Games for Language Learning

In a language learning classroom, a game “could be any activity that formalizes a technique into units that can be scored in some way” (Brown, 2001, p. 183). Additionally, a language learning game is an activity “which is entertaining and engaging”, which should be challenging in some way, and which often includes interaction and collaboration (Wright et al., 2006, p. 1). Games may or may not include competition – some students are motivated by competition and others are not. Overall, games should inspire students to participate, try their best, and practice the target language.

For more information about group work in general, check out this blog post!

 

Games can be a great way to get students communicating and increase engagement! Providing a variety of activities can help to engage diverse students (different learners enjoy different activities and learning styles). Furthermore, repetition is a key element of language learning and games can provide opportunities for repetition while keeping the material fresh. Wright et al. (2006, p.2) describe a few of the benefits of including games in language learning:

• Games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work
• Games provide one way of helping the learners to experience language rather than merely study it
• Many games… provide repeated occurrence and use of a particular language form
• Games involve the emotions, and the meaning of language is thus more vividly experienced
• Games provide the key features of a ‘drill’ with the added opportunity to sense the working of language as living communication

 

The Teacher’s Role

Games require that teachers become facilitators (or sometimes participants). Try not to correct grammar or mistakes unless it’s absolutely necessary – games can encourage participation and we want to make that participation positive and rewarding. Don’t forget, “errors are a ‘necessary’ manifestation of interlanguage development, and we do well not to become obsessed with their constant correction” (Brown, 2001, p. 181). Teachers can be engaged in formative assessment during games and note what may need to be reviewed or targeted later with students.

Wright et al. (2006, p. 4) suggest the following steps to introduce a new game:

1. Explanation by the teacher to the class
2. Demonstration of parts of the game by the teacher and one or two learners
3. Trial by a group in front of the class
4. Any key language and/or instructions written upon the board
5. First ‘try out’ of the game, by groups
6. Key language, etc., removed from the board
7. The game continues

Icebreakers

Learning a new language can be intimidating for many students: it requires that they are open to communicate with others and take risks. Developing a sense of classroom community and shared experience can help to make students feel more comfortable and willing participate despite the potential mistakes, which could result in feelings of embarrassment and vulnerability. Teachers need to consider how they are building and developing relationships in the classroom and can check in with students by taking a class temperature.

Icebreaker games are a great way to get students “to feel comfortable with each other, confident in themselves and focused on the language lesson” (Wright et al., 2006, p. 11). Games can also help students get warmed up and ready to learn.

Here are some examples of Icebreaker games:

• People Bingo – the teacher makes a bingo grid with questions to help students get to know each other. Students circulate asking questions to their classmates, trying to fill in their bingo cards.
• What Makes You Unique – each student’s uniqueness benefits the class. Students (and the teacher) all come up with something they think makes them unique. As each person says their point, anyone who can say ‘me too’ raises their hand and says it. Then that person needs to think of a new unique point until every person has been able to share something where no one else can say ‘me too’ (if a student is struggling to think of something, you can return to them at the end to give them more time – I like to use a class list or seating plan and check off names as I go).
• Two Truths & A Lie – each person secretly writes two truths about themselves and makes up one lie. Students need to circulate and see if they can guess the lie (this can be done as a class too). Note that some guidelines and trust may be needed for this game so that the truths and lies are school-appropriate.
• Would You Rather? – teacher says or shows an image of two things and asks students which they would rather (ie. Would you rather ketchup or mustard?). Students can move to one side of the class or the other to show their picks or raise their hands. You can extend this activity be asking a few students ‘why?’ each round.
• Temperature line or Four Corners – Similar to would you rather, the teacher (or a designated student) can pose a question and students respond by moving to one of four corners or by organizing themselves along a line based on the ‘degree’ of their response)

Examples of Games

Here are a few game ideas to get you started. Check out Wright et al.’s (2006) book, Games for Language Learning, for many more examples and suggestions.

Board Games Adapted for the Classroom

• Scattegories – Divide the class into teams. The teacher prepares a list of 8-10 topics (ex. a verb, an animal, a food, a colour, a movie character, etc.), then randomly picks a letter of the alphabet. The teacher will set a timer and each group will work on generating word for each topic that starts with the selected letter. When the timer goes off, one at a time, groups will share what they wrote for each topic – they get a point if they wrote a word, starting with the correct letter, that no other group wrote (if another group wrote the same word, neither team gets the point). Subsequent rounds can be played with a new random letter.
• Pictionary – In groups of four (two against two), students can use a vocabulary list and take turns selecting and drawing a word for their partner to guess. This can also be fun as a whole class game (with two teams), having students draw on a white board, projector, or document camera.
• Concentration – teachers or students can build this game. Teachers should create a grid (so that all pieces are equal size and shape). Teachers or students create matching pieces (one piece with a word in the target language and one image/drawing). When all the pieces are complete, students flip over the pieces and mix them up. Then, students take turns selecting two pieces to turn over, if they have a match, they get to keep those two pieces. The students with the most pairs at the end wins. Card Sorts can be done digitally as well. See the ‘Whose Names are These’ blog post in the Scarfe Sandbox for an example.
• 

  Example of card set-up for Concentration

  Headbands – this game has students asking questions to guess which object or character they’ve been given. The teacher writes names or objects on small pieces of paper and while students are working at their desks on another task, the teacher can circulate and tape the papers to the backs of their students (make sure to tell students not to discuss them!) – in the boardgame version, players wear headbands for display. Students will stand up and circulate to ask yes/no questions to their classmates in order to guess who they are. For an added level of complexity, the people/objects can be designed as pairs that students then need to figure out and stand beside before the game is complete.

• Bingo – teachers can create a blank bingo sheet (5×5 grid). Students can write or draw vocabulary words (creating the bingo sheet themselves also serves as a form of review!). The teacher calls out the words in the target language and students can use small pieces of paper as markers until a student gets 5 in a row (vertically, horizontally, or diagonally) and calls out “Bingo!”. I like to continue for a few rounds allowing more people to get a bingo before starting again. Students can easily keep these bingo sheets as a quick review later before a test or anytime throughout the year.
• Jenga Builder – students create a design without showing their partner using Lego or coloured pieces of paper in different shapes/sizes (students should have two matching sets of whatever material they are using). Students will hide their design and verbally communicate to their partner(s) how to build the same design. This is an example of an unplugged coding activity where students practice procedural and directional language to develop their computational thinking skills (an important aspect of the Applied Design Skills and Technologies BC ADST Curriculum). Visit the Unplugged Coding blog post in the Scarfe Sandbox for more examples and resources.

• Battleship – give students a simple grid and have them prop a binder between them so they can’t see each other’s sheets. Students hide their ships by colouring in boxes on the grid. Students communicate how they will identify the rows and columns on the gride and then take turns guessing boxes until all ships have been discovered. (This is another unplugged coding example)

Movement Games

• Statues – one student is asked to leave the room. The students who remain in the room are all given a verb to act out (silently). The teacher yells ‘Freeze’ and the students all stop mid-motion as statues. The teacher calls back the student from the hall to guess what action the statues are frozen in.
• Charades – students are given a prompt and must act (silently) while their teammates guess.
• Simon Says – one person takes on the role of ‘Simon’ (or they can use their own name!). Anytime the leaders say, ‘Simon says…’ and then an action, all the students must do the action. If students do the incorrect action they sit down. If the leader doesn’t say, ‘Simon says…” before the action and students act, they sit down. Continue until you have one or two winners left standing.

Whole-Class Cooperative Games

• Go, Go, Stop – Index cards work well for this activity. The teacher will create a set of cards (make sure that you have enough cards for all the students, if you have extras, some students can take two). Each card will contain an answer (to a question on another card) and a question (whose answer is on another card). The first card will have START at the top and the first question at the bottom, and the last card will have the last answer at the top and STOP at the bottom. Shuffle the deck and hand them all out randomly to students. Creating a master list for the teacher to use will make this game much easier to facilitate! The teacher starts the timer when the student with the start card begins and the goal is to get all the students to read their cards in the correct order (this requires that students listen carefully and consider what they should be listening for). The teacher stops the timer when the last student says stop. I like to discuss with the group how to improve, then reshuffle the deck, hand them all out again and try to get students to beat their time (for secondary teachers with more than one class, they can have classes compete against each other for best time).
  

  Example of card design for Go, Go, Stop

• Teacher Vs. Student – you’ll need a projector or document camera for this activity. The teacher displays some images on the screen (10-12 works well), then points at an image and says the word in the target language. If the image matches the word, then the whole class must repeat the word after them. If the teacher points at an image and says the wrong word, everyone in the class must stay silent – if they do stay silent, the class gets a point, and if anyone makes a sound, the teacher gets a point. The teacher can go faster or slower depending on the level of the class. First to 10 points wins!

Competitive Games

• Flyswatter – the class is divided into two teams. The teacher displays a screen of words and/or images (the teacher could also write words on a white board). Two students come to the front (one from each team) and using fly swatters (or yard sticks) point to the image/translated word after the teacher says a word in the target language. The first student to point at the image/word gets a point for their team.
• The Amazing Race – the teacher divides the class in teams of 4-5 and creates a list of tasks (translating, conjugating, and drawing work well). Teams send up a representative from each team to get the first task (depending on the difficulty of the task, these could be shown to students or given as a slip of paper – make sure they can’t see the following tasks!), then take it back to their team to complete. Teams show the teacher their completed (and correct) task before getting the next task – this continues for the rest of the game. The first team through the entire list wins.
• Design Challenges – These can be a great way to promote collaboration and communication (in the target language!).

Digital Games

• Boukili (French) is a free website offering French books to read for a variety of reading levels. As students read, they unlock levels to travel virtually to new countries where they can change the avatar’s outfits and play games.
• Jeopardy – Factile allows users to create a digital jeopardy game which can be projected onto a screen. One of the highlights is that the program keeps track of scores!
• Blooket – This program allows teachers to create review games for students in a variety of game formats.
• Word Games, like Boggle, Wordle, word searches and more, can be played online.

Board Game Ideas

If your school or department is looking to spend some money on board games for language learning, here are a few that would make excellent classroom resources:

• Spot it – learn the vocabulary and race to spot matching pairs of images
• Lion In My Way (AKA Obstacles) – creative problem solving and story-telling game using images
• Dix It  – players use their imaginations to interpret images
• Taboo – players try to communicate a word to their team without using any of the listed ‘taboo’ words
• Scrabble – the classic word game can easily be used in classrooms
• Bananagrams – similar to scrabble, but without the board
• Guess Who – players take turns asking questions to try to figure out their partner’s mystery person

References

Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (2^nd Ed.). Addison Wesley Longman.

Wright, A., Betteridge, D., & Buckby, M. (2006). Games for language learning (3^rd Ed.). Cambridge University Press.

---

Guest post by Peer Mentor Lindsay Cunningham (Ph.D. student, EDCP), July 2024.