“Apples to Apples”
Level: Lower intermediate and up
Focus: Reading, speaking
A game that took the world by storm in the 2000s is the party favorite
“Apples to Apples.” This game is a great way to go more in-depth
with parts of speech by doing word association using adjectives. And
you can either buy your own box online or you can make your own
cards that focus on the vocabulary you’ve been teaching in
class. Genius!
You’ll want a group of three or more students to play this game with.
Cards are split into two types: green for adjectives and red for nouns.
Students get seven red cards and then one green card is put into the
middle by the “judge,” who rotates each round.
Students then choose a red card from their hand that they feel fits the
green card best, and place it face-down on the table. Once everyone’s
made a choice, the judge reads all the cards out loud and decides
which is the best of the bunch.
The winner of that round gets to keep the green card. Whoever has the
most green cards at the end of the game is the winner.
Of course, that’s the standard way of playing. You can mix “Apples to
Apples” up a bit by playing opposites (they put in the card that least fits
the adjective) or change things up completely by giving them several
green adjective cards and one red noun card with the objective of
matching a variety of adjectives to that noun.
“Apples to Apples” can also be a great way to get your more
advanced speakers debating. For example, go around the table and
ask whether the students agree with the winning card that the judge
picked, or justify their own card choice for that turn.
Game Alternatives
The winner can be the student who collects 5 adjective
cards first (or whatever number you like).
The game can be played in reverse, with adjectives being
played to describe the noun instead of nouns that fit the
adjective.
Use the cards for karuta. Give the students the adjective
cards and have them all face up on a desk. Pull a noun card
and have students collect the adjectives that can describe the
noun, and have them give reasons for their choices. You can do
the same in reverse. Note that there are tons of cards, so you
can play on many desks with lots of kids.
“Jeopardy”
Level: Lower intermediate and up
Focus: Listening, speaking
It was the first day of classes, and I’d gotten my first group of
teenagers. Our books hadn’t yet arrived. What did I do? I came up with
a
“Jeopardy” board.
As I found out, “Jeopardy” is a great way to review old
information that may have been tucked away during the summer.
Not to mention that the possibilities for quiz categories are endless.
Some “Jeopardy” categories you might use include US vs. UK English,
the present tense and superlatives. You can go into easier categories
for lower-intermediate students or harder ones to really challenge your
teenagers’ advanced grammatical skills.
Person, Place, Action
Level: Lower intermediate and up
Focus: Writing and reading
A lot of teenage students really dislike writing. However, some are
keener on the idea if you give them the freedom to write what they
want. While the list of possibilities for creative writing exercises can
seem endless, one of my favorite games that my private students
really enjoy is called Person, Place, Action.
The student is given nine pieces of paper. On three of them, they write
a person, on another three they write a place and on the final three
they write some sort of action.
These can vary from short answers to long answers. Lower
intermediate students could write “runs a race” for one of their actions,
while a more advanced student could elaborate with “runs a race
through the desert during the hottest day on record.”
These sheets of paper are then folded and sorted into their categories,
and then the student picks one from each category. The student then
unfolds their paper and writes a story with the given prompt. I generally
join in with writing on nine slips of paper with my student to give them
more variety, and you can get some pretty wacky results with a little bit
of brainstorming.
Teaching teenagers can be a big challenge. But just like any other
student, if you get their attention and cater to things they’re interested
in, you can make their language learning experiences fun and
enjoyable.
These activities are sure to inspire your students to love the English
language and encourage them to strive for fluency.
The class is divided into two groups. In turns, one member from each group sits on the Hot
Chair facing away from the whiteboard. The members of their group have one minute to
describe the film being displayed without mentioning the title ( that goes without saying,
but just in case, I’m saying it). The aim is to guess as many films as possible in one minute.
Then, it’s the other team’s turn.
♥The film ‘_______’ is a(n) _______ film which takes place in _______.
♥The film is set in __(ancient Greece)__.
♥The story is based on __(a popular novel)__.
♥The film is directed by _______.
♥The main character(s) in the film is/are _______.
♥_______ is a character who _______.
♥__(Johnny Depp)__ stars as __(Captain Sparks)__.
♥In the film, __(Jack Black)__ plays __(a rock guitarist). The story is about _______
♥The best scene of the film is_____
1. Word Sneak
This game is inspired by the segment on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show.
You might show your students the clip before you play so that they can
understand the game better.
Prepare two lists of phrasal verbs you want your students to
revise; make them 5-7 items long;
Divide students into pairs;
Give each student their list, students should get different lists
of phrasal verbs;
Their task is to have a conversation in which they need to
casually use (“sneak in”) phrasal verbs from their lists. As they carry
on, they might cross out the verbs they have used. Set the timer for 5
minutes.
The person who manages to sneak in the most words in the set
amount of time wins.
PROJECTS:
MAGAZINE: Thisis a perfect project for all classes in
middle and high school. You can take it to the next level
by asking the whole school to start a competition for
the best class magazine.
You can ask your class to select a theme of
environmental, health, literary, or societal topic.
Then ask them to gather all skills; idea-generation,
writing, design, and presentation. You will get the most
benefits if you make it mandatory for every student to
produce content for one page of the magazine. (You
can include the advertisement activity within the
activity of class magazine.)
Myths: write creation myths to account for scientific or historic
events or for a creative writing assignment.
