Below is a game I really enjoy playing with my students. The joy about this game is that it’s completely adaptable for all levels of students and really challenges their vocabulary.
I play this often with my English club students, who really get into it, especially loving the competitive nature of the game.
I have attached a worksheet which you can download easily and adapt to your students abilities.
This is another activity which requires little or no preparation if you are looking for something effective and enjoyable for both you and your students at minutes notice.
Please click on the title to download;
STOP THE BUS
Ingredients:
- 1 worksheet per pair of students
Directions:
- have the students make pairs (you can have them in 3s or 4s if you like)
- give each group a worksheet
- draw the first ‘stop the bus’ grid on the board with a space for each teams answers.
- Choose one student in the class to stand and say the alphabet in their head (I usually have them play ROCK SCISSOR PAPER to decide who does this)
- Have another student shout stop for the alphabet student to stop on a letter of the alphabet
- That student calls out the letter he/she stopped on
- Use that letter for game one (each grid has 3 games)
- When a pair/group of students completes all categories they have to shout, “STOP THE BUS”
- At that time all teams must write on the board the answers they came up with
- If any team have the same answer neither team gets a point for that word
- Points are only allocated to words which no other team has used.
ESL 4 Word 
I used this game a lot in my English Summer Camp and the kids loved it! Thanks for sharing! This is a really fun game, and is good especially if you have extra time or need to improvise in your class…
I’ve been using this game with great success, but I’m thinking of changing it up a bit. Each team would receive an alphabetized [different] list of words – both real and made up. Each team would implement a word for each round that is either a real one or a fake one. If one team calls “STOP THE BUS” then the other teams can let it go giving them the win or they can say “BULLSHIT” (OK I’m in the Danish school system and it’s acceptable to use such words to an extent…as strange as that may seem)! Then the challenged team has to prove the existence of the word either with a dictionary on hand or online. If the word is real then they stand to win. If it’s fake then the other team gains points and the round continues. Does it sound like it could get confusing?? I need to user test it.
I think this is a great idea! It really keeps all students focused on what everyone is doing, not just themselves. I think the new rules will take a few tries to get used to, but I think mixing it up a bit always keeps the students engaged.
Good idea and great bus game. i like to play ha ha..