Close Your Eyes

Skills: Describing physical appearance; asking and responding to questions; visual discrimination
Group Size: 4 to 24
Prep Time: none
Playing Time: 5-20 minutes
Interest Level: ages 3 to adult
Ability Level: beginning to intermediate

Language used: "Look at _________." "Close your eyes!" colors, shapes, positions, articles of clothing

Game: Choose a student to begin. Tell the student, "Look at _______." Allow the student to examine the person or object for about five seconds, then direct the student, "Close your eyes!" After the student's eyes are closed ask him or her a question about the person or object examined. For example, you might ask, "What color is Sung-ho's shirt?" or "Is there a box of crayons on my desk?" If the student responds incorrectly, direct him or her to open his or her eyes and inspect the object for five more seconds. Direct the student to close his or her eyes again and ask another question. Depending on class size, you may allow students up to three turns. If the student correctly answers the question, he or she chooses a player as well as a person or object and asks the next question.

Against the Clock

Skills: verbal description; vocabulary review
Group Size: 2-20
Time: 5-15 minutes
Materials Needed: Vocabulary word or picture cards
Interest Level: 5-young adult
Ability Level: upper beginning to advanced

Keep a box of vocabulary cards in the classroom. (I usually write out each week's vocabulary words on index cards at the beginning of a week, then add these to the box as I teach them.) As an end of the week review or a filler for those last five minutes of class, I select a student, hand him or her the box and set a time limit of thirty to sixty seconds. This student draws a card from the box, then proceeds to describe the object, action, emotion, etc. written thereon to the class. As soon as the class guesses the word, the student proceeds to the next card, and so forth. One point is given for each word guessed by the class. If a student does not know the meaning of a vocabulary word he or she draws, he or she may skip it; however, one point is deducted for each skipped card. This activity works well as either a team or an individual exercise. For added practice, you may randomly ask students to use reviewed words correctly in sentences at the end of each timed turn.