Tag: engames

English Punctuation
English Punctuation

In this post, you can learn the words used for English punctuation. In this post, you can learn the words full stop, apostrophe, comma, hyphen, colon, dash, semicolon, brackets, question mark, slash, exclamation mark, quotation marks, capital letters, small letters, abbreviation and list.
ADVERT:
[showmyads] To help you learn the words, there is a revolutionary method called random repeat which helps you learn the words really fast and effectively. Then there are two crosswords, a wordsearch and a sudoku puzzles to help you practise the new words. I hope you will find this post really useful and you will learn the words for English punctuation here.

English Punctuation – learn the words

Try our revolutionary method of learning vocabulary. It is called Random repeat. Click the PLAY button and listen and repeat the words. Once the screen changes its colour, click on the word which you see in the middle. For example, you see ” “, so you have to click on the words Quotation marks. In this way, you will learn the vocabulary really quickly and well.

Random repeat

If you need some examples of the usage, look here:

He/She can’t make it. slash, apostrophe, full stop
Cheers! – exclamation mark
“Mum, I’m at home,” I said. – Quotation marks, comma, apostrophe, comma, full stop.
This eight-year-old girl is very clever. – hyphen, hyphen, full stop
It is just a short walk – and he still took a taxi. – dash, full stop

Infographic

If you prefer graphical presentation of new vocabulary, try the following infographic.

English punctuation infographic by engames.eu
English Punctuation – full image

English Punctuation – puzzles

In this part, you can practise all the new words in puzzles.
First, there are two crosswords:

Crossword 1

ADVERT:
[showmyads] Crossword 2

If you prefer a wordsearch try the following puzzle:

Wordsearch

Some people love sudoku. In this post, you can print out a sudoku where your task is to fill in the words apostrophe, slash, brackets, colon, full stop, hyphen, semicolon, comma and dash. In each line, column and small square each word can be used just once.

Four Methods of Revising Grammar and Vocabulary
Four Methods of Revising Grammar and Vocabulary

“Why don´t they learn? It is horrible. I have to give him E. Why? What do I do wrong?” I was desperate. “All they had to do was to learn 25 words. And we learnt them at school. And  now they know nothing!! What more can I do?!” I wailed.
“Be wise and revise,” Joe spoke.

(more…)
Phrasal verbs with BRING
Phrasal verbs with BRING

A few days ago my friend Shanthi Cumaraswamy Streat publised a great post called “20 Phrasal Verbs with ‘BRING’ – Let’s Explore“. I liked it so much that I contacted Shanthi and she kindly agreed to my turning her post into infographics and games. And here you can see the final result of our great cooperation.

ADVERT:
[showmyads]

Phrasal verbs with BRING – infographics


On her blog http://englishwithatwist.com/ Shanthi comes up with twenty different meanings of the phrasal verbs with BRING. Here, we tried to put the information in two infographics (as it was not possible to put all the information into just one 🙂 ).

Phrasal verbs with Bring infographic web

Phrasal verbs with Bring infographic web 2

You can download the full-size pictures here:
Phrasal verbs with Bring infographic 1


Phrasal verbs with Bring infographic 2

Phrasal verbs with BRING – games


Once the students study the infographics, it is time to practise their knowledge. I created 3 games to help them with the revision.

The first game is called On Target. Students should read the sentence and complete it with the correct option A-D. If they answer correctly, they are given a chance to shoot the bad ducks. They can shoot one of the bottles on the sides and get a bonus. This game is in Flash and it will play only on desktops.


Phrasal verbs with Bring – On Target

The second game is called Penalty Shoot Out. At school students love playing in two teams against each other. They have to choose the correct answer and then they should score a goal. It is not easy but it is great fun. This game is in Flash and it will play only on desktops.


Phrasal verbs with Bring – Penalty

ADVERT:
[showmyadsa]
The third game is called Goose Science Quiz and the students click on the die and move forward. From time to time they have to answer a question. If they answer correctly they move forward and if they answer incorrectly they move backwards. The winner is the student who gets to the FINISH first. The game is in HTML5 and it will play on all electronic devices.


Phrasal verbs with Bring – Quiz

Phrasal verbs with Bring – Links

If you want to see the original blog post by Shanthi go here.

There are several interesting posts on Phrasal verbs at British Council pages too.

In this post we tried to introduce twenty different meanings of Phrasal verbs with Bring. If you would like to see more posts on phrasal verbs, you can go to Phrasal verbs in a story or Phrasal verbs Fred and Betty.

Phrasal verbs with BRING

Language-rich lesson on questions
Language-rich lesson on questions

Recently I have felt that my lessons are not language rich. And that is something no EFL teacher is happy about.
For example, I have been teaching questions to my fourth graders. We learnt all the vocabulary and grammar, but when I asked my students the questions, they were not able to answer. They did not understand the questions even though they knew all the words and grammar.
ADVERT:
[showmyads]
In this post, I provide a series of entertaining activities in which students can practise and come to understand simple questions.

Vocabulary


First, teach the following vocabulary. Read the words aloud and ask your students to repeat them. Then ask them to memorise the words. Give them only three minutes for this. Then ask the students to cover the words inside the circle and write the words in the outer boxes.
Memory test vocabulary

Do not forget to explain the phrase “the biggest” as there is no picture for this word.

Memory test game


Ask the students to take a piece of paper and a pen. Play the following video and ask them to answer all the questions. They should answer them as simply as possible.

Ask the students to check their answers at the end of the video. Find out who remembered the most in your class and reward them.

The memory game


Now tell the students that you will play the same game, but this time they have to put the words in the questions into the correct order first. They will get one point for each correct question and one for each correct answer. The picture will show for only 5 seconds, but give the students enough time to write their questions and answers on a piece of paper.

ADVERT:
[showmyadsa]

Memory test grammar – full screen

Display the pictures at the end, and ask your students to write their own questions. Then ask them to work in pairs and ask their partner the questions.

Past continuous tense
Past continuous tense

The past continuous tense is one of the most graphical tenses in English. By “graphical” I mean that it is easy to demonstrate the difference between the past simple and past continuous tense in a video or in a short dramatic sketch. Unfortunately, I could not find a video demonstrating the difference betweent the two past tenses, and that is why I created one myself.

ADVERT:
[showmyads]

In addition to this video I created an infographic and an online quiz to practise the past continuous tense.

Past continuous – infographic


This infographic explains the form and the usage of the past continuous tense in a graphical way.

past continuous tense infographic

First, concentrate on the form. Explain that the students have to use the verbs WAS or WERE and the verb ending with -ing. Then explain how the negative and questions are formed.
If your students cannot create the -ing form properly, refer to the following post on the present continuous tense, which shows how the -ing verbs are formed.

Once you get to the usage of the past continuous tense, play the video. Play it twice and the second time stop the video and highlight the differences in the scenes and the tenses.

Past continuous – online quiz


You can use the following online test in class or you can ask your students to do it at home. The online quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, the students are asked to put the verb into the past continuous tense. In the second part they have to choose either the past simple tense or the past continuous tense.

If you want to play the online quiz in full screen click the button below.

Past continuous – online quiz

Or you can use the flash version here:

Past continuous – online quiz

Past continuous – share


More often than not I teach in classrooms with no internet connection, so I realize that it is important to be able to use the activities offline too. You can download the online quiz, the game, and the picture and use them offline:
ADVERT:
[showmyadsa]

Past continuous tense download

Past continuous tense – links


You can find one more post on past continuous tense here.

There is also a good discussion of the past continuous tense at the British Council site.

And the last link is to the BBC Learning English site.

English as a second language – Basic questions
English as a second language – Basic questions

When students start to learn English as a second language, there is a set of basic questions in English they need to master. All language courses start with these questions, but many people struggle to learn them. It is necessary to learn these by heart. However, you also need to be able to vary them a bit.
To help you teach or learn these questions I have devised the following activities: a mind map showing the basic questions for students of English as a second language, a worksheet with several communicative and drilling exercises, a song to help in memorising the questions and an online quiz. If you like the activities, please do not hesitate to comment below.

Basic question – song


I love starting lessons with something interesting. Students like songs, so I start the lesson with a simple song containing all the basic questions students of English as a second language need to learn.
Ask the students to listen to the song and complete the following worksheet:
Song lyrics fill-in

Play the song twice and then play the song on a whiteboard and ask the students to check their answers.

Basic question – mind map


Ask the students to have a look at this mind map and deduce the meaning of the questions – using the lyrics and the mind map.
Basic questions for learners of English as a second language

Ask the students to work in pairs and ask each other these questions.

Basic question – worksheet


The following worksheet contains several activities. First ask the students to find the questions for the fields a-g (students should only write the letters next to the questions below). Check their answers and tell them to ask you the questions and complete the table with your answers.
Ask them to find the questions for fields 1-7. Check their answers. (It is best to display the correct answers for both groups).
Have your students work in pairs (worksheet A and worksheet B). Ask them to ask the questions and complete their worksheet.
The next task is pure text manipulation. The students should fill in the missing words.
In the third exercise, students should put the words into the correct order to form questions.
In the fourth exercise students are given the answers, and have to write the questions.
In the last exercise students should write the questions using different pronouns.

Basic questions – communicative activities

Basic question – online quiz


In the following online quiz the students should first put the words into the correct order to make questions.
Then they should complete the questions. The online quiz is in HTML5 so it will work on all mobile devices. Students can practise wherever they like.

Basic questions – online quiz

The second online quiz is in Flash and will play only on desktops. The aim of the game is to choose the correct question and then hit the opponent.

Basic questions – En garde game

Basic questions – download


More often than not I teach in classrooms with no internet connection, so I realize that it is important to be able to use the activities offline too. You can download the online quiz, the game, and the picture here and use them offline.

Simple questions

Present simple or present continuous tense – improved
Present simple or present continuous tense – improved

I have already published a post on Present simple and continuous tense here. However, as my teaching situation changed I realize that I need a slightly different type of materials and a bit more of them. So in this post I add the following materials: a Song, Speaking exercise, graphical explanation of the usage of the tenses, three interactive games and a worksheet. I hope you will find these materials really useful.
ADVERT:
[showmyads]

Present simple and continuous tense – visual presentation


I recycle the mind maps which I used in the previous post, because they proved to be really great even at my new school.

Present simple tense mind map
ADVERT:
[showmyads]

Present continuous tense mind map
However, here is another graphical presentation of the two tenses. In the presentation I try to demonstrate the difference between usage of present simple and present continous tense.
Present simple vs present continuous explanation

Present simple and continuous tense – Song


Having presented the tenses, it is time to teach the form. To achieve this Tutortunes have offered the following song:

You can find more songs for teaching English at http://tutortunes.com

In my lessons I play the song and I ask my students to raise their hands when they hear present simple tense. Then I play it again and I ask them to raise their hands when they hear present continuous tense.

Present simple and continuous tense – Practice


First, I would like to practise present simple tense with my students. I have prepared the pair cards activity for them. Print out the following worksheet and cut it in the middle (from top down not from side to side). Ask the students to work in pairs. Each student gets 8 completed sentences and 8 sentences with gaps. Students read (they must not write anything) their gapped sentences and complete them with the correct forms of the verb HAVE GOT. Their partner listens and checks or corrects their answers (He/she has the full sentences). Once they finish they can swap their cards and start again. At the end of this activity I ask my students to choose 3 questions they would like to ask me. I answer the questions and then I ask my students to ask and answer the questions in pairs.

present simple_paircards

All the other activities concentrate on the difference between the two tenses. The first one is a worksheet where the students should fill in the verb in present simple or continuous tense.

Present_simple_continuous_pdf

The last three activities are interactive. First, there is a HTML5 version of the worksheet above. If you pass the test, you will be able to play the game called Angry Finches.

ADVERT:
[showmyadsa]


To play the quiz on the full screen click on the button below:
Present simple and continuous – Angry Finches

The second interactivity is once again in HTML5 and it will play on any device. In this one you should fill in the gaps and if you pass the quiz you will be able to play the game Tic-Tac-Toe. This game is a bit of a challenge as there is just one way to win it. Can you find it?

Once again, it is better to play the game on the full screen so you can do this by clicking on the button below:
Present simple and continuous – Tic_tac_toe

The last game is in Flash and it works only on desktops. But it is great for interactive whiteboards. It is called on Target and you have to answer each question correctly and then shoot the bad ducks. Do not forget that you can get a bonus by shooting a bottle on the side 🙂

Present simple and continuous – On target

Have got for elementary and weak students
Have got for elementary and weak students

I have changed jobs and now I teach at elementary school. And even though I think that I am an experienced teacher I have never taught students with actual learning problems. Now I do, and I face real challenges. For example, this week I taught the verb HAVE GOT from the Project 1 textbook, and I failed to teach anything at all. When I asked my students to complete the green table with the correct forms, there was no reaction. And when I asked them to transform the affirmative sentences into negative ones, there was just one student who could do this.
ADVERTISEMENT:
[showmyads]
At that moment, I realised that I have to teach them differently. So I created the following materials to help my students learn to use the verb HAVE GOT in affirmative and negative sentences. I hope I will be more successful this time, and that you will find these materials helpful too.

HAVE GOT – visual presentation


First I tried my usual graphic presentation with all the forms in a colourful table. This works great with gifted children. However, it did not work with my weak students:
Have got a mind map

As I write above, table like this was very good for talented students but not for the pupils with learning problems. They need something else. But what?
When we wrote a test on vocabulary 75% of them were able to learn all the words correctly. So why not teach them the verb and its forms as a vocabulary item. No fine deduction just a crude memory work. I believe that is the way. So I have created the following graphical presentations.
Have got memory method

havent gotmemory method
Ask your students to learn the forms by heart. Then ask them to use the phrases and write sentences to the pictures. If this proves too difficult write the five sentences randomly on the board and ask them to match them to the pictures and copy them.
Work in the same way with the negative sentences. In this way the students might comprehend the logic behind the forms or they will just remember the phrases and thus be able to use them.

HAVE GOT – classroom practise and worksheets


I usually give only a game or two here, but this time I see it necessary to offer a few activities the students could do in a classroom without the interactive whiteboard. Moreover, from my experience these children are not very good at the computer games and the quickly lose interest in them.
The first activity is called MT Board. I have create the following worksheet. At the top there is a table with the mother tongue sentences (the sentences are in Czech, so you have to change this one if you are not Czech). Below it there is the same table with the English sentences. Cut the English sentences along the lines and leave the mother tongue board intact. Ask the students to work in pairs and give them the Mother Tongue board and the English pieces. Ask them to place the pieces on the
board. Check their answers.

Board_push_have got
ADVERTISEMENT:
[showmyads]
The second activity is called a pair card. Print out the following worksheet and cut it in the middle (from top down not from side to side). Ask the students to work in pairs. Each student gets 8 completed sentences and 8 sentences with gaps. Students read (they must not write anything) their gapped sentences and complete them with the correct forms of the verb HAVE GOT. Their partner listens and checks or corrects their answers (He/she has the full sentences). Once they finish they can swap their cards and start again.

Have got_paircards

The last classroom activity is a drill. Once you feel that your students got the hang of the grammar, you can play the following recording. The native speaker will say the subject and the students have to supply the correct form of the verb HAVE GOT in the pause. Each pause is followed by the correct form and another subject.


To download the file, right-click the following link and choose the option SAVE AS…
Have got_mp3 drill

HAVE GOT – Games


And finally here are the games for people who like to play them either on the interactive whiteboards, desktops or their mobile devices.
The game is called Basketball. This game is in flash and it will play only on your desktop.
Your task is to choose the correct form and then score a basket.

Have got – basketball

Irregular verbs again 2
Irregular verbs again 2

In my latest post on irregular verbs I tried to teach 33 irregular verbs. In this post, I would like to add other 30 verbs which I hope you will learn through either the associative method or by using the spaced mp3 recording.

ADVERT:
[showmyads]

Irregular verbs – associative method


You can learn the irregular verbs by using the so called associative method. I have already explained the method in the previous post on irregular verbs, but I will do it again here.
Look at the picture. There are the verbs with pictures and under each of the forms, there are two cells. Complete the cells with words in your mother tongue (or any other language you know) which are similar to the English words. For example: RODE – óda, rod RIDDEN – rýt, den. Don´t be afraid to split the words or jumble them. Write each of your associations into the cells and then you will see that it is much easier to remember the words.
irregular verbs associative method

You can download all the worksheets for all the 30 irregular verbs in pdf here:
Irregular verbs_part2

Irregular verbs – Random repeat


Another very effective method of learning is described in a book by Baddeley on Brain. I call it random repeat because you learn a small number of words and then you are asked to repeat them in a random order. You can try it here.
Listen to the recording and in the pauses try to say the past tense and the past participle of the given word.

ADVERT:
[showmyads]

If you want to listen to all the verbs again and again you can use the following recording:

If you want to download the files and listen to them for example in your car you can do this here:

Irregular verbs_part2 Random repeat recording
Irregular verbs_part2 listening mp3

Irregular verbs – games


If you think that you know the irregular verbs, you can test your knowledge in the following games. The first one is called Irregular verbs _ Angry farmer. Your task is to drag the irregular verbs into the correct spaces and if you pass the test you will be given a chance to play the game called Angry farmer. The test and the game are in HTML5 so you can test your knowledge anywhere using your mobile phone or tablet.


To have a better experience on a mobile device, we recommend that you play it on a full screen. Click below

Irregular verbs – Angry Farmer full screen

In the second game you should complete the sentences using the correct verb. If you pass this quiz you can play the game called Indiara. Good Luck!!!

Once again if you view this post on a mobile device, use the full screen mode by clicking the button below.

Irregular verbs – Indiara full screen

Greetings in English for elementary students
Greetings in English for elementary students

There are some words you cannot live without in any language, and greetings certainly belong among those words and phrases. In this post I aim at introducing and teaching nine basic greetings for elementary students. To achieve this goal I there is a nice mind map and several games to practise these words.

Greetings – mind map


In this mind map there are the basic greetings ordered according to their frequency in British English. So the most frequent word in British English is “HI”.
ADVERT:
[showmyads]
Basic greetings mind map
The letters in the circles show how formal or informal the given expression is. If it is informal we use the greeting with people we know well and our friends. With other people we use the formal greetings.

Notice that HELLO is both formal and informal. This greeting is often used instead of GOOD MORNING etc. and no one thinks you are being impolite.

Greetings – games


It is time to practise the greetings and learn them. The first game is in HTML 5 and it will play on any mobile device you use. It is a simple crosword. Click on any square and at the top of the crossword there will appear a clue. Then just type your answer. You can print out the crossword too and then solve it on a paper. It is up to you:

Greetings – Crossword

The other two games are in Flash and therefore they will play just on your desktop. The first one is called Teacher invaders and you have to answer all the questions with the correct greeting and then shoot all the invaders. Good luck.

Greetings – Teacher Invaders

The second game is called half a minute and it is suitable for classes with an interactive whiteboard. When you start the game there will appear the jumbled greeting and students have to write it on their paper and then one of them can type it into the computer. However, you have to do this in 30 seconds. Have a good fun with it.

Greetings – Half a minute

SVOMPT – word order in English
SVOMPT – word order in English

SVOMPT rule is one of the most important rules in English. If students learn to follow this rule, their English will improve dramatically, and they will be understood. Once a student knows some words and follows the SVOMPT rule, we can say that he/she can speak English.

ADVERT:
[showmyads]
I love Darren Crown’s explanation of the origin of the SVOMPT word order. In his humorous book “Angličtina na rovinu” he writes that English was first used by a primitive tribe whose members did not want to use their brain too much and thus they created a word order which is always the same – Subject, Verb, Object, adverbs of Manner, adverbs of Place and adverbs of Time. So let´s stop looking for some complicated explanations and let´s think like the primitive barbarians and stick with the SVOMPT word order.

SVOMPT – mind map


The path shows the way an affirmative English sentence is created. You start with a Subject at the top and then you go down and add the words according to the SVOMPT rule.
SVOMPT word order mind map

SVOMPT – games and quizzes


At the moment you feel you understand the grammar it is time to put your knowledge into practice. First, to be able to follow the rule you have to know what part of speech a given word is. You must know whether it is a Subject, Verb, Object, adverb of Manner, adverb of Place or adverb of Time to place the word into the correct place in an English sentence. To help you with this, you can try the following quiz where your task is to tell what part of speech a given word is. If you pass the test, you can play the game Angry finches.

If you want to play the quiz on the full screen, click on the button below.

SVOMPT – what is this word

In the second quiz your task is to put the sentence into the correct order. If you pass this quiz, you can improve your vocabulary in the game called Word Boggle.

If you want to play the quiz on the full screen, click on the button below.

SVOMPT – Arrange the sentence

Both games and quizzes are in HTML5 so they should play on all mobile devices.

Vocabulary placement test – intermediate students
Vocabulary placement test – intermediate students

Have you tried our vocabulary placement test for elementary students, and it was too easy for you? Have you scored close to 2000? Then this is the vocabulary test you should take. Here we test the words which belong between 2,000 and 5,000 most frequent words in English.
ADVERT:
[showmyads]
There are 60 questions and the score at the end tells you how many words from the 3,000 words you know. If you add this score to the score from the test for elementary students, you will know how many words from the five thousand most frequent words in English you know.

Vocabulary placement test – test


Give a try to the following test. The score at the end of the test tells you how many words you know. So if it tells you that your Score is: 2,350 points it means that you know 2,350 out of the 3,000 words which belong into the group of 2,000 to 5,000 most frequent words in English.

If you want to do the test on the full screen, click the button below. The test is made in HTML5 so it will play on your mobile phones as well:
Vocabulary placement test – full screen

If you want to know the total number of English words that you know among the 5,000 most frequent words in English take the Vocabulary test for elementary students and then add the score to the score from the test above. Thus if you score here 1,750 and in the elementary test 1,800, you know 3,550 words from the 5,000 most frequent words in English.

Remember, THE MORE ENGLISH WORDS YOU KNOW THE BETTER YOUR ENGLISH IS!!!!

Vocabulary placement test – comment


Please, if you spot a mistake, or you come up with a better definition, please leave a comment. We are trying to improve each activity, and your comments help us a lot.
Thank you.

Jack the Giant Killer – comic story part 1
Jack the Giant Killer – comic story part 1

Students like reading comics. Comics are often the only thing students read. When I started an extensive reading project last year, students did not mind reading comics, however when we moved to short stories, more than half of them stopped reading and started to hate the programme. On the basis of this experience I have prepared a fairy tale comic for students to read.

ADVERT:
[showmyads]
To be able to read a text and understand it, it is essential that you know the words. The more words you know the more you can enjoy the text. That is why I have so many materials dealing with the vocabulary here. First, learn the vocabulary with our associative method and then play the games. Once you know the words, watch the video and answer the comprehension questions.

Jack the Giant killer – vocabulary


First, learn the vocabulary using our associative learning method.

Associative learning method


When I study vocabulary, I am able to learn about 50 words a day. And here is how I do it.

The Associative learning method.
Take each word and find in your mother tongue or any other language you know some words it reminds you of. Thus for example, when I see the word GIANT I come up with these associations: Gigantic, Gigi (my former student´s nickname, anténa (antenae). When I create these associations I move to another word. I go on like this with four words. Then I cover the English words and I see just their translations and I recall them.
In this way I go on for as long as I feel like it and my vocabulary grows.

Vocabulary activities


Here are the words and materials to learn them using the associative method. You can verify your knowledge of the words at the end where there are two quizzes. If you pass the test you can play a game. All of the activities are in HTML 5 so you can learn using your mobile whereever you are.

For a better mobile experience it is better to click over here and see the activity full screen.
Vocabulary – associative method

If you prefer doing these activities offline, you can print out the following worksheets and try them out:
Word games_part01_giant

Word games_part01_key

Giant_page_pdf – associative method worksheet

If you like crosswords on your computer, you can try the following one. It is in HTML5 so it will play on all mobile devices too:
Jack the Giant killer – crossword

Jack the Giant Killer – video

Now, that you know the vocabulary, you can watch the first part of the video and enjoy it.

And now try the comprehension quiz. If you pass the quiz you can play the game called HOT RACE. The quiz is in HTML 5 so it will play on any mobile device. However, the game is only in Flash and it will play on your desktop only.

If you want to play the quiz on full screen, click the following button:
Comprehension questions – part 1

Associative learning method – comments

  • How did the method work for you?
  • How many words were you able to learn this way?
  • What problems did you encounter?
  • Is there anything more you would like to tell us?

Do not hasitate and comment below. Thank you 🙂