It can be challenging. We all know that the best way to teach children is … yes! to play! (and not only children).
Remember that materials should be bright and entertaining. Let’s make learning exciting!
One of the games I like to use a lot with children and teenagers is Tic Tac Toe. It brings a spirit of the competition and much more exciting than just making standard (but still useful) exercises in the book.
How to play: In the squares you write pronouns and verbs. For example you want to practise Present Simple. In the square there’s a smiling emoji and words he/play. So a student has to say : ‘he plays’. After that he draws a cross/naught in his square. The game goes on until one of the student forms a straight line of crosses/naughts.
In my store I have ready to use Tic Tac Toe games for Present Simple, Present Continuous and Past Simple plus bright grammar rules which go together with games.
Now let’s say you want your students to practise the pronunciation of -ed in the regular past verb forms. After introducing rules, telling about voiced and unvoiced sounds, let’s play with some bright oranges. Say and clap! Here’s a video how:
You say an infinitive form ‘listen’, then a studnet says the past form ‘listened’ and has to clap the correct sound, in this case [d]. It is so much fun, students on this stage have to show what they learned and have to be fast too! This game can be used for individual classes, for work in pairs or in small groups. The first student who says the correct form claps the card.
Additional idea: you can print many cards (let’s say 20). When a student claps the correct card he/she takes it. At the end of the game a person who has the most cards wins!
Nadiia Baturynska ESL 