Game: Freeze!

This is a particularly useful activity to practice the Present or Past Continuous and most students tend to find it really fun, since they get to do some acting.

Level: Pre-Intermediate/Intermediate.
Materials: Little pieces of paper with verbs in an envelope(Choose verbs that students can act)
Target Vocabulary/Grammar: Any/Correct production of sentences in the Present/Past Continuous tense.
Prep time: 5-10 min.

The best way to play this game is to divide the class in two teams and then ask one of the teams to send a representative, an actor, to the front of the class. This student will pick one of the pieces of paper and read it to find out what verb he's going to have to act out. After that, you ask the opposite team to close their eyes, while the student performs the action. Each team gets to watch their own actors perform, since that's what makes it interesting and fun for them. After the student has acted for 10-15 seconds (and his team has laughed a bit) you claim: Freeze!! and the student needs to freeze in whatever position he was. Now, the opposite group is gets to open their eyes and to guess what action the student was performing. It's interesting to keep a separate envelope for verbs that can be performed as a group and call 3 or 4 students at once to the front of the class, just for a bit of a change. 

Examples:

He's eating spaghetti.                                      He was eating spaghetti.

They are singing in a choir.                           They were singing in a choir.

Suggested verbs: 

Ride a motorcycle, clean a window, dance ballet, skateboard, surf, write a letter, cut down a tree, hunt deer, chop an onion, jump rope, etc.

For the group actions: Row a boat, sing in a choir, play ping-pong, ride a double bike, play a rock song (band style), jump rope (+3 people), etc.

Note: Instead of using pieces of paper, you can whisper the verbs to the actors, so that you don't need to prepare the pieces of paper. Also, make sure you choose verbs that are fun to perform and try to be specific, i.e. instead of using 'eating', try: 'eating a hamburger', to add some spice to the game.


Have fun! XO