English literature games

Reading a book is usually a solitary act. In our opinion, one of the best way to bond with fellow-lovers is to engage in some friendly competition. With these 9 literary party games, you can finally put your English degree to good use and have a fun time. Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity might be fun, but do they have enough crude and witty references to literature?

I think not. Let your competitive side run wild with Paperback, a word-building meets deck-building card game. After reading a long or short assignment classroom novel or short story , assign four different roles to a group of students: Vocabulary, Discussion Questions, Art Director and Personal Connections. Each student will then explore the text with a different focus. The Vocabulary member will be responsible for finding 10 to 12 interesting vocabulary words to define and explore.

The Discussions Questions member rereads the text and creates five good discussion questions. The Art Director recreates important plot elements through art, and the Personal Connections person chooses and explains five personal connections with the text. After time to work, ask each member to share within his group of four.

A "Class Timeline" is a fun way to keep track of simple plot elements. Have the entire class summarize a previous reading, and then hold a competition for whose summary is the most succinct and includes the most important information.

The winner can decorate her entry and paste it on the class timeline. Write the next sentence, and pass it on. And so on. When your creative depths have been plumbed and no more tales can be spun, read them out. Stories will be enhanced by using names of other fictional characters as you go. Take it in turns to read quotes by or about various characters — they could be from classic novels you all know or from your latest book group read.

Others must guess who said what and when, and about whom, where relevant. Could be a quiet way of passing the time and patting yourself on the back at your astounding literary knowledge, or you could get competitive by dividing into teams and keeping score.

From litlovers. This one is my favourite dictionary geek alert. Similar to the paperback game, you take it in turns to pick a word from the dictionary, write out its definition, and then add two more definitions of your own. Then read the three possible definitions out to the group — or get your neighbour to do so if you have a bad poker face.

These types of games provide an external motivation -- i. Teachers might record themselves reading a particularly beautiful or compelling passage from a piece of English literature. They could then share the recording with their ESL students and encourage them to listen to it and then record themselves reading the passage.