Association Drill

 Association Drill

Words are written on the whiteboard and numbered.

Whiteboard

1. Swimming          5. Volleyball

2. Badminton          6. Basketball

3. Football              7. Baseball

4. Tennis                  8. Kung Fu

The teacher asks the class, “What is number [seven]?” The first student to shout, “[Baseball]!” gets a point for their team. The teacher then asks, “What is number [two]?” and the first student to shout, “[Badminton]!” wins a point for their team. And so the game continues (“Number one? Number five?”) until finally the teacher decides to mix it up and says, “[Tennis]?” and the first student to shout, “[Number four!]” gets the point.

This mixing up of sometimes asking students for the number, sometimes asking them for the word can make the game quite exciting (often you will say, “[Number three]?” and the students will shout, “[number three! ... err ... football!]”

Once you have been playing this game with your class for a while, you might want to experiment with it a bit. For example you could try replacing the numbers with words associated with the items of vocabulary: go-swimming, play-badminton, eat-lunch, ride-a bicycle, do-kung fu ... Teacher says, “Go,” students shout, “Swimming!” Teacher says, “A bicycle,” students shout, “Ride!”

Or: refrigerator-kitchen, television-living room, wardrobe-bedroom, car-garage, shower-bathroom ... Teacher says, “Television,” students shout, “Living room!” teacher says, “kitchen,” students shout, “Refrigerator!”

Because it works well at a fast pace, you will need a quick scoring system for this game. If the scoring system that you regularly use for the class involves a lot of number writing or pauses (e.g., to give them rewards when they reach a certain score) then it is best to use a separate scoring system while playing.

For example:

A	B
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1
1	1

With the above scoring system you erase a mark each time that team is first. Finally when the team has no marks left, they are the winners. Another idea is to draw a ladder and have magnets climbing up one rung of the ladder each time their team is first to say. The first magnet to get to the top (where a picture of a helicopter may be lying in wait) is the winner.