Opposites Hangman- Spelling and Guessing Game
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Students guess pairs of opposites letter by letter like a kind of double hangman, starting with very easy opposites like yes - no and hot - cold, also useful practice for spelling and pronouncing letters of the alphabet.
Lesson Plan Content:
Opposites hangman spelling and guessing game
Warmer: Opposites volleyball
One person is the server. They should shout out a word which has an opposite, e.g. “Morning” (because the opposite is afternoon) or “Hot” (because the opposite is cold). Their partner should shout out the opposite to return. Any word which could be the opposite is okay. If anyone pauses too long, says a word that has no opposite (e.g. “Table”), or can’t think of an opposite, the other person scores a point. If the server loses a point, the other person serves next. The game can be played by bouncing a balloon, catching a ball, pretending that you have a ball, or just shouting out words without a ball.
Opposites hangman reading and guessing game
Choose a pair of opposites from below without telling anyone which one you chose and write just a gap for each letter on the board, e.g. _ _ _ - _ _. The other students take turns asking for one letter, e.g. “Can I have the right word, second letter, please?” They can try to guess both words (just once) each time that they ask for a letter, without looking at the list below. You get one point for each time that someone asks you for a letter and then can’t guess the two words correctly.
yes – no
happy – sad
good – bad
fine – ill
hot – cold
long – short
fun – boring
breakfast – dinner
North – South
East – West
Southeast – Northwest
can – can’t
big – little
black – white
up – down
on – under
in front of – behind
in – out
January – December
winter – summer
mine – yours
he – she
boy – girl
male – female
man – woman
aunt – uncle
daughter – son
grandmother – grandfather
brother – sister
older – younger
Play the same game as above with your own ideas. They can be different opposites of the words there (e.g. “big brother – big sister” or “grandmother – granddaughter”, or completely different opposites, e.g. “rainy – sunny”).
Freer practice of opposites
Write down a pair of opposites which are different to those above. Say just one of the two words. If your partner guesses a different opposite or gives up, you get one point - but only if they agree that the word that you were thinking of really is the opposite of the first word you said. The person with most points when your teacher stops the game is the winner.
More opposites ideas
his – her/ hers
you – I/ me
spring – autumn/ fall
big brother/ older brother – little brother/ younger brother
like – don’t like/ hate
in the morning – in the afternoon/ in the evening
have a bath – don’t have a bath/ have a shower
there is – there are/ there isn’t
school – work/ home
father/ dad/ papa/ daddy – mother/ mum/ mama/ mummy
old – young/ new
slow – quick/ fast
quiet – loud/ noisy
far – near/ close
on – off/ under
hello – goodbye/ see you
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