HUMAN BINGO

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
Prepare a chat with a questioner, beginning FIND SOMEONE
WHO…, examples:
speaks more than three languages
visits Spain for the first time
has been to the North Pole
has a tattoo
is Gemini
has more than three children
etc
or questions about something that you really want to know or
to talk about it later.
Give a copy of the questioner to everybody. The participants
must walk around the room, asking the others until fill all the
questions with a different name. The game ends when most of
them have finished the chat.
The activity gives the chance to talk to everybody and know
something about the others.

BIOGRAPHIES

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
In pairs. A talks about him/her self for three minutes to B.
She/he must give personal information: instead of talk about
family and wok, she/he must talk about feelings, hobbies,
likes and dislikes, dreams, etc. Change roles, them B talks to
A for another three minutes.
After that, A introduces his/her partner B to the rest of
participants and B does the same.

SHAPES

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
This exercise calls for instant reaction from the entire group to
an order from the tutor telling them to form a shape. They
must act as one unit, but nobody should speak, although
members of the group may physically guide others to complete
the required shape quickly. The tutor only gives the order once
so that the group must listen and then move swiftly and
silently into the shape. As soon as one shape is completed, the
tutor gives the order for the next shape and so on. Speed,
discipline and economy of movement are required.
Some examples are: Square, equals sign, multiplication sign,
question mark, exclamation mark, division sign, circle, the
letter Z, the number 4, triangle, straight line.

CLUMPS

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
When the leader calls out a number, everyone must get in a
group of the same size as the number.
Variation
Body Part Clumps. Same as above except leader shouts out
number and a body part e.g. three noses, the players form
groups of three and touch their noses together.

NAME WITH AN ACTION

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
Players stand in a circle. One player says his/her name and at
the same time invents a matching action or movement. The
player to the left then repeats the name and action and adds
his/her own name and action. Then the next player does
exactly the same, including the names and actions of the
people before and so on around the circle. If any player makes
a mistake, the action returns to the first player.

DIGITS

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
Players stay in a tight circle. One player starts counting ONE
and sits down, another player continues TWO and sits down,
etc… until the group is sitting down. Nobody knows who is
speaking, so if two players say the same number at a time,
they have to start counting again.

A WALK IN THE PARK

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
Compile a list of all known greetings and put them into
context. Ask the group to choose their preferred form of
greeting and to walk around the park meeting and greeting.
Next step is to ask the group to repeat the exercise, only this
time in addition to the greeting the person who initiates the
conversation must pay a compliment to the person he/she
meets. The person being complimented should only reply
‘thank you’ and walk on.
Variations 1
Include handshakes or kisses or personalised physical
greetings. Examples: “I like you eyes.” “I like your ears.” Divide
the room into zones (morning, afternoon, evening – for
example) and oblige them to use the appropriate greetings.

OOGILY BOOGILY BOP

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
People in a circle. The leader of the game stands on the centre
of the circle. She/he points to one person saying: “oogily
boogily bop”. The person pointed must say BOP before the
leader finishes his/her sentence. Do it several times until the
group is trained.
Introducing actions: if the leader points somebody saying
ELEPHANT; the person pointed mimes the horn and produces
the noise of the elephant and the people close to him/her
mime the ears of the animal. Introduce more elements:
monkey, palm tree, etc.

FAMILY PORTRAITS

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
Optional preparation: have players write five descriptive
adjectives about other people in the group. Encourage long
legged, short-sighted, hungry, rich, etc. Collect descriptions
and request more as you compile a list on the board. Then
explain that you are going to use these descriptions in Family
Portraits. Organise the players into groups of three or four.
Ask one group to create a "family portrait" based on a type of
family indicated by the leader. After three seconds the players
freeze in their portrait. Take a picture or pretend to. Quickly
move on to the next group and form another portrait. After
repeating several times get the whole group to call out the
family they’d like to see represented.
The Stupid Family. The Enormous Buttocks Family. The Angry
Family. The Elephant Family, etc.

I FEEL... WHEN...

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
Elicit all the adjectives (feeling words) from the students and
write them on the blackboard. Students take it in turns to
make sentences for example: “I feel…embarrassed when… I
speak English in from of a lot of people”.
When all the adjectives are finished put the class into groups
and give them 5 adjectives each on a paper taken from the
blackboard. The teams must then mime each adjective with
the rest of the class guessing which feeling it is.

POWER STATION

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
Two teams of up to ten players line up in front of each other.
The quiz leader and a helper stand at either end of the two
teams. The quiz leader decides on the subject or topic based
on categories, say, types of fruit and then says a name. The
name could be true or false. The team that first identifies that
a given name does (or does not – depending on how you play it)
belong to the category must all join hands , raise their arms
and shout ‘ELECTRICITY!’. To win the point it is not enough
for just one person to get the answer right, it must involve the
whole team.

THIS IS A BOOK

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME
Concentration game that is more difficult to explain than to
play. Everyone in a circle.
Teach this dialogue:
Person A: “This is a Book.”
Person B: “A What?”
A: “A Book.”
B: “A What?”
A: “A Book.”
B: “Ohh! A Book?”
Make sure that the group establishes a steady rhythm with
this dialogue. Then the first person uses an actual book. After
the line “Ohh! A Book?” player A passes the book to player B
who then turns to player C on their other side and they repeat
the dialogue. Practice around the circle once or twice and then
introduce new objects. Put two objects in the circle one after
the other to make it more difficult until every body is giving
and receiving objects at the same time. This is great for
building concentration.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

Players stand in a circle with enough room to move their

elbows. Player One steps forward and begins miming an

activity, any activity such as shearing a sheep. Player Two, to

the right asks player One, ‘What are you doing?’ Player One is

to answer without hesitating with the first action which comes

to mind OTHER than the one they are doing i.e. tying my

shoelaces. Player Two then begins doing the thing announced

by player One and is asked by player three ‘What are you

doing?’

Comment: Teacher can pre-teach simple actions with

flashcards/drawings and use these to keep the game fluid.

Alternatively compile the actions beforehand form the kids

suggestions.

ALL THOSE WEARING...

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

Simple game where everyone is seated in a circle and the

leader stands in the middle. When the leader says "all those

wearing blue change" everyone wearing the colour blue must

change seats; the leader will also try to find a seat so that one

person will be left without a seat standing in the middle. Start

the game focused on clothing e.g. all those wearing jumpers

change, then combine items of clothing with colours, all those

with blue bras etc.

Alternatives: all those with two sisters, all those with a dog, all

those who like pizza, all those who have been to Benidorm, etc.

TRUE AND FALSE CHAIRS

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

The teacher prepare some sentences (some of them true and

some of them false). Two chairs in the front of the class (the

true and the false chairs). The class is divided in two teams

and put in two lines. When the teacher read one sentence, one

player from each team must run and sit down choosing the

true of false chair. The player who sits in the right chair is

awarded with a point.

KEY WORDS

STRUCTURE OF THE GAME

Choose some words from a text or a story. Each word is given

an action and a sentence. Write the words on the board and

train the students to say and do the relative action when they

hear the word. When all of them know what they have to do,

tell them the story of read the text, pausing in the key-words.

E.g. “Mount Everest, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White….

ADVERT

ESTRUCTURE OF THE GAME

Take a prop (in this case a sheet or blanket) any prop- in

groups people perform an advertisement to show their product

– it can be anything – use your imagination. To introduce this

activity in pairs people design a new product and produce a

billboard with a slogan which they introduce to the group the

do the performance with the prop.