English Game Nº1
Dear Geany, Thank you for subscribing to my free games and tips to helpteachers be an inspiration to their pupils. If you have received this in error please refer to theremoval instructions at the bottom of this email. Over the next few days I shall send you some games which you can start using right away in class. This is a small sample of what I give my paying customers. SAVE THIS FOR FUTURE REFERENCE Here is a game with many variants, so you should be able to use it regardless of how big your class is. In fact you can play this with anything from 2 to 60 players. Free flashcards are also available with each game which youcan download. AND today, there is a bingo game included too. Enjoy!
CONTENTS The Blanket Game - & Variants
1. How to Play
2. Language ideas to use with this game
3. Question practise variant
4. Sentence practise
5. A Lively variant
6. Materials for you to use with this game
7. Reading and spelling
8. Tell us what you think
The Blanket Game Category: Speaking Group size: From 2 players. Small & large class variants Level: Beginners to intermediate
Materials: A sheet or blanket and flashcards
Age: 4 to 12
Pace: Calm down, & lively version This game is to be played once your students are familiar with the vocabulary and sentences that you wish to practise. This is a speaking practise game, or a revision game.
1. HOW TO PLAY
First create a barrier for someone to hide behind. You can do this by setting up a clothesline and pegging a blanket on it, or by having two students hold the blanket up, or bydraping the blanket over a couple of chairs so some one could sit behind it and not be seen. Now you have your barrier, here is an example of how to play this using clothing vocabulary: A class member hides behind the blanket and puts on a selection of clothes, or props, such as a hat, belt, tie or scarf. The class asks in unison,"What are you wearing?" The person behind the blanket replies, "I'm wearing a hat", or "I'm wearing a red hat". Each class member decides whether he or she thinks this istrue or false. Whoever thinks it is true stands up. Whoever thinks it is false sits down. Continue, and then swap over the person behind the blanket. Only allow that person one minute to dress up, to ensure that the class do not get bored waiting. You can have the class count up to thirty, or saythe alphabet while the person puts their prop on. If you do not want to use the sitting and standing method, then each class member can make 2 cards each, with "True" and"False" on them which they can hold up. These can be a tick and a cross for four to five year olds. If there are only 2 of you - you and your student - then you can take it in turns to go behind the blanket. You can keep score each time one of you guesses correctly.
2. Language ideas to use with this game
So now I'd like to explore how else we can exploit this basic idea, and what other language we can use in this game. Simple vocabulary repetition variant – small class For elementary levels, or to revise vocabulary you could place two pictures (or word cards) on the floor behind theblanket – for example a picture of a plane and a truck. A class member stands on one of the cards and says, "Plane". (Or a sentence such as "I'm going to Paris by plane"). The student may stand either on the plane or the truck and the class must guess whether what he says is true or false as described above. Simple vocabulary repetition variant – large class If you have a fairly big class then you will not have time for everyone to go behind the blanket, so in that case, to get the most out of the time spent, instead of the person behind the blanket saying "plane", you could have your class say "plane" or "truck" depending on which one they think their classmate is standing on. Once the person behind the blanket is on their chosen picture you say"Ready, Go!" and the class call out the picture they think is correct. They may also call out the sentence you are requiring them to practise. That way everyone has a chanceto say the words, rather than just the person behind the blanket. They can award themselves points if they get it right. I imagine many of the children will cheat and pretend they said the right word – but does it really matter? I mean, who cares, after all we only want them to practise English and feel good about it.
3. Question Practise Variant
This isn't a true or false variant, but while we've got the blanket out we might as well use it to the full. Put one class member behind the blanket along with a few picture or word cards. Lay out 3 to 4 picture cards for the young children, and up to twelve for older children. The words should all be in the same theme and if you need to you can also have a set of these cards in view of the class. With the older children you would probably not dothis to make it more challenging for them. Allow the class member behind the curtain five seconds toselect a picture to stand on. He or she now cannot movefrom that spot. See below for how to continue dependingon whether you have a large or small class. Question practise – large class Display pictures, or write up, the words you are using. One class member comes up to the front and points at one ofthe words – for example the car. The class ask thequestion form you wish to practise in unison, such as "Haveyou got a car?" The person behind the blanket replies "YesI have, or no I haven't", or "True" or "False", or theyanswer the question as appropriate according to thelanguage you are teaching. The class see how many questions they need to ask eachtime. Alternatively you could divide them into two teamsand each team tries to guess in fewer goes than the otherone. Question practise – small class Each class member in turn asks a question and hopes to bethe one to guess correctly. For example, the firststudent asks, "Have you got a car?" Answer, "No, Ihaven't". The second student asks, "Have you got a plane?"etc. until the answer is "yes I have." You can give pointsif you wish. If you only have one or two students thenjoin in the game with them. Here are some examples of questions you could practise withtransport vocabulary: "Is it the car?" "Are you going bycar?" "Have you got a car?" "Do you have a car?" "Can youdrive a car?" "Are you buying a car?" "Are you going to buya car?" "Will you buy a car?" "Did you buy a car?" "Haveyou bought a car?" "Did you go by car?" And here are some more questions you could practise if youused countries: "Are you from China?" "Are you Chinese?""Do you like China?" "Do you like Chinese food?" "Have youbeen to China?" "Are you going to China?" etc. And here are some questions you could practise with animalvocabulary: "Do you like fish?" "Do you eat fish?" "Are youa fish?" "Is it a fish?" "Are there any fish at the zoo?""Have you seen a fish?" "Have you eaten fish?" "Did you seea fish?" (when you went to Africa?) "Would you eat a fish?""Could it be a fish?" "Have you been eaten by a fish?" etc. As you can see you can adapt this game to ask any question.Think of the question form you would like to practise andthen pick some vocabulary that goes well with that questionform.
4. Sentence practise Instead of questions.
Play as above but using sentences. Here are some examples using the countries theme: You're in China. You're Chinese. You are going to China.You have been to China. You went to China. You speakChinese. I'll see you in China. You're in China, aren'tyou? You've been to China, haven't you? You said you weregoing to China. If you like this game, remember that there are 101 great games in my book 101 Teaching English Games for Children. There are games for speaking like this one, and also many games for listening, spelling and writing. Just go to www.teachingenglishgames.com to find out more.
5. A lively variant
Here is a rather more lively variant on this game: One child goes behind the blanket and the class all say this rhyme together – quickly and rhythmically if possible. What is it? What is it? What could it be? What is it? What is it? One two three. It helps if the children clap on the 'what', 'what', 'what'and 'be' And on the 'what', 'what'; 'one', and 'three'. By the time the class reach 'three' the person behind the blanket MUST be standing on their chosen card. After the class have pronounced the word three they are free to callout any possible word. Each class member can only call out one word but they can all call their words out together. There will be some noise! As soon as the child behind the blanket hears the correct word they jump out and all those who called out that word award themselves points (masscheating no doubt, but I shouldn't pay attention to it). The next child up to go behind the curtain heads over there while the class immediately start up the rhyme again. The pace should be fast and exciting with no time in between rounds. You can replace the simple rhyme above with one that you make up, which may include the sentence or question structure you wish to practise, or it may be a rhyme with some vocabulary you would like to reinforce. Here is an example: Travel on a bus, Travel on a train. Ride on a bicycle, Fly in a plane. When played well this game is really pretty noisy and fun,and the children have a chance to repeat the same words over and over so they will remember them. You might want to teach the rhyme in a previous lesson, andyou can use it again in all sorts of other games. Thefirst time you play start slowly, and pick up the pace as and when your class understand what is happening. When you play it again in future lessons – using the same words if you are revising, or using a new set of words, you'll find that you can pick the pace up another notch. 6. Materials for you to try this game You can use any pictures or word flash cards you may already have to play The Blanket Game. In addition I have prepared a set of picture and words cards for you using transport.
PS. I have included a bingo set for transport in the materials as well, as an extra free bonus. For full instructions and ideas on how to play bingo please treat yourself to a copy of my ebook, English Language Games for Children, available on
www.teachingenglishgames.com.
7. Reading and spelling
Please see sections 1-5 for how to play, for ideas onusing the game, and for where to get your materials. Use word flashcards instead of pictures. This allows the children to read the words and become familiar subconsciously with the spelling.
8. Tell me what you think I'd love to hear how you get on with the game.
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