Use language games to enhance vocabulary and parts of speech lesson plans. "Guess How?" is one activity for learning adverbs. Break students into two teams. Write an activity on the board, such as "make cookies" or "get dressed." Write an adverb, such as "quickly" or "angrily" on an index card. Show one student the index card and have him act out the activity written on the board. The student who correctly guesses earns a point for his team. After all students have acted out one adverb, the team with the highest number of points wins.
According to the Harvard Health Publications online periodical "Health Beats," performing difficult activities that demand high levels of concentration can help you develop and enhance your memory. Play memory games with your students to help them learn lesson subject matter. For example, for a geography lesson about the 50 U.S. states and their capitals, students in a circle take turns naming a state and its capital. Each student must name the state(s) and capital(s) that the students before her named before stating her own. If a student forgets a previously named state or capital, she is out and the game starts again. Eventually, only one student will remain.
Engage students' active listening skills with games that require careful instruction and attentive listening, such as a blind scavenger hunt. Break students into pairs. One member of each pair is blindfolded. Now, place an object in an obscure location in the classroom. The non-blindfolded member must verbally direct the blindfolded member to the object. Instructing students must keep their voices low so that other team members won't hear their instructions. The pair whose blindfolded member reaches the object first gets a point. The first team to reach a set number of points wins the game.
For outside games or for a quick energy boost during the day, try one or two physically active games. One popular action game is "Duck Duck Goose." Students sit in chairs forming a circle. One student walks around the circle tapping students on the head and calling out "duck." After a while, the student then calls out "goose" as he taps his classmate's head. The "goose" runs after the student who tapped him on the head and tries to catch him before the student sits in the "goose's" chair. If the student reaches the "goose's" chair before the "goose" catches him, the student is safe and the "goose" must now walk around the circle. If the "goose" catches the student, that student is "out" and has to sit in the center of the circle until another student is caught by another "goose." Other popular action games include "Mother, May I?," "Simon Says" and "Red Light, Green Light."