III. Substitute “thing”

Substitute “thing” is used when we don’t know exactly how to describe or call something.

Eg: - Did he ask you out on a date?

- Kind of. He didn’t call it a date. He said it would be just a drink thing.

Eg. Rachel: wish me luck

Monica: what for?

Rachel: I’m gonna go get one of those job things.

Eg: Monica: Independence. Taking control of your life. The whole “hat” thing.

Appendix 3

Word games

In teaching English as a second language

Language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating. Constant effort is required to understand, produce and manipulate the target language. Well-chosen games are invaluable as they give students a break and at the same time allow students to practice language skills. Games are highly motivating since they are amusing and at the same time challenging. Furthermore, they employ meaningful and useful language in real contexts. They also encourage, increase cooperation and sustain learners’ interest and work.

Games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. The learners want to take part and in order to do so must understand what others are saying or have written, and they must speak or write in order to express their own point of view or give information. Games are highly motivating because they are amusing and interesting. They can be used to give practice in all language skills and be used to practice many types of communication.

The need for meaningfulness in language learning has been accepted for some years. A useful interpretation of 'meaningfulness' is that the learners respond to the content in a definite way. If they are amused, angered, intrigued or surprised the content is clearly meaningful to them. Thus the meaning of the language they listen to, read, speak and write will be more vividly experienced and, therefore, better remembered.

Game 1: Whisper Circles or Chinese Whisper

Aim: Speaking (using a whisper), pronunciation, listening, grammar (it takes ...to do ...)

Notes:

Divide the students into groups of 7 to 10.

Choose one leader from each group. Give the leaders the card which has the sentence "It takes about six seconds for something you drink to reach your stomach." Ask him to memorize the sentence, go back to his group and whisper what he has read on the card to the person on his right. Each person will whisper the sentence to the next person and the sentence can be said only once. The last person will say the sentence out loud. If the sentence is the same with the one written on the card, that group wins.

Game 2: Match and Catch the Riddle

Aim: Reading silently, reading aloud, pronouncing segmental and suprasegmental features correctly, listening selectively, grammar (simple present tense), linguistic and nonlinguistic reasoning.

Notes:

Divide the class into two groups:  The QUESTION group and the ANSWER group.

Give the questions to the first group and the answers to the other group.

Each student in the first group is supposed to read the question he has aloud and whoever has the answer in the other group reads the answer aloud.

If the question and the answer match, put the students in pairs. If they don't, continue till the right answer is found. Each student can read his part only twice. When all questions and answers are matched ask the pairs to read the riddle they have just for fun.

Some Suggested Riddles
QUESTIONS	ANSWERS
What animal is gray and has a trunk?	A mouse going on vacation
What animal eats and drinks with its tail?	All do. No animal takes off its tail when eating or drinking.
Why do mother kangaroos hate rainy days?	Because then the children have to play inside.
How can you tell the difference between a can of chicken soup and a can of tomato soup?	Read the label.
Why is an eye doctor like a teacher?	They both test the pupils.
Why did the cross-eyed teacher lose his job?	Because he could not control his pupils.
Why is mayonnaise never ready?	Because it is always dressing.
Do you know the story about the skunk?	Never mind, it stinks.
If a papa bull eats three bales of hay and a baby bull eats one bale, how much hay will a mama bull eat?	Nothing. There is no such thing as a mama bull.
What does an envelope say when you lick it?	Nothing. It just shuts up.
Why do cows wear bells?	Because their horns don't work.
Why shouldn't you believe a person in bed?	Because he is lying.
What is the best way to prevent milk from turning sour?	Leave it in the cow.
Why does a dog wag his tail?	Because no one else will wag it for him.

Game 3: Categories

Aim: Writing, reading aloud, pronunciation, learning, memorizing, using various vocabulary.

Notes:

Divide the class in pairs or in groups of 3-5 students.

Each group has got a table with 5-6 categories which can be changed when needed. Some of the categories can be based on the general knowledge vocabulary and some on the specific terms including new words.

Students are told a letter they have to make words on each category starting with. Students write only one word corresponding to each category.

If two groups have the same word on the same category or don’t have any they get no points. If groups have different words each has got a point. After several rounds the group with more points wins the game.

Category	Letter	Letter	Letter	Letter	letter
Sport
Animals
Food
Jobs
Welding

E.g.

Student 1

Category	Letter B	Letter C	Letter	Letter	letter
Sport	Baseball 1	Cycling 1
Animals	Bear 1	Crocodile 0
Food	Bread 0	Carrot 1
Jobs	Broker 1	Cyclist 1
Welding	Blacksmithing 0	Copper 1

7 points

Student 2

Category	Letter B	Letter C	Letter	Letter	letter
Sport	Basketball1	Car racing1
Animals	Beaver 1	Crocodile 0
Food	Bread 0	Cucumber1
Jobs	Bomber 1	_____ 0
Welding	Blacksmithing 0	Cost effective1

6 points

Game 4: Associations

Aim: writing, reading, using and memorizing new vocabulary

Notes:

Divide the class into pairs

Show pictures representing the words students have to memorize

The students and the teacher write three associations with the picture in 1 minute.

Then one of the students reads his associations.

For each association that coincides with the teacher’s associations a pair has got a point.

The one with more points wins.

Game 5: Definitions

Aim: writing, reading, grammar (present simple), vocabulary, listening, memorizing new vocabulary.

Notes:

Divide the class into the groups of three

Give each team three pieces of paper: one with the new word and its definition, two others must be empty.

Each group writes two false definitions to the new word on the empty papers.

When time’s up, every team reads three definitions and the rest of the class guesses which one is true.

The group with the most difficult-to-guess creative false definitions wins.

Game 6: Chain Game or Snowball

Aim: speaking, practicing new vocabulary, memory training, grammar (conditionals)

Notes:

Start talking with a phrase like: If I’m going on a trip I’d take a suitcase.

Student A continues: If I’m going on a trip I’d take a suitcase and a laptop.

Student B continues: If I’m going on a trip I’d take a suitcase and a laptop and a cell phone.

Student C continues: If I’m going on a trip I’d take a suitcase and a laptop and a cell phone and a welding electrode…

Student D……

If a student forgets a piece of the information said by the other students he drops out until the only one’s left.

Game 7: “Pictionary”

Aim: memorizing new vocabulary

Notes:

Divide the class into teams of 5 or 6

Give an A4 piece of paper divided into 12 squares to every team.

One member of each group comes up and reads a word shown by the teacher runs back and draws the picture representing the word he read in one of the 12 squares. After the team guesses the word, the other member comes up to the teacher and draws a word…

The first group to guess all the words wins the game.

E.g.

Teacher’s word list

Team 1	Team 2
Giraffe	Kangaroo
spanner	Welding electrode
Welding helmet	hammer
Marry-go-round	formula
hair	zits
parents	love
Spot welding	Butt welding
smile	Tears

Game 8: Crazy Story

Aim: Writing, reading aloud, listening, grammar (simple past tense, reported speech)

Notes:

Prepare sheets of paper with six columns which bear the following titles at the top:

WHO? (a man's name)

WHOM? (a woman's name)

WHERE?

WHAT DID HE SAY?

WHAT DID SHE SAY?

WHAT DID THEY DO?

Divide the class into groups of 6. Give each group one sheet of paper. Ask the first student to write under the first part and fold the paper so as to cover what he has written. Tell the student to pass the paper onto the next person. As each person writes, he should only look at his fold. When all students finish, one student from each group will be asked to read their story in the following format. You can write the format on the blackboard.

............. met ............... in/at ..............

He said ..............................................

She said .............................................

And so they ..........................................

Game 9: Crazy Story 2

Aim: reading, speaking, writing, grammar (present simple, past simple, past continuous, present perfect…)

Notes:

Cut different pictures from magazines and put them in the box

Divide the class into groups of 2 or 3

Let each team take a picture from the box and make up a story including the content of the picture, when the first picture is included let the students take another one. At least there must be 4 pictures described in the story.

the partners with the most interesting story win the game.

Game 10: Missing Headlines

Aim: Reading silently, reading for specific information, speaking (discussing in pairs).

Notes:

Cut out news items and their headlines from a newspaper. Paste the news and headlines on separate sheets of paper. Photocopy them.

Ask students to work in pairs. Give each pair the photocopies of the news and headlines.

Ask them to match the headlines with the news items.

Game 11: Find the Differences

Aim: Speaking (describing people and actions), listening, grammar (there is/are....., s/he has ......., s/he is .......ing, s/he is + adjective)

Notes:

Find or draw two pictures which are the same except for seven features. Photocopy them on separate sheets of paper.

Ask students to work in pairs. Give one copy of each picture to the pairs. The pairs are not supposed to show their copies to each other. Partner A's will describe their copy and Partner B's will listen carefully and examine their own copy to find the differences. They can ask questions if they require more detailed information or need any clarification. The pair that finishes first wins the game.

Game 12: The Secret Code

Aim: Spelling, guessing by using linguistic clues, reading.

Notes:

Ask students to work individually. Give each student a sheet of paper which has the secret code on it. Tell them to translate it into English.

Clue: the first word is 'the'; the most frequently used word in English.

When they finish, ask them to write a secret message of their own to their friend. They can use the same symbols. If they need new symbols, they can create their own.

Conclusion

Games are highly motivating because they are amusing and interesting. They can be used to give practice in all language skills and be used to practice many types of communication. The aim of this paper was to demonstrate some sample games. Teachers are encouraged to find other games which are suitable for his/her students or develop his/her own.