Whisper down the line
Have the class stand in two or more lines. The teacher whispers a question, e.g. Can you read? to the first student in line 1 and another question, e.g. Can you sing? to the first student in line 2. When the teacher says Go!, Student 1 in both lines whispers the sentence to Student 2, Student 2 whispers to Student 3 and so on, until the sentence reaches the end of the line. The last student from each line asks the teacher the question and he/she answers accordingly. The students keep playing, changing the questions.

Birthday line
Ask the students to arrange themselves in a line in order of their birthdays from January to December. Students walk around the class and ask each other When's your birthday? For example, if Student 1's birthday is October 22nd and Student 2's birthday is November 18th, Student 2 stands behind Student 1 in the line. Then Student 2 asks Student 3 When's your birthday? Student 3 answers, e.g. My birthday's November 4th. Then Student 3 stands between Student 1 and Student 2. The students try to complete the line as quickly as possible.

Sentence puzzles
Choose one sentence that the students have recently learned. Write out the words in a mixed up order on the board. Students work in pairs to find the correct order to make a complete sentence, then they raise their hands and tell the rest of the class or write the sentence in the correct order on the board. Repeat with other sentences.

Original calendar
Divide the class into 12 groups and assign each group a month. (In a small class, make two groups and assign six months each.) Give each group a large sheet of paper to make a calendar for their month(s). The teacher could show a local or an English calendar for reference. Have students write out the ordinal numbers for dates, e.g. 1st, 2nd, 3rd.... When they finish making the calendar, students walk around the classroom asking questions to find out whose birthday is in that month. Have students write those students' names on the calendar. The teacher can put the months together to make a one-year calendar. Keep this calendar for learning/reviewing past tense, future tense or holidays.

Snowman craft activity
Make a paper doll of a snowman to show students and say Let's make paper dolls! Put students in pairs and distribute some materials, e.g. paper, scissors, glue, crayons, yarn, buttons, sticks, etc. While students are working, the teacher asks individual students about the body parts, e.g. What's this? Show me his (arms)., etc. As students work, the teacher encourages students to talk to each other, e.g. Do you want to make his eyes?

Describing posters
Put students in small groups. Distribute newspapers/magazines and several sheets of paper to each group. Brainstorm adjectives on the board: big, old, etc. Each student cuts out pictures of various items for each word, e.g. a picture of a mouse for small, etc. Then the groups collect all their pictures for one of the words, e.g. big, and glue them on the top half of the paper. In the bottom half of each sheet, they write down several sentences about their pictures, e.g. The (giraffe) is bigger than the (dog). The (airplane) is bigger than the (giraffe). Students follow the same steps for each word. Then each group puts all the papers together to make a book. Distribute extra paper to make book covers.

Classroom scavenger hunt
On the board, write a list of 6-8 things you want students to find in the classroom, e.g. Find the biggest thing in the room. Find the smallest thing in the room. Find the oldest person in the room. Find the tallest student., etc. Put students into several groups. Give the groups five minutes to look around the room and ask each other questions to find the answers. When the time is up, give groups a few minutes to write down the answers. Then have each group list their answers on the board. If groups have different answers, encourage group members to show their items to the class to decide who's right.

TV commercial
Put students into pairs to create TV commercials and say We're going to make TV commercials! Demonstrate by playing both roles, e.g. A: Hi (Sally). How are you? B: I (feel sick). A: What's the matter? B: (Hold your head.) I have a (headache). A: (Hold up a bottle of aspirin.) That's too bad. You should take Best Aspirin. Then have students brainstorm for other products to advertise, e.g. tissues, toothpaste, cough drops, etc. Provide extra vocabulary if necessary. Then give students time to prepare their commercials. Have pairs perform their TV commercials for the class. Film or tape record the students' commercials if possible.

Are you a shopping pro?
Bring in a some items familiar to the students. Put the actual prices on the items using tape or Post-it® Notes but hidden from the students. Place the items at the front of the room and divide students into two teams. The teacher asks How much is this? and holds up one of the items. Team A makes a guess and the teacher or a volunteer writes the amount on the board. Team B then guesses and the amount is written on the board. Then, the teacher reveals the real price. The team who guessed closest to the actual price gets a point and play continues with a new item.