99+ Games & Activities for the ESL/EFL Classroom - Free download
What's the Question?
Level: Any Level
Type of Activity: listening and speaking
Purpose: review question forms previously studied in class
Procedure:
Form two teams (three will work, but two seems to add just the right amount of competitive tension).
Explain the game, with a few examples of answers in search of questions. Ask, 'What's the question?', and get students to correctly say the corresponding questions for your answer.
Have two players--one from each team--come to the front. Style it like a game show if you like, with the students standing side-by-side. If you have access to bells or buzzers, it's even more fun.
Next, read an answer to a question and say, 'What's the question?' The fastest player to respond wins a point for her/his team.
New contestants come to the front for a new round.
Rationale: This game forces the students to think backwards a little, so they must provide a grammatically perfect question. All too often, they are used to answering rather than asking questions, so this is challenging and useful as review.
Submitted by: Tim
Toilet Paper Icebreaker
Level: Any Level
This activity is used as a "getting to know you", icebreaker on the first day of class.
1. Teacher takes the toilet paper roll and takes several squares of toilet paper, then hands the roll of toilet paper to a student. The teacher tells the student to take some, more than three.
2. After everybody in the class has some paper, we count the squares we have, then we have to tell that many things about ourselves, in English.
This activity works well with substitute teachers also.
The toilet paper is such an attention getter.
Submitted by: Linda LeBlanc