Collection of games

Level: elementary

Age: children

Group size: whole class

Use: the practise possessive pronouns

Objects belonging to various learners are placed beforehand in various parts of the room. They are all visible. For example, there could be a red pencil on one of the desks (all other pens and pencils should be put away). A black raincoat hanging at the side of the blackboard, a pencil-box on a chair, a pair of shoes near the door, an apple or an orange on a shelf, etc. The objects should be numerous and they should not be familiar, e. g. the coat should not be one, which a particular pupil in the class always wears.

The game proceeds as follows. Hold up or point to one of the objects and ask What’s this? or What are these? This is a pair of shoes. Then talk about them a bit, e. g. Are they black or brown? Are they girls’ shoes or boys’ shoes? Then ask Whose are they? or Who do they belong to? and guesses are made. They’re Mary’s. Mary says: No, they aren’t mine. They’re Alison’s. Are they yours, Alison? No. No, they aren’t hers. And so on, until the right guess is made. The guesses may of course be either statements or questions.

If there are many objects of a kind, e. g. many books, scarves, coats, or oranges, which and pronominal one will also be needed. Which coat is yours/his? etc. (pointing). Which book is Eve’s? Is the one on the table? Or that longs one? etc.

The materials needed for this game are many common objects which belong to the learners, but which they do not normally have at school.
Lucky dip