Introduction

The aim of this activity is to show students in a playful way, that they must not panic if they want to say something in English and suddenly forget the word.

They will learn two easy solutions, to act out a word and how to describe it.

Target group and Time

The time of this activity can be easily adapted for different purposes ranging from a 10 min warm-up to a 45 min class by adding new words or letting the students write their own.

Learning objectives

Self-confidence in language use.

Instructions to set up the activity

I started with a story: "I have a cousin in the U.S. who doesn't speak German. When I was talking to her, I suddenly forgot the translation for a word. What can I do in such a situation?" Students will come up with various ideas, two of them being: to explain or describe a word or "just do it" meaning to act it out.

There will be two rounds, one describing the word and one acting it out.

How to explain the rules:

1.) Describing a word is similar to the game "Taboo". Students get cards with words on them and have one minute to think about how they could describe it. One possibility to make the game easier for weaker students is to give them the word in a sentence so that they have more context and better understanding for the description.

Examples (The bold words are the ones they should describe): Math is my favorite subject in school. During the holidays I will travel to Spain. It's so hot, I hope we can go swimming later.

2.) Acting it out is like charades or pantomime. You aren't allowed to say anything, just use your body and the others have to guess what you are portraying.

Examples: eating ice-cream,  dancing ballet, playing football, walking with an umbrella...

Letting it run

This game can be adapted in various ways for different stages of English learners. More advanced learners could get more complicated words to describe or make up their own words. When working with beginners, the focus could shift to only acting out the words.