4 word games for those who want to have fun with the company and improve their English

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

All you need is imagination and a little preparation.

You will be able to learn many new words and expressions, develop communication skills and logical thinking. These games are cost-effective and available to anyone who wants to practice English. You can try them anywhere: with your family, at parties, lessons or on the road.

• Agree in advance with all participants that you can only play in English. For those who switch to Russian, you can come up with fines - for example, deduct points.
• Save a dictionary for disputable situations. You can use the printed version or download applications to your phone: for example, Oxford Russian Dictionary and Oxford Dictionary of English.
• You will need a notebook and a pen to write down the score, new words and expressions.
• After the game, it is useful to practice the words encountered during it. Use vocabulary apps such as Words or Wordbook.
• You can prepare flashcards with words and expressions in advance, or do it right before the game.
• It will be great if you include an English teacher in your company.

No need to worry about grammatical mistakes during the game. Your main task is to learn to speak English fluently.

1. Who am I? ("Who am I?")

• Number of players:from 2 people.
• Level:Pre-Intermediate and higher.
• Time:from 45 minutes.

In this very funny and addicting game you have to guess what is written on your forehead in one minute.

How to play

You need to prepare from 30 to 50 stickers with nouns in English. You can add well-known heroes of books or films, celebrities, names of professions, any objects, plants and animals to the list of words. You can be Sleeping Beauty or Shrek, cleaner or tennis player, violet or mole.

Each of the players, without looking, takes one sticker and attaches it to his forehead. Then he asks questions, trying to figure out which word he got. He may ask, for example: Am I human? Can I fly? Am I making noise? Am I the hero of the film? Opponents answer this to the player only Yes or No. After each question, the turn goes to the next participant. The one who guesses the word faster will win.

How to modify the game

• If the participant partially guessed the hidden character (for example, he named a film with this hero, but does not know his name), this can be counted as a victory.
• You can predetermine the topic for which the words will be selected: "Cinema", "Home", "Holidays", "Sports" or "Painting".
• One of the interesting varieties of the game is What’s my problem? ("What's my problem?"). Instead of individual words, various life situations are recorded on stickers, pieces of paper are glued to the participants' foreheads (or backs, if you don't want to sit at the table). Players take turns asking questions to find out what their problem is. It can be anything related to work, hobby, health, travel or family: I lost my passport; My cat is ill; I was late for the train and so on.

2. Puzzles

• Number of players: from 2 people.
• Level: Pre-Intermediate and higher.
• Time: 15-45 minutes.

In this team game, you need to make sentences from individual words. It will help to pump the knowledge of grammar, and is also aimed at the development of logic.

How to play

Before the start of the process, all participants prepare at least one sheet of paper on which they write any three to five sentences of approximately the same length. Each of them should be written in its own color: for example, the first - in blue, the second - in red, the third - in green, and so on.

Then you need to split into two teams. Members from one group exchange sheets with players from another. After that, you can take some time to read and remember the phrases, but this is not necessary. Next, the sheets with sentences must be cut into separate words and mixed. The task of the participants is, after the signal, to collect all the fragments into the original sentences faster than the other team. If the teacher conducts the game with the students, then he can prepare, cut and distribute the sheets with words himself.

How to modify the game

• Instead of coming up with phrases yourself, you can use headlines from the English-language press. For example: "Man on surfboard saved three days after falling off cruise" or "Pupils will need extra help to catch up, warn teachers".
• It is possible to agree that all proposals are drawn up on one or several topics that are of interest to the participants.

3. Two Truths and a Lie

• Number of players: from 2 people.
• Level: Pre-Intermediate and higher.
• Time: 30-45 minutes.

Participants write down three sentences about themselves, in which two are true and one is false. The opponents have to guess where the fiction is.

How to play

It is worth writing more difficult statements so that you are not so easy to see through. For example: When I was a kid, I wanted to be a doctor; I met all the members of the Eagles; I grew up on an island and the like. Guessing people can ask leading questions. The winner is the one with the most false statements.

How to modify the game

• Here you can also choose a specific topic: "Family and childhood", "Health", "Animals", "Hobbies", "Abilities and achievements", "Unusual situations from life".
• You can agree to score points for one guessed truth, not two.

4. Mims

• Number of players: from 2 people.
• Level: Elementary or higher.
• Time: 15-45 minutes.

This is the same "Crocodile", only in English: with the help of pantomime, you need to show a word or phrase. The game is great for developing imagination and creativity.

How to play

Words are written on the cards, then they are mixed. One of the players takes the word and explains it with the help of facial expressions and gestures. Other participants ask questions, trying to guess what it is. You can only answer them with Yes, No, or Maybe.

Whoever defines the word first becomes the next mime. You can play against the clock - guess in 1 or 5 minutes. The winner is the one who correctly names the most words.

How to modify the game

• If the participants have recently started to learn English, you can make very simple nouns: for example, depict animals or representatives of different professions.
• You can also complicate the game by including definitions and abstract concepts: for example, well-dressed woman, sugar-free food, or long-lasting friendship.