Let's play hot seat!

This is a very lively activity and can be adapted to different class sizes.

• First, split your class into different teams (two is best, but if you have a large class, any number could be used).
• Sit all the learners so they are facing the board.
• Then, take an empty chair – one for each team – and put them at the front of the class, facing the team members. These chairs are the 'hot seats'.
• Then, ask one member from each team to come up and sit in that chair, so they are facing their teammates and have their back to the board.
• As the teacher, have a list of vocabulary items that you want to use in this game.
• Take the first word from that list and write it clearly on the board.
• The aim of the game is for the learners in the teams to describe that word to their teammate who is in the 'hot seat', using synonyms, antonyms, definitions etc. It's important that the person in the hot seat doesn't turn around and look at the board.
• The learners in the hot seats listen to their teammates and try to guess the word.
• The first one to say the word wins a point for their team.
• Then, a new member of each team takes their place in their team's hot seat.
• Then write the next word on the board and repeat the process.

If you have many teams, perhaps some teams will have to wait to play. Or if the team sizes are large, you can restrict how many team members do the describing.

Have fun!