Sentence Guessing Game Activity

Speaking Game: Sentence Guessing Activity (ESL/EFL)

Min. # of Students: 3 Activity Strengths: Review, warm-up, entertaining, and communicative ESL/EFL Level: Duration: Intermediate to Advanced 10-15 minutes

Basic Speaking Game Idea: Students try to get one of their classmates (Student A) to elicit a sentence written on the board. Student A is seated with his/her back to the board, unable to see the sentence. The other students must get Student A to say the sentence, completely, by using synonyms, alternative descriptions, and other clues. Speaking Game Preparation: Go through your class notes and pick some expressions (e.g. "kill two birds with one stone"), vocabulary (e.g. "hire", "ethnic") or grammar items ("hardly ever") you'd like to review next class. Then, make some interesting sentences with them, for example: "I killed two birds with one stone. / "A month after I was hired, I was fired." / "I rarely eat ethnic cuisine." Get creative. Bring the list to class. Speaking Game Execution: 1. Pick one student from the group ("Student A") and seat him/her at the front of the class, with his/her back to the board. 2. Write the easiest of the sentences you prepared on the board, e.g. "I killed two birds with one stone." 3. Tell the other students that they have to make Student A say the complete sentence on the board. Tell them the game rules: they can only use use English and they cannot repeat any of the key words in the sentence to Student A.

That's it. The students may think it'll be hard at first, but they'll soon get into the game. Be sure to give the easier sentences to the lower-level students. Let each student have a turn at the speaking game. My students seem to enjoy this speaking activity. If you have a large class, the game can be played inteam vs team format as well by putting one student from each team at the front of the class. The first team to get their student at the front to elicit the sentence wins the speaking game. Have fun.

Simple Idiom/Phrasal Verb Speaking Activity

ESL Role-play Activity for Practicing Phrasal Verbs or Idioms

Basic Idea: Have students create a role-play using recently taught idioms or phrasal verbs. Total Time: 15 minutes (depends on the number of groups) Strengths: entertaining + allows students to use their creativity + reinforces language Levels: Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate, Advanced The bulk of idioms and phrasal verbs are native to spoken English. Therefore, role-playing is perfect for practice. Execution:

1. After teaching your students 8-12 idioms or phrasal verbs (for a print-out of useful idioms, see here), put your studentes into pairs. 2. Tell them you're going to give them 5 minutes to create a conversation dialogue with their partner using as many of the idioms/phrasal verbs as possible. (You can say "the group who uses the most/all the expressions wins" if you want to motivate them, but this probably won't be necessary).
3. Tell them to try to make their role-play about 2 minutes or longer, if they can. 4. Let them do it. Listen while they plan it and offer help where possible. 5. Have each group present their role-play. This activity is simple but effective. Students enjoy using their creativity. The role-plays my students create are usually pretty entertaining. Give it a shot and be sure to commend your students on their role-plays and review major mistakes after they have finished. ing a bell on the one hand / on the other hand have/keep an open mind A: Do you know April ONeil? B: Hmm. Maybe. That name rings a bell. On the one hand, Peters roommate is kind. On the other hand, hes quite messy. I tried to keep an open mind about Allan even though Id heard some bad things about him. His name was on the tip of my tongue but I couldnt remember it. Tyler was too hung-over from last nights party to go to work. Lets meet around 4ish.

on the tip of your tongue

a hangover (noun) / hungover (adj) ~ish

fed up Big deal! Give sb a hand let the cat out of the bag

Im fed up with my neighbours dog. It takes you 15 minutes to walk to school? Big deal! My dad gave me a hand with my homework. It was going to be a surprise party, until Todd let the cat out of the bag. If you think you can make the team, then give it a shot. A: George, Im pregnant. B: No way! A: Can I invite my brother? B: Sure. The more the merrier.

give it a shot No way!

The more the merrier.