Song Echo Game

 

Students listen to a song and try to repeat some of the lyrics.
Repeating lyrics can be fun yet challenging.

This is a fun game for students because it is fun yet challenging and involves music. Also, sometimes even lower level students can do well if they know the song being played.

The game is very simple to play. Put students in small groups or pairs. In each group hand the students a ‘speaking baton’ which can just be a whiteboard marker or pencil. Next play a song. It is best to play a popular song or a song with reasonably slow lyrics, although for advanced students faster songs will suffice.

How to Play

As the song plays, the students much repeat at least three words they hear.  Once the person with the marker repeats some words, she then passes the baton to another player. That player must then listen and repeat at least three words they hear.

Note: this is a good way to check listening comprehension as well as pronunciation. Just as with L1 speakers, sometimes students will incorrectly repeat the words on the song, due to them not hearing them clearly.

It is best to do this with the students standing in groups and spread out throughout the room. As the song plays, the teachers monitors the game and moves around the classroom and observes the students. As noted before, this is a great way for the teacher to assess listening and pronunciation skills.

Below are some good songs to use with their links to Youtube there are hundreds of songs that teachers can use:

If I had a million dollars by Bare Naked Ladies

I will always love you by Whitney Houston

Imagine by John Lennon

We are the World by Various Artists

Englishman in New York by Sting

One Hand in My Pocket by Alanis Morisette

For classes with monitors and an internet connection, most songs have videos with the lyrics displayed on the screen, so for a follow-up activity, the teacher can show the video with the lyrics for clarification and review. In most cases, the students will be very curious as to what was sung in the song.

Speaking Checkers

In this activity, students do a variety of tasks revolving around words in a 4×4 grid. The game and vocabulary can be adjusted according to the level of the students.

Prep: Create a Blank Grid

Students listen and watch the teacher create a 4×4 grid. Students create a similar grid on a sheet of blank paper in their notebooks.

Part 1: Fill the Grid with Dictation

First the teacher will draw a 4×4 grid on the board. The horizontal grid will be labeled by number and the vertical grid by letters. (See example below).

Part 2: Compare Spellings

Next the students compare grids and see if anything is different. To make this more challenging, students can compare words vocally without looking at each others words.

Part 3: Play a Speaking Checkers 

Next the students will try to get four across on the board. To do so, one student calls out a cell the want to mark. Then they must use the word in the cell in the sentence. If they can, they can mark the cell with their sign (an ‘X’ or an ‘O’). The next student then goes. The first student to get four across wins. (Note: if students play smart they should not play to a draw, just like in checkers)

See sample language below:

S1: D1 – trouble – I often get in trouble. (student marks cell with the mark)
S2: B4 – She – She knows a lot of people.

Part 4: Word Puzzle

Now, students try to use all the words in the grid to make four sentences. This game is good for working on grammar because the students need to use the forms the words to make grammatically correct sentences. For the example above, here are four possible sentences.