Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 1; January 03

Ages 10-12
Time 15 minutes
Materials One or more rolled-up newspapers; sticky papers with names of jobs on them
Focus Vocabulary extension in a playful way; Pronunciation.

To do this exciting and noisy vocabulary review, you need to be able to clear away the tables and move chairs into large circles with no obstructions inside them. It is great fun.

Preparation

1. Prepare enough 'job noun 'stickers as there are pupils in each circle—e.g., lawyer, doctor, baker, etc.
2. Divide the class into one or more circles of about 12 pupils each. Each needs a chair. (Bigger circles are possible once everyone knows how the game works.)
3. Prepare your 'newspaper stick(s)'—about 1/2 metre long, not too floppy, not too heavy or hard. (You'll need bits of sticky tape to keep them rolled up.)

Procedure (As for one circle only)

1. Hand out the stickers and tell the children to stick them on their chests so others can read them. Explain the rules. (See Steps 2-5.)
2. One pupil stands in the centre of the circle with a rolled-up newspaper.
3. Start the game off by calling out the name of one of the sitting pupils.
4. This pupil shouts out someone else's job noun.
5. The pupil in the middle tries to hit that pupil (i.e., the one whose job noun has been called out) on the knees with the newspaper stick before that pupil can call out someone else's word. If the stick wielder manages to whack someone before s/he can call out anyone else's word, that pupil takes the place of the pupil in the centre.

Variation
Use vocabulary from other categories—for example, animal nouns, object nouns, food nouns, movement verbs and so on.