Materials needed
For the students…
* One piece of paper per pair
* A pen or pencil (they should have one already)
For yourself…
* A copy of the English textbook that the class has been studying, or
* a list of vocabulary words taken from the chapters in their textbook that they’ve already studied.
How to play
- Arrange the class into teams, with 2 seating columns per team
- Tell the students that the person sitting next to them in their team is their partner
- If there are an uneven number of students in the classroom, even after rearranging the seating, it’s acceptable to allow a 3-person group instead of a pair within a team.
- Give each pair/group a piece of paper for writing down a word during their turn
- Tell them to put away their English textbooks and dictionaries.
- Explain that the game will be played in rounds, with the pairs at the front of the class competing against one another for their teams in the first round. After each round, the pair or group behind them will take over.
- Tell them that you will say an English word only once, and they have to write down how they think it is spelled. Give them about one minute to do so. Emphasize that they do not have to spell the word correctly to win the round—they only need to spell it better than the other teams.
- After the time is up, check each pair’s spelling and write it up on the board. Whichever pair has the least amount of spelling mistakes wins a point for their team. In the event of a tie, give both teams a point.
- Continue playing until every pair has had a turn. If gametime needs to be extended, continue playing from the first pair again.
Make sure that none of the students feel bad about their spelling, and ensure that everyone has fun by keeping the mood light. You could comment on how their spelling might actually make sense based on the pronunciation, but that the actual spelling is unusually different.