The word order game

Correct word order has a significant role in teaching a foreign language. Many learners automatically order the words in a sentence as in their native language. However, since different languages have various sentence structures, ESL teachers should be very attentive in dealing with this topic. Despite its difficulty, it can be taught in fun and entertaining ways to primary school children. Here we present activities that will definitely come in handy to practise word order with your kids.

Rainbow sentences

One of the fascinating ways of practising word order with kids is definitely with Rainbow order. Distribute the mixed parts of the sentence to your students and ask them to put the words in the correct order according to rainbow colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). To make it more fun, you can also play the rainbow song. Children really enjoy doing this activity.

Question cards

Use question cards to introduce the rules of word order to your students, such as Who/what, what happens, where, when, etc. Provide with an example (Bob goes to school every day.) and get your students to put the mixed words in the correct order.

Expanding the phrase

Write a word on the board. Ask your students to take in turns and add extra words to make it into a longer and longer sentence. It must be a logically coherent sentence. Students cannot remove words, but they can change the order while adding new words. My kids really enjoy this activity, especially when I ask them to use their imagination and expand the phrase in a funny way.

Cat

• A black cat
• A big black cat
• Tom saw a big black cat
• Tom saw a big black cat in the forest
• Tom saw a big black cat in the forest last night

Removing words from a sentence

This activity is considered to be the opposite of the previous one. Here you provide your students with a long sentence and ask them to take turns and to remove words so that it always remains a sentence.

• Kate doesn’t like cartoons because they are loud, so she doesn’t watch them.
• Kate doesn’t like cartoons because they are loud, so she doesn’t watch.
• Kate doesn’t like cartoons because they are loud.
• Kate doesn’t like cartoons.

Brainstorming sentences

Ask your students to work in pairs or in groups. Choose a topic that the students are familiar with (weather, animals, food, jobs, etc) and get them to make up as many correct and long sentences as possible.

Example: Animals

Group A: Crocodiles are very dangerous animals.

Group B: Many people are afraid of spiders and not mice.

Group A: It is very difficult to survive crocodile’s attack because they attack very quickly.

Group B: Last summer, when we were staying in a forest, we suddenly saw a wolf near our tents.

Gringle

This is a guessing game. Choose a player, who will think of a verb his/her classmates must guess what verb this student is thinking of. The verb is replaced by a nonsense word such as “gringle”. The students then ask questions, like this:

— Can you gringle at night?

— Who gringles more — girls or boys

— Do you use a special object to gringle?

— When do you usually gringle?

— Is gringling a fun or a serious action?

Why do people gringle?This game is a magnificent tool for practising word order in interrogative sentences with your kids. With the help of numerous questions, they revise different types of questions, such as General and Special ones.

This was the list of the activities that I usually use with my kids to practise word order. I am sure you are aware of some other fascinating ways as well. Share them in the comments below.

Drilling Word Order

Level: Basic to
Intermediate

Purpose: This activity
can help students drill word order in affirmative, negative and interrogative
sentences. Students will comprehend sentence structures. It also gives them a
chance to communicate in a group. 

Preparation and
Materials:

Prepare several sets of
cards. Each set is one sentence cut into separate words. (Have endings –ed,
-ing, -s, -es also be separate cards). The sentences are in the tense form(s)
you want to drill. Mix the cards of the sets well. Make one card labeled “not”.

You can make as many
sets as many sentences you want to be practiced. You’ll need sticky
tape.

Procedure:       (1) Have students assemble in two groups. One
group corresponds to one sentence. The number of groups depends on the number
of students in your class and on the number of sentences you want to be
practiced at a time.

                        (2) Each group gets a set of cards.

                        (3) Ask students to take a card (one each)
and stick it on the chest. (They can just hold it in their hands so that other
students are able to see it). (0,5 min.)

                        (4) Ask them to get lined up in a correct
order to build a sentence. (0,5 – 1 min.)

(5) When they form the sentences, ask them to read their
opponents’ sentence and discuss if the word order is correct or not.  (1 min.)

                        (6) Ask students to change their position
in the line (sentence) if it is not correct.

(7) Ask students to change the sentence into an interrogative
one.  (0,5 min)

(8) When they form the sentences, ask them to read their
opponents’ sentence and discuss if it is correct or not. (0,5 min.)

                        (9) Ask students to change their position
in the line (sentence) if it is not correct.

(10) Stick a card labeled “not” on your chest and ask students
where your position in their sentence is to make it negative.

(11) Join each group. Ask students to read their opponents’
sentence and discuss if it is correct or not. (0,5 min.)

                        (9) Ask students to change your position
in the sentence if it is not correct.

                        (10) Repeat it several times with other
sets of cards.

Variations: You may
have students agree or disagree on affirmative and negative sentences they
formed and answer the questions they built. You may use the activity to drill
adjectives order in a sentence.

Examples:

a set for a group of 7 students(Present Continuous)

a set for a group of 8 students(Present Perfect)

One Breath Game

Level: Intermediate
to Advanced

Purpose: to improve reading fluency and
practice/strengthen vocabulary.

Preparation and Materials:

Choose vocabulary, set of phrases, a text or
an article which you want your students to read. Prepare the hand-outs.

Procedure:

(1) Hand out the papers.

(2) Explain, the students are going to read
it in turn. The task is to read as much as they can in one breath. (The teacher
can show the student how to read it) (1,5 min)

(3) Each student starts reading from the
beginning. See how far students can get. Choose the best reader. (5-10 min)

(4) Now have round two. Students try to beat
their previous record. (5-10)

(5) You may reward students that can improve
on their performance and the best reader. (1 min)

Variations: This activity can also be used to
practice some grammar structures. You may choose the article, which includes
the grammar structure, you are teaching.

You also can choose the level of difficulty
of the reading, depending on your students’ level.

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