I didn’t know that last week

1. Ask the students to remember the events of last week. 2. Tell them to write down the things they didn’t know that were at that moment, wo...

New rules

1. Divide the class in groups of four. Each group is to create a rule to be followed in their conversation, e.g.: Nobody is allowed to speak...

Finishing conditional sentences

1. Give a sentence using the first conditional, describing one of a number of possible variations, preferably based on personal taste. For e...

Random dictionary

1. You need an English monolingual dictionary. You ask the stu­dents to call out any number which falls between the first and last page (e.g...

Scars

1. Tell the students your scar story. If it is about a scar of yours that is showable, let them see it.2. Invite the group to think of how t...

Add a letter

1. Tell the students that they can form new words by adding or curtailing a word, e.g.: mile – smile.2. Ask them to form as many new words a...

Things in common

1. Put students in pairs, tell them to talk to each other and try to find as many things as they can in common with one another in three min...

I remember

1. Tell the students about an accident or an illness, starting most of your sentences with: I remember... ing...2. Put these sentence starte...

SMS

1. Write a word on the blackboard. 2. Students should write SMS beginning each word with a letter from the word you wrote.

Mime your past

1. Ask students to prepare to do a mime based on some past experience.2. One of the students does the mime, stopping after each action. Ask ...

On the tape

1. One student goes out of the room.2. The teacher records voices of other students on the tape.3. The student comes into the room and tries...

Eatable vs. uneatable

1. The teacher asks questions, such as: Can we eat a hotdog? Can we eat a dog? etc.2. Student answer: Yes, we can? No, we can’t.

Phonemic bingo

1. Write the phonemic symbols of vowels at the blackboard. 2. Ask the students to draw a 4 X 4 grid. Then they choose a different phonemic s...

My thingumajig

1. The teacher explains that the students must guess the name of an object by making questions about how the object is used, using can. Beca...

Letter by letter

1. Player A says a letter. Player B thinks of a word beginning with A's letter and says its second letter. C thinks of a word beginning ...

Mind your ear

1. Ask your students to write down the words with a particular sound, e.g.: [e]2. Dictate a set of different words including those with soun...

Selling freezers to Eskimos

Use the word of an object to challenge the student to 'sell' it to the class by arguing why they really need it. This activity can b...

Guess the word

1. Form groups of roughly equal numbers. Try and keep the groups as far away from each other as possible. Explain that one member of each gr...