Kailei Kluck, 126

“Wa” a.k. You, Me, We
Materials: None
Time: 10 minutes

Have the students form a circle. One person will start the game by sending the “wa” motion with their hands together outstretched in front of them. The person they send the motion to will receive the “wa” by bringing their hands directly overhead. The two people on either side of the receiver will bring their hands towards the middle person (like a slashing motion). Normally, all the students would say “wa” when they do the motion. However, to make the game more English friendly I changed the words so the student sending the motion says, “you.” The person receiving the motion says, “me.” The people on either side will say, “we.” If students are too slow or forget to do the motion then they are out of the circle.This is a really fun energizer that I have found will help students get comfortable with speaking loudly. The louder the students say, “you, me, we” the better!

“What’s Missing.”
Materials: Vocabulary Cards, Tape
Time: 15 minutes

This is a great game to practice vocabulary! First, you can play as a whole class and then later play in small groups. The vocabulary words/pictures will be displayed so all students can see. The teacher will then say, “everyone go to sleep.” While the students are “sleeping,” the teacher will choose a vocabulary card to hide. Then the teacher will say, “wake up” and will ask students, “What’s missing?” Students will then have to say the vocabulary word that is no longer displayed. After a little while, the teacher can encourage a student to come up and lead the game – to transition from a teacher led activity to a student led activity!

“Mingle”
Materials: Notebooks & Pencils
Time: 15 minutes

This is a perfect game for having students practice dialogue in an unthreatening atmosphere. The objective is for every student to receive a set amount of “stars” (or whatever) from their peers and something special from the teacher. The students must walk around the room and and practice asking/answering the dialogue taught. Once both students have said the dialogue they exchange stars (I have them simply draw a star in each other’s notebooks). The students must also go up and talk with the teacher – a great way to subtly assess your students with them not even realizing it!