Compound Words

I developed this as a simple game to be played after final exams, but I think it does a good job reinforcing the idea of compound words and covers a some of the more common words they are likely to encounter. I also found it helped to boost the confidence of low level students. You can also use this game as an opportunity to encourage neat writing by not awarding points to groups who don't write neatly and clearly.

I played this game with mini-whiteboards which the students could write on and hold up their answers. You can find my mini-whiteboard for download here.

You can run the game however you like, but this is what I do.

1. I put students into groups of 2, 3 or 4 depending on the overall class size. I like to encourage group work as I have found when students put their heads together they can achieve a lot, but more importantly collaboratively teach each other too!
2. I assign each group a number and draw up a simple score board on the classroom whiteboard. 
3. In the game I give students 20 seconds to answer each question, but more advanced classes will answer many of them very quickly. A quick game is a good game. If you see the class has finished before the time is up, check answers and move onto the next question. Idle hands are the devil's workshop.
4. When students are working in a group, make sure they each take turns writing the answer. This helps to keep them all actively engaged and participating. 
5. When the time is up, have students hold up their answers so you can check them and award points to correct teams. 

I hope you have as much fun with this game as I did. 

DOWNLOAD ESL COMPOUND WORD GAME