![\"Wheel](\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/site\/\/9\/language-class-activities.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d is great for teaching vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation all at once. It’s a great all-around game show for the classroom.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll need:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Three teams<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- A spinning wheel with dollar amounts written in wedges. If your arts and crafts skills are rusty and you have access to a tablet or laptop in your classroom, you can use an online wheel creator<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \n
- A list of expressions or phrases in the target language. These can be phrases you\u2019ve already taught and want to review. For more advanced classes, you can use any common expression.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The premise of the game is simple. Pick an expression and write it out in blanks\u2014kind of like hangman\u2014on the board. Teams spin the wheel for a dollar amount, and then work together to guess a letter. If the letter is in your chosen expression, they keep that dollar amount, multiplied by how many times that letter appears.<\/p>\n
To keep the game moving, give each team one spin per turn, even if their guess was correct. When a team is ready to solve the puzzle on their turn, they can guess the whole expression. If they\u2019re right, they keep their cash from that round.<\/p>\n
And repeat! Whoever has the most cash when the bell rings wins. Your students will have spent the whole class practicing spelling, speaking and thinking in their target language.<\/p>\n
2. \u201cPassword\u201d<\/h2>\n
![\"Password\"](\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/site\/\/9\/language-class-activities1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cPassword\u201d is especially useful as a vocabulary revision game that will break your students out of rote definition memorization.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll need:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Two teams<\/li>\n
- A vocabulary list With beginner and intermediate classes, you may want a list of words you\u2019ve already introduced<\/li>\n
- Index cards<\/li>\n
- A timer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
This game show activity is very similar to the party game Taboo. The goal is for students to describe vocabulary words to one another without using the word itself.<\/p>\n
Give one student a word on an index card and have them attempt to describe the word on it to their team. If the team guesses the word within 10 seconds (or whatever time frame you choose), they get a point. Alternate between teams, rotating who gets the index card.<\/p>\n
Password is a very flexible game that works for a variety of class sizes. Just adjust the number of teams and team sizes if necessary.<\/p>\n
3. \u201cThe Newlywed Game\u201d<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/site\/\/9\/language-class-activities2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nOn TV, \u201cThe Newlywed Game\u201d was a risqu\u00e9 show that gave couples points for how well they knew each other.<\/p>\n
In the classroom, you can take this game show\u2019s structure for a much tamer, but very effective, icebreaker and conversation skills exercise for students. You can call it \u201cGet to Know Me\u201d or create another similar title. It’s one of my favorite game shows for classrooms.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll need:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Two teams: Red and Blue (or whatever team names you or your students choose).<\/li>\n
- A list of basic biographical questions.<\/li>\n
- Two chairs labeled Red and Blue.<\/li>\n
- Index cards or mini chalkboard\/whiteboards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Two members from each team sit in chairs facing each other. Ask the Red team member a question about the Blue team member. Some possible questions are:<\/p>\n
- \n
- What sport does he or she play?<\/li>\n
- How many siblings does he or she have?<\/li>\n
- What is his or her favorite season?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The Red player writes down a guess and the Blue player writes down the answer. They reveal what they\u2019ve written at the same time. If Red\u2019s guess matches Blue\u2019s answer, Red gets a point.<\/p>\n
Repeat, posing the question to Blue this time. Then get two new team members in the chairs and continue. The team with the most points once everybody has played wins.<\/p>\n
Not only does this game require your students to listen and respond to questions in their target language, it also creates connections between classmates.<\/p>\n
4. \u201cJeopardy\u201d<\/h2>\n
![\"Jeopardy\"](\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/site\/\/9\/language-class-activities3.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis game show activity works best for intermediate and advanced classes, with lessons that cover more than just grammar and vocabulary. If you want to review geography, literature or history concepts before a test, for example, \u201cJeopardy\u201d is a useful tool.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll need:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Three teams<\/li>\n
- A list of trivia questions and answers (25 or more, depending on class size)<\/li>\n
- PowerPoint or another dynamic presentation platform. Fortunately for teachers, there are numerous \u201cJeopardy\u201d-style game templates available online, such as Jeopardy Rocks.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Design a \u201cJeopardy\u201d board with questions arranged in columns by topic, increasing the difficulty of the question with the number of corresponding points. You keep the questions. The class should only see the categories and point values. Once you\u2019ve created your board, split your class into three teams. These teams take turns choosing squares on the board and answering questions.<\/p>\n
To keep the game moving, give each team one question per turn, even if they were correct. When all the squares are out, the team with the most points wins.<\/p>\n
Unless you are explicitly teaching your students to formulate questions, it can be useful to ignore \u201cJeopardy\u2019s\u201d famous \u201cwhat is\u201d question\/answer structure. In this case, you can make things simpler by asking questions in the usual question format, and having answers be statements.<\/p>\n
5. \u201cTic-Tac-Dough\u201d<\/h2>\n
- A list of expressions or phrases in the target language. These can be phrases you\u2019ve already taught and want to review. For more advanced classes, you can use any common expression.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- A spinning wheel with dollar amounts written in wedges. If your arts and crafts skills are rusty and you have access to a tablet or laptop in your classroom, you can use an online wheel creator<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n