Pilgrims English for primary reachers
 
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Vanishing Flashcards Game: place a number of flashcards in front of the Ss. Give them a few moments to memorize the pictures and then tell them to close their eyes. Take away one of the flashcards and then tell the Ss to open their eyes again. The first S to guess the missing flashcard can win that flashcard (for 1 point) and take away a flashcard in the next round.

Spin the Bottle: Sit Ss in a circle with a bottle in the middle. T Spins the bottle. When it stops spinning the S it is pointing to is shown a flashcard and asked to say what it is. If the answer is correct then that S can spin the bottle. This is a good vocab review activity.

Snap: You need 2 sets of flashcards all shuffled together. Sit the Ss in a circle and deal out all the cards to the Ss. S1 places down a card in the middle of the circle and says the word aloud, followed by S2 placing his/her card down to form a pile. At some point 2 identical cards may be placed on top of each other and the Ss race to slam the pile and shout "Snap!". The S who slams last takes the pile. Ss should try and lose all their cards. The last S left with all the cards is the loser.

Slam: Sit the Ss in a circle and place some flashcards in the middle of the circle. Tell Ss to put their hands on their heads. T shouts out the word of one of the flashcards and the Ss race to touch it. The S who touches it first get to keep the object. The S who has the most flashcards at the end of the game is the winner.

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Jump On It: Spread out flashcards on the floor and have Ss stand at one end of the room. Shout out a card and the Ss have to find the card and jump on it. The first S to do this wins a point. Variation: Make 2 teams for a relay race. The first 2 Ss try and jump on the flashcard first to win a point for their team.  

Hint Animal Game:   As a review on animals cards, hold some cards without showing any. Then tell the kids that they are going to receive 3 hints, so they need to listen carefully.
For example: 1. I am yellow. 2. I have long hair. 3. I am strong. Who am I? Well, a lion of course! You can make it in deferent levels depending on how much English you use
or which vocab you use.

Four Corners: T hangs a flashcard (4 in total) in all 4 corners of the room. One S is chosen to stand in the middle with his/her eyes closed and counts to ten while the other students scramble to one of the four corners. At the count of ten, the S in the middle shouts "STOP" and picks one corner by naming it's corresponding flashcard. The students in that corner are "out" and must sit down. Continue game until only one student remains; he/she is then "it" (the counter in middle).

Flashcard Fun: Hold up a flashcard and elicit the answer from a S. Ss can win the flashcard if they answer correctly. The S with the most flashcards at the end is the winner.

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Easy Hard: You need at least 20 cards to play which you divide into 2 piles face down:
An Easy and a Hard pile. Give each team 50 points from beginning. Pick a student and ask if they would like an easy or a hard card, also ask how many points they would like to risk on knowing the answer: Easy 1-5 and Hard 5-10.

Bean Bag Toss: Lay out flashcards face down up the floor. Ss toss the bean bag and identify the flashcard it lands on.

Adjective Action: T writes on the board an activity like "bush your teeth." S/He picks one student, they come to the front of the class. The T then shows the S a card with an adjective written on it, such as "slowly". The chosen student then does the activity in the way of the adjective. The other Ss have to guess the adjective. The one who guesses right gets a point and mimes the next action which the teacher writes on the board. To help them you can give them a list of options, if you think they need some help.

Flashcards were the most important visuals of EFL classrooms, and they are now widely available online.

 

You can always create your own material so you can create your flashcards by cutting up magazine pictures or writing the words and definitions on the cards or you can use the ready-made ones.

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  1. You can choose 3 different flashcards and ask your students to create a story.
  2. You can prepare flashcard sets, pictures and definitions seperately and play memory games.
  3. You can show a set of flashcards and ask them to write the ones they remember.
  4. You can quiz your students by showing them the flashcards and asking them to write the answers.
  5. Show a flashcard and ask them to write sentences to describe the Picture until you stop them.
  6. Show them a flashcard and ask them to brainstorm ideas. Then tell them to compare ideas and ask them to create stories in pairs using the words they’ve come up with.
  7. Prepare 10 flashcards showing some characters, place, time and event. Then ask students to write their own stories using all the words you have given.
  8. Use flashcards to review any grammar topic.
  9. Show 2 flashcards and ask students to write how these two things are similar to each other.
  10. Have a deck of flashcards and tell your students they will choose one in turns and speak about the picture for 2 minutes. They shouldn’t stop.

Fast as rabbits: T puts some flashcards on the board. Then a pair of students go to the board facing the flashcards. T says words (from the flashcards) and the 2 children must touch the correct flashcard as fast as they can. The winner is who touches more flashcards first.

Pictionary: Good for reviewing vocab. Pick a S and show him/her a flashcard picture or whisper a word into his/her ear. The S draws the picture on the board and the first S to guess the picture gets to draw the next picture. This can also be played in teams with a point system.

Shopping: This can be used with a wide range of flashcards (food pictures work well). Gather all the Ss and show them all the flashcards you have. Ask a S "What do you want?" (or maybe "What would you like?" to higher levels). The S should reply (e.g. "a hamburger, please"). T then says "Here you are" and the S finishes with "Thank you". At the end collect the objects by playing the 'Give Me' game

Cross the River: Place flashcards on floor in winding manner. Each represents a stepping stone in the river, as students must say word/phrase/question/etc in order to step on it and cross the river! (submitted by Michelle K).

Race Track: Lay out the flashcards like a race track with a start and finish line. Ss play in pairs or teams. S1 rolls a dice and moves a counter along the track. The S must say the flashcard landed on and if wrong must move back to the original position. Variation: put in some 'throw again' cards (e.g. brightly colored cards) and a nominate a 'crash' number on the die (e.g. if Ss throws a 6 they crash and must stay where they are and miss a turn).

Concentration: You need 2 sets of flashcards for this game. Place both sets face down on the floor. Ss take turns in turning over 2 cards (saying the cards aloud). If the cards match then the S keeps the cards. If the cards are different the cards are turned back over again in their original places. The S with the most pairs at the end of the game is the winner.

Concentration 2: Level: requires basic reading. Make a set of cards. On half of them put a picture of a theme related subject (for example body parts, food, furniture etc) on the other half put the word relating to each picture (ex. nose, mouth, lips, eye...). Laminate if possible. Place all cards face down on the table. The first player turns two at a time (or three for the very young) over to match the word to the picture. If it matches the player can keep the pair if not, the cards are returned and then next player goes. These cards can also be used so that a child or team simply matches the words to the pictures.

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Over-under: Line up the kids in two teams. Give the two kids at the front each a flash card. When you say go, the first in line says the word and passes the f/c over their head, the next kid says the word and passes the card under between their legs, the next kid over, then under, etc. The last kid in line races to the front to hand the f/c to the teacher and says the word. The first team to do so gets a point.

Ostrich Game: 

 You need some clothes pegs. Pair up Ss and peg a card onto each S's back. Both Ss face each other with hands behind backs waiting for T to shout "Go!". At this point they must try to discover his/her partner's hidden flashcard without letting their partner see theirs. When the S finally sees his/her partner's card s/he has to shout it out to become the winner. The Ss look like ostriches when playing this game.

Speed lines: Have the students in two lines facing the teacher. The first students in each line are the players. Show a flashcard and the first student to correctly name it is the winner. These two students then go to the back of their respective lines and you repeat the process with the next two students. If both students say the name of the card together let them quickly Janken to decide the winner. A very important ingredient is the speed. Have lines of unequal number so that on progressive rounds the students are playing with different people. This way you don't have to worry about pairing slower students with quicker ones.

Up and Down: You need 2 sets of flashcards for this game. Give each of your Ss a flashcard from one set. T keeps the other set. Arrange the Ss so that they are all sitting down. T holds up one flashcard and the S with the same flashcard stands up and says the word and then sits down again. Play the game at a fast pace so that Ss are standing up and sitting down rapidly. Variation: Give each S 2 or 3 flashcards.

Zoo Game: This is a fun activity for young learners on the topic of animal noises. After teaching the animals and their noises sit each S in a different part of the classroom and assign them as different animals (to make it clearer you can give each S a flashcard of the animal they are representing). Walk around the room and talk to each S, who can only reply as an animal. E.g. T: "Hello Yumi", S1:"Moo! (cow). T: "What's your name?" S2: "Roar!" (lion). T: "How are you, Kenta?" S3: "Bow-wow!" (dog).

Line True or False: Put a line of tape on the floor and designate one side "True" and the other "False". Hold up a flashcard or object and say its word. If Ss think the you have said the correct word they jump on the True side, if not they jump on the False side. Incorrect Ss sit out until the next game.

Keep the in Order: Each student has a set of cards (pictures with names) similar to the teacher. The teacher places his/her cards in a particular order in two or three rows, and so do the students following instructions. T starts calling the cards in pairs so that the two cards named change positions. Make a few changes in this way (don´t let students see the changes, they must follow them only by listening carefully). Afterwards, T. calls a student to say the cards in order. If all the cards are well placed the student can lead a new game. Students love the game and learn a lot of vocabulary.

Catch me if you can: Have students sit in a circle. After reviewing the chosen set of flashcards, place them in a pile in the center of the circle. Take the first card and show it to everybody. Have one student walk around the outside of the circle saying words from the specific subject – like fruits or days - while touching each student's of the circle on the head. When the "magic" word is said, the student whose head is touched at that time, must stand up and chase the student who touched them around the circle. The first one to sit in that spot remains seated and chooses the next "magic" word. The student standing begins again; "Sunday...Monday…"