A Board Game to Practise the Verb CAN

In my opinion, verb CAN is one of the easiest verbs to learn in English. Moreover, it behaves similarly in my students’ mother tongue so the transfer here helps. So I decided to make a board game to give my students a chance to speak and use this verb. However, once we played the game, I was shocked to find that the grammar is not so simple.

But thanks to this game, I collected all my students’ mistakes and we dealt with them.

Board Game

Open or download the following pdf file and print the game. I make one copy for four students, but it is up to you.

Each group needs a dice and a counter for each student.

Students place their counters at START. They throw the dice and move their counter. If they land on a question, they read it aloud and answer it. If they land on a start of a sentence, they use the given words and finish it with their own idea. They are allowed to say the same sentence only once.

They might land on a square with an arrow. Then they follow the arrow and land on a new square and complete the task there.

If a student is not able to make a sentence, they move 3 squares back.

The winner is the student who gets to the FINISH square first.

What Does the Teacher Do?

Prepare a sheet of paper and a pen or pencil. Walk around the classroom and write down all the wrong and nice sentences your students make.

Once the students finish playing the game, analyze the sentences with your students.

Online Practice

If you would like your students to practice the verb CAN more, you can find an online exercise below:

Gap-fill exercise – in this exercise students complete the sentences with the verbs in the brackets and the correct form of the verb CAN.