mutations!

People sit in a cirle and everyone has a piece of paper in their hands. Each person writes a sentence on top of the paper (the more silly the better) and passes his paper to a neighbour on the right. The neighbour reads the sentence and draws the picure of it on the same paper. Than he folds the paper, so that only drawing is visible and passes the paper to his neighbour on the right. That person has to look at the picture and write what is happening...and then fold and pass again. The last person makes a picture and finally all the papers are unfolded.

what happened?

You start by telling the situation:
"A naked person lies in the middle of the desert holding a broken match in his hand. The person is dead and there are no footprints around him."

The group has to find out what happened to the person by asking you yes/no questions.

The story:
Three men were flying over the desert on a hot air balloon. Suddenly they started to fall down. To make the balloon lighter they have threw away all their stuff and their clothes. But that didn't help. So the men decided to draw matches, the one with the short match would have to jump off the balloon to save others.

You can make up different situations using the same principle. 

babylon

All the group stands in the circle with one person in the middle. You explain everyone the roles and the sketches. The middle person can call out a role and point to someone from the circle. That person, the person to his left and the person to his right must then perform a small sketch. The one who makes a mistake becomes the new middle person.

Here are the roles:
1. Viking
When you point to the person and say Viking, that person must make a viking helmet with his hands. At the same time the people standing to the right and to the left of the Viking have to mime rowing the viking bot and make sea noises.

2. Palm tree

When you point to the person and say Palm tree, that person must become a palm tree and start swaying in the breeze. The people standing to the right and to the left of the Palm tree are now Hawaiian dancers and have to dance away from the tree while singing Hawaiian song.

3. Ballet dancer

When you point to the person and say Ballet dancer, that person must put his hands up and start spinning. The people standing to the right and to the left of the Ballet dancer have to do a ballet pirouette while humming the ballet tune.

zombies and potatoes

Everyone in the group closes their eyes. The game master then selects one zombie from the group by lightly touching his/her shoulder (noone from the group has to notice that). All the other players will be "potatoes". The master then gives the signal and everyone has to start walking around the room. When two people meet, they have to quietly whisper their roles to each other. If a potatoe meets another potatoe - nothing happens and they just walk away. But if a potatoe meets the zombie - it dies! In 5-7 seconds after it hears a person whisper "zombie" to his/her ear, the potatoe must scream and fall to the ground. Then he/she can open the eyes and watch the rest of the potatoes slowly killed by the zombie :)  

Another version of this game is Vampires. Potatoes present themselves as mentioned above and the vampires are always silent. When a potatoe meets a vampire it becomes a vampire. But when two vampires meet - the both become potatoes! Magic!

taboo

Before class, create several index cards. On each card write one word in a large font with a circle around it, and underneath write 2-4 related words in a smaller font. The goal is for students to get their teammates to guess the circled word. They can say anything they like to try to make them guess, except for the words written on the card.

Here is the example of a game for the topic "films":

Terminator – robot, future, Arnold Schwarzneger, Skynet

Titanic – ship, boat, iceberg, Di Caprio

American pie – comedy, pie, american

Twilight – vampire, warewolf, love, romantic, Pattinson

Iron man – iron, man, costume, Stark

Batman – superhero, costume, bat, black

Spiderman – spider, man, costume, red, blue, heroe

Shreck – big, green, ogre, cartoon

WALL-E – cartoon, robot

Madagaskar – animals, island, cartoon

Forest Gump – Forest Gump, man, Tom Hanks

Rocky – box, Silvester Stalone

Toy Story – toys, story, cartoon

Matrix – robots, Keanu Reeves, future, Morpheus, Trinity

Lord of the rings – hobbit, ring, middle earth, Jackson, Gendalf

Star wars – jedi, any name (!), space, empire

Doctor House – doctor, Hugh Lourie, medicine, hospital

Indiana Jones – archeologist, adventure, Harrison Ford, hat

Lion King – lion, Simba, cartoon, Disney

Slumdog millionaire – India, poor, boy, rich

experts

Select three volunteers and sit them in front of the group. They will be experts. Then the group has to decide the area of their expertiese e.g. food, cinema, sports etc. After that the group starts asking them questions, and the experts have to answer. The trick is, the experts can each say only one word at a time and have to speak in chain and try to make up a meaningful sentence. 

why not?

You ask everyone to think of some thing they want to do today: go to the movies, sleep, eat an ice-cream etc. Then the people must go around the room and tell their plan to everyone, and each person they meet must come up with a reason, why this plan cannot be fulfilled. If you hear the same reason for the second time, the person must think of another one. The reasons should be as funny and creative as possible. And delivered in a polite way. "I'm really sorry, but today you cannot go to sleep. Your bed has been eaten by Godzilla."

mafia!

First, write one of 4 things on enough pieces of paper that each person gets one. Depending on numbers 3/4 will be Mafia, 1 Policeman, 1 Doctor and all the rest will say Citizen. Give each group member a part and explain that no one else is to know who is who as tha aim of the game is to root out the "mafia" from amongst the "citizens". Explain that at night a the mafia will kill someone, the doctor will save someone and the policeman will investigate/ find out about someone. 

Ok. Tell everyone to close their eyes. Say something like: "Citizens of ___ go to sleep". Next invite the mafia, and only the mafia to wake up. Between them the members of the mafia will "kill" one of the group. Get them to agree on and point to their victim. Tell them to go back to sleep. Next ask the doctor to wake up. Ask him who he wants to save, again asking that it be communicated through gestures. Should the person being killed and the person being saved be one and the same, the murder will have been averted and so the process will have to begin again. Finally wake the policeman up. He will point to the person he's investigating and you will either nod indicating yes that person is mafia, or shake your head, no they're not. 
Finally ask them all to wake up. Say something like: "Last night in ___, there was a brutal and bloody murder and _____ was killed. We know that 4 people among you are members of the mafia and responsible for this murder. Citizens who do you want to accuse?"

It'll take a few minutes to catch on that it could be anyone and the accusations will begin. "I accuse X because he has a wonky moustache" or some such. X will then have to defend himself. Nobody is to
admitt to being mafia and they will soon catch on that it is either the loudest people who are accusing everyone, or the quietest that don't want to draw attention to themselves, that are guilty. As each
accusation is made and the individual makes his defense a group decision will need to be made on whether or not to send that person to prison. Ask everyone to vote and the majority decision sticks. Once
they get sent to "prison" ask them if there were in fact mafia or notat which point they must tell the truth. As each person gets sent down or at appropriate intervals, stop the proceedings as another day
ends, and a new night and a new murder occur. 

Expalin that both the Policeman and Doctor are allowed to tell what they know, but also expalin that a crafy mafia member might lie and say he's the policeman to try to point the finger away from himself. The Mafia may also accuse one another, as each person is only really concerned to keep themselves out of prison. Also one a peron is dead, or has been sent down they are no longer permitted to participate as they may know, or think they know things. The mafia are likely to kill anyone they feel is on to them. There's no set pattern to how the discussion should go just let them argue it out among themselves, giving advice if and when you feel it's necessary.

pairs

This game is useful to learn/practice vocabulary and it is also a good speaking activity. You need to print out a set of cards, on each card there is a word and a clear illustration of that word. Then you divide the cards among players (each should have 10-15 cards). The players make moves in turns. Someone starts by putting one card on the table. The other players must think quick - find a pair to that card among their cards and put it on the table. The first one to make a pair can take both cards and put them in his/her "point pile". Then the next person puts another card on the table and everyone must search for the next pair etc. In the end the winner is the person who has the most points (cards) in the pile.

The idea of that game is that basically any card can be a pair to any other card. You just need to find something they have in common and be able to explain it. This games requires quick thinking and creativity. 

mutants

The people sit in the circle, each has a piece of white paper. You ask everyone to draw any animal head (with a neck) at the top of the paper. Then they must fold the paper in a way, that only a beginning of the neck is visible and pass their paper to the right. Then each person draws some animal body and again folds and passes the paper. The last task is to draw legs. In the end you pass the papers one more time and the people can finally unfold them. You will have a lot of crazy animal mutant pictures, which you can later discuss.  

uno!

The Uno game can be used as a good ice-breaker before the main class. It is also a good way to practice color/number vocab.

surviver spelling

Make a list of vocabulary covered in previous lessons. Have students stand. Call out a vocabulary word. The first student begins by saying the word and giving the first letter, the second student the second letter of the word, the third student the third letter, and so on until the word is spelled correctly. If somebody makes a mistake they must sit down and we start from the beginning again until the word is spelled correctly. The last student must then pronounce the word correctly and give a definition in order to stay standing. The student who is left standing is the "survivor" and wins the game. 

If all the students remain standing you can introduce a prize.

liar!

Take a deck of cards. Deal all the cards from the deck to the students. The goal of the game is to get rid of all your cards. 

Let's say the player doesn't have the card he is supposed to put down, for example a 3, the player must try to "lie" or fool the other players into thinking he has the card so he can play... if other students have any doubt they shout "liar" if the player was lying he then pick up the pile at the center of the table. If the player who is accused of lying was telling the truth it is the player who accused him who must pick up the pile in the center.

All players MUST put down a card when it is their turn, even if they do not have the required card. The game is over when one of the players has no more cards.

pick an object

When people enter the room, there are a lot of different objects all around. They must each pick one object and then explain, why this object represents them. This activity requires creative approach.

beep!

Choose around 10 volunteers to come and stand in a line at the front of the classroom. The first student in line must begin counting from 1, and each student in turn calls out the next number. However, every number that has 3 in it (or can be divided by 3) must be replaced by the word "beep" (or buzz etc.). Following a "beep" the next student in line must call out the next number, and not the number that has been replaced. For example, 1, 2, beep, 4, 5, beep, 7, 8, beep, 10 etc.

If a student hesitates too much or makes a mistake he/she must sit down, so eventually only one student remains. Whenever a student sits down, begin from 1 again. See how far you can get!

hunter-shield

Each person selects two people from the group - a hunter and a shield. After the game master gives the command, all people must spread across the room and find a position where their "shiled" is standing between them and their "hunter". 

what changed

Sam and Mike stand facing each other. Sam has 30 seconds to look at Mike and memorize his appearance. After that Sam turns around and Mike changes one thing in his appearance - rolls up the sleeves, unbuttons the shirt, puts the watch to a different hand etc. Then Sam turns around again: he has to look at Mike and notice the one thing that changed.

clue!

The Clue game can be a good way to spend a lesson.

human bingo

Divide the paper into nine squares. In each square write a question about the group members:
- who here has a brother?
- who can drive a car?
- who can play a guitar?
- etc.

The people then have to go around interviewing each other and try to fill each square with one name. The one who gets it first is the winner. 

musical chairs

The game starts with any number of players and a number of chairs one fewer than the number of players; the chairs are arranged in a circle (or other closed figure if space is constrained; a double line is sometimes used) facing outward, with the people standing in a circle just outside of that. A non-playing individual plays recorded music or a musical instrument. While the music is playing, the players in the circle walk in unison around the chairs. When the music player suddenly stops the music, everyone must race to sit down in one of the chairs. The player who is left without a chair is eliminated from the game, and one chair is also removed to ensure that there will always be one fewer chair than there are players. The music resumes and the cycle repeats until there is only one player left in the game, who is the winner. When down to the last two players the chair may be moved as long as the music has stopped before the chair has been touched.

electricity

Everyone stands in one big circle and holds hand. Someone starts the game by making the first "charge" - he squeezes the hand of the person next to him. As soon as that person feels that his hand is squeezed, he must squeeze his neighbour's hand. That way the charge starts going arund the circle. The goal is to make it go around as fast as possible.
To make the game more difficult you can make two charges go in different directions.  

language box

This is an idea for ESL teaching. When you have a classroom of people and you don't want them to speak their native language you start your lesson by introducing a language box. The group stands in circle and you walk along that circle with the box. Each member must "take out his tongue" and put it in a box. That means he/she will not be able to speak the native language during the class. Everyone can think of a funny or unusual way to take the tongue out.

At the end of the lesson you make the reverse procedure: you go around the classroom and let everyone take their tongue back.  

hangman

You start by drawing the gallows. Think of a word or phrase and place a small line to represent that letter. Students must try to guess the letters in the word. If they guess correctly, you place the letter in the correct position. If they guess incorrectly, you draw a new body part hanging from the gallows, starting with the head. If the students make enough incorrect guesses for you to draw a full man, he "dies" and they lose.

simon says

The rules are simple: someone from the groups says an action e.g: jump, lie down, sing, stand on one leg, etc. And the whole group must make that action until someone suggest a different one. You can be creative and suggest some interesting actions: hug John, hide under a desk, make animal noises etc.
The activity can be used to repeat some movement vocabulary.   

broom

This activity is used as an energizer and a way to memorize everyones names. The whole groups stands in a circle with one person in the middle. This person is holding a broom the way it touches the floor with one end. The middle person has to look at the group, shout someone's name and let go of the broom. The person whose name was called must rush to the centre of the circle and catch broom before it falls to the floor. Then it is his turn to shout the name etc. 

activity!

This board game is very useful and fun for practicing vocabulary and speaking.

If you don't have the game, you can make it yourself. The principle is simple: you have a set of cards with one word on each of them. The cards lie face down in a pile. The players split in two teams.

The first team starts: one player takes a card, reads the word (to himself) and then has 1 minute to explain this word to his team. The player cannot say the word, instead he must draw, mime, or describe it. If the team guessed the word and there is still time left, the player takes another card and explains it. For each guessed card the team gets 1 point. After the minute is over, the second team has a turn.

There is also a stealing rule: if the minute is over and the team didn't guess their word, the other team can make one attempt to guess it. If they are correct - they take the point. 

dj sam

You ask everyone to take a marker and write the letters d-j-s-a-m on their fingers in any order (one letter per finger). You then open a white board and show the definition of every letter: d is for danger, j is for joy, s is for sadness etc. (you change the letters/definitions to fit your topic). The people then have to mix and find a partner. The partner chooses one of your fingers without seeing the letter. And you must talk about the subject he chose. Then you switch. 

jenga!

Good way to keep people busy while waiting for others.

knots

Ask participants to form a circle, shoulder-to-shoulder and close their eyes. Then each person should place a hand in the middle of the circle and to grasp another hand. After that the participants to put their other hand in the middle and grasp a different person's hand. Then they open their eyes and must untangle the knot into a circle without letting go of hands.

fruitbowl

The people sit on the chairs in circle. The game master stands in the middle and explains the rules: there are three teams - apples, bananas and oranges. When the master calls out the name of the team, all it's members must stand up and change places. When the master says: "fruitbowl" everyone must stand up and change places. After explaining the rules the master starts the game and calls out the names of different teams. After 2-3 times he shouts "fruitbowl" and when the people stand up to find a new place, the master sits in someone's chair. The person left without the place is the new master. He/she must lead the game and try to get a place.