experiences. The rest of the tips in this section give ideas for particular
games.
3 Who am I? Choose a famous person, someone all of the learners are likely
to have heard about. It is best if the person you choose is contemporary. Ask
learners to try to find out who you ‘are’ by asking you questions, with yes/
no answers, such as, ‘are you male or female?’, ‘are you American?’, ‘are
you a politician?’, and so on. Then put learners into small groups, and ask
them to take turns in choosing the personality.
4 What’s my line? This is similar to ‘who am I?' above, but focuses on
particular job descriptions. Questions could include, ‘is your work outdoors
or indoors?’, ‘do you work with computers?’, ‘do you provide a service to
people?’, ‘do you work with groups of people?’, and so on.
5 Animal, vegetable or mineral. Everything except free space can be
regarded as one or more of these. Allow a maximum of 20 questions (say) with
which learners can probe the identity of the animal (including humans), or
plant or object you have chosen. Then, when learners have found out how
the game works, divide them into groups, and get them to take turns picking
the object.
6 Knockout quizzes. Prepare a series of cards, each with a short question
written on one side of it, and the answer written on the other side. Divide
learners into teams, and deal out so many cards to each team. Ask each team
in turn to select a question to pose to another team. If the other team answers
correctly, they score a point and it is then their turn to pose a question. If the
team does not answer correctly, the team posing the question scores a point,
and can pose another question. With more advanced learners, you can get
them to prepare the questions instead of doing it yourself.
7 Crosswords or wordsearches. You can get learners to devise these
themselves. It is best to select a topic, such as food, or travel, or a particular
building the learners all know. Then ask each group to exchange their
crossword or wordsearch with other groups.
8 Alphabetical circles. Choose a topic, for example, shopping. The first
learner could say, ‘I went to the shop and bought an apple’. The next could
continue, ‘I went to the shop and bought and apple and a banana’. Then
could come ‘carrots’, ‘dates’, ‘eggs’, and so on. It is normally best to use
only 23 letters, as there are not many things starting with X, Y or Z.
9 First and last letters. For example, ask learners to call out the names of
animals, where the next one starts with the letter that the last one finished
with. Sequences, such as ‘elephant’, ‘tiger’, ‘rhinoceros’, ‘seal’, could
result. The same process can be used for all sorts of topics themes, including
countries, capitals, cities, and so on.
10 Single letter mindmaps. This is a quick game that you can play with a
whole class at a time. Pick a topic beginning with a chosen letter, for
example ‘Danger’. Put this in a circle at the centre of a whiteboard or
overhead transparency. Then build around it other words beginning with
LANGUAGE WORK IN THE CLASSROOM 47