2 Fun Language Activities for the Holidays!

Hello everyone, I am Ms Joei and this is my first ever blog post! As we are fast approaching the March school holiday, it is time for you to take a long, relaxing break away from your studies and have some fun! After all, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Other than providing us with pleasure and excitement, research has shown that playing games can help us strengthen our language and social skills. In interacting with each other while playing a game, we often get to practise the core skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Take for instance the popular game of Charades which I’m sure many of us have played before. The player who is given the clue on the clue card needs to be able to read and understand it to be able to act it out properly. His/her teammates have to verbalise the actions the player is doing in order to make the correct guess about the word on the clue card. See how in playing such a simple game the players are already practising their reading, speaking and listening skills?

Below are two activities that I would like to share so that you can have great fun while improving your language skills. That’s killing two birds with one stone! What’s more, you can get everyone involved and make it a bonding activity. Are you excited to find out more? Let’s take a look at them!

Activity 1: I am the best salesperson!

Become the best salesperson by promoting your products to your audience! This fun activity is good for oral practice as it helps you to get more comfortable with public speaking. You can get creative as you think of interesting ideas to get your friends to buy your product. Enjoy hearing the funny and creative ideas your friends come up with too!

Number of players:
3 or more

Items needed:

1. 5 theme cards labelled ‘clothing’, ‘furniture’, ‘utensils’, ‘food’, ‘games’ and ‘jewellery’ (you can add more themes if you wish.)
2. Any item you can find in your house/school (depends where you are playing the game.)

How to play:

Step 1

Among you and your friends, choose the order of the salesperson to see who goes first, second, third etc. The first salesperson will pick an item in the household. It can be anything (broccoli, chair, etc.) while the rest of the players are the audience.

Step 2

The salesperson will then randomly pick one theme from the theme cards (furniture, clothes, food, utensils, etc.). The salesperson will be required to promote the product according to its theme.
For example: The player as the salesperson would need to promote broccoli as a piece of jewellery.

Step 3

Give the salesperson 5 minutes to come up with a speech to promote their item. Once the 5 minutes is up, the salesperson would need to promote their item to the audience.

Step 4

The salesperson has to tell the audience 3 or more good features about the item and why the audience should buy the item.
For example: The broccoli, being of such a bright green shade, is an eye-catching piece of jewellery, especially worn as a necklace.

He/she also has to tell the audience their experience with using the item.
For example: Once, I was so hungry but there was no food. I remembered I was wearing my broccoli necklace so I just lifted it up to take a bite. It is so convenient to have a necklace you can snack on!

The player ends their speech by summarising their points.

Step 5

There will be a 5 minute Q&A session where the audience can ask the player questions about the product and the player has to answer them.
For example: How much does the broccoli necklace cost? It is cheap at only $3!

Step 6

The audience would have to vote if they would like to buy the item or not by raising their hands. The salesperson will get 3 points for every person who would buy their item.

All players then take turns being the salesperson and repeat Steps 1 to 6.

End of Game Scoring

Once everyone has had the chance of being the salesperson twice, calculate the total number of points that each player receives. The one with the highest points will win the title of best salesperson!

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Activity 2: Idiom Master

Do you think you are the master of idioms? Test out your knowledge of idioms with the game of pictionary! This game will help you to revise the use of idioms to ensure that you will be able to use them accurately in your writing. It can be played as singles or in teams.

Number of players:
2 or more (single/team play)

Items needed:

1. 15 cards, each with a different idiom and its meaning written on it (you can add more idioms if you wish). If you need help looking for idioms, check out this post.
2. Timer
3. Paper/whiteboard and pencil/marker for drawing
4. Paper/whiteboard for writing down the scores

Single play (2 or 3 players)

Step 1

Take 10 minutes to study each idiom and its meaning.

Step 2

After 10 minutes, one player will be selected to draw an idiom card from the stack of idiom cards. He/she should not show this card to the other players.

Step 3

The player who picked the card will draw out the idiom on a piece of paper or on a whiteboard. After he/she has finished drawing, he/she shows the drawing to the other players who then get a 30 second time limit to guess the idiom.

Guessing the idiom right will earn him/her 1 point while guessing the idiom and meaning correctly will earn him/her 3 points.

Players will take turns to draw and guess until all the cards are used up.

At the end of the game, calculate the number of points for each player. The one with the highest points wins and will be crowned the Idiom Master!

Team play (4 or more players)

Step 1

Take 10 minutes to study each idiom and its meaning.

Step 2

Split players into teams of 2. For each team, one player will draw the idiom, and the other will guess it. The player who draws the idiom card cannot show it to his/her teammate.

Step 3

The player who picked the card will have 20 seconds to draw out the idiom. The player’s teammate will have to guess the idiom and the meaning based on the picture drawn.

Guessing the idiom right will earn the team 1 point while guessing the idiom and meaning correctly will earn the team 3 points.

If the player’s teammate is unable to guess or makes the wrong guess, the other team gets a chance to answer. To make the game more challenging, the opposing team will get 2 points if they are able to guess the idiom AND give its meaning accurately. Giving only either one will not earn them any points.

Step 4

The next team will play and they will repeat step 3.

Players in each team will take turns until all the cards are used up.

End of Game Scoring

At the end of the game, calculate the number of points for each team. The team with the highest points wins and will be crowned Idiom Masters!

I hope that you will try out these activities and have fun with your friends or family members. Remember, even though it’s the holidays, the learning does not stop! Till my next post, happy learning!

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