Unit 4 Practising Grammar

[Gemla]

This is in answer to Task 1.
A game which I use a lot to practice any grammar point is 'Back to the Board'. The teacher writes a sentence (of the grammar point you are studying that day) on the board while 2 students are sitting with their backs to the board. The rest of the class is divided into 2 teams and has to explain the sentence to their teammate who is sitting with their back to the board. This practices thoroughly the grammar point covered in class and is fun too.
I also use the old mime game of Charades to practice Present Continuous, which students always enjoy.

[Admin]

Thanks for posting Gemma! Your idea sounds interesting. Could you elaborate? What do you mean by "explain" the sentence? Could you give us an example? The charades idea reminds me of another variation of a parlour game (parlour game? Is that really the word?) Pictionary: you establish a frame sentence including whatever grammar point you happen to be working on. Example:" I was watching TV when...." Before class you prepare a number of different endings to this sentence (my mother phoned/the Prime Minister resigned / the lights went out etc). You then get a rep from each group to come to your desk where you show them one of the prepared sentences. They rush back to their groups and by DRAWING ONLY try to illustrate the sentence. The first group to be able to say it gets a point. Very hilarious!

[Gemla]

By 'explain the sentence' I mean that the team have describe each word/collocation, etc without saying it. For example, if that day you are studying the passive, you could write a sentence like 'A lot of tapas are eaten in Spain'. So they students could say to their teammate by the board, 'Ok, it's a sentence in present passive, the first three words mean 'many', then next word is 'to be' in plural..' and so on. I think it's easier to grasp the idea if I show you how it works! But it is really fun and the students always love playing it. It helps them to think quickly in English too. I hope this explains the activity better! I like the 'pictionary' game you described.

[Admin]

This explains it perfectly - what an excellent activity. Very useful. Thanks for clarifying this Gemma!