree, the teacher will have to be the
referee. The winner gets ten points. The team with the most points at the end of six rounds
wins. Here are some suggestio ns of activities which can be done with tongue twisters.

Dictoglosses can work well with a higher level. A dictogloss is essentially an
activity where students hear a text (in this case the tongue twister) and without notes try to
write what they remembe r. Then they hear it again and get to work with a partner to share
both renditions with the end goal of having replicated the original text well.
Running Dictations
The class is divided into small groups (of two -three students is perfect). The
teacher po sts tongue twisters on the wall around the classroom (as many tongue twisters as
there are groups). One person at a time can run to a tongue twister and then run back to the
table. The person at the table then writes down the tongue twister as the runner told them.
The group with the most tongue twisters written down correctly is the winner.

The Rotation Situation
The best tongue twisters to do this with are the ones that play minimal pairs off
each other. For example: “She sells sea shells by the sea s hore” uses s and sh.
The premise is you pick a simple pattern: putting your hands on your shoulders
and putting your hands on your head. “She” hands on your head “sells sea“ hands on your
shoulders ”shells by the“ hands on your shoulders “sea” hands on you r head, “shore”.
This can be done slowly at first, but once students get the hang of it try it faster
and faster each time.
This is commonly done with, “My Bonnie lies over the ocean” with students
standing and sitting every time they hear the B sound. It helps them recognize and

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distinguish sounds. (http://eslcarissa.blogspot.ro/2013/05/10 -ways -to-use-tongue -twisters –
in-your.html)

3.5.6 Games with idioms
Idioms of the body
The game is designed for upper –intermediate to advanced students. The aim is to
introduce and practise idioms which include parts of the body.
The teacher needs to prepare a set of idiom cards, definition cards for each pair of
students. Copy a sheet with idiom cards and definition cards not cut up for each student.
The idioms should be numbered 1 -30 and the definition should be numbered
correspondingly.
First of all, the teacher should ask students if they know idioms with parts of the
body. She gives each pair a set of idioms and definition cards and asks them to match the
cards. Then , she checks the answers with the whole class and collects the cards.
Main activity
The class is divided into groups of six to eight students, sitting around a table. The
teacher gives a set of cards. She also gives the answer sheet to each leader of the group.
This becomes the referee and do not let the others to see it. Then, the groups divide their
cards into two piles – idioms and definitions. They should place each pile face down. They
take turns to pick up each card from the top of each pile. For one point, students need to
give the part of the body in the idiom for definition card they picked and for an additional
point they give the whole idiom that matches the definition. For another point, they have to
explain the meaning of the idiom they picked. If a student is lucky enough to pick up a
matching idiom and definition, he gets four points. The referee has to check the answers
and record the scores. The student with the highest score when we stop the game is the
winner. – appendix 19 – (O’Dell, Feli city and Head, Kathy. 2011: 76)

Family idioms
The aim of the game is to develop recognition of idioms which relate to family
life and relationships. Students work in pairs and then groups of four. The teacher prepares
a set of cards for each pair.
The f irst step of the game is to teach the idioms about family: be as alike as two
peas in a pod, be as different as calk and cheese, be the apple of your father’s eye, be the
black sheep of the family, be tied to your mother’s apron strings, be your mother’s

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daughter, blood is thicker than water, follow in your father’s footsteps, twist someone
round your little finger, while the cat’s away, the mice will play. As a warm up and a, the
teacher gives each pair of students a set of cards. She writes the first part of the idiom on
the blackboard and asks pairs to find the other half and try to elicit the meaning.
In groups of four, students combine their cards and shuffle them and place them
face down. Each student takes six cards and do not show to the others. The n they spread
the remaining cards face down on the table. The aim is to arrange cards so to make three
complete idioms. In turn, students turn over one of the cards on the table, trying not to let
the other player see it. The player can take that card if i t completes an idiom, or turn it face
down again on the table. If the student decides to keep the card, he must put one of the
other cards face down on the table. A student can have only six cards in his hand at any
time. The first person to have three com plete idioms is the winner. As a follow -up, students
can talk about their family, using these idioms. (O’Dell, Felicity and Head, Kathy. 2011:
21)

3.5.7 Games with proverbs or sayings
Filling the proverbs
Students have a lot of fun and learn proverbs b etter when they are playing. First of
all the teacher presents the proverbs to students and tries to translate them into Romanian.
The teacher prepares the game, copying the proverbs with suspension dots and
some pictures for every group. The students wor k in groups of four. They have a sheet of
paper and have to complete it with corresponding pictures for each proverb. The team that
finishes first and complete the proverbs correctly wins the game. In turns, they have to say
the proverbs by heart explainin g them.

Matching the sayings
The aim of the game is to make new pairs and talk about their saying giving
arguments to sustain it.
Students are divided into two groups. Each student from the first group receives
the first part of a saying and each stud ent from the second group receives the last part of it.
They have to find out their partner and work together for main activity. They have to
explain the saying and then, they give at least two examples in order to sustain that idea.
After a time limit of five minutes they can share their saying with the whole class.

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Proverbs
Students discuss the meaning of the proverbs:
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Make hay while the sun shines.
You can’t judge a book by its covers.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.
All that glitters is not gold.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
It’s no use crying over spilt milk.
For each sentence students write a sentence expressing its meaning, using should
or ought to. E. g . A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. – One should be content with
what you have and not always look for more. (Seymour and Popova. 2005: 123)

3.5.7 Games with questions
Silly questions, funny answers
Here is a selected list with silly questions which can be used as fillers in different
moments of the lesson. They are fun and specially used for logical, mathematical mind and
also for linguistic intelligence.
Q. What are caterpillars afraid of?
A: Doggerpillar
Q. Why is the letter T like an islan d?
Letter T is in the middle of water.
Q. What is the capital of England?
A: London or “E” from England.
Q. Why did the farmer bury all his money in his fields?
A: He wanted rich soil.
Q. What should never be eaten after it’s served?
A: a tennis ball.
Q. What did the tie say to the hat?
A: You go on a head, I will just hang around!
Q. What did the eyes say to the nose?
A: Between you and me, something smells.

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Q. What’s the difference between a teacher and a train?
A: A train makes chew, chew, but th e teacher says don’t chew.
Q. What kind of witch lives on the beach?
A: a sandwich.
Q. What starts with P, ends with E, and has thousands of letters in it?
A: a post -office.

Q. What is the chemical formula for water?
A. H I g k l m n o.
Q. What are you talking about?
Yesterday you said it’s h to o.

Q. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men
to build it?
A. No time at all it is already built.
Q. Approximately how many birthdays does the average Japan ese woman have?
A. Just one. All the others are anniversaries.
Q. How can a man go eight days without sleep?
A. He sleeps at night.
Q. Why it is impossible to send a telegram to Washington today?
A: Because he is dead.
Q. If you throw a red stone int o the blue sea what it will become?
A: It becomes wet.
Q. What often falls but never gets hurt?
A: Rain
Q. Why is it easy to weigh a fish?
A: Because it has its own scales.
Q. Why does a bike rest on its leg?
A: Because it is too tyred. (tired)

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Twenty questions
The aim of the game is to practice verbs and adjective used with food items. The
teacher tells the students to she is thinking of a food item and they have to ask yes/no
questions to identify it. If they don’t guess after twenty questions , the teacher tells them the
answer.
Students work in groups of four to six and each team should receive a set of
picture cards. They take it in turns to pick a card. The team must ask them yes/no questions
about the taste, the way they eat it, how is prep ared, how it is cooked. The group has to
guess the picture by using no more than twenty questions. The team with the most points
wins. (O’Dell, Felicity and Head, Kathy. 2011: 48)

3.5.8 Games with jokes
Doctor jokes
The teacher copies and cuts out the 15 patient cards and the doctor cards – one set
for each pair. If it is possible the doctor cards should be of different colour. The teacher
gives out the cards and the students shuffle them and place them face down on on the table:
patient cards and doctor cards (three cards on every column and five cards on every line).
In turns, students pick up a patient card and a doctor card and read them out. If they are a
matching pair, the player removes them from the board. If not, the cards are turned over
and it is the next player’s turn. The game continues like this for about 20 minutes and the
player with the most pair cards at the end is the winner. Appendix 20
(Watcyn -Jones, Peter. 2007: 84-85)

Caught you
This is a very light -hearted activity which teachers can occasionally use to tease
and trick their students. It can also be a very useful listening comprehension exercise. The
teacher chooses suitable jokes and reads them to the class as though it’s going to be a
normal joke. Then he/she sees their reaction when they catch them at the end.
Joke 1
A donkey wanted to cross a stream in order to eat the nice grass in the field
opposite. There was no bridge, no boat and the donkey couldn’t swim. How did he cross?
The students will probably offer suggestions, all o f which the teacher says they
are wrong. In the end they will give up. The teacher says: You give up? So did the monkey .
Joke 2

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Why doesn’t the queen wave with this hand?
The teacher waves with left hand. When they don’t know what to say, the teacher
says: because it is my hand.
Joke 3
In an apple eating contest, Sandra ate ninety apples and Helen ate a hundred and
one. How many more apples did Helen eat than Sandra?
The students are bound to say eleven but the answer is ten because Helen ate a
hundred an d won. They are homophones.
Joke 4
As the teacher begins this story the students have to imagine that they are the bus
driver and he is going to ask them a question at the end of the story.
A bus carrying passengers stopped at the first stop and five peopl e got on. At the
next stop six got off and ten got on. At the next stop two got on and nobody got off. At the
next stop the bus went straight past, which upset an old lady who had forgotten to press the
bell for the bus to stop. However, at the next stop s he got off and a couple got on. There
was just one more stop to go before the bus reach the terminus. Only one got off here and
of course at the terminus everybody got off. Now, who can answer this question? What
was the bus driver’s name?
By this time th e students will have completely forgot the beginning of the story
and will say “I don’t know”. Then the teacher says that they are the bus driver.
(Watcyn -Jones, Peter. 2007: 9. 71 )

Conclusion
The aim of this chapter was to classify games of different kin ds and take same
samples or adapt some of them as a collection for my high school classes. Based on
theoretical part of the previous chapter, we tried to choose games and integrate them in a
context of teaching. I have learnt that the choice of the game is a key factor and a proper
grouping can influence the process and the result of the game a lot.
We have chosen games which are mainly cooperative, helping children to
socialize in spite of having some competitive elements. All kinds of games are attractiv e
for students and can liven up our lesson. I would highly recommend using movement
games which can help memorizing and enhance students’ brain. Using these games we
offer students more opportunities to shine and show their different skills and knowledge.

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Paying attention to learning styles, we can solve our classroom problems. Using
games to diversify our teaching style will allow us to reach more of our students more
effectively than ever before. This will cut down on boredom as it increases student in terest,
and it will give students essential practice in integrating different learning styles into their
own style. Students will be doing more than just expanding their English when they play
games. They will be expanding their minds.

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Chapter 4
SONGS
“Music is the universal language of mankind.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

4.1 Using songs in ESL classroom
Songs have been a deli ghted source of pleasure for human beings that can touch
every person no matter the culture and language he/she has. It appeals directly to our
feelings and that’s why we don’t have to know the words to be impressed by the melody.
Songs can be a part of ou r existence and that is why they come to enrich and activate our
English classes. Music is incorporated in our lessons because people like listening. There is
a teaching method called suggestopedia, by means of which students feel comfortable and
relaxed, and can assimilate better English. Besides the melody of a song, another
indispensable element of songs is lyrics which serve as a direct genuine source of teaching
materials in foreign language classes.
Being a mixture of music and language, songs express themselves a background
and a main source for acquisition of language. Using music in the classroom is a great way
for teachers to achieve success with second language learners. Oliver Wendell Holmes
suggests taking a musical bath once a week, saying that music is "to the soul what water is
to the body." Its richness in culture and themes, idiomatic and poetic expressions,
therapeutic functions and so on makes music an impeccable tool for language teaching.

4.1.1 Songs express culture and beliefs
“Langua ge expresses, embodies and symbolizes cultural reality” (Kramsch. 2000:
3). This means that when we listen to a song we learn about cultural reality and beliefs
about life. People’s attitudes toward love, friendship and marriage find expression in the
lines and rhythmic melodies of the songs.

4.1.2 Songs appeal directly to feelings
A melody can touch our heart without saying any words but when is doubled by
sensible words it is highly expressive. Some songs convey love and emotions. The story

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from a song c an recall memories, making it memorable. All of these can have an echo in
the listener’s heart. What is impressive and learnt by pleasure is learnt better.

4.1.3 Songs can have therapeutic function
Music has the power to soothe people’s emotions, refresh their minds and to
unlock their creativity. Gaston (1968) has pointed out that music has several therapeutic
functions, such as promoting self -esteem through increased self -satisfaction in musical
performance and using the unique potential of rhythm to en ergize and bring order. There
have been many studies done about how the rhythm of a song affect can affect human
brain. They discovered that the ideal one is of 60 -80 beat per minute music on the brain. It
is also proved that classical music can calm down students and create a relaxing and good
atmosphere. Music has the power to soothe people’s emotions, refresh their minds and to
unlock their creativity.

4.2 Psychological implications of Songs
“The concept of learning, as it is understood today, has been greatly influenced by
the psychological study of the learning process…” (Stern. 1983: 18) We would like to
bring some psychological arguments to sustain that songs are a good for teaching a foreign
language. That is why will see some theories about human brain.

4.2.1 Multiple intelligences and listening to English songs
Howard Gardner is one of the most important personalities who wrote about the
theory of multiple intelligences (MI). He sustains that every learner has a specific way of
maximizing his or her brain power. Although Gardner’s theory changes as his research
continues, he is known for the following multiple intelligences: spatial, linguistic, logical –
mathematical, bodily -kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and
naturalistic (Armstrong. 2009). Therefore, it is inappropriate to explore only one type of
intelligence in EFL learning. We should have a holistic view and understand that all human
intelligences contribute to developing and complementing a learner’s linguis tic
competence and enhance his ability of learning a foreign language. Listening to English
songs is of great value to tap the learner’s linguistic potentials through enchanting
melodies, varying rhythms and image -evoking lyrics, which appeal to multidimen sional
development of human intelligence.

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4.2.2 Hemisphere functioning in language learning
Research on psycholinguistics reveals that songs can activate language acquisition
and learning in both hemispheres of the human brain (Carroll. 2000; Williams and Burden,
1997). Through psychologists’ persistent study on ear and hemisphere functioning
differences, findings come out that right ear, which leads to left hemisphere (LH), takes
conspicuous advantages over left ear for speech stimuli, so “the LH does see m to possess
an innate and highly specialized linguistic mechanism” which assumes the major
responsibility of analytic processing of language (Carroll. 2000: 349). However, the right
hemisphere’s important function in language processing cannot be ignored. Left ear, which
leads to right hemisphere, is keener to nonverbal sound such as melodies and emotional
colours of the message. Songs enter the human brain —from left ear to right hemisphere —
in a rather different way from our speech and thus can stimulate l anguage learning in the
right hemisphere, whose involvement in language processing become more active in
eliciting the overall meaning and processing formulaic speech (Ellis: 1985). Thus, words
and phrases from a song are learnt unconsciously, as a whole, not in separable parts.

4.2.3 Affective part stimulated by songs
Using English songs in EFL classrooms can successfully bring about affective
learning through providing a nice atmosphere, reducing students’ anxiety, motivating them
to learn the language. Students will regard English songs as an enjoyable moment rather
than work and therefore find learning English through songs pleasant and relaxing.
Affective learning is also effective learning. In the light of psycholinguistics,
affective engagement with language can “stimulate a fuller use of the resources of the
brain”, rekindle “neural paths between areas of brain” and deepen the multidimensional
processing of language (Bolitho. 2003: 256). Through affective learning, the learner’s
capacity for learning will be expanded and whereby unexpected results will be produced.

4.2.4 The Affective Filter Hypothesis
Krashen developed the Affective Filter Hypothesis (1985) and argued that
affective learning will occur when the affective filter is weak. When the le arner is in such
an affective state as highly motivated, self -confident and at ease, the filter will be weak and
allow in plenty of input, which means a positive attitude toward learning and the optimum
state of language learning are present. On the contra ry, the filter will become stronger
when the learner is haunted with low motivation, lack of self -confidence and high anxiety.

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In that case, the learner is not ready for language acquisition or learning. The Affective
Filter Hypothesis suggests that an ide al teacher should be capable of providing a classroom
atmosphere conducive to motivating, encouraging his students and lessening their anxiety
if there’s any.

4.3 Reasons for using games in ESL classroom
4.3.1 Songs help to learn vocabulary, grammar
Expos ing students to real life context, they can learn new words and structures.
This is an easy way to remember words and grammar subconsciously. Exercises pre,
while and after listening are opportunities to exercise listening skill and enforce their
power to use them in new context.

4.3.2 They can use meaningful language in context
Students hear new words which can be better understood and remembered in
context. It is proved that students can learn better in natural context and no longer as
single words and s entences. Maybe the teacher can associate words with pictures and
play some interesting games in order to make students use new words in their own
context.
Another important value of songs is that they have poetic lines and the teacher
can lead students’ attention to the stylistics. They can understand the message decoding
figures of speech.

4.3.3 Songs can be attractive
Music plays an important part in our lives and students listen to music daily. They
like different styles of music and that is why we sh ould answer their expectations and in
the same time we should educate their tastes, listening to songs which are healthy for
their minds.
Generally, students enjoy listening to songs and that is a way of breaking the
monotony of the lesson. Songs can be s ung by talented students but this is possible only if
we repeat them many times. They will be happy if they will hear a song more than one
time.

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4.3.4 Songs enhance listening skills
Naturally listening to any English song helps listening skills as long as the
students know the majority of the words. If they do not know the teacher should pre -teach
the new vocabulary or ask them to guess some meaning from the context. Some words will
be heard clearly but some of them will shortened and need to be clarified.

4.3.5 They improve speaking fluency with the natural rhythms of language
Being performed by native speakers, the students can hear the natural rhythms
and stresses of English and this can help them to their pronunciation. Not only have they
corrected pro nunciation of separate word but they can have an idea about the melody and
accent of a sentence and therefore, they can speak fluently.

4.3.6 Songs are related to mixed abilities
As we concluded from multiple intelligences of Gardener, students develop t heir
personality as a whole. Their actions made appeal to wider learning styles. For instance, if
a student does not have musical abilities, he is visual and is attracted by the story pictures
or flashcards associated some words of the song. Or, maybe he i s bodily -kinesthetic and
he can touch the flashcards, dance, or mime the actions of the song.
Along with the music, melody and rhythm a large variety of actions can be found
to go with the song. Students can also listen to a song doing tota l physical response
activities.

4.3.7 Songs are fun and motivate pupils
Music can create a good atmosphere in the class, bringing enthusiasm for the
lesson. When we listen to a song and associate it with body movements, this can be a
funny activity.
With a song we can capture the students' attention and motivates them in their
quest to learn English. Motivation is vital important for the process of learning. Williams
and Burden (1997, p.129) defined motivation as “a state of cognitive and emotional
arousa l, which leads to a conscious decision to act, and which gives rise to a period of
sustained intellectual and/or physical effort in order to attain a previously set goal (or

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goals)”. We consider songs to the main factor for inner motivation, which is stron ger than
external one, like colleagues pressure.
4.3.8 Songs build self -confidence
Listening to songs can become more confident because the stress is reduced. They
do not work alone, they do some activities in groups and this means that they have the
possi bility to develop their abilities and gradually be more and more competent.

4.3.9 Songs are memory aids
Our memory can be enhanced by hearing a tune many time and we remember
words better when these are accompanied by melody. They stay in our brain for a long
time and we echo or repeat songs unconsciously in our mind.

4.3.10 Songs help with classroom management
The sons can change the state of people within a minute. They attract the attention
of the class, establishing a pace. All students do the action s or start to sing along. The
teacher can have students’ attention more easily.
4.4 How to choose a song
First of all, we should think about the purpose of the song. If we would like to
concentrate on listening skill, we should listen to slower songs. For long songs we will
practise reading. A song with repetitive lyrics is good for pronunciation or language
structures. If we would like to introduce a new structure or topic, a song is a good start for
students’ interest.
We should choose a song that suits b est to the purpose of learning. If our students
like a specific song we should study it first and teach it when it is necessary. But it is better
to know that students should be interested of our choice. When we choose a song we have
to take into account s ome aspects.

4.4.1 The length of the song
If the song is too long we will need to break up and replay the song quite a few
times. If a tape with the song is rewound over and over again, or you will waste valuable
classroom time. We can say that the lengt h of a song should be appropriate to the students’
level and age.

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4.4.2 The type of the song
The type of the song depends on the students tastes and it would be a good point
to have a diversity of styles. We should take into account students’ preferences . The
rhythm of a song shouldn’t be too fast because students can become agitated or we can
play it when students are too calm and we would like to energize them. Or, if it is too slow
they can be bored and wouldn’t like. But in this case we can say that w ords are clearer and
acquisition of language is better.
4.4.3 The difficulty degree
We should choose a song according to the level of students. If it is for little
children they wouldn’t be comfortable or if it is too difficult they could be frustrated. They
also should be simple . Repetitious songs with a simple story build or tale are preferable to
‘abstract’ musings. Something that could be ordered if jumbled up or with a basic verb
form reused in each verse. They shouldn’t be chosen if they contain a l ot of slang and if it
is not written in literary language.

4.4.4 The theme
When we choose a song, we should think of the theme and the educative side of it.
First of all they should be moral and express positive and healthy principles of life. They
shou ld express our values which can be transferred to the next generation. On the other
hand it would be wonderful if it introduces a topic in connection with our curriculum and
enrich the lesson with new ideas.

4.4.5 The acoustic of the classroom
It is not recommended to be too noisy percussion with loud instrumental because
words are very important and we should hear clear singing voice of the artist. Maybe it is a
good idea to play the song in the classroom before the lesson and see how it sounds.
Another idea is to get students accustomed with it, playing it as a background. If they know
the melody, they can sing it in karaoke version.
(https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language -assistant/teaching -tips/using -songs)

4.4.6 Grammatical structure
Many songs are good for teaching different grammatical structures because they
are repetitive and students can learn them unconsciously. They can do some extra activities

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completing the past tense forms of the verbs in brackets so that they can reconstruct the
song. On the other side, there are some mistakes made because of the rhyme and students
have to identify them, being aware of the grammar rules.

4.4.7 Interactivity
A song should be interactive as much as possible. Adding some activities to the
lesson means t o enhance learning acquisition and involve students who are practical
learners. They will enjoy doing these activities and will learn a lot.
(http://www.englishclub.com/teaching -tips/music -classroom.htm )

4.5 When to use songs
Music in the classroom doesn’t always mean listening to a song and using the
lyrics in some way. Music can be used in the classroom in a multitude of ways.
4.5.1 Setting the scene : If music is playing as stu dents enter the class it can be a
nice way to settle the group. Give the class a few minutes to settle down and then turn the
volume down slowly and use the end of the music as an indicator to the students that the
class will begin.

4.5.2 Changing the te mpo : Music can be used to calm down an over excited
class or to wake up a sleepy one. If you know that your students have high energy levels
and sometimes need to calm down, try playing some relaxing music to put on as they work.
At first they may find it strange but they will get used to it. With sleepy teenagers, we can
try putting some of their favourite tunes on as they work. It may help to increase their
energy levels.

4.5.3 Setting time limits : Instead of telling students they have two minutes to
finish a task, or with very young learners a minute to tidy the room up after a craft activity,
tell them they have until the end of the song. Play the music and when the song ends
students should be paying attention ready to listen to the instructions to cha nge tasks.

4.5.4 Introducing a new theme or topic
We can use a song as an ice -breaker in a class where students don't know each
other or are having difficulty communicating. We also can use a song before starting a new

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lesson. For instance we are going t o introduce a new topic like love and relationships. It is
a good idea to start the lesson with a love song and introduce students in the atmosphere.

4.5.5 Changing the mood
When students are bored, angry, sad or tired it is a way to change their mood
through listening to a relaxing and delightful song. Maybe students can be asked about
their favourite songs. They will simply liven up or calm down things.

4.5.6 Teaching language
Songs are a great source of vocabulary building because they consist of au thentic
linguistic materials. They embed grammatical structures in learner’s both conscious and
unconscious memory. The artists who regularly sing the songs are native speakers of
English. That is why they have good pronunciation and can be a linguistic mo del for
students.
Songs can be used to teach natural pronunciation efficiently. Native singers’
pronunciation provides a model for EFL learners. We can easily find songs sung by either
American, British, Canadian or Australian singers and let learners cho ose which
pronunciation they would like to imitate.

4.5.7 Teaching different skills
They can be used when we like to teach listening, writing, reading and speaking
skills. A good listening comprehension lays the corner -stone for developing other skills in
foreign language learning. But it is also the most difficult among all the language skills.
While listening to a native speaker, in most cases we find their speech running smoothly
just like a river. Listening to English songs will prepare EFL learners to the genuine
English language they are to be faced with.
In creative writing of songs, students are encouraged to create their own lyrics by
following the same tune and imitating the format of the lyrical lines of the original song. In
the researcher’s cla ss, students were quite interested in such new forms of writing
assignment and many turned in surprisingly wonderful and imaginative works.

Didactic songs used in a writing activity
The teacher chooses four very different pieces of instrumental music (e.g . some
ragtime, a gentle piece of classical music, a stirring tango and a march or brass band).

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She/he gives each student four pieces of paper and tell them NOT to write their names or
which piece of music they are listening to on them. Then he/she plays e ach piece of music
separately and ask students to write what they see/feel on the pieces of paper as they listen.
They do not need to write in sentences – single words are fine, or even pictures are a
possible response.
Then, give the students enough time to listen, respond and write. Pin up all the
pieces of paper on the class walls and ask students to walk around reading them and decide
which piece of music inspired which descriptions. The teacher checks if they were right –
though it is not a test – it’s just interesting.
In pairs students choose one description that they like – it can be written by one of
them, but not necessarily. In pairs they use that as a basis to write a short story or
descriptive piece of writing – this time ensuring that they als o focus on grammatical
correctness. Writing in pairs helps maintain interest and students can share knowledge
about vocabulary, grammar and their ideas, and takes the stress out of writing. Also if the
students are writing in class, you can monitor and hel p them. Songs can be a good starting
point for a discussion or a presentation.

Music as a stimulus for speaking
Visualisation is a tool you can use to help stimulate students’ imagination,
encourage them to speak to each other and as a preparation for wr iting. For example, while
focussing on descriptive writing, we play some mood -inspiring music in the background.
The teacher asks the students to close their eyes and relax, listening to the music.
He/she tells them to ‘see’ a place in the countryside sl owly giving the following prompts:
Which country is it? Are there mountains, lakes? Is it green, dry? What is the weather like?
What can you see? Are there trees? Flowers? Buildings? People? How does this place
make you feel? Etc for at least 5 – 10 minute s, allowing them to completely ‘enter’ that
place.
Then get students into pairs, describing these places to each other. You can give a
task, such as – find what similarities your places had. Then we could use this technique for
creating a story -line too. After the speaking students could write the description – we’ll
find descriptive writing richer after this preparatory activity, as they have had a chance to
concentrate on the kind of details that makes writing more interesting.
(http://www.onestopenglis h.com/teenagers/skills/songs/teenagers -songs -6-songs –
and-grammar/146793.article)

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4.5.8 Reviewing material
Music can be used as a background when we review some material because music
can improve memory. There are a lot of songs which can be used for revi sion lessons. For
instance, we can make a set of flashcards with words from a song which was taught before
and the students’ task is to grab the words, give synonyms, antonyms, explain them or
make up sentences with those words.
4.6 Types of songs
4.6.1 Di dactic songs
These are easy songs for learners sorted by grammar or vocabulary areas – used
for expanding vocabulary and practice grammar in some structures. These songs help
students a lot through repeating some words and phrases. The songs for grammar a re used
for specific grammar problem.

4.6.2 Funny songs
They can be sung when children are sad or tensioned for a relaxing atmosphere.
They are regularly used for little primary school children and are associated with body
movements. They are because th ey have to correlate words with physical movements.

4.6.3 Special occasion songs
They can be sung for special occasions and students can sing them karaoke.
There are a lot of traditional carols for Christmas which can attract them. Love songs can
be le arnt for Valentine day and sung in a special moment.
Here are some examples of carols which were used in karaoke mode: Away in a
manger, Silent night, Last Christmas, I need you for Christmas, Rudolf, the red nosed
reindeer, Santa Claus is coming to town, Let it snow, Jingle bells, We wish you a Mery
Christmas.

4.6.4 Thematic songs
They are regularly appreciated by young advanced students and can be a starting
point for discussion. It is a good point to start a brainstorming on a specific theme and then
to make a plan for an essay.
We and our students are attracted to songs about love: Take me to your heart,
Only love, My love, Love story, I’ll be right here waiting for you, Nothing gonna change

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my love for you, My heat will go on, Because you loved me, This I promise you, I live my
life for you, Love of my life, and To love you more ; about friendship: Thank you my friend,
Count on me, To my best friend, Friends are quiet angels, Gift of a friend, and Friend
song ; about teachers: In your hands, Thank you once again, Theme song (2009), In this
moment, Forever young.

4.6.5 Motivational songs
They can be used listened by teenagers when they have to choose their career or a
partner. They encourage them to have a dream and make good choices .
Here is a list of songs which can be easily used for motivation of students: I have
a dream, I dreamed a dream, I believe in you, Yesterday’s dream, Hero, One moment in
time, This world is yours, The impossible dream.

4.6.6 Energy booster
These are very joyful songs and can energize students when they don’t feel well
and don’t like to involve in any activity. If you are happy and you know it is a song which
correlates actions and words and can change the pace of a lesson.
4.7 How to use songs
It is a good idea to int roduce an instrumental version first without lyrics. If
students become familiar with the sound of the music first, they will be more likely to
understand the words.
When we are sure that there are new words or phrases in the song we should make
a vocabula ry list and go over the words once before you introduce the song. Students can
guess the meaning or see the context.
We should expose students to a certain song many days in a row. Within a few
days, students will not be able to get the song out of their h ead! Adding actions enhances
language acquisition and memory.
(http://www.englishclub.com/teaching -tips/music -classroom.htm )

4.7.1Pre – teaching activities
These activities are made in order to make them think about the subject of the
song, showing them a picture or a title and make them guess what is next.

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Pictures
If it is possible we bring a picture of the performers and have students make up a
story about them or we get a picture related to the subject of the song and thestudents guess
about the song.

Vocabulary
The teacher put 8 -10 words on the blackboard. Students get up and ask each other
the meaning of the words. Then, in groups of 4, they write a quick story using tho se words.
When we play the tape students must shout STOP any time they hear a new word. They get
one point for their team for each correct word which is on the blackboard.

Song strips
The teacher gives one strip to each student to memorize. Then they put the strip
into the pocket and try to tell his part to the desk mate. Then while they are listening to the
song, they have to stand up and bring their part to the teacher’s desk in order.

Questions
The teacher writes up a set of questions around the topic . For more advanced, we
can choose two similar songs of a familiar theme and split the class into two teams. Each
group has to listen to their song and ask questions. Students listen to the songs. In pairs
from both teams students ask questions and their p artner has to answer.
(http://www.eslgames.com/edutainment/songs.htm)

4.7.2 While listening activities
Musical drawings: Give each student a piece of paper and some coloured
pencils. Tell them that you are going to play some music and you want them to draw
whatever comes into their heads. As music is playing, all students should be drawing. After
20 or 30 seconds, stop the music. Students stop drawing and pass their picture to the person
to the left of them in the circle. Play the music again and they c ontinue with the drawing
the person next to them had started. Stop the music again, pass pictures on and this
continues until the end of the song. When you have finished each student will have a
picture that several students contributed to. Then it’s up to you what to do with the
pictures. They can be used to describe to the group, to write a story about, or to pretend

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they were a dream the student had last night. The rest of the class can try to analyse the
meaning of the dream.

Classic gap -fill: Every l anguage student at some point has been given a song to
listen to and the lyrics with gaps in for them to fill in as they listen. This activity is not as
simple as it sounds and before making one yourself think about why you’re taking out
certain words. It may be better to take out all the words in one group, such as prepositions
or verbs, and tell students what they should be listening out for. Another option is to take
out rhyming words. Don’t be tempted to take out too many words, eight or ten is normally
enough. To make the task easier you could provide the missing words in a box at the side
for the students to select, or you could number the gaps and provide clues for each number.

Jumbled lines
We write out the song lyrics, but this time jumble whole l ines and students have to
put them into the correct order while listening to the song.
We may wish to cut up the lines, to make the task easier for the students – or get
them to cut up the sheet before the activity. Students can work in pairs.

Spot the mi stakes
We write out the lyrics of the song, but make about 20 mistakes e.g. change the
tense, write an opposite or synonym instead of the correct word. The students listen.
The first time we ask them to underline the words that are different and the second
(or third) time actually write what they hear above the word or phrase that is wrong. After
each hearing they can check with each other – in a mixed ability classroom this ensures no –
one is left behind and gets demotivated.
After they have checked that th ey got the right words, we ask them to go through
and see if the mistakes were words or phrases that were the same, similar or opposite in
meaning: a good focus on vocabulary and/or grammar.

Comic strip: Songs that tell stories are great for students to make comic strips out
of. You have to choose your song carefully and spend time looking at the lyrics with the
students and making sure they have understood the main ideas. Lower levels may need

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guidance as to how to divide up the song into suitable chucks that can be represented
pictorially.
4.7.3 After -listening activities
Discussion: Certain songs lend themselves to discussions and you can use the
song as a nice lead in to the topic and a way to pre -teach some of the vocabulary. They can
start discussi ons on a topic or even become the centre of debate. This is especially true of
songs that develop a particular theme.

Translation: Although some teachers oppose all use of the mother tongue in the
language classroom, some students really enjoy translating lyrics into their own language.
If we do ask students to do this ensure the lyrics are worth translating!

Write the next verse: Higher levels can write a new verse to add to a song. Focus
on the patterns and rhyme of the song as a group and then let stud ents be creative. If they
are successful, the new verses can be sung over the top of the original!

Compare two songs : Most songs reflect the background of the singer, why not do
activities on something like varieties of modern English; or simply by compa ring two
songs ask students to figure out where the speaker is from and why. This is especially good
for lessons that show the differences between British and American English.
Students can ask some questions about the song and change papers with their
desk mates in order to answer their questions. Another possibility is to work in groups of
four and after they write some questions on a sheet of paper they can pass their sheets to
the next student for getting answers. Or, they can work in two groups and stu dents ask a
question. After they finish they pick up their sheets, shuffle them and pass them to the
other team. In turns, alternating teams, they answer the questions orally and get one
point for each correct answer.

Send an answer to a character from a song
If students can see a solution to a problem they can suggest it, writing a letter to a
character of the story.

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Rewrite as story
Students have to rewrite the story, rephrasing it in their own words. A possibility
is to write it in groups and the fi rst group who finishes first is the winner.

Write a story imagined after the song
This is an exercise for developing creativity. Students work in groups or pairs and
try to invent a story about that topic and then compare them.

Change words
By changing the underlined words, students have to give synonyms or similar
phrases, keeping the same meaning. Students can work individually or in groups to
compete and see who is faster.

Invent new lyrics for the melody
This is a creativity exercise and melody ca n inspire students to write new lyrics
and rhyming words. They can write them on the same theme or on a completely different
theme.

4.8 Creative techniques used with songs
4.8.1 Brainstorming
With evocative titles they can be used for brainstorming voca bulary. Students can
make up a story given the keywords from the song.

4.8.2 Amend the song
Insert wrong words into the song. This can be used with synonyms or antonyms.
You could make two versions changing different words in each so that students can c heck
with a partner.

4.8.3 E xtra words into the song
The teacher gives students worksheets containing extra words. Students’ task is to
listen and strike out the extra words from their song.

4.8.4 Ordering the song

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The teacher cuts up the song into man ageable chunks and students can reorder as
they listen. Students order pictures representing the song. Or the teacher splits sentences in
two so students must match up the first and second half of sentences.

4.8.5 Using the text of the song
Give the st udents true or false sentences from the text of the song. They can tick
out true sentences or they can write T (true) or F (false) for each sentence.
Students find synonyms or antonyms in the song to words given on a handout or
for the words underlined on the blackboard.

4.8.6 Bingo
Students select 9 keywords from a selection of about 20 on the board and insert
them into a 3 by 3 grid. When students listen to the song they tick the words off until they
have 3 in a row. Using keywords the students retell the story of the song in a narrative.

4.8.7 Expand the song
Students can write an extra verse for the song. They can compose a verse perhaps
using keywords from an original verse and then compare it with the original. They also can
write a letter from o r to the singer or a character in the song.

4.8.8 Pronunciation
Rhyming words can be extracted from the song. Weak forms, contractions and
unstressed words are commonplace in song lyrics.
The teacher makes out a survey for students to rate the song fro m 1-10. We can
include questions like: Does this song make you feel happy? Does it make you feel
sentimental? How would you rate the lyrics? How would you rate the tune? Will it be
successful? Would you buy it? Would you want to listen again? Is it suitabl e for
background music? etc.

4.8.9 Song Review
We need at least 20 questions. Students answer the question while or after they
listen. Next they can write up a review of the song. If we don’t have the facilities to make

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them listen to different songs th is can be a homework exercise. They can do it at home
with a favourite song in English.

4.8.10 Grammar Practice
Structures (especially modals and conditionals) and tenses are often repeated in
the song. Blank these out as reinforcement of the grammar. Tr ansfer lyrics from direct to
reported speech.

4.8.11 Colloquial
Students try to find out the meaning of some frequent colloquial words from the
song. 'Ain't' and 'gonna' and other colloquial words are often neglected in lessons and
frequently come up i n songs.

4.8.12 Cloze Activities
The teacher blanks out all the verbs, adjectives, rhyming words, etc. Then he/she
gives students a chance to predict the missing words before they actually listen. Students
must choose from a multiple choice which could b e used for synonyms or confusing
words. The teacher gives the students the missing words in a jumble on the blackboard.

4.8.13 Storyboard
All the words are blanked out, one by one, so that students put the song together
starting from nothing.

4.8.14 Music without lyrics
Play a piece of music and students write down any words that come into their
heads and explain this to the group afterwards. Students draw as they listen and afterwards
explain their picture.

4.8.15 Rhyming
In pairs students listen for words ending in ' -ing', rhyming words, adjectives, etc.
and then they play a game saying in turns as many words as they know with that form.
The student who can’t continue loses.

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4.8.16 S tory telling
Students can act out the story of the song. We need a suitable song which contains
a story and they have enough time to prepare for this. e.g. 'Don't you want me?' by The
Human League. ( http://busyteacher.org/2728 -classroo m-songs -16-creative -ways.html )
4.9 Games with songs
4.9.1 Gap fills game
The teacher divides the class into small teams and assigns each team a number.
On the board, he/she writes the title of the song and then writes up the numbers for the
missing words . Then, he/she hands out a copy of the gap fill to each student. Students
listen to the song two or three times depending on your student's ability. Students should
work on their own the first two times they listen to the song. After we have played the son g
a second time, we have the students compare their answers with their teammates. Students
discuss their answers, and then play the song a final time. After that, teams take it in turns
to write their answers on the board. A team chooses a number, and then a team member
comes up to the board and writes the missing word.
The teacher gives the students one point for the correct word, and an extra point
for the spelling of the word. If a team spells a word incorrectly, you can ask the other
teams to give the correct spelling. If another team manages to give the right spelling, we
award them with the spelling point.
The activity continues like this until all the missing words have been written on
the board. If the teams are really struggling, we play the song another time. After all the
words have been written on the board and the winning team is announced, we can discuss
the meaning of the song. We ask the students what they think the song is about and get
their ideas and opinions and round off the activity. (http://www.teach –
this.com/ideas/using -song -gap-fills)

4.9.2 Musical flashcards
The aim of the game is to identify words on flashcards while they are listening to
a song with those words. This game is great for reviewing vocabulary.
As a preparation, we need a set of flashcards with pictures from a song. We put
the set of flashcards in a circle on the floor or on a table. You should have one flashcard
less than the number of students in o ur class.

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Students must walk around the flashcards when they hear the music. When the
music stops, they have to stand on a flashcard and shout out the word according to the
picture on their card. Next, we play some music. The students begin walking around the
flashcards. Then we stop again the music. Each student stands on a flashcard and shouts
out their word.
If a student fails to say the correct word, the student without a flashcard has a
chance to steal the card from the student by giving the correct wo rd. The student without a
flashcard is out of the game. Then, we take away another flashcard and play again. The last
student left is the winner. ( http://www.teach -this.com/ideas/using -song-gap-fills)

4.9.3 Musical Madness
The aim of the game is to practice or review parts of the body. This is a highly
amusing ESL game that combines music with learning parts of the body.
Each student in the class chooses a partner (student A and B). Ne xt, all the A
students can stand in a circle and hold hands. Then, all B students make a circle
surrounding the first circle and hold hands. Then, when they hear some music, the inner
circle will move around clockwise and outer circle will move around anti -clockwise. When
the music stops, they must find their partner as quickly as possible and touch each other
using different parts of the body. Then play the music for a while and then stop it.
The teacher then yells out two parts of the body, e.g. elbow to hand. Students race
to find their partner and put one elbow to their partner’s hand. The last pair of students to
find each other and get into position is out of the game. The students then get back into the
two circles. The music starts again and so on. T he last pair of students left is the winner.
(http://www.teach -this.com/ideas/using -song -gap-fills)

4.9.4 Word grab
The aim of the game is to listen for words in a song. This is a fun and lively ESL
music game to play with your students.
We choose a popular song that your students would like. We p ick 15 words from
the song and write them down on separate flashcards. Then, we stick each word onto the
board. The class is divided into two teams and each of them stands in a line in front of the
board. Next, we play the song. When the students at the front of both lines hear a word
from the song that is on the board, they race each other to grab the word. Teams win one

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point for each correct word they grab. Once students have played, they go to the back of
the line and the next two students at the front of the line play.
The team with the most words wins. We may have to play the song two or three
times until all the words have been grabbed. W e can make this game more difficult by
putting trap words up on the board. ( http://www.teach -this.com/ideas/using -song -gap-
fills)

4.9.5 Word snake
The aim of this game is to write word s beginning with a certain letter. This is a
very simple music game to play with young learners. For this ESL music game, we will
need a ball.
All the students stand up. We play some music and have the students pass the ball
to each other until the music s tops. When the music stops, whoever is holding the ball has
to write a word in English on the board. Then, we start the music again.
The next student, who is holding the ball when the music stops, has to use the last
letter of the word on the board to make another word. Example: If a student wrote monkey,
the next student would use the Y as the first letter of their new word.
At the end of the game, we should have a long word snake with all the words
joined up. ( http://www.teach -this.com/ideas/using -song -gap-fills)

4.9.6 Passive voice quiz
When working on the passive voice with your students, we bring in a few well –
known songs and ask: Who was that song sung / written by? A great example of the
passive voice in use and also drawing in the students’ knowledge of the world.
We ask students to get into teams. In their teams they must come up with at least
10 similar questions (they could do some research for homework) about songs.
We can o rganise a class quiz, where team members challenge each other with
questions like: Who were ‘Satisfaction’ and ‘Brown Sugar’ sung by? (Rolling Stones) or
they could bring in tapes/CDs (if this is possible) or sing a snippet of the song and ask the
question s. ( http://www.onestopenglish.com/teenagers/skills/songs/teenagers -songs -6-
songs -and-grammar/146793.article)

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4.10 Worksheets for different songs we have collected these worksheets songs
for the internet address http://busyteacher.org/14622 -songs -to-study -english-2.html

4.10.1 Everything at once by Lenka
‘Everything at Once’ is a song by an Australian singer -songwriter Lenka (born
Lenka Kripac). This song is from her second album Two (released in 2011).
Grammar: comparisons, as…as, articles
Vocabulary: animal s, adjectives, nature objects, music
Communication skills: making comparisons
Level: Elementary
Teacher’s notes
1. Revise animal vocabulary. You can arrange the revision as an auction (the one
who calls an animal wins). For stronger classes you may also pr actice writing skills
(spelling). In this case, divide your students into small groups / pairs. Give them a minute
to write down as many animals as they can. Then collect papers and count the words. The
word with a spelling mistake isn’t scored. The team ( group / pair) which gets more points
wins.
2. Make enough copies of the Appendix, p. 38 (one copy for a small group or
pair). Cut and hand out the cards. Students shuffle them and put them in a pile face down.
Tell your students that they are going to play the game. Demonstrate it by taking a card and
making a sentence, e. g. A mouse is grey (or A mouse is small), A tiger lives in the jungle.
Students play the game taking the cards in turns and making sentences. If a student’s
sentence is correct (s)he coll ects it. The one who gets more cards in a group is a winner.
Monitor the game, correcting mistakes and helping with any vocabulary difficulties.
3. Tell your students that they are going to listen to a song. While listening they
should put the cards in a l ine in order they hear the words on them.
4. Play the song. Then discuss the results and impression. Correct order: fox – ox
– hare – bear – bird – mouse – wolf – toad – tiger – whale. You may play the recording for
the second time pausing it after each ‘a nimal word’.
5. Ask your students to look through the lyrics ignoring the gaps and trying to find
one more animal (an insect) mentioned in this song. – Bee. Then do ex. 1.
6. Explain the task for ex. 2. Pay attention that there are some more words in the
song which are not included in the ex. 1. Play the song again. Students listen to it filling in
the gaps. Check the answers.

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7. Introduce as…as structure.
8. Pay attention to articles. Students should find all the as…as structures. Then the
students write out all the nouns from these structures into 3 columns: a (an) | the | no
article. Find out the difference.
9. To practice as…as play a game. Copy Appendix, p. 39 (one page for a group).
Students shuffle word cards and put them in a pile face down. The ot her pile should
contain the picture cards (See 2 above). A student takes two cards: one with a word, the
second with a picture. Then (s)he should make a sentence. E. g.: brave / wolf. I am as
brave as a wolf (or The soldier is as brave as a wolf). If a sen tence makes sense the student
collects the cards. If not – puts them back. Encourage your class to make more sentences
which make sense even in an ironic way. E. g.: small / whale. A giant (Shrek) is as small as
a whale. When your students get familiar to this game they can write their own words on
small pieces of paper and play with them.
10. You may also discuss the poetic language of this song. Why is the sea scary?
11. Students can also try to write their own verse taking the song lyrics as an
example.
Extra activity. To provide a revision of comparatives and superlatives make two
copies of Appendix, p. 38 for a small group / pair. Cut the cards put them face down.
Students in turns take two cards and compare the animals printed on them. Whales are
bigger then mice. If a student gets two similar cards (e. g. two whales) then (s)he makes a
sentence with a superlative. Whales are the biggest animals in the world. – appendix 21s’
Pa
4.10.2 Our last summer by Abba
‘Our Last Summer’ is a song by Abba from the group's seventh studio album
Super Trouper. It was written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Though it was
covered by a number of artists and was used in the musical Mamma Mia!, this variant of
lyrics referred to an original track by Abba.
Grammar: Pa st Simple, Past Perfect, Past Continuous
Vocabulary: holidays, travelling
Communication skills: talking about holidays
Level: Pre -Intermediate, Intermediate

Teacher’s notes

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1. Ask students if they have ever travelled, if they travelled this summer, where to.
If students are not very enthusiastic to talk about it, let them tell both true and false
information (each partner should guess if it is true or not). Find out the most popular
holiday destination in the group. Introduce the word ‘destination’.
2. Now , ask which holiday destination they think is said to be the most popular
one all over the world. Tell them that according to the United Nations World Tourism
Organization one of the most popular places to visit is France. Find out what students
know about France and Paris. Encourage them to name the most famous sights
(considering some pronunciation difficulties they may name these places in their native
language first).
3. Tell the class that they are going to listen to a song by ABBA called Our Last
Summ er. It is closely connected with Paris. Then hand out the worksheets and let your
students do Ex. 1 (individually or in pairs). Pay their attentions to the usage of them. Check
the answers.
4. Then explain the second task and play the song. Check the answe rs.
5. Ask students what this song is about. – The heroine recalls her romantic
summer in Paris and points how things have changed. Remind students that we use the Past
Simple Tense to talk about the past. Revise the key points of this tense. Now, do Ex. 3 . Let
your students work individually, then check their answers in an open group. You may also
ask students to find other past tenses (we had met – Past Perfect; we were dancing – Past
Continuous).
6. Look through the words from the box. Explain / translat e some of them if
needed. Explain that the term flower power became generalized as a modern reference to
the hippie movement (you may also mention of student riots in Paris in 1968 – it’ll help
students understand how dramatically Harry has changed). Then play the song again (twice
if needed). Check the answers. -appendix 22

As a conclusion to this chapter, songs can become a useful tool in the process of
teaching as they improve students concentration and memory, they are motivational and
fun and, they ca n make a relaxing atmosphere in the class. As Chris Brewer wrote in
Music and Learning, "Music stabilizes mental, physical and emotional rhythms to attain a
state of deep concentration and focus in which large amounts of content information can be
process ed and learned."

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It is reccomanded to integrate songs in our English lessons as frequent as possible.
They should become a part of our language experience, and if we choose and use them
corectly they can be of great value for our students.

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Chapter 5
GAMES AND SONGS IN ACTION

In this chapter, we would like to exemplify how games and songs can be
integrated in our English lessons in high school, and how learners responded. Our students
are adolescents with age between fourtee n and eighteen years. Their level of English is
intermediate because most of them come from village schools. There are a few students
who are quite good at English language. Being a vocational high school, one can’t expect
to have the best students at fore ign languages. The most important fact is that they want to
achieve the necessary amount of knowledge in order to communicate with each other and
to pass the baccalaureate exam. Introducing games in our teaching process offered the
possibility to motivate them to involve better in the lesson. I would like to present some
games invented or adapted after some games described in previous chapter.
5.1 Games for vocabulary
Grab the word
The aim of this simple game is to make students familiar with the new word s find
out who is the fastest reader and who know the most words.
The level : 9th grade – pre-intermediate
Procedure : Students are work in groups of four. Each team receives a set of 20
cards with adjectives referring to character. Students have to spread them on the table face
up and put their hands on their knees. The teacher pronounces a word and their task is to
grab the card with it as fast as they can. The student with the most cards is the winner.
Reflexion:
This is a game which helped our students f ocus their attention on the vocabulary
lesson, helping them to remember sounds and words. Most of the students were attentive
and got at least one word. In some groups there were only two students who didn’t get
more than one word. One student got eleven w ords. It was a funny game, testing reaction
time and students got familiar with the new words.
The next step of the lesson was to explain the words and students who had already
known them explained for the rest of the class. They got one point for every co rrect
explanation.

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Board race
The aim: to write down the antonym, using prefixes like un -, in-, im-, ir-, dis-.
Procedure:
After I explained them the rules for making a negative with those prefixes,
students were divided into two groups. They have to st and in two lines, each line being a
team. They have to race to the blackboard and write down the corresponding antonym.
After they finish, they have to run back to their team, touch the first colleague and go back
to the line. The game continues with the f irst student in line until they finish all the words
from the blackboard.
It is a movement game and this was a little noisy, but students were attentive and
tried to do their best for the team. There were a few mistakes but students had the
opportunity to correct words from the opposite team. They got one extra point for detecting
and correcting a wrong word. It was a nice atmosphere and students were motivated to
remember the negative form of those adjectives.

Memory game
I prepared a set of 10 flashcard s representing adjectives like: happy, sad, worried,
furious, excited, etc. The teacher presents them and tells the students that they have to
memorize them. After the class repeated them two times, we took the flashcards and tell
the students to write dow n as many words as they could. They got one point for each
correct word, and an extra point for correct spelling.
It was challenging and students tested their short term memory. Because the
words were well -known, most of them remembered between 6 -8 words. They got one extra
point for each correct synonym.

Flashcard games
What is missing?
The aim: to detect the missing flashcard and say the word
Procedure:
We used the same set of flashcards used in the previous game and for the same
class. They were arra nged in front of the classroom and students repeated them. Then they
have to close their eyes and we quickly removed one of the flashcards from the board.
After that they have to callout the name of the missing card. They got one point for their
team.

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The students were very attentive to the cards and tried to identify the missing
words. One third of them could identify at least three words for their team. It was a very
good exercise for visual learners and they very excited to play the game.
Vocabulary Gr owth
Level: intermediate
The aim: revising adjectives and expressions
Procedure:
The class is divided into two teams. Students have to choose a representative for
their team. They go to the corresponding blackboard and draw a tree with branches. Then
they have to run to the blackboard in turn and write an adjective to describe a tree. They
have to draw a leaf. First of all they have two minutes to talk to their team mates. The leaf
with an inappropriate adjective will falls down. The team with the most lea ves wins.
Comments:
The students were enthusiastic to draw and write adjectives in their tree. A few
students couldn’t write an adjective but they certainly draw a leaf for their colleagues.
Most of the students knew how to describe a tree: yellow, green, tall, short, strong,
colourful, flourished, symbolic, young, old, rich. There were some students who surprised
us and came up with words like: impressive, majestic, straight.
This was a good start point for a discussion about character. We asked them to
identify some of the adjectives which can describe people. For instance, they said that a
straight person is an honest one and then they have to give a definition of honesty, and
comment it. Then we asked them to give advice, inspired by a tree. Some of the m were
inspired to say: Stand tall! Be strong! Just relax! Stay focussed!
The next step of the lesson was to introduce some expressions to the class and let
them guess the meaning: barking up the wrong tree (m aking a mistake or a false
assumption in somet hing you are trying to achieve ; as the twig is bent, so is the tree
inclined (a grown person will act the way he or she was taught to act as a child ); cannot see
the wood for the trees (c annot perceive the overview or important things because of
concentrat ing too much on details ); Money does not grow on trees (i t is not easy to get
money); tree is known by its fruit ( People judge your character by what you do).
The students worked in their teams of four and tried to fit the strips, the idioms or
phrases wit h their meanings. It was challenging for some of them but a little difficult for
the most. Only one team of five could find all the answers, two teams made two mistakes

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and the others made three mistakes. We consider this a good method to involve students
even in a difficult task.

Hot seat
This revision activity revises vocabulary taught on the course through a lively,
enjoyable team game. We place two chairs – or ‘hot seats’ – at the front of the classroom
facing the students, one chair on each side of t he classroom. Then we divide the class into
two teams. One member of each team comes and sits in the hot seat.
The teacher writes a word/phrase that you want to revise on the board. The
students in the hot seats are not allowed to look at the words/phrases . Each team tries to
convey the meaning of the word/phrase in any way they can (definition, mime, synonym,
etc.) without saying or spelling the word/phrase.
The first student in the hot seats who says the correct word/phrase gets a point for
his/her team. Mark each team’s points on the board. After they have tried to guess a few
words, ask the students in the chairs to change places with other members of their team.
The activity continues with different students in the hot seats.
The team that gets the mo st points wins. The student who guessed the word gets
one point in the teacher’s assessment sheet. Students are very attentive and use their
imagination either to mime, or to make connections and give the right answer. The students
who are not so good at l anguage tried to mime the words. Others gave synonyms and the
rest explain the meaning of the word. They can be encouraged by the teacher and award
with extra points for right explanation or synonyms or antonyms.
5.2 Grammar games
Past activities
Level: intermediate
The aim: to practise past tense, positive, negative and interrogative forms
Procedure:
Students work in groups of four and ask their mates about activities they did at the
weekend. If the answer is positive, they get one point. The game contin ues with the next
student for five minutes. The students with the most points win.
This is a very simple game which doesn’t require preparation of any material. I
used it as an ice breaker or for a short revision of past tense. Students were trying to gues s

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the activities and it was easier for those who had known each other to guess the weekend
activities. Some of them had difficulties when they had to answer and give the past form of
the lexical verb.

Past tense form
Level: intermediate
Aim: to revise pa st tense forms of the verbs
Procedure:
All students have to stand up and they are divided into three teams. The teacher
gives them the infinitive form. Each one has to say the past form and if he/she doesn’t
know the correct form he/she has to sit down. T he team with the most students standing up
at the end is the winner.
The second step of the game is to give students a new challenge. They are given a
word in past tense form and they have to find a word which rhymes with it.
Generally, students knew the past tense forms of the verbs, but about a third of
them couldn’t say a word. The second challenge was more difficult and only a few students
could do the exercise.

Betting on grammar horses
This game is suggested by Rinvolucri and Davis. 2010: 1 -4
Level : upper – intermediate
The goal of the game is to make a difference between infinitive and participle, to
work in pairs and in a group and to predict some results.
Five students have to come in front of the classroom and be the “horses”. They
will have to reach a group decision as to which sentences are correct and which are wrong.
The rest of the class will receive copies of the first Grammar answer sheet and tells them
not to communicate with the horses.
The students work in pairs and every p air has 1000 euros. They must bet on the
“horses” and win if the sentences are correct. If they predict wrongly, they will lose their
money. If they predict correctly, they will double their stake. This is the first of three
rounds and that is why they sho uldn’t use all their money. They prepare their bet by ticking
the right sentences. Then they have to shout out the number of sentences and the amount of
money they are betting.

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The “horses” receive the first Grammar problem sheet and they have to decide in
group which sentences are correct and which are wrong. They discuss in front of the
classroom so that everybody can hear. They make up their mind in a four minutes time
limit. They announce the class their final decision and they have to calculate wheth er they
have lost their money or doubled it.
The procedure is repeated with two more groups of “horses”, using Grammar
problem sheet problems 2 and 3. – Appendix 7
Observation sheet:
This is a challenging game for my students because they had to apply th eir
grammar knowledge and find out the possible grammar mistakes. It shouldn’t be a matter
of luck to bet on a certain “horse” because they should be sure about the correctness of the
sentence. But for most of my students is a difficult task. They are not sure about the verbs
followed by infinitive or -ing form.
There were three rounds. In the first case, students bet on the five sentences and
only three of them won. One pair won 1600 euros for one correct sentence, while one pair
won 1800 euros and anothe r 2000 euros for the fifth sentence. In the second round most
students lost their money on wrong sentences. Only one pair bet on the right sentence (4)
and doubled their money to 2000 euros. In the last round, they were more reserved. The
same pair as in t he previous rounds won 2000 euros for sentence two and four and a pair
won 1600 for sentence five and and two pairs won 1800 euros for sentence one and three.
They didn’t expect to have all five sentences correct. The “horses” gave good answers for
most of the sentences because they discussed in group the sentences.
I think this is a motivational and challenging game for my students and they were
ready to revise the grammar issues for the next time in order to know better and win a
similar betting game. It was a good opportunity for me to give good marks for the first
three winners.

5.3 Games for speaking
Keep talking
The aim : to talk and know each other better
Level : intermediate
Procedure:

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Students work in pairs, and take turns to continue these mo nologues for as long as
possible. Each student has to talk about himself / herself for about thirty seconds. Then we
stop them and the desk mate has to revise exactly what the colleague has said. At the
teacher signal, they have to change roles and do the same. They continue with the same
structure until the signal.
Here are some beginnings:
I always …. / If I … / I am someone who…/ I am good at …
Reflexion:
This is a very nice exercise for talking to each other and it can be a good start for
students who do not know each other. Although the students were noisy, it was funny and
involved all the class. I tried to walk around the classroom and listen to them. Some needed
help but it was a really enjoying practice. Students felt important and tried to say
something about themselves. The feedback motivated them to be good listeners and
remember as many things as they can about their mates. It was worth playing.

5.4 Games for writing

Paragraph construction
Level: intermediate
Aim: to write a simple paragraph a bout Jane Austen
This is a mixed skill activity with reading comprehension and writing task for
intermediate learners. It is suggested by Harmer (2007: 57).
The game is based on a ‘substitution -drill’ style of procedure to encourage
students to write a par agraph which is identical with the one they have just read. Students
read the following paragraph:
William Shakespeare is England’s most famous playwright. He was born in
Stratford -on-Avon in 1564, but lived a lot of his life in London. He wrote 37 plays
including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, and Twelfth Night. He died in Stratford -on-
Avon in 1616. After the teacher has made sure that students understood information about
Shakespeare, students are given the following table of information and ask to w rite a
similar paragraph about Jane Austen:

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Name: Jane Austen
Occupation: one of England’s most famous writers
Date of birth: 1775
Place of birth: Stevenson, Hampshire
Lived: Bath and Southampton
Examples of work: 6 novels, including Emma and Mansfield Park
Died: 1817

It was an interesting exercise for students to write a paragraph having a model and
information about Jane Austen. This was an easy exercise for most of the student. Some of
them needed help and only a few couldn’t write anything.

5.5 Game for listening
Aim: to listen to a motivational song and talk and write about success
The impossib le dream
Students will receive their worksheets and then the teacher will tell them what
their task is. They have to listen to the song and fill in the gaps while they are listening for
the second time. Thus is a good start for a discussion about goals and success. The teacher
can make some cards with quotes about dream and students comment them in their groups.
They are divided into groups of for students, take a card and and rephrase and discuss the
idea from the quote. Then they can discuss their ideas w ith the whole class and make a
plan for an essay.
The first task was to listen and fill in the missing words from the song
The impossible dream.
Lyrics by Joe Darion
To dream … the impossible dream …
To fight … the foe …
To bear … with sorrow …
To run … where the dare not go …
To right … the wrong …
To love … and chaste from afar …
To try … when your arms are to o weary …

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To reach … the star …

This is my quest, to follow that star …
No matter how , no matter how …
To fight for the , without question or pause …
To be willing to march into Hell, for a cause …

And I know if I'll only be true, to this glorious ,
That my heart will lie will lie and calm,
when I'm laid to my rest …
And the world will be for this:
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of ,
To reach … the unreachable star …
1. Students were asked to answer these questions:
Are there any dreams that you consider to be impossible to reach?
How can you accomplish your dreams?
What is the significance of reaching the unreachable star?
What is the way to succeed in following your dreams?
How can you make your dreams come true?

2. The third challenge was to rephrase and explain the quotes:
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”( Eleanor
Roosevelt )
“All our dreams can come true , if we have the courage to pursue them. ” ( Walt
Disney )
“A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and
hard work.” ( Colin Powell)
“Let your dreams be bigger than your fears, your actions louder than your words,
and your faith stronger than your feelings. ”
“A dream will never become a reality if you do not wake up and sp oil your
dreams. ”
“It starts with a dream.

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Add faith, and it become a belief.
Add action, and it becomes a part of life.
Add perserverance, and it becomes a goal in sight.
And it ends,with a dream come true. ”

3. After a brainstorming, they wrote some ideas about success.
 Dreams are vitally important, getting a perspective in life.
 Setting goals on short and long terms is the next step.
 Working hard in order to achieve something means to turn our plans into
action.
 Courage, faith and perseverance are some i ngredients for fulfilling our goals.
Comments:
Listening to a song is a very nice way to introduce a new topic. Students liked
music and tried to fill in the missing words. Most of the words were known by the students
and they could write them after the se cond listening. There were a few places where we
had to stop and rewind the CD so that they could understand the words.
In the second part of the lesson, they worked in groups of four and every team
received a quote. Their task was to rephrase and explain it. It was more difficult for the
most of them, but each team could say something about it. In turns, they explained the
saying to the class. Then, after a brainstorm, they wrote down some idea for an essay.
I think this was a wonderful moment for my stu dents to be motivated and to learn how to
succeed in life.

5.6 Game for reading
Level: intermediate
Aim: to read for general comprehension
Procedure:
The class is divided into five teams. Each team receive a worksheet and their task
is to read an ar ticle and choose the right answer. The article is divided into five paragraphs
and they are hung on the board. Students have to run to the board in turns, read an article,
run back and answer to the corresponding question. Each student has to write his nam e to
the given answer so that the teacher could check each student comprehension. The first
team to finish and have chosen correct answers is the winner.

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Students read their paragraph and choose the correct answer to a multiple choice
exercise.
1. Some go vernments want to measure…
a. people’s health.
b. only economic aspects.
c. different aspects of people’s lives.
2. The data show that…
a. wealthy people are the happiest.
b. people in Britain have got happier.
c. although some people have got richer, they have not become happier.
3. According to the article, our happiness is probably linked to …
a. the people in our social circle
b. our possessions.
c. our standard of living.
4. In Bhutan, the government…
a. controls parts of the media.
b. plans to start measuring happiness.
c. encourages globalisation.
5 Some educational institutions are trying to improve people’s happiness by…
a working with governments.
b teaching well -being to children.
c working with families.
6 According to the article, …
a. the state should take responsibility for happiness.
b. the governments’ plans will definitely improve people’s happiness.
c. the happiness industry is likely to expand in future.

The happiness industry
1. Usually a country measures its success by economic growth, but these days
many governments, including those of the UK, France and Canada, are interested in
measuring a nation’s well -being by having a ‘happiness index’. The index is designed to
measure aspects such as quality of life.
2. Richard Layard, a professor at the London School of Economics and author of
Happiness: lessons from a New Science , believes ‘the best society is one where the people

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are happiest’. But what makes us happy? According to Professor Layard, surveys have
shown that in the past 50 years ‘average happiness has not increased at all in Britain or in
the United States – despite massive increases in living standards’. Similar surveys around
the world indicate that some of the poorest countries have the highest levels of happi ness.
This might suggest that being happy isn’t about the things we own, but about how we live
our lives and the quality of the relationships we have with other people and with nature.
3. The Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan has measured its people’s ‘gross nat ional
happiness’ since 1972 and the results have influenced the government’s policies ever since.
For example, television was banned until 1999 and there are still strict government controls
on the amount of advertising for children. These measures aim to preserve and promote
traditional cultural values, which some people believe contribute to the nation’s happiness.
4. The relatively new science of happiness has become a popular academic
subject around the world. More than 200 institutions either have re search institutes or offer
courses in positive psychology, which seek to maximise happiness for individuals and
society. Some schools in the UK are even giving lessons on well -being, based on positive
thinking, dealing with problems in the home, relaxation techniques and meditation.
5. Many people believe happiness to be personal and the responsibility of the individual,
not the state. However, nothing is going to stop the growth of the happiness industry as
governments try to improve ‘general well -being’ alongside the national economy.
(Redstone, Chris and Clementon, Theresa with Cunningham, Gillie. 2013: 217)

The advantages
The main advantage of the game is that all students from the class are involved
and have to read something. More than that, they ar e in a contest and focus on their task
more than in a traditional reading. The second advantage is that students try their best to
understand what they read and do the task for their team, developing team work. Thirdly,
they try not to lose time and read f or a certain purpose.
The results: 61 % of the 80 students answered correctly and get one point on the
teacher notebook. After this game, we can conclude that students were motivated to read
from the very beginning, they were perseverant and tried their b est to fulfil their tasks until
the end of the game. As a result, we can say that they were interested in reading and
understand the meaning of the paragraphs.

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In conclusion, we can say that games can be easily integrated in our classes as
activities wit h an educational purpose. We demonstrated that playing games is not only to
offer diversity but to motivate, to teach and revise something. Games can become a part of
our classes if we can choose the right game to the right moment of the lesson.

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Chapter 6
TESTING

The aim of this chapter is to find out some creative ways of testing and compare
them with traditional ways. There are some advantages in this manner of testing. First of
all, it reduces the amount of stress so t hat students can feel free to express what they
already know in a natural and creative way. Secondly, we would connect our untraditional
method of teaching English through games and songs to an unconventional way of testing.
We would also like to apply te sting to the high school English books Face to face
for pre -intermediate, intermediate.

6.1 Testing
Students need to be tested during learning process of learning. At a various stages
during a term or a semester, we may give students progress tests. These hav e the function
of seeing how students assimilate what they have taught in the last week or month.
At the end of a term semester or year, students may want to do a final
achievement test to see their how well they learnt everything. Typically, achievements tests
include a variety of test types and measure the students’ abilities in all four skills, as well
as their vocabulary and grammar abilities.
Beside these types of testing, there are continuous assessments, where the
students’ progress is measured as i t is happening, all the time.

6.2 Good tests
Good tests do the job they are designed to do, having a positive effect on both
students and teachers. A good test is valid, which means it is a good measure of students’
abilities and show this is the case. On the other hand, they should be reliable and valid. A
good test should have marking reliability. They should be easy to mark and be the same for
all examiners.
Tests have a marked backwash effect, whether they are public exams, progress or
achievement. Th is occurs when teachers see the form of the test their students are going to
have and as a result, start teaching for the test.

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6.3 Test types
When designed tests we can write discrete items, or ask students to become
involved in more integrative langua ge use. Discrete -item testing means only testing one
thing at a time (e.g. testing a verb tense or a word), whereas integrative testing means
asking students to use a variety of language and skills to complete a task successfully.
A direct test item is on e that asks students to do something with language (e.g.
write a letter, read and reply to a newspaper article, take part in a conversation). Direct test
items are always integrative and test the students’ knowledge of students rather than the
use of langu age. Indirect test items might focus on correct use of verbal forms or
collocations.

6.3.1 Indirect test items
Multiple -choice questions
This type of exercise is that one where students are given alternatives to choose
from. This can be a testing for list ening or reading comprehension.

Fill-in and cloze
It is a common form of indirect testing involving the examinee writing a word in a
gap in a sentence or a paragraph.

Transformation
In these items students are asked to change the form of words or phrases to show
their knowledge in syntax and word grammar. Sometimes they have to rephrase a sentence
using a given word. A variation of this technique is designed to focus more on exactly on
word grammar. In this case students have to complete the grammatical f orm of a word.
This kind of transformation test grammar and vocabulary knowledge and it is quite
difficult to construct.
There are many other forms of indirect test items: putting jumbled words in order,
making correct sentences and questions, correcting mistakes and matching the beginning
and endings of the sentences.

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6.3.2 Direct test items
In this kind of testing we ask students to do something instead of testing their
knowledge. There is no limit to this kind of tasks. Here are some examples of dir ect
testing.
Reading and listening
They may seem to look like indirect testing because of multiple choice questions.
They can also choose the best summary of what they have heard or read. They can put in
order some pictures as they listen or read a story.

Writing
Direct tests of writing might include getting students to write leaflets based on
information applied in an accompanying test, or having them write compositions or essays.

Speaking
We can interview students, or we can put them in pairs and as k them to work a
number of tasks. They can discuss about similarities or differences between two pictures,
or they can role play a certain situation. These direct items of testing are more difficult to
mark than indirect items.
(Harmer, Jeremy.2007. p. 166 -171)

6.4 Marking tests
The marking of tests is simple if we have to mark individual items, but this
becomes more complicated when we have integrative tests. There is danger of becoming
subjective in such a case.
There are two different ways of marking with out subjectivity. When two or three
teachers look at a piece of work, we can be more confident. The other way of objective
marking is to use marking scales for a range of different items. For oral examination we
might take into account grammar, pronunciati on, coherence, and fluency. (Harmer,
Jeremy.2007. p. 173 -174)

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6.5 Standard testing
6.5.1 Continuous assessment – testing reading, writing and vocabulary about
adjectives
1. Read the article about happiness. Which activities do the people in the
survey like? Which do they hate? 10 p
How to measure happiness
Scientists have found a new way to measure happiness: they can calculate how (1)
satisfied people are with the ir everyday lives by giving positive and negative points for
typical activities. In a (2) fascinating survey, scientists discovered that commuting to work
is the activity that people find most (3) exhausting and (4) irritating . Many people feel (5)
depress ed, (6) annoyed and (7) frustrated when they have to do housework and meet
deadlines at work. In general, the most (8) entertaining activity is relaxing with friends and
the most (9) satisfying is spending time with family. However, some parents were (10)
embarrassed to say that looking after children didn’t always make them happy. Finally,
you may be (11) disappointed if you think that a higher salary will bring greater happiness.
In fact, one scientist suggests that organising your time well might be the best way to
improve your quality of life.

b. Write adjectives 1 –11 from the article in the table.

positive meaning negative meaning
satisfied
20 p.
1. Complete the adjectives with -ed or -ing.
1. Eileen has been working twelve h ours a day for the last week. She’s absolutely
exhaust ed .
2. I can’t bear being without my family. I find it very depress .
3. Please don’t shout so loudly. You’re making me really embarrass .
4. Juan must be very frustrat . He’s just failed his driving test again.
5. Waiting in queues is really irritat .
6. My history of art course is absolutely fascinat .
7. I’m afraid I was extremely disappoint by the results of these tests.
8. Mark doesn’t earn much, but he finds his job very satisfy .
9. You must go and see that new film. It’s extremely entertain .

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10. I’ll be very annoy if they don’t reply to my letter.
18 p.

2. Write the character adjectives.
1 Selfish people only think about themselves.
2 R people always do what you want or expect them to do.
3 A people want to be very successful or powerful.
4 G people like giving money and presents to other people.
5 S people make good decisions based on reasons and facts.
6 B people are not frightened in dangerous or difficult situations.
7 M people don’t like spending money or giving things to other people.
8 S people won’t change their ideas or plans when others want them to.
9 C people are sure that they can do things successfully or well.
10 P people are good at planning thing s and dealing with problems.
11 T people have a natural ability to do something (paint, write, etc.).
12 S people are able to understand other people’s feelings and
problems.
13 A people behave in an angry or violent way towards other people.
14 O people plan things well and don’t waste time.
15 R people behave sensibly and can make good decisions on their
own.
16 A people like visiting new places and having new experiences.
17 P people always think that bad things will happen in the future. –
32 p.

3. Match the compound adjectives in bold to definitions a–j.
1 b I’m not surprised Tomoko is so popular. She’s very good -natured and easy to get on
with.
2 Celine doesn’t like anybody who’s different to her. She’s extremely narrow -minded .
3 I’m sure you could give up smoking. You’re very strong -willed .
4 Jo is always extremely bad-tempered in the morning. She hates getting up early.
5 I really love looking after my sister’s two children because they’re so well-behaved .
6 I’d like Nagy to join our discussion group. He’s very broad -minded and is interested
in diff erent people and cultures.

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7 Bob needs to lose weight, but he’s too weak -willed to go on a diet.
8 I think Lucia is over -confident about passing her driving test. She hasn’t practised at
all.
9 Sonia will do well in her exams. She’s a very hard -working student.
10 It’s quite difficult to be friends with Tony these days. He’s a bit self-centred and
hasn’t got time for anyone else.
a. not happy to accept new ideas or opinions different from your
own
b. naturally friendly and doesn’t get angry easily
c. behave in a quiet and polite way
d. interested only in yourself
e. too sure about yourself and your abilities
f. very determined to do what you want to do
g. always doing a lot of work
h. happy to accept ideas and ways of life different to your own
i. often anno yed, angry or impatient
j. not determined enough to succeed in what you want to do
(Redstone, Chris and Clementon, Theresa with Cunningham, Gillie. 2013. P.201)

6.5.2 Progress test – 50 minutes – score 100 p.
Level: intermediate
Course book : Face2face
1. Listen to Daisy and Wayne talking about shopping. Choose the correct
words/phrases.
1. It’s Wayne’s/ Wayne’s brother’s /Daisy’s birthday next week.
2. Wayne’s brother likes travelling independently/light/with friends .
3. Daisy has been to the Amazon/has read Ed Stafford’s book/has seen a
documentary about Ed Stafford .
4. Daisy quite likes/doesn’t mind/doesn’t like shopping for clothes online.
5. Wayne has just bought a cottage in the country/a flat by the river/a terraced
house near the park . – 8 p.

2. Listen to part of a radio programme about a festival. Fill in the missing
information.

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Dates
The festival takes place 1 every year on the 2 …………………… ….weekend in
August. This year the festival begins on a 3 ……………………………………..
Prices
Adults: cheapest tickets available until 4 ……………………………… Children under 5
…………………………. are allowed in free.
Parking costs a maximum of 6………………………………..£ per vehicle. People
arriving by 7 …………………….can park for free.
Catering
Food is available at the festival site and in the 8 ………………………………… in the
village. 14 p.

3. Choose the correct form of make or do.
1. I love …a…… nothing at the weekend.
a. doing; b. to make; c. making; d. to do.
2. Don’t ……………..a noise. The baby’s asleep.
a. to do; b. make; c. do; d. making.
3. Gary’s very good at ……………… excuses.
a. making; b. doing; c. do; d. make.
4. My father usually ……………………. the washing -up.
a. do; b. make; c. does; d. makes.
5. George, can you ………………… me a favour?
a. do; b. make; c. doing; d. done.
6. I couldn’t ………………… up my mind what to do.
a. make; b. do; c. made; d. doing.
7. I think you’re …………………. progress this year.
a. doing; b. making; c. do; d. make.
8. Have you …………………… . your homework yet?
a. done; b. made; c. does; d. did.
9. Maria always ……………………. me laugh.
a. made; b. make; c. do; d. doing.
10. I …………………………. dinner for my family last Sunday.
a. done; b. did; c. made; d. making.
11. I’m …. …………………….. a course in photography.

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a. Doing; b. making; c. done; d. made.
12. Have you …………………………… an appointment yet?
a. Done; b. made; c. doing; d. making.
13. I hate …………………………. the cleaning. -12 p.
a. Making; b. doing; make; do.

4. Fill in the gaps with these words/phrases: after, if, in case, before, as
soon as, until, unless.
1. I’ll see you after I get back.
2. I’ll stay here ……………………… .. I know that he’s OK.
3. I think he’ll leave his job …………………………. his boss gives him a pay rise.
4. He’s going to buy a new car …………………………… he gets his first month’s
salary.
5. I’ll go to the party with you …… ……………………… you come and pick me up.
6. I’m sure Frances will come to say goodbye ……………………… she leaves the
country.
7. Take a sandwich …………………………… you get hungry. -6 p.

5. Fill in the gaps with the correct reflexive pronouns.
1. My father likes to repair his car himself .
2. She often goes away on holiday by .
3. We really enjoyed at the festival.
4. My parents lo ok after the garden .
5. I often make my children’s clothes .
6. Are you going to Thailand by ?
7. Please wash the car. It can’t wash !
8. We really know how to enjoy . -7 p.

6. Put the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
1. He ’ll do (do) it today if he has (have) time.
2. If we (not leave) now, we (miss) the plane.
3. We (not be able to) get a flight unless we (book)
it soon.

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4. I (tidy up) the house this afternoon if you (do)
the shopping.
5. If people (not do) enough exercise, they (put) on
weight.
6. I’ve nearly finished. I (call) you as soon as I (be)
ready.
7. If you (want) a relaxing holiday, (not go) to
a big city.
8. I (take) some sun cream with me tomorrow in case it (be)
very sunny.
9. If you (not know) what to do, you must (ask) a
colleague.
10. You (help) me if I (buy) you lunch tomorrow?
11. They (not move) to London unless Bob (get) a
job. -20 p.

7. Give a synonym for the words in brackets.
1. He thought the film was brilliant . (wonderful)
2. How do you p your lottery numbers? (choose)
3. I’m very f to work her e. (lucky)
4. Are you s it was him? (certain)
5. Staying at home on Friday night makes a p change. (nice)
6. Why are you looking so c ? (worried)
7. My aunt is s of spiders. (frightened)
8. I’m quite s with my life at the moment. (content)
9. I often c to my neighbours. (talk)
10. Didn’t you think he was a a bit strangely? (behaving)
11. I’m very g to be here (pleased).
12. That house is absolutely h . (enormous)
13. I met him b c on the train. (accidentally)
14. We thought the meal was a . (terrible) -13 p.

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8. Fill in the gaps with these words/phrases: should, say, not a bad idea, one
thing, what about, can I just, sounds like, have you thought, suggestion, not sure, should
do, having.
Lyn: Bill’s leaving the company next month. How do you think we 1 should say
goodbye to him?
Ted: May I make a 2 ?
Lyn: Yes, of course.
Ted: How about 3 a surprise party for him?
Rob: Yes, that 4 a good idea.
Lyn: Sorry, I don’t think we 5 that. He’s quite shy and
might not like being the centre of attention.
Rob: Yes, maybe you’re right. 6 taking h im out for a few
drinks?
Lyn: I’m 7 about that. For 8 , he doesn’t like going to pubs.
Zoe: 9 say something here?
Lyn: Yes, of course.
Zoe: Well, 10 of asking him what he wants to do?
Ted: Yes, that’s 11 ! -10 p.

9. Tick the correct sentences. Change the incorrect sentences.
make
1. I always do mistakes in my maths tests.
2. George and Fiona text themselves every day.
3. Soap operas really get on my nerves.
4. Their house is similar than mine.
5. We must to see that new Spielberg film.
6. Rose hasn’t got much confident.
7. You haven’t seen Joh n recently, have you?
8. Our flat isn’t as big than yours.
9. Are you doing anything this weekend?
10. I went to see my sister out at the station.
11. What were you doing when I called? -10 p.
(Redstone, Chris and Clementon, Theresa with Cunningham, Gillie. 2013. P.250 –
251)

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6.5.3 Achievement test
1. Fill in the gaps with these verbs: go, do, chat, visit, tidy up, have, meet. You
can use the verbs more than once.
1. We usually visit my cousins on Sunday s.
2. I sometimes to gigs at the weekend.
3. How often do you your flat?
4. I think I’ll a quiet night in.
5. We hardly ever to art galleries.
6. I often a lie-in on Sunday mornings. 5p.

2. Make questions with these words.
1. How long / Eve / live / her flat?
How long has Eve lived in her flat?
2. What / Nick / watch / at the moment?
3. Wha t / happen / when you / get / home last night?
4. How many countries / you / visit / in your life?
5. What / Andrew normally / do / the weekend?
6. What / Tom and Anne / do / now?
7. Who / work / in Canada last summer? 6 p.

3. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct form of the Present Simple or the
Present Continuous.
1. Many people don’t have (not have) time to cook.
2. I (not do) anything at the moment. How can I help you?
3. Your husband (know) how to cook pasta?
4. In my country street food (become) more popular.
5. You (like) the mushroom pizza? I made it myself.
6. Steve (not eat) chips at the moment because he’s on a diet.
7. I (spend) 20 minutes every day cooking my main meal.
8. These vegetabl es (taste) delicious.
9. your mother (make) soup? It smells wonderful.
10. How much you (weigh)? 9 p.

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4. Fill in the gaps in the conversation with these words and phrases: the
matter, a good idea, have you tried, why you’re upset, it’s worth a try, I’d ask, why don’t
you might try that a bit of a problem, how awful, I’ve t ried that, you ought to.
John: You look terrible, Lucy. What’s 1 the matter ?
Lucy: I’ve got 2 . I think I’m going to lose my job.
John: Oh no, 3 ! What happened?
Lucy: My boss told me that he’s disappointed with my work.
John: Oh, dear. I can see 4 . Are you working hard at the moment?
Lucy: Well, Mum’s ill and I’ve had to have a few days off work.
John: So 5 telling your boss about your mum?
Lucy: 6 , but he doesn’t listen.
John: Hmm, 7 write him an email?
Lucy: Well, 8 , I guess.
John: Maybe 9 send it on Friday so he can think about it over
the weekend.
Lucy: Yes, that’ s 10 .
John: Also 11 to talk to him about it on Monday.
Lucy: I 12 . Thanks, John. – 11p.

5. Read the email. Choose the correct verb forms.
Heidi Williams
Dear Heidi
I hope you’re well. We 1 arrived /’ve arrived in Rio de Janeiro four da ys ago and
we’re having a great time here. 2 Did you ever go/ Have you ever been to Brazil? I
3came/’ve come here four years ago for the Rio Carnival, and it’s really great to be back.
David 4 never went/’s never been to South America before and he 5 alread y took/’s
already taken about a thousand photos! Since we arrived in Rio we 6 met/’ve met some
really nice people, and yesterday we 7 spent/’ve spent the afternoon on Copacabana beach,
which 8 was/has been very relaxing.
Oh, and guess what? We’re doing a s amba course! You know that I 9 always
loved/’ve always loved samba, and when we 10 got/’ve got here I 11 decided/’ve decided
that it was time to learn! We 12 had/’ve had our first class yesterday morning and I 13 really
enjoyed/’ve really enjoyed it, although David 14 found/has found it quite difficult – he
15never took/’s never taken dance lessons before and thinks he’s got two left feet!

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Write soon!
Lots of love
Laura x 14 p.

6. Tick the correct sentences. Change the incorrect sentences.
lost
1 I’ve been losing my keys.
2 How was your travel to Scotland?
3 He’s been in India during three months.
4 Uli’s not here. She’s gone to the supermark et.
5 This is the first time I eat fish and chips.
6 This is a very touristic town.
7 That film was absolutely incredible!
8 You’re not supposed to wear jeans in the office.
9 You mustn’t wear a suit, but you can if you want.
10 You went to France last yea r, haven’t you?
11 Both of my brothers have got cars. 10p.

7. Put the verbs in brackets in the Past Simple or the Past Continuous.
A strange thing 1 happened (happen) to me while I 2
(travel) home on the train yesterday evening. When the train 3 (arrive)
at my station, I 4 (stand up) and 5 (make) my
way to the doors, just like any normal day. Then suddenly, while I 6
(get off) the train, a man 7 (run) past me and 8
(steal) my bag. He 9 (push) past all the o ther people who
10 (walk) along the platform and 11
(hurry) towards the exit. I 12 (start) running after him and
shouted ‘Stop, thief!’ at the top of my voice – then I 13
(realise) that everyone 14 (look) at me.
When I 15 (get) to the ticket office, I 16
(see) that the thief 17 (lie) face down on the floor. Standing
next to him was an old man holding my bag. “I 18 (hit) him with
this,” he 19 (say), waving his walking stick in the air. 18 p.

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8. A journalist is asking a local woman about the behaviour of young people.
The woman is trying not to sound rude. Choose the correct words.
a. What’s your opinion (1) in/ of the teenagers in y our area?
b. Well, (2) perhaps/definitely they (3) must/can be quite rude at (4)
sometimes/times , particularly to older people.
a. What do they do exactly?
b. Well, (5) some/any of them tend (6) laugh/to laugh or make jokes when they
see us.
a. Do many of them behave like that?
b. No, (7) on/in the whole, most of them are just a (8) rather/bit noisy.
a. Do they play loud music in the street?
b. Generally (9) speak/speaking , that only happens at weekends.
a. That’s not very (10) inconsiderate/considerate , is it?
b. No, it’s (11) rather/absolutely selfish, I think. 10 p.

9. Rewrite these sentences with the words in brackets.
1 I’m not as sensitive as him. (more)
He’s more sensitive than me.
2 John is more adventuro us than me. (less)
I
3 Julia and I are both 1.65 m tall. (as … as)
I
4 I don’t know anyone who’s nicer than Jo. (nicest)
Jo
5 My mobile isn’t the same as yours. (different)
Your
6 His laptop is al most the same as mine. (similar)
My
7 Your handwriting is better than mine. (worse)
My
8 Leeds Castle is very beautiful. There isn’t a more beautiful castle in England.
(most)
Leeds Castle 7 p.

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10. Tick the correct sentences. Change the incorrect sentences.
go
1. You must going home now.
2. I’m looking forward to see you.
3. The band did three encores.
4. My room’s a lot more spacious than h ers.
5. The police allowed him go home.
6. He’d already left by the time I got there.
7. They didn’t used to go to gigs.
8. Children tend being quite noisy.
9. I was making lunch when he called.
10. Don’t bother go to the museum.
11. Who wants to go to the cinema? 10 p.
(Redstone, Chris and Clementon, Theresa with Cunningham, Gillie. 2013. P.240 -249)

5.6 Testing through games
Not all kinds of games are good for testing students. For instance, co operative
games are not proper for testing individual skills. If we use games for testing students it is
difficult to give marks because they are usually direct testing that means they are
integrative.
On the other hand, using games as a way to test studen ts’ level of English has
many advantages. Games reduce the level of stress and increase their motivation,
developing creativity.

6.6.1 Continuous assessment through games
Students can be tested in a form of a game without being aware of it. This can
reduc e the stress involved by a test and students will feel free to do a certain task and
develop their creativity. The teacher should have a notebook to write the continuous
assessment of the students for vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, spelling, writing,
speaking, and listening skill.

Game for testing grammar
This is a fun grammar revision activity which involves the whole class. Before the
class, the teacher prepares a worksheet with 10 sentences on it, based on conditional

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clauses type one, two and th ree. Some of the sentences are correct English and some
contain mistakes. The teacher photocopies one worksheet for each student. One worksheet
is given to each student. They should read them and judge if they are correct or not.
Then they have £ 20,000 t o spend on sentences they consider to be correct. The
teacher acts as the auctioneer and sells the sentences one at a time. If they bid for incorrect
sentences that means they can’t detect the mistake.
When all the sentences have been sold, check the sent ences with the class. The
student with the most correct sentences wins. In the case of a tie, the student with the most
money left wins. At the end of the auction, students correct the mistakes. They can get an
extra point for identifying a mistake.
The r esults of the auction
Although there is only one winner who gets a mark of 10, students can get points
for their mark when the teacher evaluate them.

Game for testing writing and spelling
This game is design to assess abilities to write and spell the wor ds from the last
lesson. The class is divided into two teams and they have to line up in front of the board.
The teacher draws a line down the middle of the board and writes the topic healthy food at
the top. The students must then write as many words as y ou require related to the topic in
the form of a relay race. Each team wins one point for each correct word. Any words that
are unreadable or misspelled are not counted.
Another possibility for testing writing skill and grammar is giving students a
possib ility to write the past tense and past participle of some important verbs. The teacher
writes two columns of infinitive verbs on the blackboard. In turn, students have to run to
the blackboard and write the two forms. If they are correct, they get two poin ts. Each team
should hurry up in order to finish the list first and win. After the list is complete, each them
has an opportunity to correct the other team’s list and if they could win extra points for
their team.
This is a very simple way of testing all s tudents in a very short time and they can
gain points for their final mark. If they do not win they have a minus point in the teacher’s
notebook. They can cancel this if they get a point next time.
We apply this kind of assessment to our classes and obse rved that students are
more motivated to learn and prepare themselves continuously.

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Games for testing speaking
‘Find someone who’ can be a way of observing students speaking but it is noisy.
The teacher photocopies one worksheet for each student.
He/she gives each student a copy of the worksheet and explains that they are
going to try to find someone in the class who answers yes to each question. Focus students
on the example. Students work individually and write the other nine questions.
Students move around the room and ask their questions. If students are not able to
leave their seats, they should ask as many students as they can sit near them. When they
find a student who answers yes to a question, they write the student’s name in the second
column on the worksheet. Students then ask a follow up question based on the prompts in
the third column. Encourage students to talk to as many different people as possible.
Students only need to find one person who answers yes to each question. Demonstrate this
stage of the activity with the whole class before students begin. With a low -level class you
may also want to check the follow -up questions with the class before they begin.
When students have finished, they work in pairs and tell their partners what they
have learned about their classmates. Finish the activity by asking each student to tell the
class two interesting things they have found out. –appendix 23
We tried this activity in the class and there are some points here to discuss.
First of all, the teac her should write in the observation sheet of each student how
well he/she managed to ask correct questions for his/her classmates. It is true that students
are moving all around the class and it is a little noise and disturbance but they are actively
invol ved to fulfil the task in a percentage of approximately 69.

Game for testing listening skill
This is an interesting activity because students can see while they are listening for
some items of information. Students listen to a conversation in a video from Face2face
DVD – Upper Intermediate. They have to write down the topic: Evening classes. Then,
they have to draw a table with two columns one connected with Sophie and the othe
connected with Chloe. Their task is to listen carefully and to write down as ma y words as
they can hear in connection with each character evening classes. The student who wrote
the most words is the winner.
The second challenge is to watch and listen again and answer some questions.
1. How long ago did Chloe and Sophie last meet up?
2. Wha t did Chloe have to do in her last creative writing class?

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3. Why did she decide to do a photography course?
4. Why does she find the evening classes helpful?
5. What does Sophie do on Friday evening?
6. How long is Sophie going to be in the US?
The first part of the test is a challenge for students to test their listening skills
being in a contest. They work individually and write on a sheet of paper as many words as
they can detect and then select them into two categories. This is a double challenge.
Students are mot ivated to watch and listen carefully. They can gain some points which can
be added to the second part of the test.

5.6.2 Progress test
Who wants to be a millionaire?
The aim of the game is to review vocabulary and grammar, taking part in a quiz to
win up to one million. We consider that this is a motivational way to involve students
doing a test. This can be converted into advantages or even a mark. There are 15 multiple –
choice questions and they have one minute to choose the right answer and write it down ,
each question having a certain value. We used this game to the high school course book
Face2face, Upper intermediate level , as a progress test after the first two units of the book.
Each student will receive the written quiz and they have 15 minutes to w rite down
the correct answers. The test will be corrected by the teacher and each correct answer could
bring a chance to win a bigger amount of “money”. If a student answers a question
incorrectly, then all of their winnings are lost, except that the £1,00 0 and £32,000 prizes
are guaranteed: if a player gets a question wrong above these levels, then the prize drops to
the previous guaranteed prize.
Here is an example of this contest:

Who wants to be a millionaire?
1. I’m not interested politics. – £ 100
a) in
b) on
c) at
d) with

2. He is aware his talent. – £ 200

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a) in
b) of
c) by
d) with

3. Money paid by a university to a student with high marks: – £ 300
a) scholarship
b) fees
c) student loan
d) tip

4. A short piece of writing on a particular subject: – £ 500
a) a progress report
b) an essay
c) a dissertation
d) an assignment

5. Choose the correct sentence: – £ 1.000
a) More people are speaking English than any other language. (guaranteed amount)
b) The way peop le study English is changing.
c) English has become an international language in business.
d) The future of English is belonging to non -native speakers.

6. The correct sentence is: – £ 2.000
a) We stopped to have a meal and then we continued.
b) I remember to spend a lot of money on that suit.
c) He encouraged his sister to going to University.
d) I don’t mind to work late at night.

7. What is the wrong interrogative sentence? – £ 4.000
a) Do you think we will finish the work in time?
b) You are going to University, aren’t you?
c) Is he a good friend of yours?
d) Have you finish your essay yet?

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8. My mother spends her money on clothes. – £ 8.000
a) ever
b) most of the time
c) always
d) once in a while
9. Every morning I take a shower. – £ 16.000
a) use to
b) was used to
c) am used
d) am using

10. He going getting up early in the morning. – £ 32.000
a) Used (guaranteed amount)
b) is used to
c) get used
d) used to

11. A polite way of agreeing: -£ 64.000
a) Well, I can’t argue with that.
b) Oh, do you think so?
c) I’m still not convinced.
d) I see what you me an but it’s much better…

12. Somebody who has the first degree in a university -£ 125.000
a) an undergraduate
b) a student
c) a graduate
d) a postgraduate

13. A teacher with the highest level in a university -£ 250.000
a) a tutor
b) university teacher
c) professor

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d) a lecturer

14. The highest university or college degree -£ 500.000
a) a Master’s
b) a Ph D (a philosophy doctor)
c) a university degree
d) a post graduated

15. If we hadn’t had any money, we a new car. -£ 1.000.000
a) wouldn’t have bought
b) wouldn’t buy
c) could buy
d) would have bought.
We consider that traditional tests have some drawbacks, the results depending on
the emotional and physical mood of the student. If a student gets a low mark, it would be
better for him to have a second chance. Being involved in this contest, students can win
some money and then convert them into a mark or different advantages. Here is the list of
prices:
 £1.000 – the student can be forgiven for a missing homework
 £10.000 – the student can get one more point for a conventional test
 £30.000 – the student can let out a task in a conventional test, without being penalized
 £50.000 – the student can get two more points for a conventional test
 £100.000 – the student can get three more points for a conventional test
 £500.000 – the student can delay a conventional test for a week
 £1.000.000 – the student can get a mark of 10
The contestants are allowed to spend their money on any category they want or they can
cumulate them with the amount of money they win in another co ntest like this.
The results of our test
We applied this game combined with traditional tests to three classes of students.
This means 87 students. In a period of two months, 91, 95% (80 students) of them won at
least £1.000, which means they are really in terested in winning some advantages and this
game can stimulate their interests to improve their knowledge.

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71, 26% (62 students) used their money for getting extra points for their
conventional tests. This means that most of the students need this second chance.
Nevertheless, only 8, 04% (7 students) chose to delay a test, which suggests that delaying a
test is not such a big favour for most of the students.
29, 88% (26 students) asked to be forgiven for a missing homework. It is quite a
high percentage, which reminds us that students do not really enjoy doing their homework
constantly. Likewise 13, 8% (12 students) bought the advantage of eliminating a task from
a test. We consider this a low percentage, which means that the conventional tests are rated
at a medium level, all tasks are accessible and challenging.

5.6.3 Blockbuster as an achievement test
This activity is aimed to review of lessons 1A –3D – Face2face –intermediate
level. The teacher has to photocopy one board for every four or six student s in the class.
We photocopy one Team A question sheet for half the number of students in our class and
one Team B question sheet for the other half. We also need a counter for each team. See
appendix 20 for the board.
Procedure: The teacher divides the cl ass into two teams: team A and team B.
he/she gives each student in each team A a copy of the Team A question sheet and each
student in each team B a copy of the Team B question sheet. Students are not allowed to
look at the other team’s question sheet.
Each team chooses a leader who puts a counter on their ‘home square’, which is
marked with A or B. The object of the game is to move your team’s counter to the other
team’s home square. Each team can only move one square at a time, and can only move to
a square which has a side that is touching the square they are on.
The teacher tells students that G = grammar, V = vocabulary, M = mystery
question and T = talk about. When a team lands on a G, V or M square, the other team
reads out a grammar question, a vo cabulary question or mystery question from their
question sheet. Students read out the questions on their question sheet in number order.
The other team has to answer in turns correctly in order to stay on the square. (Note that
the answers are in brackets on the question sheet.) If a team gets the answer wrong, they
must move back to their original square and they must move to a different square for their
next go. If a team lands on a T square, the student must then talk about the topic for 30
seconds wit hout stopping.

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The team that gets to the other team’s home square first is the winner. It is
advisable to demonstrate this game on the board before the start. If one group finishes early
they can take turns to ask and answer the remaining questions on the ir question sheets.

Team A worksheet
G Grammar
1. Correct this question: How many countries have you been visiting?
(How many countries have you visited? )
2. Choose the correct verbs: You mustn’t/don’t have to wear a suit, but you should/can if
you want. (don’t have to, can )
3. Fill in the gaps in this question: What they talking ? ( are, about )
4. Which of these are state verbs? prefer, cook, happen, want, understand, watch ( prefer,
want, understand )
5. For or since ? a. tw o years; b. last week; c. ages (a for b since c for)
6. Make this sentence negative: Both of them like football. ( Neither of them likes football. )
7. Which word is not correct? Has she ever/yet/just emailed you? ( yet)
8. Say the question tags: a. You’re Ti m, b. He called you, (a aren’t you? b didn’t he? )
9. Choose the correct verb form: Have you tried talk/talking to him about it? ( talking )

M Mystery
1. What is the most important reason for happiness? ( our genes )
2. In which countries do Megan and Clive w ork in the tourist trade? ( Canada, The UK )
3. Which cure for insomnia hasn’t Kevin Wells tried? ( sleeping pills )
4. What really drives Michael crazy? ( talking to call centres )
5. Which street food festival did Steve blog from? ( The L.A. Street Food Festiva l.)
6. Who wrote In Praise of Slow ? (Carl Honoré) V

V Vocabulary
1. Say the strong adjectives: a. cold; b. tired; c. small (a freezing b exhausted/shattered c
tiny)
2. Which preposition is proper for? a. worried ; b. keen; c. angry someone. (a. a bout; b. on;
c. with.)
3. Say the missing words: a. take; b. sleeping; c. be a sleeper (a. pill; b. light; c. heavy )

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4. Fill in the gaps in these phrasal verbs: a. Could you look my cat? b. I saw my
brother at the airport. (a. after ; b. off)
5. Ch oose the correct verbs: a. meet/take deadlines; b. take/work overtime; c. take/be a
workaholic. (a. meet ; b. work ; c. be)
6. Say the adjectives for these nouns: a. fashion; b. tradition; c. adventure. (a. fashionable ;
b. traditional ; c. adventurous )
7. Fil l in the gaps with travel, get or go on : a. into a car; b. business class; c. a cruise (a.
get; b. travel ; c. go on )
8. Which adverb? a. fairly/really brilliant; b. incredibly/absolutely hot (a really b
incredibly )
9. Spell these words: delicious, calm, go rgeous.

T Talk about
1. Talk about things that make you happy for 30 seconds.
2. Talk about sleep for 30 seconds.
3. Talk about street food in your city or country for 30 seconds.
4. Talk about a country you’ve been to, or would like to go to, for 30 seco nds.
5. Talk about the rules at the place where you work or study for 30 seconds.
6. Talk about places for tourists to visit in your town, city or country for 30 seconds.

Team B question worksheet
G Grammar
1. For or since ? a. 2008; b. ten mi nutes; c. ages (a. since ; b. for; c. for)
2. Say the question tags: a. You haven’t seen him, b. She works here, (a. have you? b.
doesn’t she? )
3. Make this sentence negative: All of my friends work. ( None of my friends work .)
4. Which are state verbs? play , own, blog, seem, believe, spend ( own, seem, believe )
5. Correct this question: How often are you coming here? ( How often do you come here? )
6. Choose the correct verb form: It’s not worth to go /going to the museum. ( going )
7. Fill in the gaps in this que stion: Which company he work ? (does or
did, for )
8. Which word is not correct? Frank has already /just/still arrived. ( still)
9. Choose the correct verbs: Jo is supposed to /is allowed to be here by now. I think we can/
ought to call her. ( ought to )

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M Mystery
1. Where did Shelley and William go on their volunteerism holidays? ( Nepal, Grenada )
2. Name the three types of street food that Steve blogged about. ( Pad Thai, satay, burritos )
3. Which football team do Charl ie and Daniel support? ( Manchester United )
4. In which city was the first Laughter Yoga Club? ( Mumbai/Bombay, India )
5. Who started the Lonely Planet publishing company? ( Tony and Maureen Wheeler )
6. Why is Charlie very tired at work? ( Because his son, Har ry, wakes up a lot in the night .)
V
Vocabulary
1. Say four ways of cooking. ( grill, barbecue, boil, fry, stir fry, bake, …)
2. Which verb? a. do/make yoga; b. do/have a lie-in; c. do/make exercise (a. do; b. have ; c.
do)
3. Say the strong adjectives: a. frightened; b. dirty; c. big (a. terrified ; b. filthy ; c. huge
/enormous )
4. Which preposition? a. fed up , b. bad , c. angry … something (a. with; b. at; c. about )
5. Fill in the gaps with travel, get or go on : a. a trip; b. light; c. a taxi home (a. go on; b.
travel ; c. get)
6. Say the missing words that mean very: a. be asleep; b. be awake (a. fast; b. wide )
7. Fill in the gaps in these phrasal verbs: a. We set at midday. B. I picked her at the airport.
(a. off; b. up)
8. Say the nouns for these adjec tives: a. kind; b. popular; c. important. (a. kindness ; b.
popularity ; c. importance )
9. Spell these food words: lettuce, peaches, lamb

T Talk about
1. Talk about things that drive you crazy for 30 seconds.
2. Talk about things that make you laugh for 30 seconds.
3. Talk about a job you’ve done or would like to do for 30 seconds.
4. Talk about a holiday you’d like to go on for 30 seconds.
5. Talk about food you like or don’t like for 30 seconds.
6. Talk about someone you’ve met recently for 30 seconds.
(Redstone, Chris and Clementon, Theresa with Cunningham, Gillie. 2013: 166)

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This game gives an opportunity to each student to answer a grammar, vocabulary,
speaking or information question. It is their individual chance to gain extra points for their
final m ark. For mystery questions, students can have two minutes to look for the answer on
their lessons from the students’ book.
The results
Grammar questions were the easiest for students, their answers being correct for
81% of them. Vocabulary questions were answered correctly in a proportion of 78, while
mystery and talking were accomplished in a less proportion of 65 % and 59 %.
Students answered in turns and were very excited about their individual tasks. The
game was a fun and most of the students focused on their task. It was a great challenge for
each team so the students are very attentive to their colleagues’ answers and also each of
them tries to do their best for the team. The teacher marked each student’ answer and
added some extra points to the con ventional achievement test. This is another reason for
students to be involved in a game like this.

We can conclude that testing through games can be an alternative way to the
traditional testing. Though there should be some remark besides testing through games.
Firstly, we should know that not all the games are appropriate for testing.
Cooperative games are not so exact way of measure for testing individual level of
knowledge.
Secondly, games can be a way for continuous assessment but only for marking
with points for a specific skill. The teacher should have a notebook where she can write
students’ performance for each of the skills.
The last but not the least, the teacher can stimulate students to revise some lessons
in order to play a game and as a resu lt, to get extra points to a progress test.

168
Conclusion

The main aim of this work wor k was to find out new methods of teaching through
games and songs and how they can be a part of our lessons. We discovered that they are
motivational tools and helping students develop thei r level of English and creating a
positive atmosphere in the classroom. Studying theories about teaching through games, we
undrerstood their usefulness and educational value and how to choose , how to use , how to
prepare and integrate them in the proces s of learning.
The third chapter can be considered as a really resource kit for teacher s, as it
classifies games and offers examples and great ideas fo r different activities. We categorize
them from many point s of view . As a conclusion we can say that there is a large variety of
games and we can use it according to different needs of students and with a certain aim for
teaching English as a second language. Any student can learn through educative games and
they can become interested in learning language by using interesting and enjoyable
activities like these.
Chapter four explore the possibilities of using songs in our English lessons. They
can be used in different moments of the lesson with different goals. We can conclude that
they create a relaxing atmosphere in the classroom, touc hing students ’ hearts an d feelings
and helping children to learn langu age and structures.
Games and songs in action is a short chapter which exemplified how we can
integrate these types of activities in our lessons. We demonstrated how they work and how
our students of vocational high school dealt with them. We can get to the conclusion that
that they improved their level of English being involved and motivated more to take part in
those activities.
Testing students is a necessary part of our te aching process and that is why we
tried to apply some types of tests to our cou rse book for high school, Face2face . We
discovered that testing through games and songs can be an alternative and a helping
assessment for our students. They can improve thei r marks through games and songs.
All in all , games and songs are powerful instruments which can help students
learn better if we know how to use them properly. We discovered through method of
observation that our students like playing communicative educational games, cooperative
game s and most all , movement games.

169
Appendix 1

170
Appendix 2

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
10 11 12
13 14 15

171
Appendix 3

BALD FRECKLES MOUSTACHE
BEARD HAIRY PONNY TAIL
WAVY LONG HAIR SLIM
SHORT HAIR CURLY FAT
MIDDLE LENGTH
HAIR SMALL STRAIGHT

172
Appendix 4
Models are slim.

People who eat much can be fat.

Bald = no hair.

Girls with long hair can wear pony tail .

Boys usually have short hair .

Your English teacher has curly hair.

Less curly hair is wavy hair.

length hair is to the shoulder.

Hairy = too much hair.

Straight hair is like drawn by the ruler.

Santa Claus wears beard on his face.

Men wear moustache between their nose and mouth.

Small points on your face are freckles .

Basketball players are tall.

Babies are small .

173
Appendix 5

ROLES

PARENT (Mr. /Ms. Chester)

At the last sport’s day you got up and ran after your child during a race in order to
encourage your child. Johnnie is a fabulous child; he always good as gold and quite clearly
the best student in the school. You feel that your behaviour at the sport’s day was normal;
your parenting skills are second to none. Of course you should have a sport’s day. Johnnie
will win and you want to see him win. He loves sports and loves to compete . He was a
little aggressive last time but it was not his fault that the other student nearly broke her
nose; she fell on to Johnnie’s hand!

PRINCIPAL (Mr. /Ms. Smith)

You know that some of the parents feel strongly about the sport’s day but during the last
event a parent jumped up and joined in with a race! How ridiculous! Also that child was
also involved in a fight although there wasn’t any proof. In your opinion, both the children
and the students get too carried away. They become too competitive an d too aggressive.
You want the parents to either stay away from the day or for the sport’s day to be stopped
altogether. The school can have other types of competitions that are less violent! You do
love sports though and do feel that it would be a shame t o get rid of it. May be only some
parents should not be involved?

174
PARENT (Mr. /Ms. Edwards)

You hate competitive sports and would love to ban the day altogether. You feel that the
children should make pots and paint pictures instead. You love harmon y and balance; you
think the children should be taught to love one another and to care about each other not
stand in a line and try to beat each other to a finishing line. Your daughter Daphne got
really upset during the last sport’s day when someone pushe d her and almost broke her
nose. You would love to see the children doing another kind of activity such as dance.

PARENT (Mr. Ms. Plover)

You love sport’s day; it is character building. You think that all children should learn to
compete so that when t hey enter the business world they are prepared. Everyone needs to
be competitive; it’s a dog eat dog world. Races are very good for the children because they
keep the children healthy and fit. You think that in fact there should be more sports in
school. Y ou think there should be fewer activities such as dance and flower arranging –
what do they teach?

TEACHER (Ms. / Mr. Sparrow)

You think that it is about time that the school got rid of the sport’s day. It is only about
fighting. The boys get aggressive and usually there is a fight. You are tired of having to
break up fights and of stopping bullying. You think that the children should do more
school work instead such as geography or history. You don’t understand why the principal
doesn’t suggest this.

175
Appendix 6

You are the niece/nephew of a very rich, famous hearing impaired actress.

You know that she hasn't got long to live. So, for the moment you are trying to become her
favorite relative in order to obtain her millions after she is dead. You know that she loves
animals and children. You also know that her dog is her closest friend. What do you think
will make her give you some money?

You are the butler to a rich, famous hearing impaired actress.

Actually she hasn't g ot long to live and so you are being very nice to her at the moment,
you think you have a good chance of being left her millions in her will. You have always
helped her and you have looked after her cats and dogs with care. You think you should at
least ge t the house which you have cleaned for nearly 40 years! You don't like her
niece/nephew who has suddenly made an appearance.
You always have to act as a go between for the niece/nephew and aunt because the aunt
can never hear her relative.

You are a ri ch, famous, hearing impaired actress.

You know that you haven't got long for this world but you don't mind because you have
had a good life. You also know that your niece/nephew wants something but you're not
sure what.
You have already written your will but you are prepared to change it.
Your will: $ 2 million to be left to the animal rescue league (you love cats)
Your house will go to your dog. It has been a faithful companion animal and you want it to
have a home when you're gone.

176
Your jewelry will be sold at auction in order to raise money for the children's hospital near
your house. You haven't decided about the rest, a sum total of $150,000. Your butler has
always been good to you. Your niece/nephew is also sweet. You are waiting to hear what
they ha ve to say. You feel that if they can show you how good they really are you will give
the money to either one of them.

177
Appendix 7
Grammar problem sheet problem 1
1. She dreads coming to class.
2. They delayed issuing the press statement as long as they could.
3. He resents to have to report to the police every day.
4. They can’t afford to buy a new car.
5. She promised telling me her secret.
Grammar problem sheet problem 2
1. She refuses paying up.
2. They enjoyed to be praised.
3. Please avoid to use bad languag e.
4. He forgot buying a ticket.
5. He failed passing maths exam.
Grammar problem sheet problem 3
1. She threatened to make a fuss.
2. He deserves to be shot.
3. He denied eating the last piece of cake.
4. She wishes to ask you a favour.
5. He missed having somebody to dislike .
Answers:
Grammar answer sheet 1
1. Correct
2. Correct
3. Correct
4. He resents having to report…
5. Correct.
Grammar answer sheet 2
1. She refuses to pay up.
2. They enjoyed being praised.
3. Please avoid using bad language.
4. Correct
5. He failed to pass the maths exam.
Grammar ans wer sheet 3
All sentences are correct. (Rinvolucri, Mario and Davis, Paul. 2010. P. 1 -4)

178
Appendix 8
Jumbled sentences :
1. I met mum ago two months his sister and
2. Me he I him fancied like realized too really and
3. First met my friend since she been ‘s we
4. More he and him have and more each other been seeing of
5. Kind being so and gentle he understanding is
6. Together several trips ‘ve been we on
7. There minds so he much is to tell you but ’s I haven ask ’t him
8. Well actually what no we haven’t thinking you must be done
9. Up traditionally very he brought ’s been
10. How can I put a cardinal is this his dad
11. Go to bed me refused he is to with
12. Weeks two since engaged are we
13. We getting next you and dad come week ’re can married

Unjumbled sentences
1. Mum, I met him and his sister two months ago.
2. I really fancied him and I realized he liked me too.
3. She’s been my friend since we first met.
4. Him and me have been seeing more and more of each other.
5. He is being so kind, gentle and understanding.
6. We have been on several trips together.
7. There’s so much to tell you, but I haven’t asked him if he minds.
8. Well, actually, no, we haven’t done what you must be thinking!
9. He’s been brought up very traditionally.
10. How can I put this … his dad is a cardinal.
11. He has refused to go to bed with me.
12. We have been engage for two weeks.
13. We’re getting married next week – can you and dad come?

(Rinvolucri, Mario and Davis, Paul. 2010. P. 21 -22)

179
Appendix 9
Progress report: Master sheet
1. When does the train leave? A. Usually at seven.
When is the train leaving? B. Any minute now if there are no more
delays.
2. How often are you playing darts? A. Several times a day as long as the
competition lasts.
How often do you play darts? B. Every now and then.
3. Why does water boil? A. Because a physical change takes
place.
Why is the water boiling? B. Because the gas is still on.
4. Peter tells me your brother’s married. A. Yes, I saw you talking to Peter a few
minutes ago.
Peter’s telling about your brother’s marriage. B. Well, don’t let me interrupt you.

5. The Earth travels at 107,000 km per hour A. Yes, I know. It always travels at
that speed.
The Earth is travelling at 100,000 km per h our.B. Yes, it’s slowing down and
scientists can’t explain why.
6. You clock in now, don’t you? A. Yes, every day at nine.
You are clocking in now, aren’t you? B. Yes, I’m late.

7. Josceline lives in Bristol. A. That’s right. She moved there
ten years ago.
Josceline is living in Bristol. B. That’s right, she’s got a temporary
job there.
8. How do you do? A. Nice to meet you!
How are you doing? B. Nicely, thank you.

9. Why don’t you sit down? A. Thank you.
Why aren’t you sitting down? B. I’m sorry.

10. He sings whenever I arrive. A. He’s just trying to impress you.
He’s always singing when I arrive. B. He’s permanently happy, that’s all.

180
Progress report
1. A. Usually at seven.
B. Any minute now if there are no
more delays.
2. A. Several times a day as long as
the competition lasts.
B. Every now and then.
3. Why does water boil? A.
Why is the water boiling? B.

4. Peter tells me your brother’s married. A.
Peter’s telling about your brother’s marriage. B.

5. A. Yes, I know. It always travels at
that speed.
B. Yes, it’s slowing down and
scientists can’t explain why.
6. You clock in now, don’t you? A.
You are clocking in now, aren’t you? B.
7. A. That’s right. She moved there
ten years ago.
B. That’s right, she’s got a
temporary job there.
8. A. Nice to meet you!
B. Nicely, thank you.
9. A. Thank you.
B. I’m sorry.
10. A. He’s just trying to impress
you.
B. He’s permanently happy, that’s all.

(Hall, Nick and Shepherd, John. 1991. P. 23)

181
Appendix 10

How special am I?

1. Three adjectives that describe me (positive and negative)
…………… ……………………………………………………………………..
2. My favourite season of the year
…………………………………………………………………………………..
3. Something I am very good at
……………………………………………………………………………………
4. Something I have done and I am very proud of
……………………………………………………………………………………
5. Something I would like to be famous for
……………………………………………………………………………………
6. Something I would do if I had enough money
……………………………………………………………………………………
7. A year when something significant had happened to me
……………………………………………………………………………………….
8. A person who has infl uenced me a lot
……………………………………………………………………………………
9. A place where I would like to spend my holiday
……………………………………………………………………………………
10. A colour that makes me feel good
……………………………………………………………………………………
11. My ideal dinner guest
…………………………………………………………………………….. ……….
12. The most treasured possession
……………………………………………………………………………………

(O’Dell, Felicity and Head, Kathy. 2011. P.12)

182
Appendix 11
BINGO 4
pet beat boot part
paid boat fat bad
put bed feet bit
bird but fit food

(Hancock, Mark. 1995: 71) BINGO 1
pet boot pet beat
part bed fat paid
food feet boat bird
bit but fit put
BINGO 5
part bad bit food
pet fat but feet
boot boat bed bird
beat paid put fit BINGO 2
bit food part bed
but feed bed boot
bird boat fat pet
fit paid put bit
BINGO 6
fat paid beat pet
boot put bad bed
food bird part fit
feet but bit boat BINGO 3
beat paid pet boot
bed put part feet
boat bird bad fat
bit fit food but

183
Appendix 12

Phonetic code

1. The night is young but soon the
3 4 3 5

yellow moon will rise in the East.
4 1 5 2 3

Y0U OU GHT TO TASTE THE AIR IN PARIS AND PRAGUE .
3 4 4 4 1 2 2

3. The early bird will never find any
5 5 7 3 1 2 7
worms in the earth before it learn to fly.
5 7 4 5 1 7 67 5 6 1 2

The key is 1. Meet you (1/m/ , 2/ ɪ:/, 3/t/, 4/ j/, 5/u:/)
2. airport (1/ eə/, 2/p/, 3/ ɔ:/, 4/t/)
3. five thirty (1/f/, 2/a ɪ/, 3/v/, 4/θ/, 5/ə:/, 6/t/,7/ ɪ/)

(Hancock, Mark. 1995: 75)

184
Appendix 13

Doctor’s treatment card
Medicines: pills/tablets, pa in killers, antibiotics, vitamins, injection.
Other treatments: bandage, diet sheet, rest, exercise, x -ray, operation,
physiotherapy, stitches, hospital tests, avoid stress, avoid alcohol and avoid smoking.
(These prompts can be accompanied by pictures.)
Patient cards
I’m putting on too much weight.
I’ve got a headache and my throat is sore.
I’ve got an itchy rash on my arm.
I’ve cut my finger and it’s bleeding a lot.
I’m tired all the time.
I’ve got terrible backache.
I think I’ve sprained my ankle.
I can’ t get to sleep at night.
Patient instructions
You are not feeling well, and you want some medical advice. You have had bad
experiences with doctors in the past, so you decide to visit three doctors to see who will
give you the best treatment for your probl em. You should wait in the waiting room until a
doctor is free to see you. The doctor will ask you what your problem is, how long you have
had the problem, and what you think caused it. After each visit you should return to the
waiting room and after you h ave seen three doctors, you should decide which is the best
doctor and why.
Doctor instructions
A number of patients are waiting to see you with different problems. They are in
the waiting room. When you are free, you should call a patient into the surg ery.
Ask the patient what his/her problem is, how long they have had the problem, and
what they think caused it. After listening to the answer, suggest a treatment that will help
them. You will find out later whether each patient was satisfied with the adv ice you gave
them.

(O’Dell, Felicity and Head, Kathy. 2011. P. 74 -75)

185

Appendix 14

Change places if…
1. I ………………………………………….for breakfast today.
2. I …………………………………………..before I had breakfast this morning.
3. I came here by …………………………………….
4. I …………………………………………………. before I left home this morning.
5. I ……………………………………………………last night.
6. I bought……… …………………………………. yesterday.
7. I a friend…………………………………………. yesterday.
8. I have a ………………………………………….in my bag.
9. I’m going to …………………………………….. this e vening.
10. I ………………………………………………. at least once a week.
11. I made …………………………………………….. phone call last night.
12. I ……………………………………………… an email this morning.
13. I had a holiday in ……………………………………. last year.
14. I ……………………………………………….. most Saturdays.
15. I ………………………………………………. the supermarket last week.
16. I’m going to …………. ………………………… at the weekend.
17. I usually ………………………………….. before I go to sleep.
18. I played …………………………………… yesterday.
19. I read …………………………………….. yesterday.
20. I usually listen to …………………………………. in the bath/car.

(O’Dell, Felicity and Head, Kathy. 2011. P.24)

186
Appendix 15

A strange dream
I was weeding my garden with my ____________________ (tool) listening to
____________________ (s inger) when a gigantic _____________________ (animal) ran
into the yard. Help! I yelled and try to call a _____________________ (occupation), but
the giant ___________________ (animal) grabbed me in its jaws and threw me against the
house. I was knocked unconscious and started dreaming about ___________________ (an
actor) and I dancing at the _____________________ (place). When I gained consciousness
the giant _________________ (animal) was eating my _____________________ (part of
the body). I pulled my ___________________ (part of the body) out of his mouth and ran
to where I’d been weeding, picked up my ____________________ (tool) and faced my
enemy. “____________________________________________________ (a line from a
film)”, I yelled and charged the giant _____________________ (animal) with my
________________ (tool). He was so frightened, that he invited me to
____________________ (something you do on weekend). I agreed and we
____________________ (something you do on weekend) every weekend.

187
Appendix 16
Crossword

Appendix 17
1
_fraid of
nothing
_ice and kind
_nterested in
everything
_ alks a lot
_lways fun
_ _ _ _ _ 2
_ovely
_riginal
_ntelligent
_weet
_nthusiastic
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3
_olly
_pen -hearted
_onest
_eve r nasty
_ _ _ _
(O’Dell, Felicity and Head, Kathy. 2011. P. 65)

1 2
3
4 5
6
7
8
9 10 11
12 13 14

188
Appendix 18

Word charade

cartoon mistake robust cabbage
breakfast bookcase shortage earring
penknife cowslip retired doorbell
necklace homesick contents compare
blackbird candlest ick suitable nightmare
keyhole briefcase percentage headline
selfish chimney screwdriver beetroot
honeymoon buttercup bullet shoelace
wallpaper boring fireplace surprise
decrease exile tension friendship

(Watcyn -Jones, Peter. 2007. P. 36 -37)

189
Appendix 19
Body idioms
Definition cards

say the
first thing
that you
think of
try not to
show that
you are
unhappy
help
someone watch to
make sure
that
something
is safe be involved
in many
different
activities
say the
wrong thing
and feel
embar rassed

take a big
risk which
may
damage
your
position
do your best
not to smile
or laugh
have too
little to
do
pretend not
to see
something
miss an
opportunity
make a bad
start when
meeting
someone
new

stay calm
and in
control protect
yourself
from being
embarrassed be able to
make
your own
decisions need to be
watching in
all
directions hope that
everything
will work
out well be
independent
and no rely
on other
people
do
something
very
easily, not
thinking
about it
show dislike
and disgust
have very
little
money to
live on
be very
busy
know all
the latest
news and
what is
happening
want to
travel or to
move on to
something
new
pretend
that
something
isn’t
happening
suddenly
meet
someone by
chance
be very
busy
deliberately
mislead
someone see exactly
what the
problem is
or what is
the answer
assert your
authority

190
Idiom cards
Say
something
off the top
of your head
Put on a
brave face
Give
someone a
hand
Keep an eye
on something
Have a
finger in
every pie
Put your
foot in it

Put your
head on the
block

Try to keep
a straight
face
Have time
on your
hands
Turn a blind
eye Let
something
slip through
your fingers
Start off
on the
wrong
foot

Keep your
head
Save face
Have a free
hand
Need eyes in
the back of
your head
Cross your
fingers
Stand on
your own
feet

Do
something
standing on
your head
Pull a face
Live from
hand to
mouth
Be up to your
eyes in
something
Have your
finger on
the pulse
Get itchy
feet

Bury your
head in the
sand
Come face
to face
with
someon e
Have your
hands full Pull the wool
over
somebody’s
eye
Put your
finger on
something
Put your
foot
down

(O’Dell, Felicity and Head, Kathy. 2011. P. 77)

191
Appendix 20
Doctor jokes
Cards for patients

Patient:
Doct or, doctor! My
husband thinks he is a
dustbin.

Patient:
Doctor, doctor! I feel like
a bell.
Patient:
Doctor, doctor! Every bone
in my body aches.

Patient:
Doctor, doctor! I only
have thirty seconds left
to live.

Patient:
Doctor, doctor! I feel like
a pair of curtains.
Patient:
Doctor, doctor! My hair is
coming out. Can you give
me something to keep it in?

Patient:
Doctor, doctor! I keep
thinking there is two of
me.
Patient:
Doctor, doctor! I’ve got
wind. Can you give me
something for it?

Patien t:
Doctor, doctor! I think I’m
becoming invisible!

Patient:
Doctor, doctor! I’ve
broken my arm in two
places.

Patient:
Doctor, doctor! What’s the
best way to prevent
wrinkles?
Patient:
D-d-d-oc-oc-t-t-or, d-d-d-
oc-oc-t-t-or, I-I ha-ha-have
trou- bbb-bbb-le ss-ss-sp-
eak-eak-in-ing.

Patient:
Doctor, doctor! Every
time I drink tea I get a
stabbing pain in my left
eye.
Patient:
Doctor, doctor! I think
I’ve got measles!
Patient:
Doctor, doctor! How can I
stop myself from dying?

192
Doctor cards

Doctor
Don’t talk rubbish!
Doctor
Give me a ring next
week.
Doctor
Just be glad you’re not a
herring.

Doctor
Just a minute, please!
Doctor
Pull yourself together,
man.

Doctor
Certainly. How about a
paper bag?

Doctor
One at a time, please.
Doctor
How a bout a kite?

Doctor
Who said that?

Doctor
Don’t go back to either of
them.
Doctor
Don’t sleep with your
clothes on.

Doctor
Sorry, I wasn’t listening.
What was that again?

Doctor
Take the spoon out of the
cup next time.
Doctor
That’s a rash thing to
say.

Doctor
Stay in the living -room.

(Watcyn -Jones, Peter. 2007. Fun class activities. P. 84-85)

193

Appendix 21
Everything at once by Lenka
1. Match the words and the pictures
Straight___, brave___, sharp___, ugly___, neat___ scary___
2. Listen to the song and fill in the gaps. Some of them are given in Ex. 1
As sly as a fox, as strong as an ox
As fast as a hare, as ______1 as a bear
As free as a bird, as ______2 as a word
As quiet as a mouse, as big as a house
All I wanna be
Oh oh oh ohhhhh I w anna be
Oh oh oh ohhhhh I wanna be
Is everything
As mean as a wolf, as _____3 as a tooth
As deep as a bite, as dark as the night
As sweet as a ____4, as right as a wrong
As long as a road, as _____5 as a toad
As pretty as a picture hanging from a
fixture
Strong like a family, strong as I wanna be
Bright as day, as light as play
As hard as nails, as grand as a whale
Oh oh oh I wanna be
Oh oh oh ohhhhh I wanna be
Oh oh oh ohhhhh I wanna be
Is everything
Everything at once
Everything at once
Oh everything at o nce
As warm as the sun, as silly as fun
As cool as a tree, as _____6 as the sea
As hot as fire, cold as ice
Sweet as sugar and everything nice

194
As old as _____7, as _____8 as a line
As royal as a queen, as buzzed as a bee
As stealth as a tiger, smooth as a glider
Pure as a ______9, pure as I wanna be
Oh oh oh I wanna be
Oh oh oh ohhhhh I wanna be
Oh oh oh ohhhhh I wanna
be
Is everything
Everything at once.

Answers
Ex. 1. Straight 5, brave 1, sharp 2, ugly 6, neat 4, scary 2
Ex. 2. Fast1, neat2, sharp3, song 4, ugly5, scary6, time7, straight8, melody9

195
Appendix 22
Our last summer by Abba
1. Look at the photos. Match them with the words from the song. Then listen to
the song. Arrange the sights in the way you hear.
A _ B _ C _ D _
2. Listen to in the song.
2. Look at the lyrics. Put the words in the brackets into The Past Simple. Check.
3. Try to fill in the gaps with the words from the box. Listen and check.
The summer air ____ (be) soft and ____1. The feeling right, the Paris night
______ ( Do) it's best to please us. And strolling down the Elysee. We ______ (have) a
drink in each café. And you _________ (talk) of politics, philosophy and I __________
(Smile) like Mona Lisa. We _________ (have) our chance. It _____ (be) a fine and true
_____ ____2. I can still recall our last summer I still see it all Walks along the Seine,
laughing in the rain. Our last summer ___________3 that remain. We ____ (make) our
way along the river. And we ________ (sit) down in the grass. By the Eiffel tower I
____ __ (be) so _________4 we had met. It ___________ (be) the age of no regret Oh yes.
Those crazy years, that ___ (be) the time
Of the _________________5 But underneath we ______ (have) a fear of flying,
Of getting old, a fear of slowly dying. We __________ ( take) the chance like we were
dancing our last dance
I can still recall our last summer I still see it all In the tourist jam, round the Notre
Dame. Our last summer _____________6 hand in hand Paris ____________7 Our last
summer Morning croissants Living f or the day, worries far away Our last summer We
_______ (can) laugh and play And now you're working in a bank The family man, the
football fan And your name is Harry How dull it seems Yet you're the hero of my
____________8.
Answers
Ex. 1 A – 3. B – 1. C – 4. D – 2.
Ex. 2 The Notre Dame – 4. The Elysee – 1. The Seine – 2. The Eiffel Tower – 3.
Ex. 3 Be – was, do – did, have – had, smile – smiled, have – had, be – was, make
– made, sit –
sat, be – was, be – was, be – was, have – had, take – took, can – could.
Ex. 4 Gaps: warm1, romance2, memories3, happy4, power5, walking6,
restaurants7, dreams8

196
Appendix 23
Find someone who … Name
1. … often chats to friends online.
Question: Do you often chat to frien ds online?
Who / chat to?
2. … went to a concert last weekend.
Question:
Who / see?
3. … is reading a good book at the moment.
Question:
What / read?
4. … went to an art gallery last month.
Question:
What / see?
5. … has had people round for dinner t his month.
Question:
What / cook?
6. … goes out for a meal most weekends.
Question:
Where / go?
7. … had a lie -in last weekend.
Question:
What time / get up?
8. … is trying to get fit at the moment.
Question:
What / do?
9. … met up with friends las t week.
Question:
What / do?
10. …. has tried a dangerous sport.
Question:
Which / try?

197
Appendix 24

(Redstone, Chris and Clementon, Theresa with Cunningham, Gillie. 2013: 166)

198

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