Teaching with limited resource games and activities are invaluable to ESL teachers. When you are short on time to plan or when you have to come up with a filler to see you through the last five minutes of class, these games are perfect.
First on the list is a conversation relay game suitable for classes of up to 30 students, however it works best in classes of 10 – 15 students.
LEVEL: starter – lower intermediate .
5 ~ 15 mins
Materials needed: 1 small soft toy per team
Aim: Asking and answering Q based on any grammar point. (The example below focuses on plurals)
- First arrange the students in 3 teams or 5-7 students per team.
- Give the student at the front of each row a soft toy.
s1 to s2 – “Do you like tomatoes?” (this s passes the toy to s2)
s2 to s1 – ” Yes I do.”
s2 to s3 – “Do you like hamburgers?”(s2 passes the toy to s3)
s3 to s4 – “No I don’t.”
s4 to s5 – “Do you like pineapple?”
Ok, can you see a pattern forming here?
- This continues until the last student in each row answers, who then has to call out YOUR name, saying “Susan, here you are” You must only respond when the student calls your name.
- The s throws the toy to you.
- You must stand still on a spot at the front of the class, and try to catch the toy from there.
- Only if you catch the toy, award a point to that team.
- The student at the back of the row must then run to the front.
- Pass the toy quickly to the s who is now standing at the front for the game to continue.
- This is a very repetitive game, which I have found practices the key sentences with success.
- It’s a fast pace TPR (Total Physical Response) activity, which the ss of all levels respond to very well.
If you have a larger class, but still want to play this game, this is another perfect opportunity to get the JTE involved.
You can use this for elementary through Junior High, simply changing the grammar point or choice of vocabulary.
Variation:
Make this game a little more difficult by telling the students that everyone in the team has to ask a different question.
ESL 4 Word 