Grammar Games

I am an ESL teacher, and my school uses the Communicative Method, but it practices 20/80, in other words, the teacher speaks only 20 % of the time in the classroom. For that reason, I was interested in these older activities inspired by the Silent Way, and I am very pleased with the book. The instructions to these activities are minimal, sometimes intuitive, sometimes communicated through gestures. The activities can be adapted to my students' current vocabulary or grammar level. One activity that I have used in multiple classes by changing the verbs and nouns is the Present Perfect Poem. The activity Shout the Word can be used on all levels and for all grammar concepts. An activity taken from Gattegno's book One Thousand Sentences is My Sentences Your Paragraph. Inspired by this exercise, I ordered the Gattegno book to obtain more sentences and now use them in both speaking and writing classes.

This book is just what I needed for my ESL students to learn grammar in a fun way! Great interactive ideas that make grammar rock!

I have always wanted to own this book written by one of my ELT heroes : Mario Rinvolucri. There are some new (to me) activities but many have been going round since the book was first published....

This book was recommended to me by a professsor who had used it with her Middle School ESL kids. After having it a week, I have to say it is fabulous. I had been looking for ways to teach grammar to my junior high kids, without tedious explanations of grammatical rules, worksheets or diagramming. The day after I received it, I was able to start the kids on a game where they could internalize grammatical rules, and demonstrate what they already understood about the deep structure of English. The only preparation required was writing a sentence on the board, and they were involved for twenty minutes. The only reservation I have in recommending this book is that it is British, and intended for adult learners. I have had to adapt some of the language to make it easier for my kids to understand.

I have to confess that I was extremely disappointed in this book. First of all, there is virtually nothing for lower levels. So you're out of luck if you're teaching a beginning or even a lower intermediate class. The second problem for me is that it's "veddy British." I would have to translate into American before I used it. The third, and biggest, problem is that the games require a lot of preparation. Many of them require a lot of hand-made flash cards. Do you really want to spend two hours preparing a fifteen-minute activity? The only way this would be profitable is if one is teaching the same lesson to multiple groups. When I removed all the things that were culturally inappropriate, I had only one game I could use for my lower intermediate level Arab teenagers. It was a good one that I found valuable, but it was not worth paying this much money for only one game. Two stars.

Item as described.

Grammar Games contains fifty-six language learning activities divided into five sections; competitive games, collaborative sentence-making games, awareness activities, grammar through drama, and miscellany. About one fifth of the games deal directly with grammatical accuracy by exposing students to correct or incorrect sentences, with a caveat from the author urging us to accept that students who are highly focused will not imprint the wrong sentences that the theories of Skinner or Krashen may suggest. I can't say for sure whether incorrect grammar will be unconsciously learned or not, but it is clear that not everyone will be interested in these kind of activities anyway. I was therefore pleased that the rest of the book covered material that would appeal to many different types of learner, not just the analytically inclined. Grammar Games has a distinctly British, slightly seventies, and somewhat eccentric feel to it. We can learn by being physically active, or by being silent and reflective. There are board games and gambling games. You can vote for the best, play snap, take part in an auction, or do back-writing. You can even brainstorm why two people would want to exchange socks on a train - not everyone's cup of tea, perhaps. I enjoyed reading Grammar Games because most of the activities looked interesting and highly original, and that there were many that I would like to try out with my students, someday. For the EFL teacher searching for new ideas on how to teach grammar while having fun, whether you are experienced or novice, I recommend that you take a look at Mario Rinvolucri's Grammar Games.

"Grammar Games" is a must for transforming deadly dull grammar lessons into creative and fun activities. Each activity lists the grammar structure involved, level, preparation, materials and timing. A big bonus is that the Table of Contents lists the grammar point as well as the name of the activity--far too many other resources only give you the name of the activity, which makes it impossible to find anything easily. A great resource!