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Hadfiel classification

Linguistic games

They aim to develop accuracy and practice new language items like pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. They usually have a score system and a clear winner. There are several types:

Vocabulary games: They focus on lexical items. As an example, “Pelmanism” is a vocabulary game played with cards that show words and pictures. The aim is to make pairs of cards: the card with the written word and the one with the corresponding picture. It can be played in pairs or small groups. Other games are: anagrams, bingo, guessing games, “Look at what I bought” or tops and tails.

Grammar games: focus on syntactic patterns. An example is “Noughts and Crosses”, where the class is divided into two teams. The teacher puts a noughts and crosses grid on the blackboard, with grammatical elements in each square. They have to get a row of three noughts or crosses. Other games are: “Are you ready Mr. Wolf”, “Out of place” or “The alibi”.

Pronunciation games: provide practice for sounds, stress, rhythm or intonation patterns. An example is a phonetic “Bingo” in which students have words with difficult or similar pronunciations. Other examples are “Chinese whispers” and “The same or different?”

Spelling games: they make students aware of phoneme-grapheme correspondences. They are useful because English spelling is illogical and difficult for children. “Hangman” for example is useful to practice the way in which words are written. Other examples are “word chains” or “words from words”.

Communicative games

They develop fluency and collaborations with others. Students must exchange information, focusing on completing a task together. The goal is for students to communicate effectively. An example are Information gap games, such as finding the differences in two pictures, used to foster communication.