I went to a workshop at LTC Eastbourne on Monday 19 July 2010 and it was about “Games in the Classroom”.  The idea behind this workshop was to introduce common games to assist with teaching and learning in the classroom.

The principal idea about games, particulary circle games, is that they “encourage the whole class to work together” as well as facilitate the learning experience and offer an opportunity for learners to practice using English in a friendly and informal setting.  When I teach children and teenagers, I find it particulary important to include a form of competitive game (or informal language practice) each day which is linked with the theme, topic or grammar point.

Anyhow, during the workshop teachers were encouraged to think about their favourite EFL games that they include in lesson.  Among teachers there were a list such as; Chinese Whispers, Stop the Bus, Hotseat, Circle Games as well as many others.

I decided to extend this list, as well as further ideas, for EFL Games:

Stop the Bus
Divide the class into groups of three or four people each. On the board, write five or more categories (foods, nouns with more than five letters, jobs, adjectives to describe people, animals, capitol cities). Give the students a letter (H); their task is to come up with one example of each category that begins with that letter (hot dog, hamburger, hotel receptionist, helpful, hyena, Havana). I usually do an example with the whole class before we start the real competition. When a group has one example for each category written down, they say “Stop the bus!” and you check. If their answers are good you can continue with the same categories but a different letter. Another version is giving them a time limit and seeing how many unique examples of each category they can come up with in that time (“unique” meaning no other group writes it).

Hot Seat
Divide the class into two teams, and have each team send one representative to the front of the class. Each representative sits on a chair with his/her back to the board.  You write a word behind each representative, and the team has to explain or define that word so that the representative can guess it. The first representative to correctly guess the word written behind him/her gets a point for the team and the round is over. Two new representatives come to the front. You may have to explicitly forbid pantomime or using any form of the word on the board (“Teacher”…a person who teaches) and of course any translation.

Chinese Whispers
A common and traditional game whereby two rows (or could be more) sit on chairs or perhaps stand.  You show a word to each person at the end of the row and they have to whisper to the person in front.  This game can be amended to include grammar points, questions, collocations, synonyms, etc.  It is a reliable and relaxing way to introduce new vocabulary.

False Information
This is a personal favourite GTKY (get to know you) game/activity.  You demonstrate this initially on the whiteboard by writing three personal sentences, for example:

1. I have been teaching since 2005.
2. I am 35 years old.
3. I can speak some Korean.

Students have to guess the sentence that is false.  By the way, it is number 2.  Once you get some feedback, get students to write three sentences about themselves.  Make sure you explain it can be about anything (family, friends, hobbies, etc) but it must include a sentence that is false.  Get students to mingle and they have to guess their partner’s true and false sentences.  This activity alone can last about 20 minutes.

Just a Minute
This activity is developed from the famous and long-running BBC Radio show.  Demonstrate the game by playing a recording or YouTube video from the Radio Show (such as below), and elicit from students the rules of the game.  Once rules are understood, you give students a topic to talk about for a minute.  If students make a grammar mistake, repeat themselves or think too much.  The teacher has to act as a mediator/chairperson.  This activity will allow students to practice speaking in an informal and competitive setting.

There were plenty other games included in the workshop but I have selected some that were discussed during the workshop.