The describer then reveals who they were thinking of, and everyone can show their drawings to the rest of the class to see how well they did. When they've been given enough detail, they can try and guess who they've drawn. However, the descriptions can get more advanced according to your ability.įor example, more advanced learners could describe what someone is wearing or what their personality and mannerisms are like.Īs the nominee gives more detail, everyone draws on their piece of paper what they think the person being described looks like. (Tip: it's more interesting if they pick someone who's in the room.)Īt lower levels, this helps practice simple adjectival phrases like “he is tall” or “she has red hair”. It's their job to think of someone they know, or a famous person, then to describe that person's appearance. Give everyone a piece of paper, and nominate one person to be the “describer”.
Some of these games are more childish than others, but you could try adapting them for your own purposes, for example, to play with your language exchange partner or online language tutor. (As far as I could tell, the kids enjoyed it, too.) They were a fun way to keep everyone engaged while still learning something.Īnd just because children enjoy themdoesn't mean that adults can't also enjoy them.
When I worked as an English teacher, I always enjoyed getting the class involved in games. Let’s get started… and don’t forget to have fun! 3 Grammar Games for Kids In this article, I'll give a brief overview of some easy grammar games that you can try. The category would include group games that you play in a classroom or with a language partner, grammar review games played online or on your phone, or even grammar practice games that you play in your head in spare moments. We can do better!Ī “grammar game”, then, is essentially any technique for memorising or practising a particular aspect of grammar - be it verb conjugations, sentence structure, spelling and punctuation, or any other intimidating feature of your target language - that's at least slightly more fun than rote memorisation or “look, cover, write, check”. There's a reason this “game” is taught in schools everywhere: it works. In a way, you can think of this technique as a simple form of game: you play by writing down your target words (in this case, the different forms of sein), and you win if you can remember them all with no mistakes. Then uncover the correct answers and see how well you did. Look at the correct verb forms, cover up the screen or piece and paper, and try to write down all the forms from memory. Especially when you have another 100 irregular verbs to learn in multiple tenses and moods.Ī better, but still imperfect, approach is the classic learning method “look, cover, write, check”. It can work, but it's extremely time-consuming and boring. This is an approach that’s often taught in language classes. The most obvious approach is rote memorisation - just repeat ich bin, du bist, es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie sind to yourself over and over again until they're burned permanently into your brain. Say you're learning German, and you want to memorise the present tense conjugations of the verb sein (“to be”). So how can we make grammar fun? The same way we make most things fun: we turn it into a game. When learning is fun, not only are we more likely to attempt it, but we're more likely to remember what we've learned. Believe it or not, learning grammar can be fun! (No, really.) That’s why I advocate Speaking from Day 1, even if you do sound like Tarzan.Įven so, it's obviously important to learn good grammar - especially once you’ve reached the intermediate and advanced levels in a foreign language.īut getting all those conjugations and declensions into your head doesn't have to be a yawn-inducing activity. My view is that speaking a language is much more important than good grammar, especially for beginners. Why Learn Grammar? Does It Really Matter in a Foreign Language? Mister Wolf and Other Classic Children's Games Why Learn Grammar? Does It Really Matter in a Foreign Language?.