Beyond Vocab and Grammar

For English language learners and native speakers alike, learning new vocabulary and parts of speech can become difficult and tedious. Below are a few games I have been experimenting with recently to make learning English more comfortable, fun, and creative.

Write this, Draw that
Need: Paper, pencil, at least 3 players
How to play: Each player gets a piece of paper and has to write a sentence on it. Once they finish they fold the paper so that the sentence is covered and pass it to the player next to them. Upon receiving the piece of paper, the next player reads the sentence, folds the paper back, and then draws the sentence below. Next they pass the drawing and the next person looks at the drawing and writes a sentence about what is happening. They then fold the paper to cover the drawing but leave the sentence showing. Depending on the number of players, this can be repeated multiple times until the paper returns to its original writer. When this happens, read the original sentences out loud and show how they have been changed with drawings and rewritings.

Flash Act/Spell
Need: Playing board (can easily be made with circles or squares drawn on a piece of paper from start to finish with some squares colored in), dice or coin, items to represent players, vocab cards
How to play: First write down the vocabulary words on one side of a flash card (5 times for practice) and draw the word on the other side. Next have players put their pieces at the start of the playing board and use a coin flip (heads 1 space move, tails 2 space moves) or die to determine how the player moves. If the player lands on a normal space, they must guess the word from the drawing on the flashcard and spell it. If they land on a special space, the other player has to act out the word and it has to be guessed and spelled. Each time the word is guessed and spelled correctly the player gains one point. Whoever has the most points by the time they reach the finish wins.


Apples to Apples (SAT/Weekly Vocab Edition)
Need: Flashcards with vocab words
How to Play: Play just like the game Apples to Apples (http://www.letsplayapples.com/), but with your own cards that relate to vocabulary words. Either mix in with other words or things you like, or combine with an Apples to Apples deck.


MadLibs
Okay yes, MadLibs was mostly invented for family roadtrips but they can be really useful and entertaining when learning parts of speech. Not only do they allow an opportunity to remember what nouns, adverbs, etc, are but they also teach what these things do in a sentence and how they effect it.

Multiplication Tic-Tac-Toe

Remember learning multiplication facts or times tables? Endless worksheets, memorization, and rewriting charts?
Well say goodbye to those beloved memories and get ready to try a fun game.
In multiplication tic-tac-toe, two players practice multiplication and forming strategies.

Here's how it works. The first player chooses two factors (the 1-9 on the game board) and places an item on each (paperclip, erasers, coins, etc). The player then crosses off or places their item on the product in the box above. Next, the second player moves one of the items on the factors to a different factor. For example, if the game begins with three and six selected, the next move can either move the three or six, but not both. The second player puts their mark on the product. Play continues until one player has marked four products in a row, column, or diagonal.
And yes, you can have two of the same factor selected at once.

I've tried this game several times so far and it has been a success. Not only is it helping me remember all that multiplication, but is a fun activity that students can take ownership of and discuss tactics and strategies of play.