Author: Deb Bullock | Published on 2 February 2023
Read what a teacher says about this activity:
10 words is a fun team game that you can use to review and practise vocabulary and spelling. It’s a good activity to use at the start of the lesson to energise your learners. You can use it with any subject, not only English.
Stage 1: Prepare
Choose a topic from the textbook or curriculum that learners have studied, e.g. weather, furniture, sports, etc. You could also choose a general topic, e.g. things that are cold, things that make a noise, verbs about moving, etc.
Stage 2: Introduce
Say: “Let’s play a word game”. Write 10 words on the board.
Put learners in teams of 5 or 6.
Say: “Choose a team writer. The writer needs a pen or a pencil.”
Check all teams have a writer with paper and a pen or pencil. Say: “Hands up team writers. Show me your paper and pen.”
Say: “I will write a topic on the board. Work together and write 10 words from the topic as fast as you can. When you have 10 words, shout: ‘Stop!’ Team writers must stop writing. I check the words and the spelling. If they are correct, you win. If they are not correct, I say ‘Play on’.
Stage 3: Check instructions
Ask:
- “How many words do you write?” (= 10)
- “What kind of words do you write?” (= the topic words)
- “What do you do when you have 10 words?” (= shout ‘Stop!’ and stop writing)
- “What if the 10 words are not correct?” (= play on until a team shouts ‘Stop!’)
- “What if 2 teams shout ‘Stop!’ at the same time?” (= they both win)
- Say: “Remember to write well so I can read it! And whisper so other teams don’t hear your words.”
Stage 4: Play the game
Say: “Let’s play. The topic is <…>” Write the topic on the board. Say: “Go!”
When a team shouts ‘Stop!’ say: “Pens down”.
Check the team’s words and spelling are correct.
Clap the winners or play on until there is a winning team. The winning team should read out their words.
Variations:
If learners can’t think of 10 words, ask for fewer words.
After the first team shouts ‘Stop!’ continue playing for 2nd place.
Instead of teams shouting ‘Stop!’ give learners a time limit. The team with the most correct words wins.
Stage 5: Extend and share
Ask the teams who didn’t win: “Do you have any different words?” Ask each team to share 1 or 2 different words with the class.
Tell teams to put away their papers. Give the class a spelling test on the topic words.