Basic, Elite Teacher, Gold Teacher, Grammar, Middle Elementary School, Starter Teacher, Student(s) to Teacher Practice, Teens/Young Adults, Upper Elementary School, Vocabulary, writing games

Falling Off the Grid

Posted on June 20, 2024August 16, 2024 by teachersgamebox

Materials Needed

2 balls
1 dice
Whiteboard and marker
2 magnets

How to play

Draw a grid on the board with 7 columns and 5 rows. Assign 20 points to each team.
Place the two magnets in the box at the center of the grid. Ie. 4th column and 3rd row. Assign one magnet to each team.
Assign directions and numbers to each value of the die. Write these values on the board eg. 1-go right 4, 2-go up 3, 3-go down 1, 4- go left 2, 5- go down 4, 6- go right 2
Now have the teams pass the balls amongst their teams in an orderly fashion. When you say stop, the two people with the balls must stand.
They play rock, paper, and scissors.
The looser must roll the dice and follow the direction of the magnet.
The winner must do the english practice.
Everytime a team falls off the grid, the row or column they fell from must be removed, making the grid smaller.
Then the number of spaces they fall off must be taken away from their original 20 points. They can choose where to place their magnet to start the game again.

Teacher’s role

You ensure the teams are passing the balls properly and not throwing it or holding on to it.

You also decide when to say stop. Try to vary the timing to keep your students on their toes.

Listen to the english practice and correct and help students who need help.

Who wins?

The team with the most points remaining at the end of the game is the winner. .

What’s there to love?

This game has a lot of layers, but once your children understand it, the different layers give them different elements to enjoy and look forward to.

Adjusted Game

Make it Harder for Everyone: You can make this game more challenging by telling the winners of PSS that they will need to roll the die too if their english practice is wrong.

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Basic, Elite Teacher, Gold Teacher, Grammar, Middle Elementary School, Review Games, Starter Teacher, Student(s) to Teacher Practice, Teens/Young Adults, Upper Elementary School, Vocabulary, writing games, Young Elementary School

Snowball Fight

Posted on June 20, 2024August 16, 2024 by teachersgamebox

Materials Needed

- Scrap paper cut into little pieces (1 peace per round per student)
- Timer for 1 minute
- Box or container

How to play

1. Have students write their names on the pieces of paper.
2. Ask students a question.
3. Set a timer for 1 minute. Give students this time to write their answers on the paper.
4. When they are finished, they quickly ball it up and try to get it into the box. Answers must be in the box before the timer goes off.
5. When the time is up, check the answers together with the class and award points for correct answers.
6. After finishing the game, give the snowballs (pieces of paper) back to the students.
7. Set a timer for 1 minute and allow students to throw the snowballs at each other (They enjoy this part so much.)
8. Ensure that you explain to them at the start, that when the timer is up, they must clean up all the little pieces of papers off the floor together.

Teacher’s role

When the one minute timer is set, you need to walk around the class holding the box or container high as students try to get their answers in.

You can move around quickly or slowly, depending on the level of difficulty you want to make it for your students.

Who wins?

The team with the most points at the end of the rounds win.

What’s there to love?

This is a writing game that will get both you and your students moving around the classroom. The time you check your answers together, is great for spotting mistakes that are common and explaining them to students. You can make this game as long as as short as you want, meaning you get to choose how many rounds to play.

Adjusted Game

Run for your team: Additional material: an extra container.
Select one student from each team to carry the container for their team. Each team must have their own. These students run around the classroom while the students of the opposite team try to get their answers into the container.
Be sure to explain that they cannot throw out the container or hold it to the side.
Change the students who are running every round.

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Basic, Card Games, Elite Teacher, Gold Teacher, Grammar, Kindergarten/Preschool, Middle Elementary School, No Prep Games, Pair games, Reading, Starter Teacher, Student to Student Practice, Teens/Young Adults, Upper Elementary School, Vocabulary, Young Elementary School

Nian

Posted on February 16, 2023August 16, 2024 by teachersgamebox

Materials Needed

3 Tokens/playing cards for each student

How to play

Explain to students that they will play PSS with each other.
The winner asks the question or does the English practice if there is no question. The loser answers or repeats. Then the loser gives the winner 1 token.
They find another person to play with after.
Explain that you will give them some time to practice. When you turn off the lights, they need to fall asleep, because Nian the monster is coming.
They need to be as quiet as possible.
If they make a sound, they need to pay Nian 1 token so that he doesn’t take them out of the game. If they don’t have any cards, and they are not quiet, they sit out of the game.
When the lights come back on, students need to quickly find a new partner to play with.
At this time, students who don’t have cards can try to play with you to see if they can earn a card to stay in the game.

Teacher’s role

Monitor students as they practice. Make sure that students get to complete at least one round of practice before turning off the light.

When you go to them, walk around a little slowly and make some monster noise. Listen for students that move or make noise.

If they are really quiet, you can just quickly move on to the next round.

Who wins?

Game points are counted individually. Each person who has more than 4 cards can get 1 point. Then the team with the most points wins. You can break ties by having them play Paper, Scissors, Stone (Rock, Paper, Scissors).

What’s there to love?

This game takes ideas from traditional Chinese customs. It’s great for students to play, and the Nian monster adds an extra element of fun.

Adjusted Game

Older Students: Adjust the Nain part for older students by telling them that they need to rush and find a seat.
They can sit on any available chair in the class.
They don’t want to be the last person to sit, or they will pay Nain with a card.
Turn on the lights and continue playing.

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Basic, Elite Teacher, Gold Teacher, Grammar, Middle Elementary School, No Prep Games, Pair games, Reading, Starter Teacher, Student to Student Practice, Student(s) to Teacher Practice, Upper Elementary School, Vocabulary, Young Elementary School

Hot Seat

Posted on July 27, 2022August 16, 2024 by teachersgamebox

Materials Needed:

Chairs, one per two teams

How to play:

Divide the students into two teams, and have them stand on each side of the chair in a line. The chair is the hot seat.
Set a timer (1-2 minutes recommended, but you can adjust based on the level of students or class size)
Students from different teams alternate turn sitting in the hot seat. They should sit in a chair while practicing the target language.
When the timer goes off, the team with a member sitting in the hot seat is the loser. Award a point to the other team they win this round.
Depending on the class size, play enough rounds so that each student gets a chance to play.

Teacher’s role

Listen as students practice. correct any mistakes they make and notice common errors. Explain them between rounds so that students don’t continue making the same mistakes.

Make sure to use a timer, such as the stopwatch on your cell phone. This will make the game more fair for both teams.

Who wins

The team with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

What’s there to love?

The hot seat is a fun, competitive game to keep students on their toes while practicing. They must be quick and careful to make sure they are not in the hot seat when the time is up.

It helps to improve their fluency as they try to complete the English practice writing faster than the timer.

Adjusted Game

Student to student Practice: Adjust this game by dividing your class into pairs. Give each pair a chair. They play PSS, with the winner sitting in the chair and doing the English task first. The loser stands behind the chair.
When they are done, they stand up and switch positions with the loser.
They do this again and again until the timer goes off.
The person sitting in the chair doing the English task when the timer goes off is the loser. The other person receives a point.

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Basic, Card Games, Conversation, Elite Teacher, Gold Teacher, Grammar, Middle Elementary School, No Prep Games, Pair games, Reading, Starter Teacher, Student to Student Practice, Teens/Young Adults, Upper Elementary School, Vocabulary

The Joker Game

Posted on July 27, 2022August 16, 2024 by teachersgamebox

Materials Needed:

- A deck of playing cards (joker included)

How to Play:

1. Explain the target practice of the game (spelling, grammar pattern, etc.) Start by giving each student a card.

1. Then allow students to stand up and walk around the class. Students must find someone (from the other team to practice with).

1. Both students must complete the English practice one time. When both finish practicing, they exchange cards. Then, they find new players to practice with.

1. As the teacher, you can decide how long the round is by setting the timer or shouting “Time’s up” when you feel like it. At that point, the person with the joker is the loser of this round.

1. Then you can give a point to the other team.

Teacher’s Role

Since this is a student-to-student practice, walk around and check students. Help slower students and make sure they are completing the English practice.

You can choose how long each round is depending on the time you schedule for this section of your class.

In our classes, we often play three rounds of the game. Each round lasts about a minute and a half.

Who Wins?

The team with the most points after the game finishes is the winner.

What’s there to love?

Joker is a fun game. It will get your students moving around the class. It will help them to get comfortable practicing with different partners in a short span of time.

Students must put on their best poker faces and be careful. Remember, no one wants to end up stuck with the joker.

Have fun! And watch out for the joker!

Adjusted Game

Increase the Joker count: You can start increasing the number of jokers for this game. Instead of having one, secretly hand out three.
Then the team with the least number of jokers at the end of the game wins.

Up to 200x more fun in your classroom

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Basic, Conversation, Elite Teacher, Gold Teacher, Grammar, Middle Elementary School, No Prep Games, Pair games, Reading, Starter Teacher, Student to Student Practice, Teens/Young Adults, Upper Elementary School, Vocabulary, Young Elementary School

Shrinking Island-The Paper Folding Game

Posted on July 26, 2022August 16, 2024 by teachersgamebox

Materials Needed:

1 pc of paper per player (encouraged to use scrap/recycled paper)

How to play:

Pair students up.
Both players stand on their sheets of paper.
They play paper, scissors, and stones to decide who does the English practice (Read, Spell, Make a Sentence, etc.) first.
The winner should do the practice. The loser repeats what the winner said or answers the question.
After both students finish their practice, the loser must fold their paper in half and stand on it again.
They continue to practice following these steps. Everytime a student loses a round, they must fold their paper in half.
The papers should get smaller and smaller as they practice. They should try their best to stand on them.

*Note* Students should not step on the floor and must try to keep their balance while playing.

Teacher’s Role

You can set a timer (3-4 minutes) to play this game or have the students play until one of them can’t fold their paper anymore.

Walk around and check students as they practice. Make sure you help students who may be slower or need guidance with the practice.

Who wins?

The student with the larger piece of paper at the end of the game is the winner.

What’s there to love?

Students have loads of fun playing this game. They enjoy that winning depends on how good they are playing PSS. It’s like a mini duel!

It gets funnier and funnier as they fold their paper smaller and smaller. You will also have fun watching them stand on the tips of their toes to balance on it.

They will love it. So will you.

Adjusted Game

Make it Harder to Win: Adjust this game by having students fold and unfold the paper.
Every time a student wins, they get to unfold the paper, but when they lose, they need to fold their paper.
Doing this will help the game to last longer. It is perfect if you want the students to get more practice.

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