Lesson: Time Stretchers

We all have those times when your lesson plan, no matter how good it looked on paper, falls a little short in practice. Or when half the class finishes an assignment ten minutes before the other half. Or when you just get sick of grammar and need to finish with something fun.

So in this entry, 11 ways to kill 5 or 10 minutes, while still using the time semi-educationally. None of these mini-activities require any prep work. I’ve done them with my 4th through 8th graders, but I think they could be adapted for higher levels.


1. Hangman, 2. Bingo, 3. Simon Says, 4. I Spy
I don’t think these little games need explanation, but if you want to brush up on the rules you can use these links: Hangman, Bingo, Simon Says, I Spy. From my own experience, they only work as time-killers if you don’t use them every lesson.

5. The Minister’s Cat
Use the name of someone in the class, yourself, or the class’s form teacher. The first student starts with the letter A, “Csaba’s cat is an awesome cat.” The next student repeats and adds an adjective with B, “Csaba’s cat is an awesome, bouncy cat.” If the repetition part is too difficult, skip it .

6. Word Boxes
Draw a four-by-four grid. Label the columns A, B, C, D, and the rows E, F, G, H. The students should draw the same, and try to fill each grid box with a word which begins and ends with the two relevant letters. For example, where E and A intersect, they could write able or extra. Where D and G intersect, they could write god or dog. See who can fill the most boxes within a set time.

7. Word Chain / Chained Sentence
Give the students / groups a word to start with, for example ‘wash’. The word chain builds on the last letter of each word. For example: wash, house, energy, yes, sheep, pillow, wind, dog... etc. No repeating words. See who can make the longest chain within a set time. Eighth grade and older are capable of making complete sentences this way - ex: We enjoy your red dress.

8. Say Something ____
Do in groups or with individual students. Name a category (“say something green, say something fast, say an animal on a farm”). Start with a group or student, they have 5 seconds to say an appropriate word. If they can’t, they’re eliminated from the game. Change the category after 5 or 6 groups / students. Play until only one is left.

9. Line Up Games
This is a good reward for a class who’s sat quietly all hour. Have them stand and divide them into groups. Put each group in a different area of the room (go outside if you can). After explaining the game, have the students in each group line themselves up in order of: height, birthday, name day, length of hair, number of siblings, length of name, alphabetical by name, alphabetical by mother’s name, etc. The group to do it fastest is the winner.

10. Sylvia’s Board Game
Have the students line up in two or three lines so that the first person of each line is standing at the chalkboard. The basic idea of the game is that you say something and the students see who can write it the fastest. Things you can say: numbers or letters, vocab words, verb tenses (for example, you say ‘do’, the student write ‘did’), or have a volunteer say words in Hungarian for the students to write in English.

11. When all else fails: Quiet Homework Time
If you’ve assigned homework, let them work on it in class. If they have homework from their other English classes, offer to help them with it.