This game is used to practice Yes/No question but I'm sure you can find more uses for them.
How to play: Students need to get 5 of the same card (all 'yes' or all 'no.') It's a race.
Simple Version:
- deal out 5 cards to every student*
- in pairs students each lay down one card on the table (a card they don't want)
- S1 asks S2 the question or one of the questions from the target language.
- S2 answers according to the card he has discarded and gives the card to S1
- S2 asks S1 the question or one of the questions from the target language.
- S1 answers according to the card she has discarded and gives the card to S2
The first student(s) to get 5 of the same card is the winner!
A little more interesting:
- deal out 5 cards to every student*
- in pairs student play rock paper scissors (for simplicity let's say S2 wins)
- the loser starts - S1 asks S2 the question or one of the questions from the target language.
- S2 answers according to the card he wants to discard and gives the card to S1
- S2 asks S1 the question or one of the questions from the target language.
- S1 answers according to the card she wants to discard and gives the card to S2
The first student(s) to get 5 of the same card is the winner!
It's not that much different but you see students sometimes change their plan for the cards they want to collect.
More Yes/No cards includes 'I don't know.' 'Maybe.' and 'Probably not.' Add these in with your other cards to make the game more difficult.
This game is great for difficult to practice questions in the first person:
Can I ~ ?
Do you think I should ~ ?
Do I have to ~ ?
*For smaller classes give out more cards per person. Also, make sure the numbers of yes and no cards are evenly matched to the number of students (unless you just want to torment those last few students.)
*** Variation ***
The game gets more interesting and difficult if you can increase the amount of cards per student and make them collect 2 sets of cards. For example, you can have them try to collect 2 sets of 3, or 2 sets of 4 if you're mixing in the more cards. This makes it a bit Rummy-like. Also, with more than just 2 choice for cards the students get further into the game and you see less running away.
You can also allow people who are still playing to play with students who are finished. This sometimes means students will turn back into active players. This is good if you're using a time limit for the activity; You win if at the end of 5 minutes you have 5 of the same card.
A fortune telling game has been suggested, maybe like a magic 8 ball.
There's more you can do with these cards and it's pretty much up to you. I'm sure they can be thrown into a whole bunch of other games. They are a little new to me, so once I've come up with something good I'll post it.
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