These are three board game activities to talk about health, students’ hometowns and fashion. They can be used together or separately, and are a great way to help students practise speaking and develop fluency, as well as prepare for Part 1 of the FCE /CAE speaking exam.
- To practise speaking about health, students’ hometowns and fashion.
Materials (Click on the worksheet below to download the PDF file):
- Triple treat makes a comeback, one PDF board game per pair or group of 3; a die and a timer per pair or group of 3.
- Put the students in pairs or groups of 3 and give them a copy of one of the board games and a die, they can use their phones for the timer. Aim to have all three board games in use at the same time.
- Players take it in turns to throw the die twice – the first throw indicates which column they should use, and the second throw indicates which row, to obtain the question.
- The player must then speak for at least 1 minute on that topic and provide their partner, or other two group members, with as much detail as possible.
- The game continues in a circle going left.
- Swap the board games after sufficient time to allow all three games to be played by each pair or group.
- At the end, ask the students to name three new things they have learnt about their classmates.
This is a fun, competitive card game for small groups of 3 or more players to review the most common collocations with do and make.
Time: 45 minutes
- To practise and review common collocations with do and make.
- To divide expressions into two categories: ones that collocate with do and ones that collocate with make.
- To collect the most cards by completing the sentences written on the cards.
Materials (Click on the worksheets below to download the PDF files):
- 36 printable Make or do, have no clue Cards (laminate for future use).
- Make or do, have no clue Worksheet.
- Elicit some common collocations with do and make and write them on the board, such as homework / washing / judo; a cake, a mistake, a mess.
- Put students in small groups of 2 or 3 and give each group a Make or do? Have no clue Worksheet.
- To make the activity more competitive, tell students that the first group to complete the task correctly wins.
- Monitor and check answers as a class.
- Print and cut out the Make or do? Have no clue Cards, one set per group of 3 or 4.
- Place all cards face down on the table.
- The first player draws the top card off the pile and reads the incomplete sentence out loud. The remaining players listen to the sentence and try to guess if the expression in the sentence collocates with do or make (make sure students use the correct tense). The first player to raise their hand and give the correct answer keeps the card. To discourage random guessing you can penalize incorrect responses. If the answer is wrong, the card is placed at the bottom of the pile. Play continues in a circle going left.
- The winner is the player with the most cards at the end of the game.
- At the end of the game ask the players to give their cards to the player on their left. The players now individually make sentences with the collocations on their classmates’ cards, e.g. I make myself a cup of coffee as soon as I wake up. Adam makes wonderful coffee for his mother every morning.
Go Get ‘em tiger!
Do, make, have or take? An instant headache