Joanna Trdowska

UYWANIE GIER I ZABAW JZYKOWYCH UTRWALAJCYCH I

SYSTEMATYZUJCYCH SOWNICTWO NA LEKCJACH JZYKA
ANGIELSKIEGO.
Artyku jest adresowany do nauczycieli jzyka angielskiego we wszystkich
typach szk, ktrzy chcieliby urozmaici niektre lekcje poprzez wprowadzenie
gier i zabaw jzykowych utrwalajcych i systematyzujcych sownictwo.
Artyku napisany jest w jzyku angielskim i podzielony na 3 czci: wiczenia
wprowadzajce, wiczenia podsumowujce poznane sownictwo oraz zestaw
gier i zabaw przydatnych w tak zwanych sytuacjach awaryjnych (np. skrcone
lekcje, zastpstwa itp.)

USING WORD GAMES AS: WARM UP EXERCISES,

REVISING VOCABULARY AND TIME FILLERS.
Games are extremely effective way of motivating students in a classroom. Teachers often
think that games are a bit lighthearted, but they do actually touch the language directly and are
challenging. And, more importantly perhaps, games are fun! They can test English vocabulary
under the guise of motivating classroom entertainment. We can choose longer or shorter
activities, very easy to prepare and perform or time-consuming in preparations and quite
complicated in supervising, based on widely-known rules or challenging and surprising. What
is most important, games may be addressed to all English language learners, it does not matter
if they they are very young or adult; beginners, intermediate or advanced students; and finally,
if they are serious or fun-loving by nature. There is something to choose for everyone: from
movement, dice or board games for those more active to different types of crosswords or
dominoes for those who are shy. If we work through games regularly, we will find plenty of
variety to sustain interest and motivation and our students will benefit from the graded
progression and recycling of vocabulary. Playing a game we should start by making sure that
all the students understand exactly what to do. An example should always be given with the
whole group. Then the game can either be set for homework to be corrected in a later lesson
or can be played in the classroom. Students can work individually, in pairs or in small
groups / teams depending on the size of the class and the type of teaching situation. However
two ideas are worth bearing in mind. Generally, those games where the words are all given
and then have to be matched either with the correct picture or with another word work well if
students try to do as much as they can individually and then compare their work with that of
another student, discussing any differences and trying to complete the game between them.
Those games that involve students in finding the words themselves from the variety of
prompts (e.g. crosswords) are often best done in small groups / teams so that knowledge can
be pooled and team-work and competition can help them to come up with the answers. (Toth,
1995: 6-8)
Word games and puzzles have proven to be one of the most valuable activities for many
teachers a technique which enables the student to review, improve and enjoy their work
while using yet another tool for finding their way around the English language.

We know well that our students do not learn at the same pace. Games are not going to be the
magic potion which will enable everybody to become fluent English speakers overnight, but
they may just give them the encouragement and the sense of achievement they need.

We can use them:

1. As the students walk into class, before the lesson proper starts.
2. As an integral part of the lesson plan to introduce a change of pace.
3. As an invaluable filler while waiting for students to finish off whatever they are doing.
4. As a part of a suitable teachers kit.
5. As homework to review a point raised in class.
(Collins, 2002: 31)
It is difficult to decide whether to use a game only as a warm-up, revision or time-filler, they
sometimes match to more than one given group, everything depends on the teaching and
learning needs. Thus, the examples of the games I chose can be used whenever teachers want
to use them, for instance warm-up activities as time-fillers or revision exercises as warm-ups
to review the vocabulary from the previous lessons.

1. WARM UP ACTIVITIES.
Warm-up activities help to get the class going because after them students usually
become more attentive and are then mentally and phisically alert in order to participate fully
in later activities. What is more, the first few minutes of a lesson are sometimes the most
difficult for the teacher, and can set the tone for the whole of that lesson. Deacon (2002: 31)
suggests that a simple warm-up activity at the beginning of any class will create a positive
and relaxed atmosphere that will encourage all the students to take full part in the rest of the
class.In addition, warm-ups increase group rapport and promote socialization; are do-abble,
success-oriented for everyone; fun and quick energizing. (ibid)
They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Well you never get
a second chance to kick off a lesson on the right foot, either. Whether you have groggy
early morning learners, lethargic after-lunch groups or others in between, a good
warm-up can spark your classes and get everyone immediatelly energized and turned
in to your lesson.
( Deacon, 2002: 31)
Why to use vocabulary games as warm-ups? Because it is the easiest form to make students
involved as they can respond using one word only, and because vocabulary knowledge is
usually crucial to understand the lesson of any type: reading, listening, writing or even
grammar to some extend. Thus, such an introductory part of the lesson can simply wake
thelearners up or make them familiar with vocabulary covering the needed category, for
instance animals, numbers, colours, parts of something, disasters,etc.
The most popular forms of games are based on letter key. For example, first / last: One
student says any word (e.g. dog) and the next must make a word using the last letter (e.g.
great). They continue in this way until time expires. Alternatively, the game can be made more
challenging by insisting that students use e.g. at least five-letter words or only nouns etc.

We can also play so-called Alphabet game: One student begins by saying a word beginning
with a e.g. apple, the next must say a word beginning with b and so on from a to z
orfrom z to a. It can be made more vivid and difficult by setting time limit for finding the
proper word.
Another example of an exercise opening a lesson can be Sentence of the day.The teacher
writes a couple of sentences on the board such as Im crazy about.........How about you? One
student says, for example, Im crazy about pretty girls. And then asks the next How about
you? (Deacon, 2002: 32-33)
I have found a lot of other games, with longer instructions, that can be used as a warming up,
for instance:
a) Word-race elementary and intermediate level.
Students are divided into groups and each group is given the same picture, which should be
similar to but not identical with one the class has seen before: for example, a river scene
with a different person falling into the water, different trees, boats and people in them.
In five minutes each team has to write down legibly and correctly the names of as many
things visible in the pictures as possible, e.g. two canoes, a fisherman, a barking dog, a
small boy in the water........(Lee, 1991: 46)
b) Happy families beginners and intermediate level.
For each group of players, you will need a set of 36 small pictures of the same size, carefully
selected so that they fall into nine clearly distinguishable families, i.e. four pictures
constitute a family of objects,clothes, food, etc. all of different colour or size. The game is for
four players, one of them shares the pictures out, shuffling the set first, and dealing them face
down. Each player sorts them out into as many complete families as there are and place them
face down in front. (There may be none.) The players take it in turns to ask one other player
for any card that is needed to make up an incomplete family. If the asked player has the card
he / she must hand it over. The first player to complete all his / her families is the winner.
All winners can form a new group for the next, this time serious task. (Wright et al. 1987: 83)
c) Guess what Im drawing beginners.
Class work, optionally leading to pair work. The teacher starts to draw on the board, asking:
Teacher: What Im drawing?
Class: A table.
T: No. (Continuing to draw)
C: A house?
T: No, not exactly. (Continuing to draw)
C: A shop?
T: Yes, but what is happening?
S: .............
(ibid)
d) Youll never guess! elementary and intermediate level.
Allow the students a few minutes to write a brief description of some object for the others in
the class to guess. Objects may be confined to a specific subject category, such as plants,
animals, food, classroom, etc. There should be four sentences in the description, beginning
with the less obvious details and moving towards those that make it easier for the others to
guess. Students may call out their answers as quickly as they think they know what the object
is. The first student to guess correctly receives four points, after hearing the second sentence
three, two after the third and only one after the fourth. The student with the most points is the
winner. The definitions could also be assigned as homework.
Example:
Classroom objects

1.
2.
3.
4.

It is big and usually black.

We use it every day.
There is one in almost every classroom.
The teacher writes on it.
Answer: blackboard
(McCallum,1980: 13)

e) Sally Smith intermediate and advanced level.

In this game the students have to come up with adjectives and nouns that begin with the letter
s. To save time and make the game move more rapidly, you may give the class two or three
minutes to write down their ideas before reading them aloud.
Example:

Sally likes silk stockings.

Sally likes soft scarves.
Sally likes strawberry shortcakes.

Then there can be Margaret, Bob and so on. A variation can be assigning each student or
group a different name and set a time limit, asking them to come with as many adjective-noun
combinations as possible in that time. (ibid)
f) Catalogs intermediate and advanced level.
The teacher begins the game by writing a letter of the alphabet on the blackboard. Within a
given length of time the students are to compile a list of the names of all objects in the room
which begin with that letter. The student with the longest, and most accurate, list is the
winner. Later this game can move out of the classroom, into the world, becoming a general
knowledge test. Within the given time limit the students can create catalogs of the following:
1. names of different kinds of fruit
2. well-known authors
3. famous composers
4. important rivers in the world
5. names of flowers
6. games and sporting events
7. different kinds of vegetables
8. articles of clothing worn by men and women
9. home furnishing
10. parts of the body
(ibid)
g) Letter lottery beginners
The teacher will need a box containing pieces of rolled up paper with letters of alphabet
written on them, three for each student. Every learner chooses three rolls with written
letters.In 3-4 minutes he or she has to find objects in the room, whose names begin with the
chosen letters. Finally, each participant presents the object and its name. (Siek-Piskozub,
1994: 51)
h) A postman beginners and intermediate.
The teacher must prepare pieces of paper with words, envelopes with the names of categories
and a box and then he or she acts the role of a postman. The students are divided into teams,
each of them has an envelope with the name of the category written on it. The postman goes
around the class, and students choose the cards in turns. Then, after agreeing with their groups
they decide if to put it into their envelope, the students stay with the odd cards. When all cards
are choosen, a representative of each group writes the names of the category with the

examples from their envelope. The team is given a point for each correctly placed word and
when all the cathegories are demonstrated, students put their left cards intothe proper column
and score a point for each correct answer. (ibid)
i) As many words as letters beginners and intermediate.
The teacher needs only a list of words consisting of a certain number of letters. The learners
are divided into two groups. The teacher chooses a word (the number of the letters depends on
the time devoted and the level of the group), a chosen student must tell any words beginning
with the letters from the word, e.g. cat: car, ape, tram. The team scores a point for each
proper word. (ibid)
j) Rhyming beginners and intermediate
A list of words is necessary to play it, students are divided into teams. The teacher gives
words, to which each team tries to find and write as many rhymes as they can. Then the
rhyming words are read aloud, and the teams score a point for every word that was not written
by the opposing teams.

2. REVISING VOCABULARY
Words do not come easy. The most popular form of vocabulary revising exercise, that
is fill-in-the-missing-word is not really the type of activity that exercises but it checks. The
students do not actually practise the use of the word, they get their knowledge tested, which is
all right if other, more creative exercises follow. Bermheden (2002: 8) states that students
need at least three exercises on all new words to stand a chance of incorporating them into
their store of active vocabulary, and that should be the ultimate goal. Exercises should be
varied to avoid boring the students, there is a long list of vocabulary tasks to choose from:
substracting letters to form new words, prefix and suffix exercises, categorizing, placement of
vowels, rearrangement of letters, consonant clusters, adding letters to form new words,
reviewing spelling and words, presenting words, quizes, combining words with pictures or
definitions and so on. (Collins, 2002: 32)
If we want our students to extend their vocabulary, we we must also provide the necessary
tools. Learning vocabulary is not an easy task, but we can take steps to make it less arduous
and play games with our students.
The exaples can be:
1) Going away to brush up some of the vocabulary of journeys and holidays.
We can play it with the whole class or groups. This can be Going abroad or Going to
London or wherever you like, or Packing my bag or My Auntie Jennifer went on holiday,
and the game need not always be played in the same way. The idea can be: I am going
abroad and I will take a passport with me, the next person says: I will take a passport and a
suitcase, and the following person repeats and adds a word more. (Lee, 1991: 40)
2) A-A, B-B revision of vocabulary items according to categories.
It may be group work leading to team contest. Our students should have time to work in
groups to compile a list of words, all beginning with a given letter organised according to one
or more categories. For example, a list of colours and common objects beginning with letter B
might be compiled:
COLOURS
OBJECTS

beige
black
blue
.....

bag
ball
book
.......

Other categories that might be suitable for this game include, for instance: articles of clothing,
shops, vehicles, animals, occupations, verbs of motion, adjectives of size, etc.When the
learners are ready, divide them into teams and give the opening of your selected sentence to a
representative of one team, e.g. teacher says: I went shopping and I bought....., The team
representative must repeat what you have said, and complete the sentence using a word (or
words) from the given category (or categories), remembering as best as he / she can the
preparatory work just done in groups plus any other ideas that may spring to mind, e.g. learner
says: I went shopping and I bought a blue bag, a black box, a brown boat....... Repetition of
any key word within a sentence is against the rules of the game, and so are hesitations of more
than a few seconds. For either fault, the individual must stop, and other representative, from
the opposing team, is given a similar sentence to complete, e.g. In the shopping precinct I
saw..........
Again, self-repetition by the representative is against the rules, but repetition of what other
players have said earlier is allowed, because in that way it will enable players to learn from
listening to each other. The object of the game is to see how long and elaborate a sentence can
be created and the longest sentence, containing no self-repetition, and spoken without undue
hesitation, wins. (Wright et al., 1987: 118)
3) The odd man out ideal for revising lexical sets, e.g. family relations, household
utensils, animals, etc.
This game needs some preparation: 10-15 groups of words, each of which contains an odd
man out, e.g.
a) horse, cow, mouse,knife, fish
b) plate, bean, soup, sandwich, apple
c) bus, bike, car, motorcycle, lorry
d) ...................................................
The words used should , of course, reflect the interests of learners and cover the material.As a
form of class work, learners find the odd word and give reasons why. If somebody does not
agree must say his or her choice and explain the reason for choosing that word. Then the
correct version is said by the teacher. This exercise can also work as a group or pair task, with
words selected in such a way that they do not have obvious connections, e.g.: knife, saucepan,
box, ruler, cabbage, bottle, typewriter, hammer, book. The aim of the game is to find different
ways of classfying four of the words in each group. It is essential that the player can argue the
case for his proposed classification, however eccentric it may be. Common ways of
classifying may refer to the material the objects are made of, their usage, size, cost or shape.
Less common classifications might be country of origin, naturalness (grown or
manufactured), or number of letters, etc. (ibid)
4) Shopping tour to review the letters of the alphabet and to reinforce the vocabulary of
high-frequency, common nouns.
The students may sit at their desks or in a circle for this game. The first student begins the
game by telling of a shopping tour he went on and the name of something he bought that
begins with the letter A, such as an armchair. The second student must name the armchair and
add something beginning with the letter B, for example: I went shopping and bought an
armchair and some beer. This procedure continues around the room and through the letters of

the alphabet. On another occassion students could alter the procedure by adding an adjective
to the object they mention, e.g.: I went shopping and I bought an attractive ashtray.
(McCallum, 1980: 16)
5) Hows your vocabulary? to test students active vocabulary.
Teachers must make sure each student has a pencil and paper before beginning this game.
When the class is ready, write one letter of the alphabet on the blackboard, and have the
students write down all the words they can think of that begin with that letter. No more than
two minutes should be allowed for the students to write. At the end the teacher calls Time
and the students count their words, the one with the most words wins. It is advisable to restrict
the inclusion of slang, abbreviations and proper names. (ibid)
6) Old MacDonald to revise the names of farm animals and their sounds.
This song, which all ages like singing, is a lively reminder of farmyard vocabulary and the
name of almost any domestic or farm animal can be worked in.
Old MacDonald had a farm,
E-I-E-I-O,
And on that farm he had some ducks,
E-I-E-I-O,
With a quack-quack here,
And a quack-quack there,
Here a quack, there a quack,
Everywhere a quack-quack.
Old........
In other verses Old MacDonald had a dog (bow-wow), a cow (moo-moo), some geese
(hissing sounds), some turkeys (gobble-gobble), some bees (buzzing sounds), some sheep
(bleating sounds), some pigs (grunting sounds), etc. After singing all original stanzas ask the
students to invent more in groups and then to sing their words. (Lee, 1991: 65)
7) Words from words to provide a fast-paced review, either orally or in writing, of a broad
selection of vocabulary items.
In this game the class is divided into two teams and two students are selected to represent
each team. These four players go to the front of the room and sit in previously arranged
chairs: one member of each team facing forward, the other two players facing the class. As the
game begins, the teacher, or a student assistant who does not belong to either team, holds up a
card with a word printed on it. The entire class and the two players facing forward can see the
word, but the two students facing the class cannot see it. The object of the game is for the
player who sees the word to give one-word clues to his partner, so that the partner may try and
guess the word; the teams alternate back and forth after each attempt to guess the word.The
game proceeds as follows:
Example:
(Teacher or student assistant holds up the word shoe.)
Team A, S1: (seeing the word) foot
Team A, S2: walk
Team B, S1: (seeing the word) wear
Team B, S2: stocking
Team A, S1: leather
Team A, S2: shoe (wins the round)
Each team has five opportunities to guess the word. If they cannot discover what the word is
in that time, they go on to the next item. The team that guesses the word gets one point. Five
words are presented in this way and then the two players of each team change positions, so

that the partner previously giving the clues now tries to guess the words. (McCallum, 1980:
33)
8) Find the object revising the known vocabulary.
The teacher needs a big box full of different things. Then he or she calls the representatives of
the teams in turns and tells them names of previously taught objects to be found in the box. If
the student finds the proper thing the team gets a point, if not the rivals have a chance to
guess. (Siek-Piskozub, 1994: 49)
9) Name game to provide vocabulary practice using specific subject and letter categories
in a fast-recall game.
This is a team game and might, in the excitement, become a bit noisy as the students are
required to shout out answers as rapidly as possible. The teacher watches the time and a
reliable student assistant keeps score. The teacher selects a list of subject categories paired
with a letter of the alphabet and prepares individual slips of paper, indicating a separate
category and letter on each. Have the first player or captain of Team A select a slip, calling out
the category and letter to which Team B will respond. The members of Team B name as many
things within the category, that begin with that letter, as possible. They do not wait for turns
but shout out the answers as quickly as they can. You may, with a stopwatch, note the time,
usually one minute, and have a student note down the number of answers given by Team B in
that time. Then Team B gives Team A a category and a letter and they have their minute to
provide as many items as possible within the selected category that begin with the proper
letter. The team that has the longest list of items at the end of the game wins.
Example:
Team A, Leader: Flowers. The letter D.
Team B: Daffodil! Daisy! Dogwood! Dandelion! Dahlia!
Teacher: Time!
Team B, Leader: Countries. The letter B.
Team A: Bolivia! Belgium! Bulgaria! Brazil!
(McCallum, 1980: 36)
10) This is my elbow reviewing body parts vocabulary.
To explain the rules the teacher asks one student to come to the front of the class and together
with him demonstrates a couple of examples as following:
Touch your elbow and say: This is my nose. Explain that the student should reply by
touching his or her nose and saying: This is my elbow. It is now the students turn to
contribute. If the student indicates his or her head while saying: This is my foot, you should
reply by touching your own foot as you say: This is my head. Make sure that everyone is
quite clear about what is required.
Then the teacher divides the class in pairs and tells the students to practise and encourages
them to think of odd combinations. Just because they have used a word once does not mean
they need no longer practise it. The more repetition the better. Although this exercise is rather
bizarre, it requires a lot of concentration and coordination and is great fun. (Sion, 1991: 70)

3. TIME FILLERS

Teachers ought to be ready for any unforseen situations during the lesson. It may
happen that the students work faster than we expected, or we can have an extra hour, because
of the absence of another teacher, or it is simply a special day like Prima Aprilis, the first day
of spring, etc. when the students are not in the mood to attend a typical lesson. It seems to be a
good idea for the teachers to have a special kit consisting of a set of games to cope with
surprising situations.
There are a lot of games to choose from. Examples of them are presented below.
1) Going away- for elementary and intermediate level, the whole class or groups.
This can be going abroad, to London or wherever you like, for example:
S1: Im going abroad and Iwill take a suitcase with me.
S2: Ill take a suitcase and a camera with me.
S3: Ill take a suitcase, a camera, and some films......
(Lee, 199: 40)
2) Alphabet identification- for intermediate students, to review the letters of the alphabet
and to practice the names of people, places and things.
This game should move rapidly around the classroom. Each student, in turn, gives imaginary
information about him/herself following this format:
My name is_________________.
My wifes/husbands name is_______________.
We live in __________________.
And we sell __________________.
The first student must fill in the blanks,orally or in writing, by providing words that begin
with the letter A. The second student uses the letter B, the third C, and so on around the room.
Such letters as Q, X, and Z, may be eliminated from the game.
Examples:
My name is Anna / Bill.
My husbands / wifes name is Andrew / Barbara.
We live in Atlanta / Bristol.
And we sell artichokes/ beans.
( McCallum, 1980: 17)
3) Intelligence- intermediate level
The aim is to revise words in categories. The teacher has to write a table with semantic
categories (written horizontally) and any word (written vertically) on the blackboard. Paired
students rewrite the table onto their pieces of paper, then in the given limit of time they fill in
the table according to the categories beginning words with the given letter. A pair is given a
point for each word that wasnt used by other groups. The winner is the group with the highest
score.
( Siek-Piskozub, 1994: 70)
country

job

animal

plant

object

Colour

H
E

Egypt

electrician emu

eggplant

envelope

emerald

A
D
M
A
S
T
E
R

4) Incomplete definition- intermediate and advanced level, whole class and groups.
A member of one team defines something and challenges somebody in the other team to guess
what it is. Team points are given for correct guesses, and an extra point if the word is spelt
correctly. Much depends on what is chosen for definition, and also on not giving away too
much. For example, an elephant can be defined as a large animal which lives in India and
Africa and which can carry people as well as goods but do not mention its trunk, which
would make it too easy to guess.
Examples:
A piece of furniture in which we keep clothes (a wardrobe). A way of telling us to stop or go
ahead in the street (traffic lights). A place where a farmer keeps his cows (a cattle shed). A
means of sending a spoken message a long way (a telephone). (Lee, 1991: 41-42)
5) Crosswords intermediate or advanced level; groups, individuals and whole class.
Simple ones are fairly easy to make, and come in useful year after year. Various procedures
are possible:
a) Everybody has the same crossword and solves it individually, with the help of the clues.
b) Each small group has a different crossword, and everyone in the group helps to solve it.
c) First of all, everybody works on the crossword individually, then they work in groups.
This makes it more likely that every member of the group will contribute something.
d) There is a crossword on the board, but no written clues. Give these orally and solve the
crossword step by step in conbversation with the class. Learners come to the board and print
the words in one by one, each team using differently coloured chalk. They can be written in
on individual copies too.
e) Crossword relay. There are two crossword frames on the board (or more than two if there
are more than two teams) consisting entirely of blank squares. Somebody says Go or Begin
and a learner of each team hurries out, prints in one letter on the team crossword, and hands
the chalk to the second person in the team, who adds another letter, and so on. All the

10

members of each team do this, and try to build up words. Thus there must be enough squares
at least 16 if each team has 16 members. If there are more squares than members of the team,
the first member to go out continues writing in letters. Scoring is based on the numer
of letters in the words which appear. There can also be a time limit, to encourage speed. It is
even better to have one crossword for each group. If there are five learners in a group, there
can still be, say 25 squares in the crossword, and each player will go out and add a letter five
times. The advantage of basing the game on groups rather than relatively large teams is that it
is easier for the members of a compact group to consult one another quickly on what to write
next.
(Lee, 199: 64-65)
6) Pronunciation competition- all levels, work in groups with the whole class.
The teacher has a set of words that seem to be problematic in pronunciation, prepared
according to the level of the class. The students are divided into teams, the teacher comes in
turns to the members of each group and shows them the word to be read aloud. For each word
pronounced properly the student gets a point for his or her team.
7) Word completion- elementary and intermediate level; whole class, teams, groups.
A number of incomplete words, either in sentences or in simple clue attached to them, e.g. a
be---r (begs), are on the board. The pupils complete them on paper and if the teacher doubts
their ability to do so without mistakes he allows them to consult the textbook or dictionary.
The first to finish helps the other members of the group or team. A limited time is allowed.
Even if the completion is made orally, it is helpful to write the words as well.
Variants:
A) Word race. If there are two teams and two sets of identical words on the board, a learner
from each team can go to the board and complete the first word in each set. These two run
back to their seats as aoon as they have finished and are replaced by another two and so on.
The first team to complete the words is the winner. There should be enough words to give
everybody a turn. Written completion on paper can precede this relay race, which, if the
words are neither too hard nor too easy for the class, is always exciting and enjoyable.
B) One learner writes down a word secretly, but tells the others how many letters there are in
it (so that they mark their papers with the appropriate number of dashes) and also give clues.
For instance, if the word is UNIVERSITIES (12 letters) he or she can give three clues in
succession letters 7, 8, and 9 spell the opposite of stand ( the others write in -SIT-); letters 9,
10, 11, and 12 spell something that many men wear (they add TIES and get SITIES); and the
first two letters are short for United Nations. At this point somebody may guess the word and
so will have to think of another.
(Lee, 1991: 56-57)
8) Write what you know intermediate level; whole class, teams, groups.
A) Riddles and definitions are suited chiefly to vocabulary work, but if they are simple, and
the anwer is to be written, it is a matter less of vocabulary knowledge than of knowing how to
spell, and this sort of approach to spelling links it with experience of communication. A
teacher or learner says , for example, Write down the name of something we hold over our
heads when it rains. (an umbrella) What do we call very heavy rain?. (a downpour)
Preferably, except at a very advanced stage, the vocabulary should belong to the topic the
class knows. The answer-words should be painstakingly selected beforehand. Further
examples: What has four legs and a back but no head? (a chair) What has a face and hands
but no eyes? (a clock) What has teeth but no mouth? (a comb)
B) The teacher or a learner says or writes down a word, e.g. ball, and the learners are given a
limited time to put down words similar in form, e.g. call, tall, fall, hall. One then reads out
what was written on his or her paper and the others tick off on their lists the words mentioned
and are asked what additional words they have. These too are read out and ticked off. A team
or group contest is possible if for a particular pattern (e.g. all, un-, dis-) plenty of words are

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obtainable. The one with the greatest number of different words wins a point. (McCallum,
1980: 62)
9) Shopping expedition advanced level; group work.
There is a story-teller, who tells a simple story about something, e.g. My friend Anna who
went shopping. The other members of the class or group represent different shops (the
bakers, the grocers, the toyshop, etc.) Anna might visit. Alternatively, the learners may
represent different departments in a big store. Every time the story-teller mentions a shop, he
says that the shopper wanted to buy something beginning with (here he gives a letter of the
alphabet). The learner representing the shop must then mention something sold at his or her
shop which begins with that letter. For example, if the letter is m the greengrocer could say
a melon, the butcher mutton, the grocer a pot of marmolade, the fishmonger a
mackerel, and so on. To keep the game going at a reasonable pace, the story-teller can
slowly count up to ten while the shopkeeper is thinking. Often there will be no answer, and no
point will be gained, but if anyone can fill in the gap while 1-10 is counted again, that will be
a point for him. (Lee, 1991: 46-47)
10) Shipwreck lists any level; whole class or groups.
Each group has a pencil and paper and the group leader does the writing. First, the names of
foods must be written down. Allow two or three minutes for all the groups to do this, then ask
for drinks, and finally for articles of clothing.
Group A leader reads out group As list, while the other group leaders cross out on their lists
anything he mentions. Then group B leader reads out what his group still has, and the other
groups cross out those items if they have them, and so on with all the groups. The result will
be that the items not crossed out on any list will be those that only that group has thought of.
You have been wrecked on the desert island, and this is all the food and drink and clothing
you have. The surviving items are read out. The group with the longest list (including no
doubt one or two items that would not be essential or even suitable on the island) is the
winner. (Lee, 1991: 43)

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