Crumbs #21 ‘Write 5 words’ aka a vocabulary game for lazy teachers

Ingredients

• A piece of paper and something to write with
• For younger students – somewhere to keep the paper safe and secret i.e. inside a coursebook
• Imagination
• The whiteboard to put the target language on

Procedures

• Kids work individually, keeping their cards secret from their friends but if the game is played for the first time, they can work in pairs, this will be their natural support and the source of creativity because two heads are better than one.
• Teacher ask the students to write numbers from 1 to 5, in a column. When they are ready, teacher asks the kids to write 5 words, one at number 1, one at number 2, etc. Teacher monitors and prepares her/his own set to use in modelling. It might be also a good idea to write a few examples on the board although these are just for modelling and they will not be used in the real game. The target structures should also be displayed on the board.
• Teacher demonstrates how to play the game – she / he describes the first word on her / his list for the whole class to guess. It might be necessary to play a few rounds with the whole class, with the teacher leading the game or with one of the strongest students leading the game.
• The game can be played until all the words are described and guess OR for as long as there is time.
• Important: It is absolutely necessary to carefully combine the vocabulary and the target structure to make sure that the set is used naturally and that it matches the context, too. Some of the examples of the activities we used below
• Places in the city (ie bank, post office, school) + I can see…I can hear…I can smell…Where am I?
• Professions + I am going to work, I am going to do…Who am I?
• Animals + It is big / small, It can run / fly / swim, It has got…
• Body parts + I need it / them when I write, swim, play
• Objects + passive voice ie It is made of…, It is used for…
• Personal characteristics + Present Simple, 3rd singular, This person always does something, This person never does something

Why we like it

• The biggest advantage of the game is that it can be adapted to almost any set of vocabulary and any structure.
• It can be used with the lower-level and the higher-level groups, with the younger and the older students.
• The game requires no preparation for the teacher and it is SS-generated which means that it is personalised and motivating for the kids to play.
• It is a perfect controlled practice activity as the kids are using the target langauge and the target vocabulary.
• It is a guessing game and because of that it is both achievable and challenging.
• With the younger kids we play the game of 5, with the older ones we usually prepare 10 words.

Happy teaching!