This document provides 10 ideas for teaching activities that can be done with no materials. 1) Noughts & Crosses - A grammar-based variation of the game using numbers and quantities. 2) Taboo - Students describe words without using forbidden "taboo" words for others to guess. 3) Back to the Board - One student faces away as words are written for others to describe for them to guess. 4) Charades - Students act out sentences without words for their group to guess.

1. How to teach with
no materials

2. 1 Noughts & Crosses
O Check Ss understand the game first
O To get the square you need to give a
grammatically correct sentence. Play this
on the board
1. A few 4. a lot
of
7. much
2. plenty 5. some 8.
enough
3. many 6. any 9. a
little

3. 2. Taboo
O Students have to describe the word
without using taboo words. (eg, run = I do
this every morning, it keeps me fit, I use
trainers for this etc…

4. 3. Back to the Board
O Student sits in the front with his back to
the board. Teacher writes up words
learnt recently.
O Students describe the word to the
student who has to guess the word from
the descriptions.
O This activity is good for revising
vocabulary in a fun way.

5. 4. Charades.
O Two teams. Teacher gives a student a
sentence.
O Student mimes it to his group. Students
guess what he is trying to say.
O They score one point if they guess
correctly in time limit given.

6. 5. Three sentences
O Put students in groups of 4. They write
down 2 true, 1 a lie sentences.
O They then read them out to their group.
O Their group has to guess which sentence
is a lie.

7. 6. Famous People Stickers
- Students have the names of famous
people stuck to their backs
- Using ONLY using yes/no questions they
have to identify who they are.
- This can be easily adapted for many uses
such as animals, giving advice {they have
a problem and dependent on what
advice is given the students have to
guess what their problem is} etc.

8. 7. Hot Seats
O Put seats in a circle for all the students except one.
O Put a seat in the middle of the circle. The student
says a sentence, “I’ve been to Colca.” or “I cleaned
my teeth this morning.”
O If the sentence is grammatically correct any other
student that this is the same for has to stand up
and move to a different chair. The student who is
left sitting in the middle has to say a sentence. This
game can also be played with Vocabulary.

9. 8. Infinitive/Past
Simple/Past Participle
O Teacher gives an infinitive and the
students have to give back the past
simple and past participle form.
O If time, you can devise a bingo game with
past and past participle forms.

10. 9. What’s in the bag
O Get a bag and mime putting something in.
(eg a pen)
O Pass the bag round and get each student to
mime putting something in. Then pass the
bag round again and each student has to
mime taking out and using something from
the bag, but not theirs.
O They thank the student who put it in. Eg,
Juan, thank you for the watch.

11. 10. My aunt’s cat
O Start the game. My aunt’s cat is an awful
cat. S1 My aunt’s cat is a beautiful cat. S2
My aunt’s cat is a crazy cat. S3 My aunt’s
cat is a dangerous cat.
O Students continue in this way
alphabetically. If they cannot think of an
adjective they are out.