290 Part V: What Kind of Class Will I Have?
✓ Tiddlywinks: Games like this, which don’t actually require speaking, can
be used in a slightly different way. If students just enjoy having a go at
the skill of the game, tell them that they need to answer a grammar or
vocabulary question correctly before they have a turn. You can ask the
students to revise a particular topic by going through their notes and
making sure that they remember it, and let them play in return for their
correct answers.
✓ Colour by numbers: This kind of activity really reinforces the names of
all the colours (and numbers too), especially if you can get the children
to talk about the picture while they work. Ask them whether a particular
item is to be blue or green, for example. This works well in very small
classes.
✓ Simon says: This is a fun game using instructions in command form, for
example, ‘Simon says, touch your toes’. It practises saying the parts of
the body and some useful verbs like ‘put’ and ‘touch’. The advantage of
a game like this is that the shy child doesn’t have to speak but can still
participate.
✓ Uno: This is a card game that practises numbers, colours and a series
of verbs and phrasal verbs such as ‘pick up’, ‘put down’ and ‘reverse’.
It takes some time to play a whole game, so you may have to reduce the
number of cards dealt to each player.
✓ Snakes and ladders: Create your own board with various revision
questions on it. If the children answer correctly they don’t have to go
the ladder despite landing on that square.
✓ Crosswords and word searches: You can buy some children’s puzzle
books but it’s much more fun if the children create their own to challenge
each other, based on different vocabulary areas.
Using games from course books
You can find a number of dedicated course books for young learners. I list
some titles in Chapter 8. Most of these include ideas for games and activities
within the syllabus but here are two books on the market that are more
focused:
✓ Children’s Games Photocopiable Resource Pack’ written by Maria Toth
and published by Macmillan is crammed full of activities for young
learners at different levels.
✓ Five-Minute Activities: A Resource Book of Short Activities’ written by
Ur and Wright and published by Cambridge Handbooks for Language
Teachers is not actually aimed at young learners but many of the games
are great for kids because of their short attention span.
