My No. 1 Totally Bestest Ever Game!

It always pays to have a few “Swiss Army Knife” backup songs and games available for when (inevitably) something goes pear shaped in class.

My keep-in-reserve songs are Disco Warm Up, How are you? (VIP members, check out the new Baby Monkey  How are you? cards!) and Superhero.

And for my never-fail-even-works-with-any-high-school-class-or-adults ….. this is my go to game!

1. Put the kids in groups.

2. Each group makes a circle.

3. The first person in each group asks the person next to them today’s question (“What’s your name?, What’s your favourite…?, What do you think of…? etc.)

4. That person answers and asks the person next to them.

5. When you get round the circle and the first person ends up answering, everyone throws their hands in the air and shouts out “Yeah!”

6.  Fastest team is the winner ( + cue looks of astonishment from the other groups!)

Dead easy, but it always works, it’s my number one game for junior high or any age group.

Of course you can then teach Genki English rule no. 2 “Losing just means try again!” and keep going.

Here’s a video of the game in action ( plus a load of extra hints and tips and just ignore my German accent!)

And here’s a video of Val in Argentina’s kids doing it!

The kids love it!

So…. what’s your top go-t0-in-an-emergency-never-fails game?

Richard Graham

I'm on a mission to make education Genki—fun, exciting, and full of life! Genki English has now been researched by Harvard University and licensed by the British Council around the world. The results have been magical! Now I'm here to help you teach amazing lessons, with all the materials prepared for you, and to double your teaching income so you can sustainably help many more students in the future!

4 Responses to “My No. 1 Totally Bestest Ever Game!”

  1. Mark Amstrong

    I love this concept. It’s so simple and easy to use. I tried it in my new kindergarten class and the kids had a ball.

  2. Margit

    Hey Val, how are you doing? I miss you and your videos!

    Richard, don’t even mention your “german accent”. This lesson is perfect.
    I think my next TT should be all German topics! It was amazing how they just would say “I can’t do this”

  3. Gumby

    For me, the timed race game is the winner. It is basically the same game but the whole class plays together to beat the clock. Students have to ask and answer the same question. The teacher times the class to see how long it takes. Then in the SAME order you do it again, but the class aims for faster time.

    You can also require them to ask the question or a series of questions to a certain number of people. When they finish their task they sit down. Margit has a great way of teaching this. She asks how they can improve their times (talk to the nearest classmate and not look for their best buddies) This is a great way to encourage classmates to talk to those of the opposite sex or those who are very shy.

    Both ways are surefire way to make a class feel successful and takes the pressure of the students who clam up under pressure.

  4. Shawn

    I put the kids in lines, ask the question and the give the mics to the first kids, who answer, turn around, ask the next kids and then hand off the microphone and sit down.

    The last little bugger in line to answer the question comes running and usually screaming to the front to give me my mic back. First team to give me my mic is the winner. Losing teams lose a player or two to the winning team. (The idea is that the winning team can’t win every time because each time they win, they get more people which makes it harder for them to win)

    For added energy, whenever the kids go from sitting to standing, they have to jump as high as they can.

    Winning teams can get a run-by “high 5” from the teacher. (Kids all put their hands out, teacher runs past giving each kid five on the way by)

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