Vocabulary Games

Introduction

Here’s the second instalment in a series of games based on Richard Osman’s House of Games. In the last post I shared my (slightly obsessive) fondness for this BBC2 quiz show. It turns out I’m not the only one. Here are three more games, all based around recycling previously-presented vocabulary. They can be played individually, or in pairs/teams, with mini-whiteboards, or in live online classes using the chat box or whiteboard to collect answers.

As before, I’ve uploaded the example games in ppt format, so they can be used as they are, or as a template to adapt to vocabulary for your own groups. Given the current situation, the format (I hope) is adaptable to both F2F and live online classes. Let me know what you think!

Summary

The three games in this post require a little preparation, basically identifying the vocabulary to be recycled in each case and adapting the ppt template accordingly. I do recommend you make a note of the answers beforehand, or even better, add slides to the game to show the answers while playing. Some of the games, e.g. Games House Of can catch you out (as I found to my cost) if you’re not prepared.

This Round is in Code is a very simple game, which can be played individually or in pairs or groups. The code is easy to understand, but the answers are not at all obvious!

Games House Of is a challenging game, which involves reproducing lexical chunks in alphabetical order, so only works with sequences of two or more words.

Size Matters is a fun game format, where learners aim to produce the longest (correct!) possible word from a given group . In the original programme, the questions were based on general knowledge, but this has been adapted to be used with lexical sets.

I’ve provided instructions for all three games on one downloadable document below and an example of each game in ppt format, which can be used as an editable template to customise for your own teaching situation and learners.

Materials