Intermediate Communication Games 2.0

Description

The Communication Games 2.0 series is a collection of resources for English language teachers, and Intermediate Communication Games 2.0 is designed for language learners at CEFR B1–B2 level. Earlier editions of the series have been best sellers globally and have already been translated into 12 languages. Taking on board feedback from these earlier generations and modern viewpoints, global issues and topical discussions, and current teaching practices into account – including the dramatic rise of teaching online and hybrid lessons – the new generation of the series has emerged. The idea behind this new generation is to be a go-to resource of communication games and activities, providing a wide variety of activities for communicative and interactive practice during lesson time with the teacher as a guide, facilitator and linguistic coach, for both the live online, hybrid and face-to-face classrooms of today and in the teaching of tomorrow.

Organised into 50 activities with varying time frames according to level and type of activity, each book in the Communication Games 2.0 series consists of comprehensive teacher’s notes with aims, language summaries and detailed procedure for each game or activity for both teaching face to face in class and live online; pages of photocopiable materials for each game or activity; and photocopiable rules sheets for the learners.

Each game or activity in Intermediate Communication Games 2.0 is interactive and involves cooperation rather than competition – they all have a non-linguistic aim, such as matching, drawing, ordering, collecting, sharing information, in order to successfully complete the task. They have been carefully designed to involve intensive practice of a certain set of functions, structures and lexis, like giving personal information, using simple past or recapping food vocabulary, whilst bringing real-world tasks into the lesson. Each game or activity can be located via a structural and a functional index so that teachers can quickly identify their linguistic focus. The games and activities have the added benefits of building good group dynamics through class cooperation and enjoyment, and inspiring learners’ creativity and invention, thereby giving learners a sense of achievement and a greater second-language identity.

Intermediate Communication Games 2.0 has been specially written for intermediate language learners at CEFR B1–B2 level. The tasks have been designed in such a way that there is a range of difficulty, with some overlap between the more difficult games towards the end of Elementary Communication Games 2.0 , and the easier games in Advanced Communication Games 2.0. Though as every teacher knows, games and task-based activities can be adapted up or down – a more difficult game or activity may be a stimulating communication challenge for lower-level learners, requiring them to stretch the little language they have to the limit to complete the task successfully, while a relatively easy game that focuses on a particular structure may be useful even for advanced language learners as revision or error correction. In general, the games and activities found in Intermediate Communication Games 2.0 have been written to fit within the functions and structures that most language learners will encounter in CEFR B1 and B2 course, or might come across in the speaking paper of exams such as B1 Preliminary (formerly known as Cambridge English: Preliminary (PET)) and B2 First (formerly known as Cambridge English: First (FCE) or within Trinity GESE (Graded Examinations in Spoken English) grades 6–8. Each one is designed to practise (a) specific structure(s) within a (set of) functional area(s). They are not arranged in any particular order of difficulty: it is up to the teacher to select appropriate games to fit in with their own syllabus, or indeed practise structures that have emerged from the learners’ own language input.

If you are new to teaching, Communication Games 2.0 will support you on your way with realistic communicative, language practice. If you’re an experienced teacher, it will remind you of games and activities you haven’t used in a while and offer you fresh new ideas or topics to increase your repertoire.

Intermediate Communication Games 2.0 is part of the Communication Games series, alongside Elementary Communication Games 2.0 and Advanced Communication Games 2.0. Jill Hadfield is also the co-author of Live Online Teaching.