39 ESL Vocabulary Activities: For Teenagers and Adults - Jackie Bolen, Jennifer Booker Smith 2015

Vocabulary pictionary
Games and activities for all levels

Skills: Speaking/Listening

Time: 10-15 minutes

Materials: Whiteboard, marker, eraser, optional flash cards guesses. The goal is to get as many points as possible in a specified amount of time (two minutes). Then, the next team does the same thing. You can play as many rounds as you wish.

I use this with classes of up to 40 students and it works well as long as no one gets too rowdy. In those large classes, have students sit at tables, rather than individual desks, so that they can work together easily. If you have a large class seated at desks, you should arrange them into groups of 4-8 desks depending on class size. If you have a class of ten or fewer, just divide them into two teams.

Procedure:

1. Divide students into equal teams of 4-8. Have each team choose a representative to draw.

2. Demonstrate by drawing a picture representing a familiar term on the whiteboard and elicit guesses from the students.

3. The team that correctly guesses the word will go first. The other team representatives will play rock-scissors-paper to determine their order.

4. Have the drawer from the first team go to the whiteboard and show him/her a flashcard. He/she to draw it.

5. As he/she draws, his/her team guesses the correct word. The drawer takes another card and the team continues to guess. Continue until the specified time is up.

6. Continue until each team has had at least one chance to play.