Hot Seat

TOF

Description

In pairs, students describe or act out a secret word on the board while their partner tries to guess it without seeing the word.

Details

7 - 10 years, 11 - 19 years

Pairs

Flexible Duration

Materials required

Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, Team Building, Topic Specific, Listening Skills

Instructions:

1. Put all of the students into partners.

2. Instruct the partners the stand so that one student in the pair is facing the blackboard, and the other cannot see the blackboard.

3. Write a vocabulary word on the blackboard.

4. The students facing the blackboard must describe the vocabulary word on the blackboard in English. They are not allowed to say the word on the blackboard.

5. When the student not facing the blackboard in a partnership guesses the word on the blackboard, both students sit down.

6. The two students left standing who do not guess the word on the blackboard are "out" of the game.

7. For the next round, the students switch so that the one who saw the blackboard in the first round is now guessing the word on the blackboard, and the teacher writes another vocabulary word. The students who were "out" must stand off to the side.

8. The game continues until only one set of partners remains. They are the winners of the game.

9. This game may also be played with acting instead of describing. If you so choose, you can instruct the students facing the blackboard to act out the vocabularywords without speaking.

Variations & tips:

1. Give bonus points for using specific grammar structures in descriptions, like "It is used for..." or "It looks like..."

2. Switch to silent acting (charades style) every few rounds to practice nonverbal communication.

3. Play with trios instead of pairs, where one describes, one acts, and one guesses.

4. Add a “forbidden word” rule, where students can’t use certain common words in their clues (e.g., for “dog,” no “pet,” “bark,” or “tail”).

Related Activities

Street Storm

Mubarak Shaikh

Street Storm is a fast-paced outdoor group game where one player becomes the “Stormer” and controls the action by shouting commands like RUN, FREEZE, and MOVE. While players are frozen or exercising, the Stormer tags them.

7 - 10 years, 11 - 19 years

Any number of players

Hot Seat

TOF

7 - 10 years, 11 - 19 years

Pairs

Flexible Duration

Materials required

Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, Team Building, Topic Specific, Listening Skills

Instructions:

Variations & tips:

Related Activities

Street Storm

Mubarak Shaikh

7 - 10 years, 11 - 19 years

Any number of players

Flexible Duration

No materials

Jail

​

7 - 10 years, 11 - 19 years

Any number of players

Flexible Duration

No materials

Sticky tape

​

7 - 10 years, 11 - 19 years, Mixed Age

Any number of players

Flexible Duration

No materials

Hit the can

​

7 - 10 years

Any number of players

10 to 30 minutes

Materials required

Collect the Stones

​

7 - 10 years, 11 - 19 years

Any number of players

Flexible Duration

Materials required

Rounders

https://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/rounders.htm

Mixed Age

Any number of players

Flexible Duration

Materials required

Wall Touch

Maria

7 - 10 years, 11 - 19 years

Any number of players

10 to 30 minutes

No materials

Ham-Cheese, Ham-Burger

Maria

7 - 10 years, 11 - 19 years, Adults

Less Than 10

10 to 30 minutes

No materials

Action Change

Gayathri Pradeep

1 - 6 years, 7 - 10 years

Any number of players

5 to 10 minutes

No materials

Its Us Who Build Community

Maria Mascarenhas

Mixed Age

Any number of players

5 to 10 minutes

No materials

Making Melody in my Heart

Maria Mascarenhas

7 - 10 years, 1 - 6 years

Any number of players

5 to 10 minutes

No materials

Pair Up on a Newspaper

Maria Mascarenhas

7 - 10 years, 11 - 19 years, Adults

Any number of players