英语学习游戏.doc

英语学习游戏(English Learning Games)
Students greatly welcome games. They can create a cheerful and light-hearted environment and arouse students’ interest in learning English. Games are considered one of the most effective ways to improve efficiency（效果） in language learning. Following are some 50 games for various levels of English students. I collected some of them and created others.

Vocabulary and Phrase Games

1. A Game of Collocation Cards
Aim: To let students review and memorize collocations（搭配）.
Preparation: Make a set of cards with the verbs (or verb phrases) such as take, have, do, play, make, and give. Prepare a second set with nouns (noun phrases) such as homework, a meeting, a trip, a test, a lecture and basketball.
Procedure: Two or more than two students can play this game. The purpose is to form a collocation.
1) Put all those cards in random order in a pile on the table with students sitting around.
2) In turns, each student takes 6 cards from the pile one by one. Then one student takes one card from the pile. The student keeps it if he/she finds a collocation with one of the cards in his hand or he/she thinks he/she can find a collocation easily with this card later. Otherwise, she/he gives it to the next person.
3) The next person keeps it, if he/she finds a collocation with one of the cards in his/her hand.
4) Then the student chooses one of the difficult cards in his/her hand and gives it to the next person.
5) If he/she cannot form a collocation, he/she takes another card from the pile. The next person does the same until one of them forms three collocations.
The first person that forms three correct collocations wins.
Variation: You can play this game with prepositional phrases and adjective phrases, as well as verb phrases or you can put all these together.
2. Word Spelling Cards
Aim: To review and memorize the English words students have learned.
Preparation: Make at least 100 cards with the following written on them: letters, roots, suffixes（词缀）, such as, -tion, -ment, and -or prefixes, such as, -un, -im and –ir, clusters of vowels, such as, -ow-, -ight and -oo- and consonants（辅音）, such as, th-, ch- and sp-.
Procedure: Two or more than two students can play this game.
1) Put all cards in random order in a pile on the table with students sitting around.
2) Each student takes 4, 5, or 6 cards from the pile one by one. (Students determine the number of cards they hold in their hands before the game starts. The bigger the number, the easier the game is.)
3) The object is to construct meaningful words (a word found in the dictionary) by putting the cards together. When successful, the student shows the word to the other players and puts the cards aside. At the same time, he/she gets the same number of additional cards from the pile.
4) The first player tries to form more words, which he/she shows to the other players. If he/she cannot form a meaningful word, he/she can take another card from the pile.
5) If he/she still fails to form a word, he/she chooses one from his/her cards and gives it to the next person.
6) The next person can get this card if he/she can form a word with the other cards. Each time a word is formed, the student shows the card(s) to the other players and puts the card(s) aside.
7) If the player cannot form a word with the card given by the previous player, he/she can get one from the pile and try to form a word. Again, if a player fails to form a word, he/she selects one of his/her cards and gives it to the next person. The next person will do the same.
Finally, the person who gets the most meaningful words wins.
3. Preposition Cards
Aim: To practise prepositions.
Preparation: Write a number of prepositions (say, 10–20) on separate cards. Each student has a set of the cards.
Procedure: The aim is to make up sentences using common prepositions.
1) Students can hold the cards in their hands or put them on the desk.
2) The teacher says a noun, a verb or an adjective or a phrase (or writes on the blackboard.)
3) The students think of a sentence quickly using one of the prepositions on their cards. The student who thinks his/her sentence is right can raise his/her hand and the teacher nominates（指定） him/her. He/She reads out the sentence. If the teacher says "correct" (the sentence is correct in grammar and meaning), the student can put that preposition card aside.
4) The procedure is repeated. The student who surrenders all his/her cards first will win.
4. Bingo
Level: Absolute beginner to lower intermediate
Aim: to review or preview letters, or vocabulary
Materials: item list, bingo cards (students can make these)
Procedure: Draw a 9-square box (as in tic-tac-toe) and ask students to draw a picture with the target words in each box. You might draw each picture on the board in random（随机） order and have the students draw them in their grid. (This is very useful since you can review the words together with the whole class as you go along and help students with ideas of how to draw them). Then draw the pictures in your box on the board and ask the students to choose a word. Choose the students at random. When they get a bingo (any three in a row), they get a team point, a card or a reward. A variation may be to reward them only if they get a bingo before you. This makes it more challenging and covers more vocabulary.
5. Slap it
Aim: to recognize words and listen for relevant information
Preparation: a set of 10-15 pictures of different kinds of food items for each team of 4 to 6 people
Procedure: Put the items on a desk and the students sit around the desk. The teacher describes the food item. When a student has an answer, she/he slaps the card and says the word aloud. If the student is correct, he/she gets a team point. If the student is wrong, he/she is out of the game. Alternatively, in each group each student plays independently. If the student slaps the correct picture, he/she keeps the card as a point. The person or team with the most cards/points wins.
6. Hangman
Level: Absolute beginner to lower intermediate
Aim: to practice vocabulary
Materials: writing surface
Procedure: First, the teacher thinks of a word and writes the same number of dashes, as there are letters in the word on the board.
Then, students begin to call out letters from the alphabet. When a student guesses a correct letter, he/she will put the letter in its proper place. The letter may be repeated. If a letter that is in the word has not been mentioned, the teacher will draw one stroke for the hangman. If they can guess the word before the picture of the hangman is finished, they will win. Otherwise they will lose.
Variation: This works best with phrases, not individual words. Scoring need not be a hanged man. It can be any picture, or word that has about 10 parts. The pictures can be drawn bit by bit or erased bit by bit.
7. Word Shark. (Similar to hangman) Similarly confusing
Aim: to practise vocabulary.
Procedure: Instead of a man being hung, you can draw a man dangling（悬浮） from a cliff, with the ocean, complete with one ravenous shark, underneath him. When the first incorrect letter is guessed, the man begins his descent toward the shark, who, five or six wrong guesses later, will eat him. Graphically, （图形上）I find Word Shark more interesting than Hangman.
8. Scramble
Aim: to review vocabulary
Procedure: You first write one or two letters in the centre of the blackboard. Then ask the students one by one to form a meaningful word by putting another letter on the left or right, over or under the given letter. The student who fails to form a meaningful word loses one point.
9. Musical Chairs with a Twist
Aim: to review vocabulary
Preparation: all the chairs are arranged in a circle and a tag with the target vocabulary (i.e. jobs) is placed on each chair
Procedure: Play music and have the students march in a circle. When the music stops, the students all go for the chairs. There is a chair for each student except one. Then the IT (person in the middle) can ask anyone sitting down, "Who are you?" If they know what the tag on their chair represents, they remain seated. If not, that student becomes IT. This is continued 3 times and then the music is played again. The students like this game and it reviews vocabulary very well.
10. Last Letter
Aim: to review vocabulary
Procedure: First, have a student say a word. For example: "apple." Then have the next student say a word that begins with the last letter of the last word. ("apple" "elephant" ) and so on through everyone in the class. This can help you to know the kinds of words your students know, which helps communication with them. You can also use a ball to do it or a screwed-up piece of paper. The teacher throws the ball to one student and says a word such as "dog". The student must reply with a word starting with "g," such as "girl". When answered, the ball is thrown back to the teacher and it is then thrown to the next student, who continues.
Variation: you can ask a student to say a short sentence and then ask the next student to say a sentence that begins with the last word of the last sentence.
11. Dictionary
Aim: to learn the meaning of vocabulary
Procedure: In each round, one player reads aloud from the dictionary a word without the meaning. Players announce if they know the meaning. If anyone does, that word is abandoned and a new, unknown word is selected. Then everyone writes a definition for the word, with the dictionary holder writing the correct meaning but not exactly a direct copy. All the definitions are handed to the holder who mixes them up and reads each one. Players declare their picks verbally clockwise from the holder. Alternately, all the students could write down their guesses. Everyone that guesses the right answer gets 1 point. The writer of the wrong definition gets a point for every guess of their definition. The dictionary holder gets one point anyway. The dictionary is then passed on.
12. Fast Words
Aim: review vocabulary
Procedure: The class is arranged into rows. The first person in each row is given a piece of chalk. The blackboard is divided into sections. No more than six teams are formed. The teacher names a letter and the students must write as many words beginning with that letter as they can in the allocated time. Their teammates can call out hints. Be warned: this is very noisy. Next, the second team member takes the chalk, goes to the board and the teacher calls out a new letter. The team with the most correct words is the winner.
13. Vocabulary Tic-Tac-Toe
Students' Level of English: Beginner Intermediate Advanced
Materials Needed: The attached handout
Aim: Practice using the words like "want" "have" and "need"
Procedure: Read through the activity with the students and explain that they are to fill in the answers to the number 1 paper with a partner. Ask partner A to guess partner B's answers. If they guess correctly, they get to mark "X" on the answer. If they guess incorrectly, they mark a "0" on the answer. The goal is to get a line of three "Xs". When finished, partner B tries to guess partner A's answers using the same sentence patterns.
14. Adjective and Noun Combinations
Aim: To get students to think about and practice combinations.
Level: This game works well with all levels. Lower-level students can make up simple sentences and higher level students more complex ones.
Procedure: The purpose of this game is to give students the chance to practice adjective-noun combinations. Begin by giving them a male or female first name. They must then invent a sentence similar to the following: Albert likes awful apes. Linda likes little limes. Richard likes roaring racecars. Wendy likes wiggling（蠕动的） worms. The game should move fast, so you should be prepared with a list of names to fire at your students. You should go through the list ahead of time to make sure that you can think of matching adjective-noun combinations within the vocabulary range of your students. It is sometimes helpful to have a large list of alphabetized adjectives copied off and ready to hand out, especially for lower level students.
Variation: you can use this to practice other combinations, for instance verb-noun combinations.
15. Frozen tag
Level: any
Materials: cards (with words or pictures representing vocabulary) space
Aim: review, fluency
Procedure: Hand out the cards, one to each student and practice the vocabulary so that everyone knows their own word. One person is "it." When "it" touches another person, he/she becomes "frozen" (cannot move), but their friends can unfreeze him/her. To do this, the friend tells the frozen person what's on their card. The frozen person then either repeats or acts out the item. If correct, they are free.
Variation: from time to time have students switch cards and teach each other the new vocabulary and change the person who is "it."
16. Word Category
Aim: to review vocabulary
Procedure: This game calls for words within categories(范围） and sets up a hand-clapping or finger-snapping rhythm with a circle of students. At a designated rhythmic point, the first student must call out a word in the target category (country name, flower, article of clothing, etc.) Then at the same point in the rhythm, the next student must supply an appropriate word, and so on, around the circle until someone gets stuck. Since no word can be repeated, it also promotes listening to each other.
17. Jumble Word
Aim: to review vocabulary
Procedure: Give students some letters and ask them to form words. At first, you can give them a few letters and then progress to more letters. The student(s) who can form the most words or form a word using most of the letters given is the winner.
18. Christmas Pudding
Aim: to review vocabulary
Procedure: This game is an anagram（颠倒字母顺序） activity. Have students make as many words as they can out of the letters in the words "Christmas Pudding" ex. mud, camp, or aspirin. Have them work individually and then check in small groups. As they check, common words are crossed out. Devise a point scale appropriate to the students' level. Try again with different words: "Silver bells," "Happy Holidays," etc.
19. Word Race
Aim: to review target vocabulary
Procedure: The teacher says a word like bedroom or kitchen and the students in groups have to draw as many items related to that word as they can. After 5 minutes the teacher calls "pencil down." The students must call out the names of all the pictures they have drawn. The team who can call out the most is the winner.
20. Wolves and Lambs
Aim: to reinforce and review vocabulary
Preparation: 2 or 3 sets of the target vocabulary
Procedure: The teams or groups sit in circles well apart from each other, and are visited by 'wolves' from other teams. Each