Materials: pre-made taboo cards.
Time: 10-30 minutes
Preparation: Prepare the taboo cards. If you have played this game at home, you know that the word on the top of the card is the word the group needs to guess. The other 5 words below it are “taboo” – they are the first 5 words that come to mind when you think about the first word. Therefore, these cards are easy to make on your own. If “snow” is the word you want the class to guess, think of the first 5 associations: winter, blizzard, frozen, ice, cold (for example). The student can’t say any of those words while he/she is trying to elicit the word “snow” from his/her peers. He/she also can’t say “snowman”, “snow ball”, etc.
The cards should look like this:
SNOW: winter/blizzard/frozen/ice/cold
Description: Explain the instructions and give a few examples. You might have to help the students along or get them started. Sometimes my students only throw out one word, but that makes it hard for their peers to guess. Encourage them to explain using full sentences: It’s something white that falls from the sky and is beautiful but dangerous. Play for team points or play as a whole class just for fun.
-Nancy W.
Filed under: Level: Advanced, Level: Intermediate, Skills: Conversation/Speaking, Skills: Creativity
