How to remember the learnt words? Reviewing them regularly! The game Ships of War will turn the boring revision into an exciting learning experience.
Use this engaging vocabulary game to help students practice category words.
Step 1.
Explain that the students are going to play a game of warships. And brainstorm the names of famous ships with the class, e.g. the Titanic, the Argo, the Barracuda, the Black Pearl, etc. Use this stage to remember the use of ‘the’ with the names of ships.
Step 2.
Divide the class into teams of four or five. Ask each team to choose:
- a name for their ship,
- a captain,
- a shooter.
The captain’s job is to memorize the ship’s name.
The shooter’s job is to memorize the names of the other ships.
The remaining students in each team are the ship’s crew.
Step 3.
Arrange all the captains in a circle. The ship’s crew lines up behind their captain. The shooter is the last crew member in each line.
Step 4.
Give the students a category. Words from the category are used to defend ships from attack. Give the students time (1 min) to think of words associated with the category. Every student (except the shooters) must think of words.
Step 5.
Start the game by calling a ship’s name.
The captain of that ship replies with a word from the category.
The crewman behind the captain then says another word from the category and so on down the line until it is the shooter’s turn.
The shooter then calls out the name of another ship.
The captain of that ship replies with a word from the category and the process is repeated.
The ship is sunk in such cases:
- if a captain or crew member is too slow to reply,
- they can’t think of a word or repeat a word,
- the shooter calls out the wrong ship (e.g. their own ship or a ship that has already been sunk).
The crew from the sunk ship joins the crew of the ship that went before them.
When a ship has been sunk, change the category.
The last warship left standing wins the game.
More activities at our Courses Teaching Teens & Teaching Kids
