Higher Colleges of Technology

Fujairah Women College

English division

Engaging Activities for Primary Students

Vol. 1

Done by:

Fatima Ali

Thuriya Harib

Fun Games for Primary Students

1. ID GAME 

Attach a picture or name of a famous person to the back of each student. The students then walk

around the class asking each other yes/no questions (e.g. Is it a man? Is he American? Is he a

sportsman? etc.) They can ask only one question to each student at a time until they have enough

information to guess correctly who their person is. 

2. A Day in the Life of … 

Put word or picture prompts on the board such as get up – time? Breakfast – food? Drink? Get to

school – how? How long? Etc One volunteer student sits at the front of the class and other

students find out about his/her day by asking yes/no questions. They cannot move on to the next

question until a positive answer is received. For example, Did you get up at 7.00? No. Did you

get up at 7.30? No. Did you get up at 7.45? Yes. Did you eat cornflakes for breakfast? Etc. This

can be adapted to present questions by asking about the student’s daily routine. This can then be

followed up by repeating the same procedure in pairs. The students can then report their findings

to another student. Thus drilling the past simple or present simple depending on which was used

in the original activity. 

3. Family Tree

this activity is primarily to drill the genitive ‘s’ and also practices the vocabulary of family

relationships. It is very easy to prepare, simply draw or find a typical family tree, EFL resource

books are full of them (the one I use is from 1000+ Pictures A. Wright, Nelson), with 3

generations represented. Out an enlarged copy on the board or give a copy to each student (or put

it on the OHP). Teacher asks, “Who is John?” The students take turns relating John’s

relationship to every other member of the family. For example He’s Barbara’s son. He’s

Nancy’s brother etc. 

4. Questionnaires 

Questionnaires in various forms are perfect for drilling just about any language and are very easy

to compile (and EFL resource books are full of them). The initial filling in of the questionnaire

obviously drills question forms and the reporting back drills the positive and negative forms of

whatever structure you choose. Here’s an example for drilling the present perfect and past

simple: 

Compile a questionnaire with at least 10 questions such as: 

Have you ever been to America? When? Where? 

Have you ever been in a helicopter? When? Where? 

Have you ever met anyone famous? Who? When? 

Have you ever been to a language school before? Where? When?  

This can be done in pairs. When the students have completed the questionnaire they report their

findings to another student. As a follow up students write a biography of his/her partner. 

5. Find Someone Who… (FSW) 

Like questionnaires FSWs can drill any kind of language and can be easily prepared in just a few

minutes. Prepare about 10 sentences. Here are a couple of examples for drilling present

continuous for the future and can respectively: 

Find someone who ...

... is going away for the weekend

... is meeting friends tonight

… is eating in a restaurant later 

… is changing his/her job in the near future  

 

Find someone who.. 

… cannot swim 

… can speak more than 2 languages 

… can read music 

… can touch his/her nose with his/her tongue 

You can compile a personalized FSW from the information collected from the questionnaire in

the previous section. For example: Find some who went to Florida last year to learn English. 

Personally, I love using FSWs and find them extremely useful. For example I use one on the first

day as a getting-to-know-you activity. I compile very general questions such as Find someone

who … needs English for their job / is married / thinks every mistake should be corrected / has

been on a language course before, etc. It’s a subtle way for everyone to learn each other’s name

and get a little information and, by joining in yourself, you can get an idea of what these students

expect from the course and expel the idea of teacher-at-the-front-lecturing that many students

bring to the class. 

6. Video Clips – Running Commentary 

Here is an idea for drilling the present continuous. Choose a short video clip with plenty of

activity and no dialogue. Mr Bean is perfect for this. 

Put students into pairs facing each other, one facing the screen and the other with his/her back to

the screen. The students facing the screen relate what is happening on the video to their partners.

After a while change the pairs around. The commentary will go something like this, “He’s taking

out a loaf of bread; he is cutting slices from it with a pair of scissors; he is trimming the ends

with the scissors; he is putting the slices on his lap, etc”. There is a genuine information gap here

and in my experience the students get very animated during this activity and have a lot of fun. 

7. Tick tack toe

Title: Tic tack toe game

Unite: My home

Language skills: Speaking

Grade level: Three

Learning style: Visual

Interaction pattern: In pairs

Objective:

Students will be able to identify the different rooms at home.

Students will be able to tell some actions that they do in the different rooms

Target language: The action, the room’s name. For example, “I watch TV in the living room”

Description:

The object is to take turns for describing each picture by mentioning the name of the

room and the action. This game should be played in pair and each student should choose one

shape X or O. Then the students should label the picture correctly in order to put the shape that

they have chosen, so the winner who creates a line of three crosses vertically, horizontally or

diagonally.

Appendix 1 - Tic tack toe game

8. Order and describe

Title: Order and describe

Unite: Let’s Eat

Language skills: Reading and writing

Grade level: Four

Learning style: Visual and verbal

Interaction pattern: Individually

Objective:

To be able to identify some types of food

To be able to tell time

Target language: Time, character’s name or types of food. For example, at seven o’clock Alice eats an apple, two pieces of slice and some cheese

Description:

Basically, this activity based on telling a story where the students should put the pictures

of the story’s events in the correct order by cut them up. Then they have to write a sentence

underneath each picture by labeling the time and types of food which gives brief description.

Instructions

Procedure (for teachers)

1. After telling the story, give out a copy of some the story’s events to each student

2. Ask the students to cut up the pictures and stick them in the correct order as they heard

from the story

3. Ask the students to decide upon a time for each picture and draw the hands on the

clocks

4. Finally, tell the students to write one sentence for each picture by labeling the time or

types of food

Appendix 1: The story

Alice is a good girl that she likes to eat healthy foods. She always gets up early

at five o’clock. Then she takes a shower and wears her school’s

uniform.

The food that I eat

At six o’clock, Alice takes some cheese and butter out of the fridge to make

her breakfast.

At quarter past six, she has her breakfast. And she eats one piece of

slice, some butter, cheese and an apple.

At half past six, Alice prepares her lunch box and she puts juice, sandwich and one

apple.

At seven o’clock, she comes to the school.

At quarter to twelve, Alice eats sandwich and juice for lunch.

At four o’clock, she does her homework.

At half past seven, she eats fish, two pieces of bread, soup and juice for

dinner.

Appendix 2 - The activity

9. Alphabet Hopscotch

Title: Alphabet Hopscotch

Unite: My Clothes

Language skills: Speaking

Grade level: One

Learning style: Physical

Interaction pattern: Individually

Objective:

Students will be able to recall letter names

Students will be able to list some words.

Target language: The letter, name the picture that begins with the letter. For example, a for

‘apple’.

Description:

The materials are big blocks to make the hopscotch and small stone that will stay on the

squares when thrown and adding some pictures of vocabulary beginning with the same letters in

each square. In class, line the children up, so they can face the hopscotch grid and the first child

who throws the small stone on a letter should hops on that letter, then picks up the small stone

carefully, says the letter in that square and names the object in one of the pictures. After that

continue to the end, turn, and hop back to the start. When the child hops on each letter, the class

should sing the letter names.

Appendix 1

10. Classifying Pictures

Title: Classify pictures

Unite: On the play ground

Language skills: Speaking

Grade level: Three

Learning style: Visual

Interaction pattern: Groups

Objective:

To be able to name playgrounds objects

To be able to use there are and there is

Target language: There is /there are, number of the object and the its name. For example, there is one slide

Description:

Classifying pictures requires a poster that includes two categories there is & there are

and sets of singular and plural pictures that represent the objects of the playground. The learners

should classify each picture in the right category based on the right usage of there is and there

are.

11. Number, color, shape Cards Game

Title: Number, color, shape Cards Game

Unite: On the play ground

Language skills: Speaking and reading

Grade level: Two

Learning style: Visual or solitary

Interaction pattern: Group work or individual

Objective:

To be able to identify and name the basic geometrical shapes

To be able to make sentence by using the name of the shapes and the colors

Target language: Numbers, color and shape. For example “seven blue diamonds”

Description:

The game could be played in groups each player is required to pick up one of the cards

that present different shapes with different colors and before turning it to check for accuracy the

player should try to come up with sentence such as “seven blue diamonds” by using the numbers

and color of shapes.

12. Spell It Again!

Title: Spell It Again!

Unite: Health and Safety

Language skills: Writing and reading

Grade level: Five

Learning style: Verbal and solitary

Interaction pattern: Individually

Objective:

Students will be able to write the words.

Students will be able to recognize the syllable of the words.

Target language: accident, ambulance, headache, helmet, riding and sick

Rationale

As individually, each student will have a small bored that contains four gaps with a slide

that presents some pictures. The learners have to use these pictures to write the words, and there

will be small index cards that the students have to use them to write the words. The pictures’

slide contains more than four pictures, if the student wants to get a chance and write more words

she/he just has to drag the slide to change the picture and then write the word.

13. Sentence Flap Books

Title: Sentence Flap Books

Unite: Animal Homes

Language skills: Reading

Grade level: Five

Learning style: Verbal and social

Interaction pattern: In pairs

Objective:

Students will be aware of the sentence structure.

Students will be able to understand the right format of making sentences.

Target language: The animal name, the action that can do. The action that can’t do. For example, “The kangaroo can jump. It can’t crawl.

Description:

In pairs, the students will have a flap book that contains three flaps per page. First, the

teacher is going to dictate new sentence, then the student have to find that sentence by opening

different flaps and show it to her. After that, the students should invent their own sentences with

their partners by using right structure.