• Acquire a few IF-AT forms (Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique – http://www.epsteineducation.com/home/) and prepare a set of multiple-choice questions to ask in class (you can test grammar, a reading, etc.). Craft your questions carefully so they will lead to disagreements within groups.
• Organize groups of 3 students and give each group a form. Then ask your questions, and give students time to discuss and choose the correct answer as a group. When time is up, students will scratch off the form and see whether or not they were right. Designate a group who had the correct answer to explain it to the class. The group with the most correct answers may win a prize.
• This activity may be a little difficult for beginners, as they may not know enough vocabulary to discuss their choices in the target language. However, depending on the topic, one could prepare a worksheet with useful phrases to be used by beginners in their groups.
• This can also be done as a whole class with a PowerPoint presentation, with or without clickers. Example (ppt).

Organize students in pairs or small groups. Give students time to research the tourist features of different countries or regions within a country. Have them develop a poster (virtual or paper) or Powerpoint presentation to “sell” their vacation package to the rest of the class. During the presentations, the audience may use a graphic organizer to note the types of activities, climate, cost, etc. and at the end, the students vote for the best vacation package (not voting for their own). The winning team may receive a reward such as extra credit or a small prize.

Line up the desks in the classroom so there are two rows facing each other (if odd number, add one desk on the end for a group of three). Tell the students they will be given a topic that they must discuss until you give the signal (bell, whistle, light blink). When the signal goes off, one side of the group moves down a chair so everyone has new partners and the next topic is given.

Sample topics include: vacations, families, food & restaurants. Example (ppt).

• Name that Category. This game is modeled after the television show in the 1970s called the $10,000 pyramid. The board game is built in the shape of a pyramid and contains different categories. Sample board (ppt).
  Sample board for session (ppt).

• This activity can be used with the whole class split into two teams, with the whole class grouped into pairs, or in small groups. It is a wonderful activity for reviewing vocabulary and key concepts.

  One player on each team, the clue giver, is able to see the board. The guessers are not able to see the game board. As the categories are revealed, the clue givers list terms belonging to that category. For example, for the category "fruits" the clue giver may say, "pineapple, apples, grapes" and continue to list terms until the category is named by the guessers. The team that names the category first, wins the points. The other categories are revealed in turn.

First, ask students to create masks based on the unit of study (e.g. character, animal, or object). The masks are made out of a sheet of paper, folded in half. No scissors are needed!

Example of masks.

In groups of 3-4, students pass their masks on to the next group who has to create a spontaneous dialogue or role-play with the masks given to them.

Make a deck of 24 cards depicting characters, events, or places related to a story. Each group receives a deck of cards. In groups of 2-3, students take turns flipping over a card and adding to the story based on the character or event.  

An example of a deck of cards (pdf) comes from Sánchez, J. & Sanz, C. (1993). Jugando en español: Actividades interactivas para la clase de espanol. Niveles elemental-intermedio. Berlin: Langenscheidt.

Students could also make their own decks of cards!

Provide groups of students with two or three pictures. Make the activity challenging by using pictures that are usually not associated with one another.

Students then come up with the connection between the pictures. The same pictures will generate different connections!

Picture one; Picture two (Set A)

Picture one; Picture two (Set B)

Example in French (doc)

This activity comes from: Wright, A., Betteridge, D., & Buckby, M. (2006). Games for language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Prepare an intriguing opening line to a story focusing on a certain vocabulary theme and/or grammatical structure. Organize students in groups of 4-5 and ask the first student to repeat the opening to the story, and then add another line. The next person in the circle repeats the first two lines, adding a third. The groups continue to practice the 4-5 line story then all groups share with the class to see how different stories evolved from the same introduction. When all groups have presented, the class votes by applause for the most creative story.

• Select a friendly controversial topic. Ask students to line up with those who strongly agree on one end and those who strongly disagree on the other end. Once there is a line in place, fold the line so that the students are paired up with a partner. The person who most strongly disagrees will be paired with the student who most strongly agrees. Give each side one minute to state their opinion and instruct the students to defend their opinions using comparative or superlative structures and a supporting “because” statement. “The country is better than the city because you can go swimming.”
  
  
• Once completed, unfold the line and have students move to one side of the room or the other based on their view point. There will most likely still be students in the middle. If so, ask students representing each position to make their case. Throughout the discussion, students in the middle may decide to move to one side or the other. If they are taking too long, ask them to move to the side which most represents their position on the matter. Topics may include: City living is better than country living, It is more interestesting to watch sports with men than women, Printed newspapers are no longer needed with digital copies.

• Organize students in pairs, and give each one a different piece of paper with a different schedule. Ask them to determine a time at which they can meet to go eat out. Sample Schedules (doc).
• Make clear that they need to explain to their partner why they cannot meet at certain times. Emphasize that they must find a solution.
• What students don’t know is that the schedules do not have a common meeting time. Therefore, students will have to resolve this problem in a different way and negotiate a solution that will please everyone.
• What students don¹t know is that the schedules do not have a common meeting
  time. Therefore, students will have to resolve this problem in a different
  way and negotiate a solution that will please everyone. If they stall (as
  students will logically assume that there is a solution, or there must be a
  mistake in the handout!), the instructor may point out some ways to
  compromise, such as doing one activity together, or canceling/moving plans
  in their schedule.

Make a list of “either/or” items in the target language, for example…"apples or oranges,” “Science or Math,” “books or magazines,” “pizza or chocolate,” “love or money” Prepare 30-40 “either or” statements. Give the students about 3-5 minutes to circle their preference. After they have completed their “choices,” students get into small groups and discuss the results. Conversation starts immediately as students defend their choices and often get into small friendly debates. Credit to Wagner and Gutschow, WAFLT, 2006. Sample in Spanish (.doc) Sample in French (doc)