Activity 12: It´s Sporty

 Topic related: Grammar (Verbs, go + -ing)

Who is it best for: Teenagers

Explanation and objectives:

The object of the game is for the students to discover the three categories of sports and practice their correct usage. Don't tell the students about the categories at all. The point of this exercise is to see if the students can guess what the three categories are. 

Materials:

Prepare a worksheet with a mixed list of sports in each of three categories: those that use play (sports that are nouns and use a ball or ball-like object---e.g., baseball, badminton, etc.), those that use do (sports that are nouns but do not have ball---e,g., yoga, fencing, etc.), and those that use go (sports that are spelled with -ing---e.g., skiing, swimming, etc.). Write the list of sports in the top third of the worksheet. Use the lower two thirds to draw three large boxes or cirlces. 

Instructions:

Play this game in two parts.

Part 1:

1.  Hand out a copy of the worksheet to each student. 
2. Tell the students that they will have five minutes or so to divide the list into three groups.
3. It's up to the learners to decide with their partners how they define the groups.

Part 2:

1. When time is up, have a mixer. Tell the students to change partners and work in a new group of three.
2. Ask them to exchange their ideas with their new partners, and then after a few minutes, stop the activity and see if any of the groups have come up with the correct answer for this exercise. 

Notes:

• Make shure the students are communicating with each other during this exercise and not just working silent.
• For lower levels, you might want to skip part 2 and just review the students' ideas as a class.