The role of games in learning English plan

GAMES FOR COMPREHENSION


NUMBER GAMES
One of the first things that students learn to do is count, which means they are able to play simple, and enjoy­able, number games very early in their language learn­ing experience.
Buzz
Buzz-Buzz
Take a Number
Numbered Chairs
Numbers Quiz
The Power of Concentration


Numbered Chairs
Objective: To improve listening comprehension skills by using a fast-reaction number game.
Language level: all
This is a game of concentration, although the only things the students have to remember are as many numbers as there are players in the game.
For this game the players should sit in a row or semi-circle. Each player has a number, although that number really belongs to the chair. In other words, the player has that particular number as long as he remains in (hat chair; each time he moves he gets a new number—the one belonging (o the new chair.
Let's assume there are twelve players seated in a semi-circle. The first player calls out a number, any one up to twelve. For example, he calls 7. The student sitting in chair number 7 then calls out smother number, for example 5, and number 5 calls out yet another number. As soon as a player hears his number called he immedi­ately says a different number, though always within the range of numbers for which there are players in the game, and never his own number.
If a player repeats his own number or one beyond the number of players in the game, or if he hesitates too long in answering, he must go to the end of the row and take the last seat, becoming number 12, or whatever the final number is. This means that all the players up to his number must move up one seat and thus have a new number.
For example: If the one who has made a mistake is number 6, then everybody from 7 through 12 moves up one chair; those seated in chairs 1 through 5 do not move. All these players, 7 (o 12, must now forget their old numbers and concentrate on their new ones. This is where the challenge of concentration comes in, especially if the game has gone on for a while without a change and the students have become used to being a certain number.