How to Play the ESL STEAL, SWAP, BUST, NUMBER Game

  • Steal, Swap, Bust & Number Game

Cut out the words and numbers on the grids below to make cards. Put the cards in a box or bag and shake the box so  that the cards are shuffled. Start the game by splitting the class into 2 teams( depends on class size- teams could be increased to 4 or more). Award every team 100 points to start the game. A team captain meets the other team captain and do STONE, PAPER, SCISSORS. The winner starts the game. The teacher asks the student a question (questions could come from the topic of the lesson or it could just be general review) . If  the  students  answers  the teacher’s question, that student then draws a card from the box for his/her team. If a student cannot answer a question, s/he can get help from team members.  Students cannot look into the box when drawing a card.  If the card is …

NUMBER CARDS : The number cards represent points that the students can get. If a student dips his/her hand into the box and picks out a number card , they get the number of points shown on the number on the card picked.
STEAL CARDS : If a student picks a card with this word, their team will steal all the points of  another team and add it to theirs .
SWAP CARDS: if a student picks a card with this word, their team will swap points with the another  team. For example, if Team A had 150 points and Team B 100 , that means Team A swaps 150 and gets 100 points.
BUST CARDS:  If a students picks the card with this word, it erases all the points of their team so they end up with  zero points.
               Student puts the card back into the box after each draw and teacher shakes the box to shuffle again.

Click here to print the cards needed for this game.(in PDF format)

POSSIBLE ISSUES : This is a great fun game, but it seems to reward stealing. Morally, this doesn't sound acceptable. For moral reasons, please clarify this and make your students or school know, this is just a fun game.

Game  idea from Peter Dunne, TEFL Teacher , China

MORE ESL GAMES FOR KIDS HERE>>>

ESL Fun Interactive Games Teaching & Learning

Free Printable ESL Board and Card Games

Free Powerpoint Games For ESL Teaching

Free MS WORD & PowerPoint Game Templates - Make your own games

ESL Communicative Games for Classroom Learning

MORE LESSONS

Kindergarten, Grade1, Grade 2, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6

fredisalearns lessons
fredisalearns tour

Video Lessons by Unit & Level

Level 1 Course Video Tutorials

Unit  intro – Alphabet & Phonics Resources. 

  • Aim: Teach letters of the alphabet

    • Unit   1 – Greetings - Hello

  • Aim: Teach basic greetings – Hello, Hi, Goodbye.

    • Unit   2 – What’s your name?

  • Aim: To teach kids how to say their names.

    • Unit   3 – How old are you?

  • Aim: Teach kids how to say their age and  learn numbers 1 to 5.

    • Unit   4 – Numbers – How many?

  • Aim: Teach kids how to count from 1 to 10.

    • Unit   5 A – Colours – What colour is it?

  • Aim: Teach kids how to describe things through colours.

    • Unit 5 B - Colours Vocabulary

  • Aim: Teach colours vocabulary

    • Unit 5 C - Green Monster Colours Lesson

  • Aim: Teach colours through a colours songs

    • Unit   6 – Fruits – I like apples.

  • Aim: Teach kids names of fruits and how to express likes.

    • Unit  7 – Body – I have a head.

  • Aim: Teach kids parts of the body.

    • Unit  8–  Actions  – I can, I can’t.

  • Aim: Teach kids how to express ability using simple action verbs.

    • Level 2 Course Video Tutorials

    Unit  1 – Animals – Farms Animals. 

  • Aim: Teach students how to express preference by using vocabulary related to farm animals.

    • Unit   2 – Family Members

  • Aim: Teach words and expressions used when describing family.

    • Unit  3 – School bag

  • Aim: To teach words and expressions related to classroom items.

    • Unit   4 – Actions – Can and Can’t  

  • Aim: Teach action verbs

    • Unit   5 – Shapes & Sizes

  • Aim: Teach various shapes and adjectives to describe size.

    • Unit   6 – Demonstrative Pronouns – This/That/These/Those

  • Aim: Teach  singular and plurals of nouns and demonstrative pronouns.

    • Unit   7 – Numbers – 10 to 100

  • Aim: Teach numbers 10 to 100 and pronunciation differences between long and short vowels.

    • Unit  8 – Toys – Where is it?

  • Aim: Teach  words and expressions related to toys and to ask where things are.

    • Unit  9 –  Days of the week and weekly activities

  • Aim: Teach days of the week and some things we do weekly.

    • Unit 10 -   Weather – What’s the weather like?

  • Aim: Teach students how to ask about the weather and describe it.

    • Unit 11 -   Food – What do you want to eat

  • Aim: Teach students about the things we eat and express want

    • Level 3 Course Video Tutorials

    Unit  1 – Pets : Why do you like dogs?

  • Aim: Teach  names of pets and give a brief description of pets using personality adjectives.

    • Unit   2a – Time – What time is it?

  • Aim: Teach students how to tell the time and also how to talk about daily routines.

    • Unit   2b – Time – What time is it?

  • Aim: Teach students how to tell the time using quarter to/past/ Half past etc.

    • Unit   3 – Months & birthdays – When is your birthday?

  • Aim: Teach students months of the year and how to tell dates using months and ordinal numbers.

    • Unit   4 – Jobs – What people do.

  • Aim: To teach kids how to describe jobs using action verbs.

    • Unit  5  – Actions – What are you doing?

  • Aim: Students will learn how to describe actions in progress using the present progressive.

    • Unit   6 – Transport – How do you come to school?

  • Aim: Teach students different means of transport and talk about going around.

    • Unit   7 – Clothes – What are you wearing today?

  • Aim: To learn to describe what someone is wearing.

    • Unit   8 –  Where is it? – At home

  • Aim: Teach kids prepositions of place, alongside rooms and things at home.

    • Unit  9a – Vegetables – How much are the carrots?

  • Aim: Teach kids vegetable vocabulary and how to go shopping for veggies.

    • Unit  9b – Vegetables – Extra Vegetable Vocabulary lesson - Cauliflower, broccoli etc.

  • Aim: Teach students extra vegetable vocabulary.

    • Unit  10 –  Weather  and clothes  - Put on your sunglasses.

  • Aim: Teach kids how to talk about clothes relative to the weather.

    • Unit 11 -  Zoo – What does a panda look like?

  • Aim: To teach students how to describe zoo animals by what they eat and look like.

    • Recommended Extra Resources

    ESLTOWER.COM : Many Free English Grammar & Vocabulary Exercises for Teachers and Students

    Want More Materials? Check Out ESL Galaxy for All ESL Lesson Plan needs

     

    fredisalearns tour