Mido Farid is back with a whole new weekly series of games. And we start off with this very cool game: Ghostbusters!
1. Everyone sits at their desks, making sure there is room to run between the desks. (i.e. clear up any bags from the floor!)
2. Give everyone a flashcard to hold up. Either from just today’s lesson (so that several people may have the same card) or even better using previous themes (as long as the grammar fits.) e.g. let’s try it with “What do you want to be for Halloween?” where some students will have the new halloween cards and some students will have the regular What do you want to be? cards or even the regular jobs cards.
3. Choose one genki kid to come to the front to be the Ghostbuster!
4. Give the Ghostbuster a big inflatable or sponge hammer or bat etc. Something big, fun and soft.
5. Everyone in the class shouts out today’s question e.g. “What do you want to be for Halloween?”
6. After saying “sorry?” a few times (to get them to say it louder!) the teacher eventually gives an answer e.g. “I want to be a vampire!”
7. The Ghostbuster has to run to a vampire’s desk and hit the desk with their ghostbusting hammer or bat.
8. If they hit the desk they kill the vampire ghost and get lots of Ghostbuster hero points!
9. But …….. before the Ghostbuster can get to their desk if the vampire says “I want to be a ….” plus one of the other cards, the Ghostbuster has to run to that desk instead!
10. And of course before the Ghostbuster gets to that desk if they say “I want to be a ….” plus another card then the Ghostbuster has to keep running all over the classroom!! 🙂
If you pick a fast, genki kid as the Ghostbuster then this is *lots* of fun, especially for larger classes or smaller classes where you space out their desks!
Plus of course all the other kids are getting lots of speaking practice.
Ninja Tip: If two kids at opposite ends of the class figure out that they can just keep calling each other’s cards then make a rule where you can only call out each card once, that way everyone gets to have a go and there’s more tension as the Ghostbuster also has more chance of making a kill!
Ninja Tip 2: Remember full sentences must be said, we want to practice all those little words that make up the bulk of the English language and the phrase “I want to be a …” contains a whole bunch of them!
Do give it a try and let us know what you think in the comments!
Would you like another one next week?
Plus do check out Mido’s VIP fantastic eBooks of games.
Ninja Tip: Open these links on your iPhone and select “open in ibooks” – you’ll then have them always on your phone for when you need some emergency ideas!
And if you’re not a VIP member yet, get your Teacher’s Set order in now, you have until the 30th before the price goes up!
Earn More From Your Passion For Teaching English!
It’s Like one of my favorite review/emergency games, that I just call “Touch!”.
The kids sit in a circle, each with a flashcard/object/whatever in front of them, and one kid in the middle.
One kid (or teacher) says what’s in front of another kid, and the kid in the middle have to touch it before that kid mentions a new, and then it goes like described above.
If a kids card do get touched, then they change.
Like the “Ghostbusters!” game, you can fill in ANY English in this game, and the set-up only take a minute 😉
Mr. Rainbow
Fantastic game, I’ll try it today!! Thank you Mido!
Cool. This is the sort of game I’m always looking for. Always trying to figure out different games that get the kids up and having fun and doing most of the talking.
Wow, this game sounds like lot of fun! and very Genki! I also like the version of Mr. Rainbow. I´ve played a similar game before with friends and never thought to give it this twist to use for practicing vocab. Thanks for the great ideas Mido and Mr. Rainbow! Can´t wait for next weeks game 🙂
OMG this game is genius!!!! I love Mr. Rainbow’s version of it too – great for smaller classrooms!!
I will certainly be using this next course! Thanks so much for it!