List of language games



Adding a letter

Description:

Form two teams. Write a letter on the board. The first student adds another one to make a new word from these two letters. He/she reads it. The next student adds a third letter etc. You can change the sequence of the letters.

An example:

  1. Teacher: A
  2. Player 1: AN
  3. Player 2: AND
  4. Player 3: SAND
  5. Player 4: STAND
  6. Player 5: - -

The team of player 4 has won.

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Bankrutschen

Description:

Here the student has to solve a task, e.g. translate a word. Two to three students play against each other depending how many of them sit at a bench. Usually, in Germany there are three rows. The teacher or a student asks: What is "today" in German? The student who says "heute" may go on to the next bench. It's the goal to get as far as possible. The person who managed to get to every bench is especially good.

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Bingo

Description:

Of course, the original game is altered. You need special cards for it. On the board you draw a square of five fields. In each field you put a letter which stands for five categories of words, e.g. grammatical categories. The class is divided into two groups. After mixing the cards the groups guess words alternately. Each group has three tries. If a word is right, the group gets a field. The winner is the group which has first conquered a line down, across or from one corner to another.

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Chinese whisper

Description:

All the players sit in a circle. One person whispers a word to his/her neighbour so that it is very hard for the neighbour to understand the word. The neighbour tries to guess the word and adds another one. He/she whispers these two words to his/her neighbour and so on. Mostly, the result is very funny.

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Consequences

Description:

The teacher sets the structure of the sentence, e.g. subject, verb, object, adverbials. Additionally, the tense of the verb should be set. All the students make a table with the parts of the sentences above. Now everybody starts with the subject, then they fold the sheets so that the word can't be seen and hand it on to the next. Thus the students continue till the last field of the table is filled in. Finally, the certainly funny sentences can be read.

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Guessing who you are

Description:

Every player writes a name of a famous person on a paper slip - for his or her neighbour. It shouldn't be too difficult for the neighbour to guess the name. Of course, you have to be careful that your neighbour can't see the name. Then stick the slip onto your neighbour's forehead with a bit of soft cream. One after the other asks questions about "him" or "herself". If the answer is yes, you can put one more questions. If not, it's the next person's turn. The people play till the last one has found out his or her name.

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Hangman

Description:

You write on the board as many dots as there are letters in a word. The players guess one after the other. If the letter is right, you can have another one. If not you continue drawing the gallows.

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


I spy with my little eye

Description:

Students in England know the game, but differently. In Germany you don't tell the first letter but the colour. You always start with: Ich sehe was, was Du nicht siehst, und das ist ...

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Just a minute

Description:

Every player gets a sheet of paper and makes a table with the followings columns - town/city, country, name, river, etc. The first player says go and another counts the alphabet up or downwards in mind till the first player says "Stop". Then the letter is announced and every player has one minute time or one player has found a word for every column. Then you get points for the words you have found. Don't forget to set the number of rounds before you start.

Here is a suggestion for giving points: 

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Maze

Description:

It is the goal to describe the way out of the maze. You can do that together with the class. The player who can describe the way out correctly may say who is next or he/she can become a leader of a group. Then it can be played in groups. Of course, you need a condiderable pool of mazes.

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Packing a suitcase

Description:

The teacher or a player starts like this: Ich packe meinen Koffer und ich nehme folgendes mit ... The next player repeats the sentence and adds a new thing. The player who can't name all the things loses out. The winner is the one who is left.

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Pretending to be a person

Description:

The teacher, student or player pretends to be a person. He/she introduces him/herself. The other players must guess who he/she is. You can give hints.

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Spaghetti

Description:

The aim of the game is to make the player laugh. The candidate is questioned. The others ask him wh-questions. The player is only allowed to answer "Spaghetti", whatever the question is. The student whose question made the player laugh is the new candidate. It is a good idea to change the answers in order to practice other words.

An example:

  1. Player 1: What do you like best?
  2. Candidate: Spaghetti.
  3. Player 2: What did you have for breakfast?
  4. Candidate: Spaghetti.
  5. Player 3: What did you wash yourself with this morning?
  6. Candidate: Spaghetti.
  7. etc.

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Wordfootball

Description:

Find two teams in a class. Every player gets a number and thinks of two words whose spelling he/she is sure of. Alternately the players of the opposite teams tell each other words and the other team has to spell the word. If the spelling is right the ball goes forward - maybe a quarter of the field. If the word is wrong the player of the opposite team gets the chance to spell it. If it's right the ball goes forward for his team, if not it stays where it is.

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Word salad

Description:

Form two groups. Every group thinks of a sentence. The number of words of the sentence must be the same as the number of members of a group. Then every member of the groups says one word. Thus the other group has to find out the whole sentence. (By Martin Jurczok)

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list of language games | main page | Deutsch | email


Addresses

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