This taboo game is a great way for learners to acquire new words and practise explaining a range of familiar adjectives. High level adjectives feature, including 'perpetual', 'fluffy', and 'grieving'.
1. Copy one handout per pair of students, and cut the handouts up into A and B.
2. Put the students into groups of four, with two A students and two B students.
3. Focus students' attention on the instructions and make sure students aren't looking at each other's sheets. Emphasise that the teams must explain the adjectives to each other without saying the three words underneath. If the team successfully explains the word it gets a point. If the team doesn't manage to explain the word (a time limit of 2 minutes is useful) it doesn't get any points. Note that if a member of the team says one of the three forbidden words underneath, the opposing team gets a point.
4. Teams can keep the score on a piece of paper and the team with the most points, wins.
5. Monitor the students, providing language input or error correction when necessary.
6. Finally elicit responses from some of the students and draw to their attention any appropriate vocabulary or serious language mistakes.
Type:
A pair work activity
Level:
Upper-Intermediate
Time:
15 minutes
Skill:
Speaking
Work:
Students work in pairs
Stage:
Vocabulary speaking practice
Get word types right with this peer correction speaking handout involving deliberate mistakes of word types which learners must identify by ear, then correct with their partner.
1. Copy one handout per pair of students, and cut the handouts up into A and B.
2. Put the students into pairs with an A and B student, and distribute the handouts.
3. Focus students' attention on the instructions and make sure students aren't looking at each other's sheets. The aim of this task is for students to listen and perceive mistakes in word types involving nouns, verbs and crucially adjectives. Students rephrase the mistaken sentences they hear using the correct adjective form of the word.
4. Monitor the students, providing language input or error correction when necessary.
5. Finally, elicit responses from some of the students and draw to their attention any appropriate vocabulary or serious language mistakes.