Activate Manual

Word Bricks ........................................................................................... 90 
 
About
 ........................................................................................................ 91
Students’ 
Role .................................................................................... 93
Teacher’s 
Role .................................................................................... 93
 
Let’s Get Started
 ........................................................................................ 95
Game 1: Sentence Race ..................................................................... 95

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vi
Activate: Games for Learning American English
 
Ready for More?
......................................................................................... 96
Game 2: Brick Bingo .......................................................................... 96
Game 3: Word Category Bingo ......................................................... 98 
Game 4: Describe and Guess ............................................................ 99
Game 5: Longest Sentence ............................................................. 100
Game 6: Part of Speech ................................................................... 101
Game 7: Reading Race ..................................................................... 102
Game 8: Sentence Boundaries ....................................................... 103
Game 9: Sentence Challenge ......................................................... 104
Game 10: Sorting Race .................................................................... 105
 
DIY! (Do-It-Yourself)
 ............................................................................... 106
Materials ........................................................................................... 106
Help from Students ......................................................................... 107
Building a Collection ....................................................................... 107
List 
of 
Word Bricks Included with
Activate: Games for Learning American English
 ................................. 109

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1
Activate: Games for Learning American English
INTRODUCTION 
Activate: Games for Learning American English
is a collection of games for the 
language classroom. The games in 
Activate
offer practice with vocabulary, 
grammatical patterns, and interaction skills in a learner-centered, low-
stress environment. The games provide opportunities to talk informally and 
to think creatively. 
Although games are used mostly for entertainment, the use of games in ed-
ucation has a very long history, beginning with the creation of the first board 
games around 2200 B.C. Games can engage the learner and make practicing 
English enjoyable. 
Games offer students many benefits, including opportunities to develop so-
cial skills, to learn coping strategies (It can be hard to lose!), and to keep their minds active. 
Activate
is 
designed to provide these benefits while helping students to develop their English language abilities.
There are some basic guidelines to keep in mind when using the games from 
Activate
—or any games—
in your English class. It is important to ensure that the level of the game is appropriate for your stu-
dents, that all players understand the procedure for playing the game, and that everyone can experi-
ence some level of success. To do the latter, it is important that students see that the purpose of the 
game is to practice using language in an engaging way.
Activate
contains four chapters. Each chapter explains how to use a different type of game: Board 
Games, 
Picture This, Guess What?,
and 
Word Bricks
. Each chapter contains four sections. In the 
About
section, you will find a general description of the game along with tips to help you and your students 
get the most out of the game. In the 
Let’s Get Started
section, you will find step-by-step instructions for 
how to use the games in your classroom, with a sample game to use as a model. In the 
Ready for More?
section, you will find a number of additional games or variations for the game, including step-by-step 
instructions and examples of language that students might produce while playing these games. 
Each chapter in this book is accompanied by a set of materials to allow you to immediately use the 
games presented in this book: