Name of Game:
Running Dictation
Target Students:
Elementary School
Target Students:
Middle School
Target Students:
High School
Target Students:
University
Target Students:
Adults
Duration:
15-30 minutes
Number of Students:
Pairs or small groups
English Skills:
Listening
English Skills:
Reading
English Skills:
Speaking
English Skills:
Writing
Objective:
Remember words and phrases and dictate them to your partner - Break students up into groups of 3-4, or pairs for small classes
- Put one sentence on a piece of paper for each team
- One leader from each team goes to the board and tries to remember their sentence
- The leader returns to their group and dictates the sentence while team members write it down
- First team to finish correctly gets a point
- Change words/sentences and switch leaders
- Use pictures for children who can't spell and have them draw the picture instead of writing the words
- Use multiple sentences for more advanced students
- Place
sentences around the room and have each group member do one each. - Groups have to put the sentences into the right order before turning in the paper
Make each team's paper different so students don't simply listen to other teams. Leaders are not allowed to take their paper, write down anything, or yell across the room. They are allowed to return to board to look at their paper as many times as they like. Use words from class to reinforce learned vocabulary and grammar structures.
What are your variations? Leave comments on other variations below...
A big thanks to I for this EFL/ESL game!
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Interested in teaching English in Korea? 
I played this game with my
I played this game with my elementary school students in Korea and also with high school students who I taught for a short time. It worked really well in both cases. I'm about to try it out on my adult students in Australia.
Adult ESL Students
Let us know how it goes. Do adults also enjoy running around the classroom?
They sure do. The game
They sure do.
The game was really popular. I was concerned for the health of my students at one point though. I had written a particularly long sentence and one student was huffing and puffing as he ran from my table back to his group, dictating the sentence. I could almost hear his heart beating and thought he was going to get so excited he would have a heart attack. Next time there will be no marathon sentences.
The students were running around screaming like kids. I did my favourite adaptation to the rules- moving around while they were intent upon the work, so when they come to find me to check the sentences they're not sure where I've gone. Two students thought I'd taken the lift to another floor at one point. It's difficult to keep an eye on everybody and make sure they're playing by the rules and do this stunt, but I like to disappear down the corridor or something in the middle of the game so my students have to chase after me to give me the answer and complete the game. I used to go down the corridor outside my classroom in Korea and reappear through the other door, which would frustrate my students there, although they loved it.
this game rocks
Whilst I have been a teacher of other subjects I am not a trained school teaching and I have never taught English as a second language. This game is great, it is working well with the High School students I have. After they have checked the sentence with me they go to the co-teacher who checks they fully understand what the sentence means and then the team can come and get a new sentence. It works really well.
Thanks heaps!
English Game Comments
Thanks for your feeback Jaine!
Great game! Another variation:
I've use this game with high school students in Korea, both boys and girls. Everyone loves it, and it gets pretty competitive. It's great because it works on all English skills simultaneously - speaking, listening, reading, writing. You can also use this game to reinforce lessons on pronunciation, grammar points, vocabulary, etc.
VARIATION: I was teaching -ed/-ing adjectives, and created some paragraphs in which some of the adjectives were wrong. After copying down the passage, they had to correct it. The first team to copy and correct won. This variation is best for advanced students.
Great Variation
Thanks for your comments on the game Jonny, and for sharing your variation. What a great twist!
Cool
This game is great for middle school and adults because it integrates their skills. One variation is to have the leaders dictate questions. After a student correctly writes the answer, they can get a bonus point for answering the question correctly.
If teaching adults or older
If teaching adults or older teenagers, make the passage a riddle. This way, they must read and understand the passage to find out the answer.
Using riddles to teach English
That is a great idea!
This game really got my
This game really got my students engaged in speaking, listening, and writing! Thank you!
Note: I changed the scoring. If I had five pairs, I would give the first team to finish correctly 5 points, the next team to finish correctly 4 points, etc.
Running Dictation: I'm a
Running Dictation:
I'm a little confused. Where exactly is the paper with the sentence supposed to be? If it's at the board then what are they trying to remember to write down. They have the paper at the board with them. Who holds the paper when they return to the group?
Thanks