By Linda Wallace Jones

These activities can be adapted for students at various ages or instructional levels. They are useful for review of material previously studied, or as short end-of-class activities.

Lists and categories: Group’s make lists as timed competition or on wall charts. (Examples: Things that fit in a matchbox. Things people do in a car. Things that require electricity. Objects found in a student backpack. What you could do with $10.00? Also, see the game "Outburst".) Limitless possibilities; adaptable for any age.

Rebus stories: Students write stories, which include pictures in place of some words. Then exchange stories and read your partner’s story aloud. (Fun for young students. )

Rejoinder Jeopardy: List colloquial rejoinders. (Terrific! No kidding? Yuck! No way! Tough luck! NOT! I could care less. I hope so/not. Ow! Super!) Student pairs write statements, which could have preceded the exclamation. Read statements to the class; class members guess the appropriate rejoinder.

Alphabet game: "I’m going to [Alaska] and I’m planning to take [apricots]." (Can be adapted to any level or topic.)

Alliteration game: Make sentences using as many words as possible beginning with each letter in the alphabet. (My name is Ann. I live in Alabama; I sell angry alligators. My name is Bob. I live in Brazil. I sell bright blue bandanas.)

Survey charts: Put charts around the classroom using any subject or grammatical form; students add to the charts. (e.g.: What are you fond of doing? - afraid of doing? What do you put off doing? - hate doing?) -OR - Students make predictions, then survey classmates and rank results on survey charts. (e.g., What did you do last weekend? What would you change about your school? Rank orders the top-10 list.)

Newspaper headlines: Rewrite headlines as complete sentences. Make up stories to support them. Or use incorrect headlines to interpret double meanings and find errors.

What am I?: Put a word on each student’s back. The student must ask yes-no questions of classmates to identify the word. (Use any vocabulary. Example: Essential words to know if you are going to study in the U.S., e.g., ATM card, shopping mall, TGIF party, student discount, No Smoking sign, 911, photo I.D.)

Cartoons:(a) Cut cartoons into sections; students find group partners by matching pieces. (b) Practice reported speech or c) paraphrasing. (d) Learn idioms.

Picture Story: Each student in a group of 4 has a different picture in a 4-picture sequence. Each student describes his/her scene to the others. The group reconstructs the sequence by adding information or asking questions, but without looking at each other’s pictures. After establishing the sequence, students invent a story (logical or imaginative) which they present to the class.