Fun and games in MFL
J. Lee
Grosvenor Grammar School
Why use games?
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To reinforce vocabulary, grammar or language
functions
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To engage pupils of all abilities
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To encourage collaboration / pairwork/ groupwork
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To assess progress/ understanding in a discreet
manner
... To have fun !!!!
A few points to consider
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Games should always have a purpose
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Consider the class itself and the time of day
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Always give clear instructions – ask another pupil to repeat them back
to you / write on the board (consider pupils with SEN who may need
extra help)
Leave time to do a calming activity afterwards – their next teacher will
thank you for it!
Beware - what works well with one class, may not work with another.
GROUP WORK
Some ideas for splitting classes into
groups ...
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Happy Families cards (available online in French,
Spanish and German – or make your own!)
Football teams – have tables already set up
Starburst (or any other coloured sweets) or coloured
balls to pull from a jar.
Line up in order of birthday for example using only the
TL then split into groups.
Mini flashcards
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Have a range of purposes and associated
activities.
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Need clear, consistent images and text.
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Fastest finger first.
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Memory games.
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For A5 size flashcards, you can do ordering
activities / sums / practise word order, etc.
Mini whiteboards
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Can be bought cheaply or made using
laminated white card.
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Pictionary
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Word recognition or TL production
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Think, pair, share activities
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Group tasks – correct each others’ mistakes.
Map from memory
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Sometimes known as collective memory. You need a clear photo/
image or a simple text.
Split class into groups. Within groups, pupils should number themselves.
Pupils take it in turns to spend a set amount of time studying the image/
document and they must reproduce this text / image in the TL in their
groups.
Works particularly well with the topic of physical appearance,
description of a house/ bedroom and at A Level, topics with lots of
statistics.
Victoria’s Game
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Works brilliantly with grammar such as the present tense.
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Every year group loves this game.
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Have a range of verbs in TL or MT on small pieces of paper.
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Unlike map from memory, the team must appoint a “runner”. Only the
runner is allowed to come up to the teacher’s desk. They take one
piece of paper, return to their group and they answer on the piece of
paper. The runner returns to the teacher to have their answer marked. It
must be correct before they may take another piece of paper. The
group with the most correct answers wins.
WHOLE CLASS
ACTIVITIES
Board relay
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You need two whiteboards, one at each end of the room.
Split the class into two teams and number each person
within that team.
Whiteboard markers are in the middle of the room.
Teacher calls out word/ phrase and a number. The person
who corresponds to that number runs to the middle, grabs
the marker and runs to their designated board to write the
answer. First to answer correctly wins.
Chinese Whispers
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Quite similar to Board Relay as class is split into
2 teams.
Teacher whispers a phrase into ear of pupils
at top of each line and they must send this
message along the line for the last person to
write on the whiteboard.
Last person then comes to the top of the line.
Pass the Parcel
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Particularly good for grammar. You need 1 card per pupil.
Class stands in a circle, each pupil has a card. When music
starts, they pass cards round in clockwise direction. They must
always look at the cards they are passing round. When music
stops, teacher shouts out a verb and first pupil to answer
correctly wins a point. They win 2 points if they did not have the
card for that verb in their hand but only 1 point if they did.
* Alternative is to have pieces of paper in an envelope,
envelope is passed around the class, when music stops, person
takes a piece of paper from the envelope and has to create a
sentence using that vocabulary.
Simon Says
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Have a range of pictures relating to a set of vocabulary on the
board. Maximum 12 pictures.
Teacher points to a picture and says word in TL. If the word is
correct the class repeat. If the word is not correct they stay
silent.
Teacher wins a point if the class speak when they shouldn’t but
class wins a point if the teacher doesn’t manage to trick them.
Probably one of their favourite games especially in junior school
– they love trying to beat the teacher!
Fluffy Dusters
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Buy cheap fluffy dusters or fly swats.
Have a range of images relating to vocabulary studied on the
board.
Class are split into 2 teams (normally girls vs boys in a mixed
school)
One volunteer from each team stands with their back to the
board, with a fluffy duster in their hand. Teacher calls out item of
vocabulary and first person to turn round and hit the correct
picture with their fluffy duster wins a point for their team.
Speed-dating
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Can be used at all levels and for a range of topics. It encourages everyone (even the
quietest pupils) to talk and it reinforces vocabulary as pupils are repeating the same
information numerous times.
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Number the desks in order using sticky notes. One pupil is the interviewer and stays
seated the whole time, the other is being interviewed and moves to the next desk
when the bell rings. Teacher can join in if there is an odd number!
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Works well for short answers such as “my name is Peter, I am 11 years old” and longer
answers. Set GCSE and A Level students a longer time limit – they must talk to their
partner about a set topic for 2 minutes. Pupils can “rate” each other’s performance,
just like in speed-dating. A good plenary activity is to discuss as a class who had the
best pronunciation, who spoke with confidence, who used all 3 tenses, etc. and it is
lovely to see different pupils being mentioned every time.
Kim’s Game
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Memory game based on having a set of
vocabulary / images displayed on the board
to memorise before the teacher removes
one.
Class must guess which image / word has
been taken away.
Progression – to take more than 1 image
away at a time. Classes love to see how
many they can memorise
The poisoned apple
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Practises adjectival agreement with colours
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Distribute small, apple-shaped pieces of
coloured card to each member of the class.
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One volunteer “Snow White” leaves the room.
The teacher “poisons” one of the apples.
Snow White enters the room and must “eat”
as many apple as they can (eating = saying
the colour of the apple e.g. C’est la pomme
rouge) before discovering the poisoned
apple. First form love it!
Mustn’t pause
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Practises a large set of previously learned vocabulary. Works well as a
lesson starter.
Pupils stand up and each person must say one piece of vocabulary
related to that topic without hesitating or pausing before passing on to
the next person. You are not allowed to repeat what has been said
before. If you pause or repeat vocabulary you are out.
Variation of this game is DOCE/ DOUZE which practises the numbers 112. Pupils count, saying 1, 2 or 2 numbers in succession before passing
on to the next person. You do not want to be the person who says “12”
or you are out.
RAID THE TOY
SHOP!
Pass the Bomb
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Can be bought online or in Hawkin’s Bazaar.
Costs approx £20.
It encourages pupils to answer at lightning
speed for fear the bomb will “explode” in
their hands.
If it does, pupil must do a forfeit such as say
the numbers 1-10 backwards in TL or sing a
song in the TL.
Headbandz
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Headbandz can be bought in all good toy shops or
you could make your own version.
We have covered up the English on the cards with TL.
Encourages use of questions in TL. Could be adapted
for a certain topic.
Alternatively you could use sticky labels – works well
as “Who am I?” for GCSE Personal Relationships topic.
Magnetic Letters
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An excellent investment.
Teacher calls out word or phrase in MT or TL
and pupils must spell out correctly on their
magnetic board using the letters.
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Award 3 points to 1st group with correct
answer, 2 to 2nd and 1 to the 3rd.
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Forfeits for groups who drop letters!
Snakes and Ladders
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Templates available on many MFL teaching resources
websites to make your own personalised version.
Dice can be bought cheaply online.
Put a picture or a word / grammar point in each
square not covered by a snake or ladder.
Pupils can only move to the square if the rest of their
team feels their answer was correct (encourages
peer assessment)
Guess Who
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Cheapest Guess Who sets are travel versions –
Sainsbury’s 2 for £5!
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Great for the topic of physical appearance.
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Forfeit if MT is heard!
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Can work in small groups and take it in turns
to ask questions.
Rhoda
Find a big blanket or sheet and sew coloured
patches/ square on at intervals.
Each patch or square represents a topic or a grammar point/ tense.
E.g. KS3 – red = days, blue= months, yellow = numbers
KS4 or 5 – each colour represents a different tense.
Spread the sheet over tables and each pupil has a small item that acts as their counter.
Teacher calls out vocabulary and pupils must place their counter on the correct
coloured patch. Maximum 3 counters per patch.
With a small class (such as A Level) it could be more like Twister where pupils jump onto
the correct square.
GENERAL VOCAB/
GRAMMAR
ACTIVITIES
Stop the Bus
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All age groups love this game and it really makes them think about the range and
variety of vocabulary they know.
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The simplified version is to choose 5 categories for e.g. animal / colour / school subject
/ country / food and teacher says the alphabet silently to him/herself. One pupil says
“stop the bus” in the TL and whichever letter the teacher stops on is the letter they
must work with. The class have a set time limit to come up with one word in the TL that
begins with that letter and is associated with that category. You win double points if
your group has a unique word but only 1 point if another group has the same
suggestion.
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The categories can become harder the older the pupils are and can be topic
specific at A-Level.
Strip Bingo
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A variation on normal bingo.
Each pupil has a strip of paper, split into a set number
of boxes. 7 boxes usually works best.
Pupils write one number or piece of vocabulary into
each box.
The difference is that they do not cross out the vocab
as they hear it. Instead they can only rip off that box if
it is at either end of their piece of paper. Person with
no pieces of paper left wins.
IWB AND WEBBASED TOOLS
Spotlight tool
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A tool on the ActivStudio software on the
interactive whiteboard.
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You can highlight pictures or vocabulary for
pupils to identify.
Linguascope
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Linguascope is a subscription-based website
(most schools have a yearly subscription)
which offers a range of ready-made games
and activities for French, Spanish, German,
Italian and English. It also offers pre-prepared
worksheets.
There is a teacher’s section where teachers
can create their own version of games such
as interactive snakes and ladders, tile tap,
etc.
Fruit machine
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Available on www.classtools.net
Names, numbers, phrases in the TL, questions,
etc. can all be inputted into the “random
name generator.”
The fruit machine selects information at
random. Great for keeping pupils on their
toes!
Wheel of Fortune
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Available at www.sandfields.co.uk/games/ along with
other games such as Countdown, Darts, Who Wants To be
a Millionaire, The Weakest Link and Blockbusters.
Templates available to download and adapt as
necessary.
Great for encouraging competition with an element of
luck! Create your own clues for a range of topics.
Website also has a very good clock for teaching and
revising the time in the TL called “clickclock2”
Family Fortunes
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Template available online but can easily be
made on PowerPoint.
Create questions that require a range of
possible answers e.g. Which foods are most
popular at breakfast time in the UK?
Groups have to guess the “top 5 answers”
each time in the TL.
Qwizdom
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A fabulous interactive quizzing system but
unfortunately, available in very few schools in N.
Ireland.
Teachers create their own quizzes using special
software and pupils send their answers to the
computer using an individual handset. The system
monitors who answered quickest, who got it right
and wrong and keeps a tally of the overall score.
A great tool if you are lucky enough to be able
to use it!
Fling the teacher
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Available at www.atantot.com in French,
Spanish, German and Italian. It is a
subscription website ...
Ready made games, starters and plenaries in
a range of topics.
• Games such as fling the teacher, penalty
shootout, jigword, hangman, word attack.
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Where to find ready-made games
www.atantot.com
• www.classtools.net
• www.sandfields.co.uk/games
• www.linguascope.com
• www.languagesresources.co.uk
• www.sunderlandschools.org/mflsunderland/resources.htm
• www.asisehace.net (Spanish only)
• TES website – www.tes.co.uk
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