English Club Warm-up Games and Activities

20 Questions
One person thinks of an object (person, place, or thing). Everyone takes turns asking
yes/no questions until someone can guess correctly (or until 20 questions are asked).
The difficult part is that you cannot ask "wh" questions!
Example: PINEAPPLE. Does it talk? No. Does it make life easier? No. Do you eat it?
Yes. Is it something you would eat for dinner? No. Etc...
If someone makes a mistake in forming the question, other club members can help turn
it into a proper question.

Can't Say Yes or No

In this game everyone is given a certain number of coins or squares of paper (about 10).
Everyone moves around the room starting conversations and asking each other
questions. The only rule is that you cannot say the words YES or NO. If you
accidentally say one of these words, you have to give a coin or square to the person who
you said it to. Try to trick each other by asking questions that you would almost always
answer with a yes or no. Think of other ways to trick your friends. Sometimes asking
two quick questions in a row works well. (Especially tag questions: Are you new here?
This is your first time in America, isn't it?). This game is a great way to practise using
small talk and to add variety to your vocabulary. It also makes everyone laugh.

Fact or Fiction
In this game, one person tells a short story about themselves or someone they know or
heard about. Usually it is something funny or crazy. It can be a true story, or something
made up.
Example: Josh tells a story about his Uncle Leo who sleeps in the nude. One day Uncle
Leo was sleepwalking and he went outside and took his dog for a walk. The next door
neighbour was coming home late from work and saw him! She called the police and he
got arrested for being naked in public.
Everyone around the room has to say whether they think Josh's story is fact (true) or
fiction (made up). Josh reveals the truth when everyone has guessed. Members can take
turns telling a story.

Chain Fairytale
This is a fun writing warm-up. Everyone has a piece of paper and writes the first
sentence or two to start a fairytale (not one that already exists).
Example: Once upon a time there was a frog that had no legs. He wanted to get
married, but there were no female legless frogs in the land.
After one minute the leader will say "SWITCH". At this time the writers have to put
down their pens and pass the papers. They cannot finish their sentences. Then, the next
writers will continue the story. After about ten minutes you will have as many silly
stories to read as you have club members. The leader should warn the writers that they
will soon have to wrap-up the story during the last two minutes so that each story has a
conclusion. Read all of the stories out loud for a good laugh. You can extend this
activity by trying to edit each other's writing and spelling errors.

Draw the Picture

In this activity members split up into pairs or small groups. One person looks at a scene
from a magazine or book (the leader should cut out enough pictures, or bring in enough
magazines for the club). The other person has a pencil and a blank piece of paper. The
person with the picture will try to describe everything he sees to the drawer. This is
good practice for using prepositions of place. When the describer is finished, compare
the drawings to the real thing! Whose is the closest to the original?

Categories
For this game, one person thinks of a category, such as MOVIES. In a circle, everyone
must take a turn thinking of a Movie title (in English of course). If someone takes too
long to give an answer (the leader should count to five) then that person is out and a
new category begins. If someone gives an answer that doesn't make sense or is
incorrect, he is also out of the game. For example, if the category is VEGETABLES and
someone says "banana" that person is out. The game continues until only one person is
left!

Who am I?
In this game, the leader prepares cards with famous people's names on them. The leader
tapes one card on the back of each member. Then everyone pretends they are at a party
and asks each other questions to find out their own identities. When someone guesses
their own name correctly, the name-tag gets taped to their front and they continue to
chat with the party guests until everyone is wearing the nametag on the front.

Jeopardy
In this game, which is based on the famous gameshow Jeopardy, everyone writes down
ten answers to questions about themselves. After writing down the answers, people have
to form pairs or small groups and try to find out what the questions are.
Example: (answer = purple) "What is your favorite colour?" "Blue." "What colour do
you hate?" "Green." "What colour is your underwear?" "Purple!" You can stop at three
guesses if you want, or keep going until someone in the club can guess the question.

Hot Seat
In this game, the club is split up into two teams. One member from each team sits facing
the group. The leader holds up a word (or writes it on the board if you are in a
classroom) for all of the team members to see except for the two players in the hot seats.
The teams must try to get the person in the hot seat to guess the word or phrase. The
first person to guess correctly gets to stand up and a new member from their team takes
the hot seat. The person on the other team has to remain in the hot seat until she gets an
answer first. You can keep score or just play for fun. This game can also be played in
pairs. One pair member closes their eyes while the leader shows the word to the other
pair members. The first pair to get the word right gets a point. Warning! This is a loud
game because people tend to get excited and yell!

Broken Telephone
This is a listening and pronunciation activity that always gets people laughing. The
leader first must think of a sentence or phrase and whisper it to the person beside her.
That person will then whisper what she heard to the next person. Each person can only
say, "Can you please repeat that?" one time. When the message reaches the end of the
chain that person must speak out loud. Oftentimes the message will be completely
different when it reaches the end. Try to find out where the chain broke! In a big group
you can send the message two ways and find out which team comes closest to the real
message. (A famous example is the army message that started as "Send reinforcements,
we're going to advance" and ended as "Send three and fourpence, we're going to a
dance.")

Getting To Know You

Find somebody in the class . . .

- who used to smoke.

- with whom you would like to have dinner.

- who has never been to the Moon.

- who is playing tennis.

- who is wearing something pink.

- whose surname ends with F.

- who has been to Australia.

- who is visiting England next month.

- who has gone to London.

- who was not sleeping at 3am today.

- who speaks three or more languages.

- who is smoking.

- who is not used to driving on the left.

- whose eyes are green.

- who has been to New York.

Describing Things

Describe the following objects by shape, colour and material:

  Shape Colour Material

Briefcase

   

Clock

   

Casio watch

   

Pencil sharpener

   

Envelope

   

Disquette

   

Some words you can use:

rectangular, cylindrical, white, flat, silver, grey, metal, square, yellow, brown, round,
gold, black, plastic, glass, paper

Country, Nationality & Language

She comes from... She is... She speaks...

(country) (nationality) (language)

France    

  English  

  American  

Singapore Singaporean  

Russia    

  German  

Scotland    
 Spain    

  Columbian  

Australia    

Senegal   French

Hong Kong    

Canada    

  Egyptian  

Sweden    

The Web Cartoon

I've taught 4 year olds and know how hard it is to teach children who don't speak
your language, are pre-literate and not used to a school environment. I still
remember with horror singing the 'Hallo' song solo, to a group of sobbing children
who were supposed to get the message instantly (being at an age to acquire
language easily) and wave hallo back (according to the book).
I think my biggest mistake was excluding parents - as they can use their logic to
understand you, they can help their babies understand and then practice with them
at home. They can then see results which you're unlikely to achieve within a 40
minute lesson.

I now take my 9 month old to a group music class. She might not understand at
the moment, but she has fun and as a parent that makes me happy and prepared
to pay for the next semester. Get the parents to sing in English, dance with their
child while you all sing - and teach them words like zig-zag, jump, weave, run,
swing, rock so they can give their child the kinaesthetic experience of these things
before they can say them, or give baby massage while you teach them parts of the
body. Try teaching the children the names of objects (flowers, leaves, newspaper)
which they can shred, show them actions parents can help them do (waving to each
other/ clapping to each other/ bouncing to each other), smacking instruments
which they can learn the names of (drums, triangles, pots etc). Try books like
'That's Not My Penguin' to read them - where they can feel the different textures -
babies love that. My daughter loves us throwing a blanket over her and then pulling
it back - we imagine it's teaching her 'Where's...'/ 'There's...'. Get them to say each
other's names quietly and LOUDLY - or you can say them quietly and LOUDLY,
while they hear a word they're familiar with but get the idea of different sounds.
Try building blocks with colours - put them all facing the same way (all red) except
one and get the children to identify the blue one and turn it round. Otherwise, they
can just have fun knocking them down while you tell them the colours. Try teaching
them words like hot/ cold and soft/ hard - easy to illustrate using objects and gives
them something to touch and feel even though they might not be interacting.
Before I had my baby I didn't have a clue what to do with infants but these are all
things she enjoys and I presume she is picking up language.

agree with everything above. It is a mess and it's a business move.

In Japan there is heavily publicised research (maybe Baby Einstein) that children
should lstart learning foreign languages before the age of 3. The research talks
about hard-wiring in the brain setting by the age of 3. If you're interested I'm sure
you can find similar articles about this in English.

Anyway... bringing it back. I teach some 2 year old classes. They are not easy and
are draining. I start out telling the mothers not expect anything. Even older
children don't understand the value of learning English, so we shouldn't expect
babies to appreciate your effort either. The biggest goal at this age is listening and
some vocabulary. Most of the time the kids will not say any of the words in class
but they often say them at home or sing the songs at home.

Remember that when they are in class they are more concerned about input than
output. So, if you get zero response, don't let it get you down. I have the mothers
in the class and I tell the mothers to stay focused and do what I ask. The kids will
learn what to do by wathing their mothers.

The kids are small and they are going to run around, get bored, and/or wonder off,
BUT that doesn't mean they aren't listening. Remove everything below 2' from the
room for baby classes. Everything! If there is nothing for them to do when they
wander off, they'll come back.

As for the lesson, I have about 5-6 activities that I do and I change every 5
minutes or so. If you're going to do songs, it's best to do something with actions.
itsy bitsy spider, wheels on the bus, hokey pokey, I'm a little teapot.
You have to be willing to do the actions an not care that you're the only one doing
it.
I teach 6-8 vocab words over 3 lessons. I just give them small cards and let them
play with them. They are so young there is no point trying to play a game. You can
have them knock down cards with a soft ball. As fun as that sounds, they become
more interested in the ball. So, like I said just give them the cards and let them
play with them. Ideally, in time, you can ask which ones do you want and the kids
will (cross your fingers) tell you. Start with things they know and can recognize:
fruit, colors, shapes, nature, and animals

You can also do some exercise with them. Basically simon says without the simon
says. Let them run around and burn some energy. Then they might be able to sit
through one book, but read them 3. Short books with simply vocabulary are best
and read the same books over and over again. They also like lift the flaps.

The best part is the babies will grow into toddlers and eventually kids. I have 2
classes of 5 year olds that have been coming for 3 years. They are wonderful and a
real joy to teach, but they used to be my nightmare. Now, their understanding and
reasoning without complete comprehension are great. Their pronounciation is near
perfect and they enjoy learning new words and questions. They speak English
spontaneously and play around with the language.

My best advice is patience, patience, patience, patience,

PATIENCE!!

Last bit of advice: If something fails today, it doesn't mean it will fail tomorrow.
Don't give up on a good idea. Children sometimes just need time to process the
information. (However, if it fails everytime don't hang on to it just because you
think it's useful.)

I have a lot more to say on this, but I've already rambled on and been on and off
the point several times. If you have any questions or comments please let me
know.

I hope that helps or inspires.

Mark