MFL Ideas Games and activities for learning Miss L Crawley “Messenger and Scribe” Develops both speaking and writing skills. Write four sentences (or four paragraphs depending on class ability) on four pieces of paper and tape the four sheets in different sections of the room. Students are then divided into pairs – one is the Messenger and one is the Scribe. One remains seated with a paper and pen, and the other has to run back and forth between the sheets and the Scribe and tell him/her what it says, who then writes it down. The Messenger cannot stand by the sheet and shout to the Scribe, however. The first five or so teams to write all the sentences down correctly are the winners. Be very particular on them having to get everything, including spelling and punctuation, correct. Sentence Scrambles Students will be given blank index cards, or they can just cut-up pieces of paper. Each student will pick one sentence from a book they have been reading and write the words and punctuation marks on the cards (one word and one punctuation mark per card). They will mix up the cards and then paper clip them together. Then they’ll do the same for another sentence. Usually I have each student make five of them. Then I’ll collect them, divide the class into small groups, and give each group a stack of the sentence scrambles to put into the correct order. The group that has the most correct sentences in ten or fifteen minutes wins. After a group feels they have one sentence correct I’ll go and check it and take it away after giving them a point. Stations I’ll copy five copies of five different worksheets related to the theme we’ve been studying. The class will then be divided into five groups of four or so students. One pile of each of the five worksheets will be placed in different sections of the room. Each student group is given a group number and begins at one of the five Stations. They will be given three or four minutes (or longer) at each Station to complete as many questions on the worksheet as they can, then told to stop. They write their group number on the worksheet, give it to me, and then each group moves to the next Station. After we’ve gone through all the Stations, each group is given another group’s papers to correct and we’ll review the answers as a class. The number of correct answers is added up, and the group with the greatest number wins. Miss L Crawley Labeling Game Write words describing various classroom objects on post-its, divide the classroom into four or five groups, and then each day during the week one group will see how fast they can correctly label the classroom objects. I time the groups, and the one with the fastest time wins. Add new labels each week. One by One Students work in pairs to spell words on the whiteboard as fast as they can in competition with other pairs of students. However, there is a twist... Both students in each pair need a whiteboard marker. The two students link left arms (so one student will be facing the whiteboard and one student will be facing the class). The teacher calls out a word to be spelled (or translated) and the student facing the board writes the first letter of the word on the board then the pair must spin so that the second student can write. Each student can only write one letter, and must write one letter. If a student wishes to correct the letter that their partner has written they can erase it and replace it, but then must spin. So, they take turns writing a letter then spinning so that the other student can write. Students cannot talk to each other or tell their partner what to write. It's best if you match up left handed students with left handed students and RH students with RH students as much as possible - Left handed students will need to link right arms if working together. You can make it harder by saying that if a mistake is made and recognised the student who recognises the error can erase the incorrect letter but can't add another letter, and by saying that both students *must* take their turn to write. 21s The aim is to see how high the class can count or use to practise 1-21. 2) Only one person can call out each number. 3) There can NOT be any arranging of who calls out each number. Similarly, no prompting anyone else. 4) If 2 or more people say the same number, we start again. There will be a few times when the class doesn't make it past 2! But a fun, engaging activity - perhaps have a couple of goes at the start (or end) of a couple of lessons to see how high your class can count. Miss L Crawley Stepping stones Can be vocab or longer answers... Place stepping stones across the room (these can be pieces of paper or use chairs for them to walk across). As a student answers a question correctly, they take a step forward. This can be done as a team game, with the first team to get all members across winning. In this case, you may like to make rules which allow for students who have already made it across to go back across the stepping stones to help out a weaker student. Variation: Human Checkers Students can deliberately block others through their choice of where to step. (Or you can use real checkers rules to allow students to get other students out by "jumping over" them. What’s the question? You supply the answers, students need to give the questions. Many of the other games can be adapted to this, or you can throw in a couple of "reverse questions" into a regular quiz or Q&A activity. Organisez-vous! Have the students stand up around the room / space (outdoors is good). Call out a number, students have to form groups of that size. The race to form groups can make it exciting for little ones. Congratulate the group that forms the quickest! Think Fast Give students a time limit (between 15 and 45 seconds works well to keep everyone engaged and keep it "pacy" - but you can give longer limits if your students have the vocabulary and the attention span!) - I give a different limit each time, and don't always warn students how long they will have. Give a category (things that are usually red, activities that don't involve a ball... the more creative the category the better, but you can stick with standard MFL categories such as words beginning with..., things you'd find in a classroom) and call out “allez” or other start word. Students write down as many words as they can think of that fit the category. Students get one point for each correct word they have written by the end of the time limit. *Variation Once you have stopped them (at the end of the time limit), ask the student who has come up with the most words to call out their words. If they call out Miss L Crawley a word that others have written down (they call out to say) doesn't count. All students need to cross out any words that anyone else has also written this means students start getting creative and thinking laterally about what words to write down. *Another variation As a team game. Give a longer time limit, and each team has one pen and one piece of paper. The paper can be sticky-taped up on the wall (each piece away from the others so that the other teams can't read them!). Students are grouped on the other side of the room so they need to run to the piece of paper, write down their word then run back to pass the pen on to the next person. Space invaders Students stand up and spread themselves around the space. The teacher asks a question and selects someone to answer (e.g. first hand up.) If the answer is correct, the student takes a step. If they can reach another student to “tag” them, the tagged student is out and must sit down. Students may choose to step further away instead. Continue until there is just one student left standing, or until pupils become a little restless. Variation If no one who is standing can answer a question but someone who is out can answer correctly, then that student can rejoin the game. A magnificent answer (e.g. full sentence, demonstrating newly taught structure or something else unexpected but wonderful) earns the right to take 2 steps. Slap Whispers Write a good selection of numbers on the board (depending on the age of your children) and divide the class into 2 teams facing the board. Stand at the back of the classroom and call one student from each line over to you. Whisper a number from the board to the students, who then have to run back to their team and whisper it to the next person in their line. The whispers carry on down the line until they reach the person at the front who has to find the number, slam it with their hand and shout the number. This game can also be used with any vocabulary being used (fruit, family Miss L Crawley etc) simply by putting the pictures on the board. A great game for all ages which has never let me down! Standing Bingo You will need 2 sets of cards, one set with the French/Spanish/German word and the other with either a picture or the English word. Hand out the Fr/Gr/Sp words to the students and divide the class into groups of 4 or more. I usually divide my class into 4 groups and have each group stand in a corner with their cards. Then call the English word or show the picture. The person with the Fr/Gr/Sp card gets to sit down. The first team with all its members sitting is the winner (Bingo!). Yes and… Put students into pairs. One student begins with a sentence and the other student says “Yes and” then adds more information. Use a timer to get students speaking for 1 minute or longer. E.g : Pupil 1: Hier j’ai joué au foot dans le parc Pupil 2 : Oui et c’était chouette Pupil 1 : Oui et j’ai vu mon ami Pupil 2 : Oui et il a joué au foot avec nous Pupil 1 : Oui et.. etc. etc. etc ! Telepathy At the end of a lesson ask “What word/sentence am I thinking of from the lesson". Do either from memory or with support. All can participate. Write the one you are thinking of on a piece of paper in case they accuse you of cheating! Then involve the kids up front. A sweet for the winner is a great addition to this game... Pair noughts and crosses They each draw a nine box grid with an English word/picture/first initial of each word in a sentence e.g. jml = je me leve if doing daily routine. Then working in pairs they have to say a word/sentence in TL to get their nought/cross in the box. They only let them have it if they are happy with Miss L Crawley pronunciation! Each pair has two games to play as every one prepared a grid. Or get them to use a pencil and they can use the same grid twice! Listening bingo Use any tape extract. Tell students the topic then they think of 10 words to do with that topic and write them down. They then listen to the tape and every time they hear the words they tick them as a tally chart of the frequency of the words. Winner is the one with most ticks - a chewit sweet for the winner. Brill for predicting what will come up. You can also use this with pupils preparing mini speaking presentations. Pupils read them out (with/without support) and the others have chosen 5 words they think will come up and do the same tally idea. Could also make “taboo” words to encourage greater variety of vocab. A-Z on a topic Word and picture for each letter of the alphabet. Prizes for winners. Create a puzzle page for revision of a topic - swap over and do each others' puzzles... Slightly better than do a word search then swap!! Heads down thumbs up This is the basic version.4 volunteers on floor . Rest of class put heads down on desk. arms crossed under their heads hands making fists with thumbs sticking up and eyes closed . No peeking. Volunteers creep round room and each pushes down the thumbs of one person. No-one opens eyes till volunteers return to front [with any luck rest have fallen asleep by this point] Four whose thumbs were touched stand up and in turn say who they think touched them. [ No-one to say yes or no till all have said] If they are correct they come out and take place of first four, If not the original person stays on floor. Pupil as Teacher When you have marked one pupils' work hand over the red pen and send him/ her to mark the next . cascading round the class....... Sac à Magique Buy a shoe bag and call it sac à magique. Get pupils to close eyes and hide things in it. Classroom objects, flashcards etc. Pupils guess what is in your sac à magique and have to make sentence up with word. Word Tennis Miss L Crawley Partner A .Dans mon sac il y a une trousse Partner B adds one then volleys it back eg dans mon sac il y a une trousse et un cahier. Partner A adds another etc. Pupils score when partner pauses, hesitates repeats word, or can't remember order. Score as tennis if they know how. The word tennis game also works for questions and answers and gives them the opportunity to practice making questions up...... Strip bingo pupils split a piece of paper into 9 sections and write a different phrase/word in each section. Teacher repeats words/phrases several times – pupils can only tear off the strip if the word/phrase is at either end of the paper. Winner is pupil with one strip left. Advantage over normal bingo is that the teacher repeats the words/phrases. Mallet’s mallet Buy an inflatable hammer, or real one for difficult groups. Choose topic eg colours. Get two pupils to face each other and pretend you are timmy mallet. Pink glasses and bermuda shorts are a must. Hit pupil on the head with the appropriate force, if they pause, hesitate, repeat word or stray from topic area completely. Dictionary Race 5 / 10 minutes to find as many words relating to the current topic - prize for the person with the most - then brainstorm them all onto a flipchart/the board so everyone has a wider vocab list! Stand up Bingo Get pupils to write down 3 words from the vocabulary that you have been teaching that lesson. They then stand up ready and sit down as soon as any one of the words on their list has been called out by you. The aim is to not have any of their words read out thereby being the last one standing. It's a great plenary. Odd one out. Easy for you to put together, good to give to pupils to make up to reinforce vocab, excellent starter or plenary. Get them to scramble up 5 new words they've learnt from the lesson for a partner to unscramble. Miss L Crawley Write a blank for each word in a sentence. Give the last word and work backwards - pupils guess what the word is. Makes them really think about word order especially for past tense and any opinion sentence. Dictation Either teacher-led or paired Moving Dictation You dictate a text, they write a sentence and then pass their exercise book to another pupil who then continues to write the next sentence... After as many sentences as you want, show them the text on OHP, IWB, using Data Projector or direct them to the page in their textbooks. They then have to correct the mistakes. Great for German - capitals for nouns. They are also more willing to mark other people's work. Statues useful for verbs Teacher calls out an action Pupils must get into statue pose of that action and hold it without moving, giggling etc till next action is called or sit down What's missing Read out a list of days of the week, animals, colours. Reread list omitting one Headlines Have pictures on the board (from internet on IWB or projector) and they have to write a headline for it. Write the names of the people involved in recent news and the headlines in TL next to it but muddled up - they have to match them. Tongue Twister Write a tongue twister on the board, ask them to work out what it means using dictionaries, and then ask for 2/3 repetitions. Normally has plenty of volunteers. Word Recall Give the pupils the topic or idea (price, size..), and they have to think of as many words as they can, which you then go through with them on the board after. Can turn it into a competition. Miss L Crawley Word categories Give pupils A4 paper/card, ask them to fold it into 9. Write the topic in each box, and then when you call out a word in TL, they have to write it in the correct box. *Variation Same as above - but a game: write the topics on the board, name the two pupils playing each other and say the TL word. First pupil to name the topic that that belongs to wins a point for their team. Could be combined with the above exercise. Aural Dominoes Can also be handwritten onto card - only takes 5/10 minutes to prepare. A great way of introducing new vocab or practicing old vocab. Snowball Thirty secs to write as many topic words down by themselves. 1 min to work with a partner, two mins to work with their table. Then go round the class, table by table. Write the words on the board. Any words written down by more than one table do not count. Any unique words get a point. Table with the most points win. Famous person Ask the students for the name of a celebrity. Write it on the board. See who can find a word in the TL for each letter - no resources allowed Word combs They write their names down then find an adjective for each letter of their name. Snooker. Two teams alternately answer a starter (red ball) question (an easy one). Then give a category (e.g. pets, shops, colours, furniture, personal pronouns, etre verbs, verbs beginning with 'p' etc), and after 5 seconds deliberation they have to decide which 'colour' (yellow = 2, black = 7 etc). They then have a set time to name that number of items. If they fail the Miss L Crawley other team has the chance to claim the points. Getting 6 on a 'black' = nul points Starters 1."donnez-moi 5 animaux/5 verbes irréguliers au passé composé/ 5 opinions négatives/5 alternatifs pour 'très' etc. etc. Works with any year group. 2. Write a word on the board from a recent topic eg croissant. pupils suggest a sentence containing the word, for which you award a score out of 10 for their impressiveness. Vary generosity of your mark scheme dep on ability of group. 3. "clear the board" - write up 20 or so words or phrases randomly all over your board. Set the clock. They then put up their hand, saying one of the words/phrases and its translation. If correct you rub it out. Penalty of 10 seconds if anyone calls out. They try to beat their own previous class record each time you play. 4. PASSEZ LA BOMBE - buy a kitchen timer. Get a small box (empty Neutradol packaging box is ideal)and paint it black and write "ATTENTIONBOMBE!!! on it. Put the timer in the box. When you play, set the timer for between 1-2 mins, put into box and say a question you've covered recently which can have many different answers. ive bomb to first pupil, who can pass it on when they've said an answer. Whoever is holding the bomb when it goes off has to do a forfeit, like saying 20-1 backwards in French. 15 snappy starters 1. Five anagram words on the board. I.e. asc à sod = sac a dos etc 2. Write the middle or end of 5 known words i.e. ayo = crayon tyl=stylo. 3. Write 5 words with a letter missing each. The missing letters could spell another word, if you’re that well organised. 4. On a known theme (i.e. town) write the first letter of 5 different places. 5. 5 words each with one deliberate mistake in the spelling. 6. Odd one out i.e chien chat cheval chance 7. With times, numbers, dates or any other sequences, i.e. ma journée write 5 random on the board for them to put in the right order. 8. Mime a word they know (exaggerated lip-reading) 9. Skywrite a word they know (you must write it backwards for them) 10. Write the first two letters of five words up, and they must match the endings. 11. Text speak BB=bébé, K7 cassette, LF1=elephant. G HT j’ai acheté. Miss L Crawley 12. They have one minute to write as many clothes as possible, colours, sports,fruit,veg, countries, pets, rooms, hobbies, furniture. 13. They have one minute to write as many words as they can beginning with…. 14. Writesixorsevenwordstogetherwithoutabreak. 15. Show them five flashcards, jumble them up, and they must guess which one you have in front of you. Word substitute Write a sentence on the board such as (Yr 7) "Dans ma trousse j'ai un stylo et une gomme." Underline un stylo and une gomme. They have 2 mins to write as many sentences as they can, substituting different items. individuals read their suggestions. Anyone with same sentence crosses it out. People left with sentences no one else has win a sweet. Last one standing Very simple - at the end of the lesson, get two kids up the front, you say the English, the first kid to say the foreign word wins and the loser sits down, to be replaced by another kid. The person left standing when the bell goes is officially king or queen of the class. Sometimes I let to joke run on and call kids 'prince' and 'princess' as well, I did like it the other day when they called me 'Goddess'! BEAT THE TEACHER Example with numbers. Write down numbers on the board (I use flashcards a lot for this game) Point at a number and say what it is. Kids repeat. Then you try to trick them and you say something that is not correct. Kids have to stay completely quiet. If they were quiet: one point for them. If you managed to trick them ie they repeated robotically what you said without thinking: point for you. We go to ten but I refuse to carry on if I have five and they have not had even a point. Vocab cards Can do this with GCSE students - they make them - a phrase in French on one side and nothing on the other. Once you have taught them about 8-10 phrases they make the mini cards and then put their initials in little letters in a corner. They then play in pairs. They scramble up the cards and hold Miss L Crawley them in their hands. They put one card down and the fastest to say it in English gets to keep the card. If they both say it at the same time then they put it to one side and the first person to win the next one gets them both. You give them about 5 minutes or so to play and then they count to see who has the more cards and they win. They then sort out the cards so they get their own back (that's why they did the initials) and find another partner. After a bit they write the English down on the other side of their cards and do it the other way round (Eng-Fr), which is obviously more difficult. They can also check they are correct with the cards if they disagree by turning them over. Gunfight All pupils stand up with their backs to a partner, side on to the teacher, hands clasped to make a 'gun'. Teachers calls out a rapid fire of words/short phrases and pupils call out translation and point their 'gun' at the teacher. They can keep a tally of correct answers on their hand. Shows you where strengths / weaknesses of vocab are. Pupils could make gunfight lists for extension homework. Poker test Pupils number 1-10 as per vocab test. Teacher calls out question. Pupils put hand up if they either know the answer or are going to pretend to know the answer and bluff. If they don't know the answer and aren't going to pretend - they put a cross next to the relevant number on their sheet. Teacher chooses pupil to answer question - if he answers correctly - everyone with their hands up gets the point (whether they knew answer or not!!). If he gets the answer wrong/didn't know it - he loses all previously accumulated points. Teacher then chooses another pupil and if he then gets it right - the rest with hands up get the point. And so it continues... So it is a gamble whether they put hand up and risk their points if they don't really know the answer!! Kids would be so rubbish at poker cos you can so tell who is bluffing!! Verbal Pictionary Pupil describe item in TL and a volunteer had to draw representation on board. The Hot Seat Miss L Crawley Pick a pupil they take the seat and students can ask them 5 questions related to the lesson in the TL. It’s great because it's all about them! Yes No Game for speaking practice with year 10 and 11, play your own version of that yes/no game. pupils have to answer questions about a certain topic for 3060 seconds without giving yes or no as an answer. (based on game show but can't remember the name)works very well for getting them to manipulate the verb and turn questions around. *Variation Kind of similar idea they have to present about certain without using key basic words To consolidate gender with yr 7 The line game (need big room or moveable furniture for this) get students in big line (I do girls then boys and playoff after) explain one direction is masc. objects one is fem objects. then call out vocab e.g. estuche= masc so jump left etc. lose when go wrong way and then have eventual champion. Pronunciation competitions I make a big over the top fuss about mistakes (hay in Spanish pronounced as it looks etc) they love the drama and get v.competitive - is all boys though. They also love memory games- can you remember all these new vocab words (in a specific order or not) in 30 seconds for example. write the initial letter of each word in a sentence jsaen= je suis alle en ville jabuc = j'ai bu un coca/un cafe etc for classes who are struggling to build a paragraph, this sort of modelling works well. Ghosts Go round class . or get them to gently throw soft ball[!] to next person, each must add one word to make a sensible sentence anyone who cannot add Miss L Crawley another word loses a life . 3 lives and you are a ghost . you can also challenge the person before if you think their answer does not make sense in that case they lose a life . but if they can justify it you do .. good for a small class or group who are reluctant to talk...... Mixed Up Spelling Teacher says letters in a word at random . class must guess word e.g. hiearc Group game Each person has 5 paperclips to start with . One person begins a presentation on self, school etc Other members of group must interrupt with relevant questions If speaker can answer straight away questioner hands over paperclip [or sweets if it is not healthy eating week] If speaker cannot answer the questioner gets paperclip from speaker. In advance prepare a coded alphabet a=1,b=2,c=3 say numbers to class they have to convert into word ... without a crib ... you will be amazed at how they can do it and boys especially love the challenge eg 3,1,8,9,5,23 10 pictures lettered a-j T says a sentence in past/pres/future linked to one or more of pictures. P writes both correct letter and arrow to indicate tense: backwards arrow = past etc. Great for tense practice. With any text find all the nouns (verbs, past participles, infinitives, words to do with food etc) read in pairs and peer assess accent / intonation Find the Vocab: You choose 10 English translations of words in the text and tell them all to find word number one (ie the word in the text for ....). In groups they find it and bring it to you whereupon you whisper the number 2. Winner is first to 10. You read the text but change words. They underline words that you changed. Challenge them to say how many you changed (make some hard). Offer a bon point for those that get the right number. Miss L Crawley Translate the text out loud in pairs. Practise numbers Write a list of about 15 random numbers on the board e.g. 12, 186, 98, etc. (Even works at AS if you make the numbers more challenging). In pairs / small groups time each other reading the list in TL. Find the two quickest in the class (or quickest boy and quickest girl if you want it to be really competitive) and challenge them to a play off at the front. Draw a word snake on the board (or worksheet) with hidden infinitives. Pupils come to the board and circle them. You can then ask questions like ; regular/irregular, past participle, sentence in the past/present/future incorporating that verb etc. Listening skills Using past paper tapes: Write down the word you just heard (shout out or mini-whiteboards) Predict the next words – do with small words to show you have to listen to everything. Don’t give too much time between pauses – trains pupils to work at a faster pace than the exam. Listening quiz – choice of 3 answers. Choose an answer before listening – then listen to see if answer was correct. Prediction/thinking skills. Point for correcting and a point for getting guess answer correct. Use Quizdom with power points – real video clips in the power point? Magic word – bank of words. Listening bingo – tick when you hear the word. Either give them the words or let them write their own. Bubble sheet – change one of 3 possibilities to a synonym. Songs - Give them a set of pictures – they hold a picture up when they hear the phrase – symbols etc Pupils draw pictures/symbols for what they hear, smiley faces for opinions etc Choose correct picture for what you hear and justify with key words Gap-fills – with or without choice Cut out words for synonyms. Hold up when heard? Consequences – holidays Give a transcript with the words changed – pupils listen carefully and underline the wrong words, then change them on the next hearing. The more able can try and work out the mistakes before they listen again. Give sentence starters to complete – differentiated by length of completion. Listen out for endings of verbs Predicting questions after first hearing Miss L Crawley Use video – backs to TV first and complete tasks – then turn around to watch Pupils prepare speech on speaking exam topics – rest of class choose three words and tick off as many times as heard. Competition for most ticks. Use synonyms in a grid to fill in the actual word heard next to it Fill in a grid with an option for extra info to stretch the more able in the group Sound-spelling link starters Active listening strategies – make a gesture when certain word(s) heard Tips For Role Play Characters need some background. E.g. The waiter - Ludwig Schmidt, 27. He walks with his nose in the air and frequently tosses his hair back OR he is a grumpy person with a screwed up face who has a crafty fag whenever he can. The customer - Frau Weiss - 27. She has thick spectacles and is very shy OR she is always texting. The presentations are more entertaining when pupils can create someone with unique characteristics. I recently saw a group who sang the restaurant scene in operatic style (Yr 8) Remind students of voice projection skills - four corners / visualise voice reaching destination. If anyone is changing voice in any way the target is still on clear and bold voice work Do not let pupils have books in hand. You cannot act and read at the same time. Watching actors reading from a book is deadly. After initial read through use the skim read technique: Look at the line, read it in your head, then look up to deliver it. This enables the pupils to act rather than read the lines. After this run, students should work on five lines and then ten lines at a time. The most productive work can be obtained from structured improvisation. Develop a five point structure e.g. Neighbours sketch. Keep the conversation going: Greetings. One neighbour has a card or present for the other one Oh, you’ve got a new dog ….. I like your new ….. I’ve got a problem with …..at the moment Help, advice and / or goodbyes Get pupils used to using spontaneous language. E.g. Set up four customers. TIR as waiter can move from table to table and elicit responses in role. Miss L Crawley Improvisation gives students confidence. Teacher can repeat and mime to encourage understanding. Do not translate. Warm-up the class before you do rehearsed role play. Pupils walk around the space saying their lines. They jog. They jump up and down. They do brain gym as they go through lines. You can inject this into lesson to energise audience. This can be used as a preparation exercise too. The students choreograph the lines and present to class. This works because it takes the focus off the words, but you have to deliver the words well to match the big, bold movements. Speed Writing In ICT suite. Give all pupils the first line of a story and each write the next line. Give pupils 5 minutes and then ring a bell/blow a whistle/clap and they all must move on by two computers and write the next line, and so on. The final task is that the last person can add pictures to illustrate what has been written in French, Spanish, German etc... They can then peer assess, correct and feedback on the stories. Ideas for starters (All of these starters require practically no preparation.) 1. Five anagram words on the board. I.e. asc à sod = sac a dos etc 2. Write the middle or end of 5 known words i.e. ayo = crayon tyl=stylo. 3. Write 5 words with a letter missing each. The missing letters could spell another word, if you’re that well organised. 4. On a known theme (i.e. town) write the first letter of 5 different places. 5. 5 words each with one deliberate mistake in the spelling. 6. Odd one out i.e chien chat cheval chance 7. With times, numbers, dates or any other sequences, i.e. ma journée write 5 random on the board for them to put in the right order. 8. Mime a word they know (exaggerated lip-reading) 9. Skywrite a word they know (you must write it backwards for them) 10. Write the first two letters of five words up, and they must match the endings. 11. Textspeak BB=bébé, K7 cassette, LF1=elephant. G HT j’ai acheté. 12. They have one minute to write as many clothes as possible, colours, sports,fruit,veg, countries, pets, rooms, hobbies, furniture. 13. They have one minute to write as many words as they can beginning with…. 14. Writesixorsevenwordstogetherwithoutabreak. 15. Show them five flashcards, jumble them up, and they must guess which one you have in front of you. Miss L Crawley