Teaching through Fun

A Handbook for Teachers

Distributed by : English Unit – Ratnapura Education Zone

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 A word for dear teachers…

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world”

Language learning is a hard task. Effort is required at every moment and must be
maintained over a long period of time in learning a language. Therefore as teachers of
English as a second language, we should be aimed at facilitating our students in the best
possible manner to acquire language in the classroom. Thus language games play a vital
role in language learning in the classrooms.

Games help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and
meaningful. They offer a lot of potential benefits to the learning process of your
students. Games prevent the lesson from being ordinary and boring. Even shy and
reluctant children often react positively to games. This increases the motivation of the
students and encourages them to get involved in the lesson and continue working.

Therefore we thought of sharing some language games/riddles & tongue twisters which
you can use very easily in your classroom to get your students attracted to English
language learning. We expect you all to use them during the English language period
taking 5-10 minutes. Specially young learners in primary and junior grades (grades 3-9)
will be highly motivated through these games & other activities.

Good Luck!!!

Mrs. R.M.M.K Gunawardana

Assistant Director of Education (English)

Ratnapura Education Zone

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 1. Opposite.
Teacher gives some commands, the students should do the opposites of it.

Eg; Teacher says, “sit” (students stand up)

“Big” (Students show small using their hands)

etc.

2. Hang Man
Teacher thinks of a word and draws a line for each letter on the board. Eg: if the word is
“child” teacher draws _ _ _ _ _

Then ask the students to guess the word and tell the letters of the word. If they tell a
correct letter, teacher writes that in the correct place. If the letter is wrong teacher
starts drawing a matchstick man on the board. For each wrong letter draws one part of
the man. The children should try to get the word before completing the matchstick man.

3. Wind blows.
Take the students with chairs outside the classroom. Ask them to sit in a circle. Teacher
practise the below dialogue.

A: The wind blows

B: Where does the wind blow?

A: The wind blows to everyone who ………….

Then the teacher goes to the middle and plays the role of “A” in the dialogue and ask the
students to be “B”

Teacher tells “ The wind blows to everyone who likes mangoes”

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 Then all the students who like mangoes should stand up, run and sit on a new chair.
Teacher also sits on one students chair. Then one student will remain in the middle.
Then he/she has to play the role of “A” and continue.

Teacher helps the child in the middle to fill in the blank with different phrases.

4. Fruit basket.
Get the students to sit in a circle.

Select about five names of fruits and give each child a name of a fruit
selected.

Teacher goes to the middle and shouts out some names of fruits. Then the relevant
students should stand up. Then teacher claps and the students should run to a new chair
and sit. Teacher also sits on a chair. Then one student will remain in the middle. Ask
him/ her to do as the teacher did.

If the one in the middle shouts “Fruit basket”, all the students should stand up and run
to a new chair when they hear the clap.

5. Railway Station
You can do this game by taking the students outside. Name four sides in the place as
four towns. When the teacher is giving the railway announcement the students have to
run to the correct town. Teacher can quickly change the names of towns to make it
more funny.

6. Bingo
Teacher selects a list of words and puts them on the board. Ask the students to draw
nine boxes as below.

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 Ask the students to write nine words of their choice from the list, in those nine boxes as
they wish.

Then teacher reads word list randomly, if any student who has that word written in any
box, can tick or cross it.

The student who gets three ticks or crosses in one line vertically, horizontally or
diagonally should shout out “Bingo”. He/ or she is the winner.

7. True false.
Get the students stand in two lines.

Keep two chairs in front of each line keeping a distance about 5 - 10 feet.

Name one chair as “True” and the other “false”

Teacher shouts out a sentence. If the sentence is true , the first student in each line
should run and sit on “true” chair. If it is wrong they should sit on the “wrong” chair.

The one who sits first will get a point. Then they should go and join the line at the back.

Then the next student gets the chance. Teacher tells a different sentence.

Continue till all the students get a chance.

8. Word chain.
All students sit in a circle.

Teacher tells a word. The next student should tell a word starting with the last letter of
the word that the teacher told. Continue it giving chance to all the students.

Make the game difficult by changing 4 letter words only, Nouns only etc….

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 9. Sentence chain.
All students sit in a circle.

Teacher tells a sentence. The next student should tell a sentence starting with the last
word of the sentence that the teacher told. Continue it giving a chance to all the
students.

10.Story building.
All students sit in a circle.

Teacher tells a sentence, so as to begin a story. The student seated next to the teacher
should tell the next sentence of the story. And it continues till the last student. The last
student should finish the story.

11. Recalling

Divide the class into 4 to 5 teams.

Tell a short story about yourself listing 15 to 20 facts about where you’re from, your
hobbies etc.

After narrating the story, ask questions from it.

The team who answers more questions correctly wins.

12. Hot Seat

Divide the class into 2 teams.
Place a chair next to the board , facing the class .

Students from each team rotate turns sitting on the chair.

Write a word behind the student that he/she cannot see.

Each team has 20 seconds to elicit the word written on the board from their teammate
sitting in the hot seat.

Tips for playing in a large class: If you have more than 12 students in a class, things can
get a little chaotic with this game. In this case, it’s usually simpler to divide everyone into
teams of 5-6 people and have only one team go at a time.

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 13.Vocabulary miming
Divide the class into 2 teams.

Fill a hat with a bunch of vocabulary cut-outs listing jobs ,animals

,verbs ,adjectives.

Students from each team take turns coming to the front of class to
perform the vocabulary word that they draw from the hat. Their team has 20 seconds to
guess.

14. Truths and lies

Demonstrate by writing two truths and one lie about yourself on the board.

Allow the class to guess what your lie is .

Once they grasp the concept ,give them 5 to 10 minutes to write their own list of two
truths and one lie.

Students take turns presenting their list to the class for participation points.

The class guesses what the lie is…

15.Adjectives
Divide the class into 4 teams.

Have a list of adjectives prepared that the class should be familiar with.

One student from each team comes to the front of class to write on the board.

Say an adjectives from the list and each student must write the opposite adjective on
the board. The fastest student with correct spelling gets his/her team a point.

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 16.Vocabulary
Divide the class into two teams and provide coloured markers .

Draw a line down the middle of the board and write a topic at the top.

The students must write as many as words related to the topic in a relay.

The first person will write the first word and pass the coloured marker to the one next in
line.

Score each team with one point for each correct word.

Unreadable or misspelled words are not counted.

17. Last Man Standing

To play the game, grab a ball and have all the students form a circle. Name a category or
theme, such as things found in a kitchen, food, professions, and so on.

Begin by tossing the ball at a student. That student will shout a word related to the
theme and throw the ball to another student. As each person catches the ball, they need
to come up with another word that fits the theme. If they repeat a word that has already
been said or can’t think of a new one within a few seconds, they are out and must sit on
the sidelines.

Don’t worry, they’ll still be learning!

Instead of naming a theme, each student gives the next student another theme. For
example, you might start off with “something red.” The first student to catch the ball
could say “strawberry” and then choose another topic and throw the ball to the next
student. This makes the game much more difficult, since students cannot think of a
word until they know what their theme is.

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 18. 20 Objects

Test your students’ memories and vocabulary at the same time with this fun game.

All you need is a clear desk and 20 common items from around the classroom. You can
even grab things from your backpack or purse.

Arrange the objects on the desk and let students gather around to look at them.

Cover everything with a sheet (or something similar) after one minute and send
everyone back to their seats.

Each students should write out as many items as they can remember on a piece of
paper, all in English.

When everyone is done, write a list of the items on the chalkboard and allow students to
self-correct. Alternatively, you can call out the objects and give a point for each one that
is correctly written.

19.What Am I Thinking Of?

Pair students up and have them think of an object. Each student should write 5-10
words describing the object on a piece of paper.

When you call time, the students swap papers and try to figure out what the other
person described.

The first team to have both words guessed correctly wins.

20. Don’t say yes! no!

One pupil sits on a chair and answers the others’ kids questions.

They ask about his family, hobbies, favorite pets… and he isn’t supposed to say yes or
no. If he does so or nods his head, he will lose the game.

The goal of this game is to make the pupils express themselves and use different ways to
communicate. It’s truly one of my pupils’ favorite games!

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 21.Who am I?

On a piece of paper, write the names of famous people (just make sure your students
are likely to know them).

Each person receives a card, which he or she cannot look at, and sticks it on his/her
forehead.

They then have to deduce the name on their card by asking the other players questions,
for example "Am I dead or alive?" or, "Did I bring fame to the country?" Each person
gets one question per round, continuing until they feel they can guess the name on the
card.

22.The What’s Missing Game

The teacher puts about 10-15 target vocabulary words on the board. This can be done
by taping flashcards to the board or simply by writing the words or drawing pictures.

The students line up in front of the board and are given about a minute to try to
memorize all the vocabulary words they see.

Then, the students must turn around so they can’t see the board (no peeking!) and the
teacher removes one of the words.

Students turn back around and must guess “what’s missing.” The first student to say the
correct word gets a point! (If you use flashcards, you can hand the student the card as
an easy way to keep score.)

To add variety, have a student come to the board and take the teacher’s place. You can
also use this game to practise grammar, such as by putting verbs on the board and
having students say the missing verb in past tense to get a point.

23.How many words can you make using the letters in the word
CREATION ?

Use each letter only once. No two-letter words. Here are three to start with: CAT, ANT,
STORE.

Give yourself up to ten minutes, then check your score.

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 3-letter-words : air, ate, art, ant, arc, are, art, cat, car, cot, eat, ear, nit, net, not,
nor, ore, rat, rot, tin, ton, tar,
4-letter-words:
acre, care, cart, cent, corn, core, coin, into, iron, nice, neat, note, rain, rant, rent, rice,
tear, tare, tone, torn,
5-letter-words or longer
actor, antic, cater, crate, nicer, react, ratio, tonic, train, trace, trice,
carton, create, cornet, cretin, canter, recant
entice, notice, retain, ration,
reaction
(This list is not complete; several other words can also be made)

24. Words within a word

Write words on the board or fix flash cards that contain words which contain meaningful
words within that.
Eg:

25.Word Search/ Word Hunt

You can provide each student a copy or display a word search sheet in the classroom
and get students to find the words there. Unless you can provide a list of words that the
students should hunt for.

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 26.Attention

Get the students in to groups of ten.

Get them to stand in lines keeping distance from each line.
Keep a flash card containing a word (same word for each line) in front of each line nearly
of one meter distance which no one can see.
With teacher’s signal the first student in each line has to run to the word, look at the
first letter, run back to the last one at their row and write the letter in his/her back. Each
should pass the letter by writing it on the back of the student in the front.
when it comes to the first one in the row he/she has to write it in the card provided,
keep it on the floor, run to the flash card in the front, look at the next letter and run
back to the end of the row and write it on the back of that student and continue the
same process.
Continue the game till a group finishes writing the word/words.

27.Find the word?

Provide students a task sheet or display a sheet containing a mixture of letters.

Get the students to find out the word/words.

The word is “rhinoceros”

h s

e i o

r c
r

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 28.Chalk board Acronym

Teacher has to write a word vertically on the board. Each student must come up with a
word starting with each letter of the vertical letter.
You can change the rule and require the words to be related to the acronym.

29.Categories

Ask the students to draw six columns on their paper and write a category at the top of
each column. You can choose categories that fit your topic. You can include foods,
names, cities or countries, furniture, verbs and clothing.
Then choose a random letter and write it on the board. Ask students to write down a
word for each category that starts with that letter.

30.Secret Word

Students are given a random topic and a random word that is unrelated to the topic. The
students must hide the word in a speech about the topic. They are trying to make sure
he other students can’t guess the secret word. The other students listen carefully to the
speech and attempt to guess the secret word.

31.Guessing the word

Write the first letter and the last letter of a word with blanks to the rest of the letters in
the board.
Divide the class in to two groups.
Get students to guess the word by telling a letter at a time. (They can guess the word at
any point)
The team who guesses the word first will score the points.
You can use this game to introduce the topic or related vocabulary of a lesson before
starting the lesson.

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 s u - - - u - - i - g (Surounding)
a i u

32.Bring me

Prepare two boxes( number of boxes depend on the number of students in your class)
containing the same types of items. For example, keys, rock, book, soap. (even you can
use pictures of these items.)
Tell the class that you are a distraught little bear, and the only way to stop you crying is
to bring you specific items requested.
You describe the item and its uses. Use gestures and actions also.
Give clear hints to the beginners. For advanced language learners make it a bit difficult.
(Eg: I need something to make me more beautiful…)

33.The boat is sinking

The teacher shouts, “ The boat is sinking! Group yourselves into three”.
Students who failed to find a huddle with the appropriate number should keep aside.
Repeat until the last two remaining.
(It is not just about numbers. Grouping can be done by gender, shirt colour, letters in
students’ first names etc.)

34.Word Marathon
Give a sheet of paper and a pencil for every child.

Say a random letter and ask them to jot down words starting from that letter.

The game can be made more interesting by keeping a time limit and asking the kids to
write words with the same letter but in different categories, for example, name, place,
animal and thing, with the same letter.

The child who writes maximum correct words will be the winner.

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 35.The Word Fishing
Cut out the small fish-shapes from the construction paper.

Write one antonym on each fish cutout.

Stick a paper clip on each fish.

(You may make it a little more interesting for the kids by asking them to colour the
fishes.)

Spread the fishes on the floor in a way that your children can see the words.

Now stick a magnet on a wooden spoon and tie a thread at the other end (a make-shift
fishing rod).

Then, read out the words in the list and ask your kid to fish out the antonyms.

The kid has to use the magnet on the fishing rod to pull out the fish with the correct
antonym.

Do this till your children get all the answers correctly.

Repeat the game for synonyms and meanings.

You can have a mix of antonyms, synonyms and meanings as well to make it a little more
complex for your children.

36.Unscramble the words

A simple word game for children that will get them really thinking!

Write a list of words down on paper but scramble the letter order while writing. Kids will
need to look at the letters and try to work out what the word is and guess it.

eg: eaplpniel (pine apple)

laneoprae (aero plane)

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 37.Word Jumble Race
Write out a number of sentences, using different colors for each sentence. I suggest
having 3-5 sentences for each team.

Cut up the sentences so you have a handful of words.

Put each sentence into hats, cups or any objects you can find, keeping each separate.

Split your class into teams of 2, 3, or 4. You can have as many teams as you want but
remember to have enough sentences to go around.

Teams must now put their sentences in the correct order.

The winning team is the first team to have all sentences correctly ordered.

38. Cups and letters

Prepare a list of 10 everyday objects you want your kids to review. Be ready to show a
picture for each of these objects.

Divide the class into two or three groups and have them line up at the back of the room.
In front of the class are stacks of plastic cups, one for each group. Each cup has a letter
written on it. Make sure each stack contains all the letters necessary to spell all of your
ten words.

If there are words with double letters, for example, be sure they’re in your stack. And if
possible, have the group work with cups of the same color. So all green cups would
belong to team A and all the red ones would be part of team B.

To start the game, show the first picture. The first student in each line runs toward
his/her stack and spells the object in the target language. The kids are to raise their
hands as soon as they’re done.

(You can use flash cards instead of cups)

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 39.Descriptive drawing activity
Pair up the students and give each student a picture, placing it face down so partners
cannot see each other’s cards. They must describe the picture for their partner to draw.

40.Desert island
Give each student a piece of paper and tell them to draw an item. (any item.)
Collect the drawings and pass them out again; no student should receive their own
drawing.

Next, tell the students that they’ve been stranded on a desert island, and only half of the
class can survive and continue to inhabit the island.

The only thing each student will have on the island is the item depicted in the drawing
given to them, and their goal is to convince the class that they should survive based on
that item.

41.What Am I Thinking Of?

Pair students up and have them think of an object.

Each student should write 5-10 words describing the object on a piece of paper.

When you call time, the students swap papers and try to figure out what the other
person described.

The first team to have both words guessed correctly wins.

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 42. Debates
Give each student a piece of paper with “agree” written on one side and “disagree” on
the other side. Read aloud a controversial statement, and have each student hold up
their paper showing the “agree” or “disagree” side depending on their opinion. Choose
one student from each side to explain their position and participate in a short debate.

43.Word Association
You can let your child pick the first word, for example “cat”.

You then think of a word that is connected like “dog” – it's an animal.

Your child then chooses the next word that he/she associates with 'dog' - for example,
'bone'. You keep going until you get stuck.

Another way is picking or giving a word and getting students to list words as much as
they can that relate to the selected word. Just similar to mind mapping.

44.Onion Rings
You do need room for this or could do it outside.

First, divide the class into two.

One half stands in a circle facing outwards, the other half stand in a larger circle around
them facing inwards.

Each pupil should be opposite another pupil.

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 Provide them a topic. They have 2-3 minutes to ask and answer as many questions as
possible, then the outer circle has to move onto the next pupil, stop when they've come
full circle. (you can say "run" and "stop" also)

This can be used for practicing any language or topic in a more interesting way.

45. Slap the word

Divide your class into two teams.

You should tell your students to discuss the meanings and read the words (target words)
in their teams before they start to play.

Tell pupils that you will read a definition for one word/phrase or read a word on the
board and that the person at the front of the line should run and slap the word.

The first slapper to cover the word gets a point for his/her team.

The two pupils who slapped the board go to the back of the line.

Make sure you keep a score of which team has won each point.

Continue until all the words have been slapped.

46.Riddles
Riddles are questions or statements intentionally phrased so as to require ingenuity in
ascertaining the answer or meaning.

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 47. Puzzles
You can use small puzzles in your classroom depending on the target lesson for the day
or summarizing a unit or you can just give children a challenge by introducing new
vocabulary.

48. Dictionary Race

The teacher gives a difficult word, and the students must race to find the definition.

This game can be modified in many ways, such as giving points to students and having a
final standoff among the top contenders or testing the students to see how well they
remember the definitions.

This game requires that the classroom has enough dictionaries

for each student.

You can pair or group students.

49. Missing Punctuation

Divide the class into two teams.

Read a sentence aloud and get one child from each team write the sentence on the
board with the correct punctuation.

The team who writes it correctly first earns a point. The team with the most points wins.

50. Ride up the escalator

First, draw two sets of steps as shown below.

Select two topics/categories or headings related to your subject content for the day.
Prepare some word cards and the number of word cards should be equal to the number
of steps.
Write words from each of the selected categories in the prepared word cards.
Put the two sets of cards into a box and mix them.
Divide the class in to two groups.
The first student in both the groups should run to the box and select a card at random.
If it belongs to his or her category he/she must insert the card in the bottom step.
Otherwise the card should go back in to the box.
Then the partner takes a turn and this continues until one team reaches the top of the
steps.

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 NOUNS VERBS

SWIM

JUMP

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  Six sticky skeletons.
 Truly rural.
 She sees cheese.
 Fresh fried fish.
 Eleven benevolent elephants
 Willy’s real rear wheel.
 Red lorry, yellow lorry.
 Daddy Draws Doors.
 Three free throws.
 Cooks cook cupcakes quickly
 The big bug bit the little beetle.
 Friendly fleas and fireflies.
 I saw Susie sitting in a shoeshine shop
 I scream, you scream,
We all scream for ice cream.
 He threw three free throws
 I saw a kitten eating chicken in the kitchen
 If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
 Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?
 I wish to wash my Irish wristwatch
 I thought I thought of thinking of thanking you
 Fred fed Ted bread, and Ted fed Fred bread

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  Swan swam over the pond,
Swim swan swim!
 She sells sea shells by the seashore
And the shells that she sells are sea shells for sure.
 Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
 Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.
 Nine nice night nurses nursing nicely.
 how much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
 I slit a sheet, a sheet, I slit.
Upon a slitted sheet, I sit.
 The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout
Thursday
 Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier were reared wrongly in a rural
brewery
 A big bug bit a bold bald bear and the bold bald bear bled blood badly.

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 1. What gets wet when drying?
2. What word starts with E and ends with E but only has one letter in it?
3. I am full of holes, but still hold water?
4. The more there is, the less you see. What am I?
5. You can carry it everywhere you go, and it does not get heavy. What is
it?
6. No sooner spoken than broken. What is it?
7. I am full of keys, but I cannot open any door. What am I?
8. You can catch me, but you can’t throw me. What am I?
9. I am a nut with a hole. What am I?
10.I have a head and a tail, but no arms and legs. What am I?
11.I’m the kind of fish that chases a mouse. What am I?
12. I’m tall when I’m young and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
13.If I drink I die, If I eat I live. What am I?
14.I have no legs, but I always run. What am I?
15.You see me once in a year, twice in a week, but never in a day. What am
I?
16.It’s shorter than the rest, but when you’re happy, you raise it up like it’s
the best. What is it?
17.If you have it and you show it to other people, I’m gone. What am I?

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 18.A bus driver goes the wrong way on a one-way street. He passes the
cops but they don’t stop him. Why?

19.I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have nobody but come
alive with the wind. What am I?

20.What word looks the same upside down and backward?

21.What type of dress can never be worn?

22.My rings are not of gold, but I get more as I get old. What am I?

23.What is at the end of a rainbow?

24.What has ten letters and starts with gas?

25.What goes up and down, but does not move?

26.What goes up, but never comes down?

27.Where does Friday comes before Thursday?

28.What kind of room has no doors or windows?

29.What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?

30.What word in the English language does the following: the first two
letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four
letters signify greatman, while the entire world signifies a great woman.

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 31.Who makes it, has no need of it.
Who buys it, has no use for it.
Who uses it can neither see nor feel it.
What is it?

32. I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What
number am I?

33.What has roots as nobody sees,

Is taller than trees.
Up, up, up it goes,
And yet never grows

34.What is always on its way but never arrives?

35.If you don’t keep me, I’ll break. What am I?

36.I can fill a room, but I take up no space. What am I?

37. It’s the only place in the world where today comes before yesterday.
Where is it?

38. What when needed, is thrown away; when not needed, is carried back?

39. I have cities, but no houses. I have forests, but no trees. I have water but
no fish. What am I?

40.If you’ve got it, you want to share it. If you share it, you haven’t got it.

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ANSWERS:

1.Towel 21. Address.

2. An envelope 22. A tree.

3. Sponge 23. The letter W.

4. Darkness. 24. An automobile.

5. Your name. 25. stairs

26. Age
6. Silence.
27. In Dictionary
7. A Piano
28. A mushroom
8. A Cold
29. A palm
9. A Donut
30. Heroine
10. A Coin
31. coffin
11. A Catfish
32. seven
12. A Candle
33. mountain
13. Fire 34. tomorrow

14. A River 35. A promise.

15. The letter “E” 36. Light.

16. A thumb. 37. The dictionary

38. An anchor.
17. A secret.
39. map
18. He was walking.
40. Secret.
19. An echo.

20. Swims.

RATNAPURA EDUCATION ZONE Page 27

 References:
www.edutopia.org
www.opportunity-china.corn
www.tefl.net
www.drmoku.com
www.engvid.com
www.prodigygame.com

Thank you...

All the In-service Advisors of Ratnapura Education Zone for

their dedication in preparing activities and editing.

RATNAPURA EDUCATION ZONE Page 28