Collection of games

Shipwreck lists

Level: intermediate

Age: any

Group size: whole class or groups

Use: to brush up the vocabulary of food, drink, clothing, tools, etc.

Each group has pencil and paper and the group leader does the writing. First, the names of foods must be written down. Allow two or three minutes for all the groups to do this, then ask for drinks, and finally for articles of clothing.

Group ‘A’ leader reads out Group A’s list, while the other group leaders cross out on their lists anything he mentions. Then Group ‘B’ leader reads out what his group still has, and the other groups cross out those items if they have them, and so on with all the groups. The result will be that the items not crossed out on any list will be those that only that group has thought of. You have been wrecked on a desert island, and this is all the food and drink and clothing you have. The surviving items are read out. The group with the longest list (including no doubt one or two items that would not be essential or even suitable on the island) is the winner.