Games in the classroom

Let’s Talk Now A2 has some fun activities including great games – just what you’re looking for in the run up to Christmas.

Let’s Talk Now A2 doesn’t just focus on the phrases, tools, exercises and reminders students need for successful conversation, it also contains some entertaining extra double pages: fun and playful activities after Units 2, 4, 6 and 8. The first page is called Extra, the second page is called Game. The Extras include four longer speaking activities: Milestones in your life, Culture and customs, Tell me about it and For and against, a class debate.

But let’s turn our attention to the four Games. Game A, the Postage Stamp Game, comes after Unit 2 and pits two players against each other in the race to name the person he or she would like to see featured on a stamp. The Teaching Notes available for free online, give some additional tips for playing the game and also suggest an extension activity: reading and responding to the additional information in the Key at the back of the book. You might also like to practise saying the names of the countries shown on the stamps (and country adjectives) in English. And it would be interesting to have a short class discussion on the most popular person who was nominated for Your stamp.

After Unit 4 is Game B, Top Five Game, which refreshes the vocabulary from Units 3 and 4. Students write five items of vocabulary in each of the five boxes: 5 methods of transport, 5 things to do on holiday, 5 kinds of holiday, 5 things to pack for a seaside holiday, 5 cities beginning with M. Remember, you can increase the pressure on students by setting a timer on your mobile phone and you can add an extra category for stronger students: 5 countries beginning with A for example. And don’t forget the Extension activity in the Teaching Notes.
You could also turn this into a Christmas game: 5 Christmas foods, 5 Christmas songs, 5 presents you’d like, 5 presents you’d hate.

Game C, Word Games, are, in fact, three familiar word games: Word Search, Anagrams and Wordlines. Students have the opportunity to complete the word games in pairs and then they can create their own word games using the instruction on the page. A great way to recycle vocabulary from the Units they have just finished. Again, there are more tips in the Teaching Notes.

Game D, the final game, is Row of Four Game, where students are competing against a partner to get a row of four circles by completing sentences, such as: I’d like to …, My first teacher used to …, If I went to America … Students have to be fluent and good strategists – a clever mix for a fun game.

Whichever game your students play, they will be having fun and refreshing valuable language: that’s a guarantee. And remember: if it’s Christmas games and activities you’d like, then don’t forget the Best of NTC - Christmas activities.

But what about the dice that you have carefully crafted after watching the Klett Classroom Clip: Dice? You could turn Row of Four Game into a dice game. Students place their counters on sixty-one 61 in the bottom right-hand corner of the page and then roll the dice. In turn, each student rolls the dice and moves that number of circles. Then he / she completes the sentence in that circle. The first player to land on I think the best … (in the top right-hand corner) and completes the sentence, wins the game! - Have fun!