Noughts and Crosses

Yes that's right noughts and crosses can be adapted into a fun learning activity for EFL students.

And again the variations on this game are only limited by you. I know too many teachers that have used this game and none of them play it the same.

As a simple explanation of how the game can work follows; you draw a simple 3 by 3 grid on the board, the same that you would do if playing noughts and crosses. You come up with 2 sets of terms. 1 for the vertical axis and 1 for the horizontal axis.

for example -

vertical axis       - noun category
horizontal  axis - can be starts with the letter...

then on the top of the 3 vertical columns i would write 3 different categories. i.e

animals

fruits

colours

and to the side of the 3 horizontal rows I would write 3 different letters i.e.

A,    B,    C

Then teams take turns at placing a marker in each square. But first the have to offer a word that fits into the restrictions. So if they want to go in the top left corner they would have to name an animal starting with the letter A. If they want to go in the centre they would have to a fruit starting with B. To go in the bottom right they have to say a colour starting with C.

The terms you create are really limitless. For more advanced students you can have them develop sentences with 2 terms in them. Anything.

Can't think of something to do with it or want some more ideas. Comment and I will add more noughts and crosses ideas.