Teaching grammar in a fun way

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ESL forum > Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > Teaching grammar in a fun way

Teaching grammar in a fun way

SaraMariam

Teaching grammar in a fun way

Some of you might remember my post when we collected ideas on how to use flashcards (http://www.eslprintables.com/forum/topic.asp?id=38708). I thought I �d start another topic like this again to collect other ideas. We all know how (sometimes extreeemly) boring grammar can be - to teach it and to learn it.

So I �d like to collect some fun ways / games on how teaching grammar which can be fun for the students.

One idea that comes to my head is of course the classic "who is who" - game to learn about forming questions.

To practice sentence structure I usually prepare wordcards. I write many sentences on paper, cut it into pieces (laminate to make it live longer). Each student gets a set of those cards. Then I have them build sentences as quick as possible. All this either with a chronometer (so they have to try to be quicker next time and beat their own time) or in competition with the others. You can also divide the class into 2 teams and give points for all sentences that are correct ... well, many variations possible.

To teach imperatives (for the younger students), I build up an obstacle course with tables, chairs, benches, whatever I can find to jump over , walk around etc. Each student is allowed to pass once or twice. I give the directions first, like " walk around the chair" etc. When the student did everything, he/she takes my place and tells the next student what he/she has to do. This student then takes the place of the other one and so on. What they always find really funny when I join them so that the last student may give directions too (but that really depends on the students you have, if you want to do that ;))

I �m curious to see what you come up with :) I �ll collect all ideas and put them in a file again like last time for everybody.

Have a great day everyone :)

14 Dec 2012

marie.marron

I like the idea very much, there were lots of useful things with flashcards. I play games with everyone and on every topic, so grammar would be very wide for me.

You mentioned imperatives, I play a board game where we write a name of each student in a field (when finished, start again in the same order) and then we play a typical dice and token game. When a person lands on a field the one whose name is written has to tell him/her what to do. We get lots of hilarious orders (dance on one foot, dance ballet, imitate a chicken, etc.)

To practice second conditional, we play in which circumstances would you and then they have to invent actions, p.e. shave your head, donate all your money, go dressed as a clown to a shop etc. (the answer always has to be affirmative).

I also play a lot the first game you mentioned (who/what am I); one student takes a flashcard or a piece of paper and the rest of them have to ask questions. You can adapt this to the tense you are teaching, put dead famous people if its past, or touristic destinations and dates if it �s future, etc.

To practice questions, you can do an interview of a famous person, they really like that. So one is a reporter and the other one chooses a star (I always have Madonna, Messi, etc.) and they ask questions about (here you adapt it to a tense you teach) their last filme, game, concert, their future plans, etc.

You can use dominoes to practice passive or infinitive/gerund and a memory game for irregular verbs in past.

For future tenses you can use a horoscope or a fortune teller, with tarot card.

For giving an advise I play psychologist game. You interpret dreams (just take any strange pitures you have to a class and that�s your dream) or we have funny problems (I�m addicted to ice cream, I�m afraid of fruits, I can speak to plants, etc.)

My advanced students also like very much a game where a I give them an idiom with a definition and then they have to come up with 2 more definitions to mislead the rest of the group. If the others choose one of their definitions, instead of the real one, they get a point.

And basically for everything ypu can play find someone who.

That �s off the top of my head, if I remember anything else, I �ll add it.

Cheers,

Marie

14 Dec 2012

EstherLee76

Here �s off the top of my head.

I use plastic hammers a lot (those big ones like Champulin Colorado uses). I put flashcards on the florr and say whatever I want the students to recognize -- vocabulary, phonics, etc. For my PET group I put "for" and "since" on the floor and read sentences to them. WIth my adults I used the plural finals "S" "Z" and "IZ". They can work in teams or individually.

I use "Fetch the Flashcard" a lot too, especially with the little ones. I put flashcards (I use big A4 laminated ones for this) and say "Bring me "A"" and I count a time limit. (For a hilarious effect I put on "I �m your little butterfly" while they run around looking for the flashcard).

I also use a "True/false Game". They have to touch a true chair or a false chair depending on the statement. ("Today is Monday", "Shrek loves Fiona") It �s good for a post story reading activity. You can also use it for phonics recognition (P vs B, Long E vs. Short E, etc.) Sometimes I divide the white board in two with one side TRUE and one side FALSE. My students throw sticky balls but you can use anything -- even a rolled up piece of paper.

"Word Scramble". I write a scrambled word on the board the students have to race to write it correctly.

I learned a lot of these when I was in Taiwan. We used to have workshops on these kinds of activities and a "Game of the Week" suggestion in the staff room. Love your obstacle course, Sara Mariam. I am definitely going to use that one! Thanks for yours as well Marie. We should definitely keep this topic going!

Esther

14 Dec 2012

Oksanochka

I use the Detective Game to practise there was/were and prepositions of place with the elementary students.

14 Dec 2012

cunliffe

Beat The Clock. This is a great game to practise tenses - I find it most useful with pres cont and past simple and making questions. Here is an example of how it works in the past simple.

1) You have read a story or watched a DVD.

2) Model questions with �did � and the �wh � words.

3) Ask each student to write 3 questions based on the text/film.

4) Choose one student for the hotseat and the others must ask their questions.

5) The hotseater cannot say �yes � or �no �, but must answer in a full sentence. e.g.

Did Mr Bean go to the dentist?

He went to the dentist

Did he get up on time?

He didn �t get up on time.

Did he drive to the dentist �s?

He drove to the dentist �s.

If they say yes or no, they are out. If they last more than, say, 90 secs, they have beaten the clock!

Also good for practising prepositions. I have a big drum and I bang it when they are out. My students LOVE this game.

14 Dec 2012