Job Discussion Forums

[Harbin]

Hi all,

What pre-made communicative activity sources do frequently use? I'm a big fan of Jill Hadfield's series of communicative activities and vocabulary games, but find them to be a little dated. Don't get me wrong -- the fundamentals of these books is great, but you need to modify some of the activities a little to bring them up to date.

Here is a quick list of my go to books for pre-made communicative activities:

Business Communication Games by Angela Lloyd and Anne Preier Link This book is more than a little dated, but worth its weight in gold for intermediate and higher students.

Elementary Communication Games by Jill Hadfield Link This book is the best I've ever seen for elementary communicative activities.

Elementary Vocabulary Games by Jill Hadfield Link

Intermediate Communication Games by Jill Hadfield Link This book is mediocre, but it has a few useful activities.

Intermediate Vocabulary Games by Jill Hadfield Link This is the best of Jill's vocabulary games books.

Advanced Communication Activities by Jill Hadfield Link I've yet to use most of these activities because they're too difficult for my Chinese students, but the activities appear to be solid.

[Shroob]

Short of cash, Ms. Hadfield?

J/K.

[Harbin]

[fluffyhamster]

Books like that are good for newbs, but once one has got one's head around the concept of an information gap or similar, it shouldn't be too difficult to design one's own activities using hand-picked vocabulary and phrases. The big drawbacks for me with Hadfield's books were the amount of cutting up into little strips of paper, and then the endless chasing up and recollating or replacing of those strips for the next class (sure, once can photocopy onto card or even laminate, but that doesn't prevent losses). Worksheets/whole sheets seem more the way to go IMHO. Then, her activities were also often lacking a visual element.

[Harbin]

[JoeKing]

[fluffyhamster]

[artemisia]

There's a Cambridge series on the four skills across a range of levels by different authors: Speaking Extra (Mick Gammidge). Reward also has a series of resource packs for all or most levels.