A series of classic activities for young learners to practise action phrases taken from SuperMinds 1 Unit 5. Nothing groundbreaking, but students enjoy playing these games and there's a satisfying sense of achievement that comes from repeating the same vocabulary (on different days in different ways) until it sticks.
All the activities in this post can be accessed from this PowerPoint.
Learn the Phrases
Basic
Use slides 3-6 to help drill the collocations (see image to the right).
Movement
Write "Play", "See" and "Go" on different walls. Display images on slides 8-18.
Students run to the correct wall.
Elicit phrase, then click to reveal.
(At this stage you can add to it by demanding "I always...." or "we love....", etc.)
Practice and Play!
Back to the board (A.K.A. hotseat).
Project slide 22 on the board.
Split the class into 2 or 3 teams.
One member of each team sits with their backs to the board, looking at a printout from slide 20 or 21 (depending on the level of challenge).
The teacher (or a student) points to one of the pictures.
Students mime the action for their teammate.
First person to shout out the correct phrase wins a point for their team.
Noughts & Crosses (A.K.A. tic-tack-toe/line of 3/4).
Give each pair of students a board printed from slides 23-24.
They take turns to say a phrase for each square before claiming it by placing a counter on it. (using counters means you can reuse the boards).
If they get the phrase wrong, they miss their turn.
The game ends when a player manages to claim 3 (or 4) squares in a row.
When pairs finish a game, switch boards and play again.
Possible phrases (depending on ability):
I go shopping.
I always/never go shopping.
I like/don't like going shopping.
Charades
Similar to back to the board, print slide 20 and cut up to make prompt cards.
Split class into groups of 3-5ish and give each team a set of cards face down.
One person from each group takes a card and mimes the activity.
The person who shouts out the correct action first gets to do the next mime.
The team that works through the pile of prompts first wins.
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