Clare Lavery, Teacher trainer and materials writer, British Council

The following games can be played throughout the school year but are also very useful as a round up at the end of term. You can play them a few times. First play with the whole class and then try in groups (good for mixed ability groups).

Guess the word (can be used for abstract nouns)
Choose five words relating to recent conversational themes. Write sets of clues to help students guess the words. Play with whole class or teams. Use one word per lesson over five lessons or use all words in one session as a longer game.

Example clues:

I am a noun but I am very important.
I begin with the letter ‘f’.
People in prison have lost it and want it back.
People demand it when it is taken away by dictators.
It is related to speech.
(Puzzle word = Freedom)

Coffee Pot game (a very popular game in EFL)
This game is good for practising and reviewing action verbs and adverbs.

Ask one student to leave the room then the rest of the class choose a verb e.g. type, ski, fly.

The student returns to the room and asks questions to guess the verb. The missing verb can be substituted with coffeepot

Example questions:

Why do you coffee pot?
Where do you coffee pot?
Do you coffee pot by yourself?
Do you need any special equipment for coffee potting?

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