Many teachers wonder about games for grammar usage in high school: It can be difficult to work with older students using grammar games because they are often more moody students and are sometimes afraid to come out of their shells. How can you get students who have fallen behind on their grammar skills to take risks and figure out the rules of grammar? With the right games up your sleeve, you can motivate your students to step outside of their comfort zone, get competitive with their peers, build teamwork skills, and even learn to love grammar.
If you are a teacher who is struggling to have your students learn proper grammar skills, and traditional teaching methods simply are not effective in teaching them all they need to know, you are taking the right step by incorporating games into your lesson plan. Let's face it: The minute a student decides a game is boring or dorky, it is hard to get them fully involved in the learning process.
You certainly do not need to make up your own games, however: There are so many games out there that teachers and educators have been testing on their students for years. You can find these grammar games, designed to target high school students, in lesson plans from your colleagues or in teaching manuals. Don't be afraid to ask your colleagues and friends for help in designing great games to help your students.
Some of the best games are really simple and get students working with teammates to become more effective writers and speakers. Reinforce the idea that good grammar is a powerful tool. With grammar skills in your toolbox, you can tackle public speaking, spelling, essay writing, and nuanced critical reading skills with ease.
One very popular game is called SWAT: You can use this for helping students learn lots of concepts, but could be explained using types of verbs. To play, you need to divide your students into two teams. Also, you will need to have a blackboard and some chalk,
There are three types of verbs in English grammar - action verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs. Write these three types of verbs on the board and have one student from each team come up to take their turn. Read a sentence out loud, and ask them to SWAT which kind of verb is featured in the sentence. The first to "swat" the correct answer wins! You can play this game for different kinds of adjectives, nouns, articles, and other grammatical elements.
Remember to target your games to the age group and interests of the students in your classroom.