FREE Edutainment Games

FREE Edutainment Games

The students always enjoy games where money is used. Set up a shop and have them make purchases.
In small groups I play "Dollar Awards."
For example:Teacher: This is a ten dollar question. What colour is my shirt?
The student who answers correctly receives $10 from each of the other players. (or the teacher)Teacher: This is a twenty dollar question. What time do you eat lunch?The students must give $20 each to the student who answers correctly.
If a student answers incorrectly they must pay a penalty of $5 to all the other players.

Fast Games

You might already know these games but this is the way I use them.

Last Letter

("Shiritori" in Japanese)(vocabulary/spelling)The last letter of the word must be the first letter of the next word. You will need a ball but a screwed up piece of paper is fine. 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
The sequence may then be (for example):
girl, look, king, go, octopus, student ... and so on.You can have the students throwing to each other. i.e., student A = "Cat," throw to student B = "Today," throw to student C = "Yes," etc. Please be warned, you may have some fastball pitchers in the class!

Chinese Whispers

Divide the class into even rows. The last member of each row (at the back of the class) is taken out of the classroom. A "key" letter, word or sentence (depending on level) is given. The students run back inside, and whisper the "key" to the next student in their row. It is whispered down through the row until the last member writes it on the board. The first student to write it correctly on the blackboard is the winner!

Fast Words

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. The teacher calls a letter and the students must write as many words as they can beginning with that letter, in the allocated time. Their team-mates can call out hints, but be warned, this is very noisy. Next, the second member gets the chalk and goes to the board and the teacher calls out a new letter. The team with the most correct words is the winner.

Word Association

The teacher starts the game by saying a word, such as "Hotel".
For example: Teacher: Hotel
Student A: Bed
Student B: Room
Student C: Service
Student D: Food
Student E: Restaurant
Student F: Chinese
As you can see, any association is ok. If the student can't answer (5 second limit) he or she must stand up. The last student seated is the winner. If the association is not obvious, the student is asked to explain the association.

Songs/Music

ClozeSongs are a good way to teach in an "Edutainment" way because they incorporate all the language skills:

(1) Listening (to the song)
(2) Reading (following the lyrics to determine the words)
(3) Writing (filling in the blanks)
(4) Speaking (singing the song)

Lower Level:

(1) The song sheet is handed out to the students.
(2) The teacher reads each word (at the bottom of the page) and the students repeat. This is done twice.
(3) The tape is played twice in a row, with the students trying to fill in the blanks.
(4) The students are invited to discuss it with their classmates for one minute.
(5) The song is played again and students complete the missing words.
(6) The teacher calls out the correct words. The students mark their papers themselves with a red pen, and record their scores.
(8) The song is played, one last time, with everybody singing.

Medium Level:

The same system is used.
However, for the first playing the words are folded under, as shown on the song sheets.
Only at the second listening, are the words revealed.
Note:You can have a lot of fun seeing what the students come up with, before they are allowed to see the correct words.

Higher Level:

Complete sentences are deleted (liquid paper?), so more words must be recognised.Only after all the listenings are the correct words revealed.
With a little experience, the teacher will easily be able to adjust to the level of difficulty required.
The songs have been chosen for their pronunciation and because they are familiar to most students.
Variety in the types of songs, for instance, rock, ballad and so forth, is supplied.
The song sheets (lyrics) have been made for the lower levels, and need to be modified for higher levels.

Sample Song:

(Name:______________________)
"Bus Stop"

(1)(The Hollies)Bus Stop, wet day, she's there,I say, please share my _________________(1)Bus stop, bus goes, she stays,All that summer we enjoyed ______________(2)
Wind and rain and shineThat umbrella, we employed itBy ___________________(3)
she was mine
**Every morning I would see her waiting at the ______________(4)
Sometimes she'd shopAnd she would show me what she ________________________(5)
All the people staredAs if we were both quite insaneSomeday my name and her's are goingTo be the ________________(6)
That's the way the whole thing __________________(7)
Silly, but it's _____________________(8)
A thinking of a sweet romanceBegin and end with you.Came the sun the ice was meltingNo more sheltering ___________________(9)
_______________________(10) to think that that umbrella led me to a vow.
(** Chorus)--------------------------------------------------------------------now, stop, nice, August, true, bought, it, same, umbrella, startedYour score__________/10

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Let It Be (Lennon, McCartney)

When I ______ (1) myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary ________(2) to me
Speaking _________(3) of wisdom, let it be.
And in my _______(4) of darknessShe ____(5) _________(6) right in front of me_____________(7) words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.___________(8) And when the broken hearted ___________(9)____________(10) in the world agree,There __________(11)be an answer, let it be.For though they may be___________(12) there is
Still a chance that they will ___________(13)
There will be an _____________(14), let it be.
Let it be, let it be. Yeah
There will be an answer, let it be.
And when the night is ___________(15),There is still a ____________(16) that shines on me,Shine on until ____________(17), let it be.I wake up to the sound of __________(18)Mother Mary comes to ________(19)Speaking words of ___________(20), let it be.
Let it be, let it be.There will be an ansLet it be, let it be,Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
Your score_________/20

----------------------- fold line -------------------------

will, wisdom, see, Whisper, hour, light, me, parted, speaking words, tomorrow, answer, living, standing, comes, music, cloudy, people, is, find