Family Feud
Minefields

Level Aims Grammar Time Materials
junior high school to Adult To review and build vocabulary. none 10 mins Blackboard and chalk, card with large red spot on it.

This activity only practices words, not phrases or sentences, so it is best suited as a warm-up activity, or as something with which to fill those odd 7 minutes at the end of a lesson.

Divide the class into two teams, or 'families', and assign them family names like Hamada and Matsumoto (the names of two TV comedians with whom the students are very familiar). Write these names on the board to keep score. One student from each team comes to the front of the class, and the teacher calls out a category. The following list is of categories which work well, but the possibilities are endless.

When the students think of an answer, they slap the red button. The first to do so can then answer. If correct they sit down and the next 9 students in their family have to come up with 9 more answers in the same category. Thus, be careful to choose categories in which the students ought to be able to think of ten or more things easily.

Instruct the other team to think of an answer while the first team is trying to complete their task, because if the 1st team fails to come up with 9 more things, the 2nd team has a chance to answer and steal the points. Thus, the points go to the 1st team if they successfully answer 9 times in the same category, or else the 2nd team only has to give one answer to score (not as easy as it sounds). Reward the winning team as you see most apt.

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