The game creates an atmosphere of enthusiasm and excitement from the process in the lesson, which helps children of any age overcome their shyness and insecurity. They are not afraid to make mistakes, which greatly increases the motivation of the children to learn the language.
Games occupy an important place in the educational process of secondary school children. They make the lesson fun and interesting. With age, games in English lessons become more difficult, but at the same time they do not lose the interest of the children and remain just as relevant and in demand.
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The game creates an atmosphere of enthusiasm and excitement from the process in the lesson, which helps children of any age overcome their shyness and insecurity. They are not afraid to make mistakes, which greatly increases the motivation of the children to learn the language.
Games in English lessons in high school are distinguished by their diversity, because children at this age are already familiar with many topics of the English language and can use them. So, you can diversify boring lessons with games on a variety of topics: didactic, spelling, phonetic, lexical, grammar, reinforce irregular verbs and all the hated tenses.
In this article, we have prepared for you several sections of games in English lessons for students in grades 5-6, 7-8 and 9. Some games can be adapted for older or younger children, making the conditions more difficult or easier.
Games in English for grades 5-6
Children in grades 5 and 6 are more independent and diligent than preschoolers. Therefore, they can focus their attention for a longer time, which means that games in these classes can be introduced in any part of the lesson.
"Race of words"
The guys are divided into two teams. The board is previously divided into two halves with chalk and the theme of the game is indicated on top. The task of the students is to write as many words as possible on a given topic in the allotted time. At the same time, you can write down words only when you go to the blackboard, one at a time. The team that comes up with the most words wins.
"Who is bigger"
The alphabet game is suitable for 5th grade students. The teacher needs to prepare cards with the letters of the English alphabet in advance. The cards are shuffled and placed in the center of the table. The topic is set. Children take turns drawing a card from the deck without showing it to anyone. They call the word with this letter and take the card for themselves. If the student cannot remember a single word for that particular letter, then he can name a word for another letter that has not yet been played. The task of others is to determine whether this child is bluffing or not. If someone suspects a player of a bluff, then he can say: “You tell a lie!”. The suspect must open the vault map. If it turns out that he really bluffed, then the accuser takes the card. If not, the accuser gives the suspect his card.
"Hat"
The teacher prepares cards in advance with words or pictures on the topic of the lesson. These cards are dropped into a hat or cap. The headdress is passed around in a circle between the students, who take out cards for themselves until they run out. Having received all the game cards with words, the children make up a story. All words must be used in the story. When everyone is ready, the participants take turns going to the blackboard, write out the words on it and begin their story. The one with the best story wins.
"Hollywood"
We repeat the numbers together. To do this, you must read the sentences one by one, for example:
- Matthew McConaughey was born on 4 th November, in 1969. How old is he?
- Robert Downey Jr was born on 4 th April, in 1965. How old is he?
- Dwayne Johnson was born on 2 th May, in 1972. How old is he?
The task of the children is to quickly calculate how old the celebrities are and answer the question. For each correct answer, the player receives a point. The one who collects the most points wins.
"Arm wrestling"
Exercise for grade 6 on the repetition of irregular verbs. Children are divided into two teams. Of these, one player is chosen to start the game. They sit on chairs placed opposite each other, put their right elbows on the table, and squeeze their palms into the castle. The first calls one irregular verb and presses the opponent's hand to the table, and the second must in response name the second form of this verb and press the opponent's hand to the other part of the table. Then they change: the second calls the first form, and the first - the second. If both answered correctly, then they bring the team a score of 2: 2 and sit down in their places. The next pair of players comes out and performs the same manipulation. If one of them makes a mistake, then he is eliminated from this round, and another representative of the team takes his place.
"Taxi driver"
The game is built in the form of a dialogue between a taxi driver and a person who has arrived on vacation. While the taxi driver is taking the passenger from the airport to the hotel, he asks questions:
- Where are you from?
- Are you here for the first time?
- What would you like to see?
- What would you like to try?
- What would you like to buy?
The task of the "tourist" is to answer questions. Then the tourist and the driver change places.
"Alias"
The teacher prepares cards with words, a game cube and a stopwatch. The class is divided into pairs. The task of each pair is to explain as many words as possible in the allotted time. At the same time, the words themselves and their cognates cannot be named.
"Amnesia"
Prepare stickers in advance. A sticker with the name of a celebrity is glued to each student's forehead. The children have to guess who they are by asking leading questions. Everyone else can only answer yes/no.
"What should I do?"
Stickers with some kind of problem are glued to the back of the players. They take turns asking each other how to get rid of this problem. Based on the advice received, you need to guess what was guessed on the sticker.
"Ask me"
A grade 6 English teacher draws a little man on the board, and a cloud of words around him. At the bottom of the picture of a little man will be his name. Words are answers to questions that you have prepared in advance. For example:
- How old are you? - 25.
- Where are you from? – Moscow.
- What pet do you have? – dog.
- What is your favorite food? – Pizza.
- What is your favorite drink? – Coffee.
- What is your favorite color? – Green.
- How many brothers and sisters do you have? – 2.
The task of children is that they pick up the right questions to the already available answers. As an example, ask: "What's your name?" and point to the inscription with the name on the board.
"Roll the Dice, Make a Question"
This game requires a dice. On the board, write the designation of each number for the cube: 1 - "Who", 2 - "What", 3 - "Why", 4 - "Where", 5 - "When", 6 - "How". The task of the participants is to compose a question using the question word that will fall on the die. The person with the cube answers the question.
"2 Truth and a lie"
This game is perfect for introducing students to each other in the 5th grade. Each student writes 3 sentences: two of them are true, one is false. After that, the children ask each other questions to find out which sentence is not true.
"I spy"
Students take turns choosing an object in the classroom, but do not name it. Next, the player says the phrase: "I spy with my little eye something beginning with d...".
The rest of the students have to guess what the “spy” thought of. Whoever guesses the word first, next guesses a new one.
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Games in English for grades 7-8
Guys of this age are already more serious. They go through complex topics related to parts of speech, rules for constructing sentences in different tenses. Therefore, the games for them will be somewhat more difficult.
"ABC"
A simple exercise to repeat the English alphabet. The task of the students is to start reciting the alphabet by heart, starting with any letter. For example, someone will tell the alphabet with the letter "D", the other - with the letter "M". This will help start the lesson and warm up the students for the upcoming assignments.
"Baggage"
You need to prepare sheets of paper that you need to fold in half and use scissors to shape the suitcase. Children need to write things inside each suitcase that they would take with them on a trip. They then check in their suitcases as luggage, and later it turns out that the suitcases were mixed up at the airport. The guys are again handing out suitcases, but in a chaotic manner. Their task is to list the contents of the received suitcase. The game helps students to consolidate knowledge of words on the topic "Clothes", as well as the plural form of nouns.
"12 months"
Here, 7th grade children repeat adverbs. To do this, the teacher thinks of an arbitrary month of the year and makes several sentences characterizing it. For example, “This month I always wear a hat. This month I usually read a lot. This month I often drink hot tea. This month I sometimes go skiing. This month I never carry an umbrella. Calling these sentences one by one, the children should try to guess which month was guessed. The one who guesses correctly goes to the board and comes up with his own month.
"Birthdays"
It is good to play the game in the 7th grade immediately after studying the possessive case. You can also repeat how to correctly build sentences with dates.
The facilitator distributes 5 small pieces of paper to the teenagers. On them they write the dates of birth of their relatives. Then the cards need to be collected, shuffled and distributed again. The facilitator begins: "My mother's birthday is on the fiftieth of October". The child who has this card must give it back. And in return you give him any unnecessary card. Then it is his turn to announce his date.
"Magazine"
Practice using the simple past tense. The teacher draws lots for teenagers. The numbers that they got, no one should see. The teacher, who is also the host, starts the game: “It was a warm July evening… Continued in the issue six”.
The student under the number that the facilitator announced continues the story from the magazine: “I was walking with my dog in park… Continued in the issue three”.
The next one continues: "Suddenly my dog pulled me to bushes… Continued in the issue one".
The one who misses his turn is out of the game. It continues until there is only one winner left.
"Overseas gifts"
It helps to learn the construction "to be going to". The game starts with the phrase: "What are you going to bring me from China?"
The student replies: “I'm going to bring you a cup! What are you going to bring me from Thailand?”
The next one says, “I'm going to bring you a t-shirt! What are you going to bring me from…?”
The bottom line is that everyone should name an item that starts with the same letter as the country in question. Whoever fails to name a country or an object is out of the game.
"Hunting for the letter"
The teacher divides the board in half, calling one side "Yes", the other - "No". He thinks of any letter, for example, "C". Grade 8 students take turns asking questions with the verb have got, trying to guess the word.
-"Has "desk" got this letter?"
- "No, it hasn't".
teacher writes "desk" "No" column.
-"Has 'chair' got this letter?"
-"Yes, it has".
teacher writes "chair" "Yes" column.
- "Is it the letter "A"?"
- "No, it isn't".
-Has "clock" got this letter?
-"Yes, it has".
teacher writes "clock" in the appropriate column.
- "Is it the letter "C"?"
- "Yes, it is".
The one who guesses the letter becomes the next leader.
Games in English for 9 grades
Teenagers in the 9th grade are less likely to play games due to the fact that they are preparing for various exams. However, in order to diversify the process of monotonous memorization and repetition of the material, you can introduce a couple of games during classes. They may coincide with those that we considered in the section for grades 7 and 8. In addition to them, you can use unusual games in the form of listening, board and role-playing.
"The house that Jack built"
This option will help to remind the children of the words from the topic "Furniture and Interior Items", as well as the important topic "Prepositions".
The guys are divided into two equal teams. The first team makes a move:
Host: "This is the house that Jack built".
First: "This is the bathroom that is in the house that Jack built".
Second: "This is the bath that is in the bathroom that is in the house that Jack built".
Third: "This is the basin that is next to the bath that is in the bathroom that is in the house that Jack built".
Fourth: "This is the mirror that is over the basin that is next to the bath that is in the bathroom that is in the house that Jack built".
If the guys from the first team have nothing more to say about this room, then the turn passes to the second team. They must describe another room. Points are awarded according to the number of players who spoke about the interior of the room.
"Sounder"
The facilitator prepares a text for listening, aimed at children in grade 9. He should read one sentence at a time and ask one of the students to repeat it aloud and remember it. As a result, each student must memorize three sentences. After that, the host asks the players to restore the text in order. For a correctly reproduced sentence, the player receives 10 points, for each mistake - 1 penalty point. At the end of the game, the points obtained are summed up. The one who earns the maximum number of points wins.
"Trio"
The facilitator prepares special cards with three forms of irregular verbs. Each participant is given 5 different cards shuffled earlier. The remaining cards must be placed in a deck in the center of the table. The first student starts the game: "I've got "been". Who's got "be" or "was, were"? Opponents who have these cards must give them to that child. And they get the missing cards from the deck.
It is better for players to cheat, trying to remember who has which cards, in order to then collect their “trio”.
The winner is the one who collects the most sets of irregular verbs.
"Detective"
The facilitator writes the following questions on the board:
- How many guests knew the secret?
- When was the champagne poisoned?
- Who locked the door?
- Why was the body near the window?
- What was burnt in the chimney?
- Whose footprints were in the garden?
- Where is the diamond?
Students should write a short detective story in their notebook answering these questions. At the end of the time, the guys should tell the resulting detective stories. The best story wins the competition.
Conclusion
The quality of education will improve if educational games are included in the lesson plan. Teenagers will thus be able to develop their speech skills, learn to go beyond the usual. We have presented only a small part of the existing games in English for middle classes. We invite you to share in the comments your options for games that children love the most.
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