Cambridge B2 First Grammar Practice – Part 3

This is the third and the last part of the ESL game focused on the grammar contents that a B2 First exam candidate must be familiar with. Check out all the grammar topics in this article, B2 First Grammar Checklist in Exam Context.

If you are a newcomer, find the first two parts below. All the instructions to how the game is played and what material is needed can be found in the first part.

• Part 1 Cambridge B2 First Grammar Practice
• Part 2 Cambridge B2 First Grammar Practice – Part 2

Read until the end, and you’ll find an adaptation to this ESL activity, so that you can use any of the 27 grammar charts and turn it into another ESL game, a game which will stir up everyone’s interest, with no need to wait till all the B2 First grammar contents have been covered in class. Still, its main purpose is the same – identifying grammar inaccuracies. 

B2 First Ultimate Grammar Game

Part 3

Aim

To recognize a well grammatically-built sentence, to identify grammar mistakes and correct them, and collect as much money as possible on the way.

Contents

A. Challenge

B. Causative HAVE and GET

C. Linking words and phrases

D. Modal verbs to express ability, advice, necessity, obligation and permission

E. Modal verbs to express certainty and possibility

F. Relative clauses and relative pronouns

G. State verbs

H. The passive

I. WISH, IF ONLY, I’D RATHER, IT’S TIME and HOPE

J. Challenge

Players: Teams of 2-4 students, or individually. In case players have no game buddy, provide each one with a playfield.

Material

• A playfield for each team 
• A copy of A-J grammar tables (shared by the teams) 
• A copy of the ANSWERS for the teacher 

UpdatesTo spice up the game, the following changes have been made:

1. The teacher must add the following to the field of play:
   • The well-known BANKRUPT, CHARITY, and DOUBLE. These are added anywhere on the field of play, and as many times as he/she wants, and
   • The TYPHOON heroes. These are added to the field just once.

Have you heard of them? Here they are: TYPHOON (the team’s score is back to zero), SWAP (teams/players swap scores), STEAL (take from your opponents the last points they’ve won), SHARE (give half your points to the rest of the players).

2. Two challenges have been added, A and J. These quizzes have no specific  grammar topic. Players must read the sentence and identify any grammar inaccuracies. 

Please make sure everyone is familiar with these two updates before the game starts.

I strongly suggest that teachers use this game as final grammar revision, once all the B2 First grammar topics have been taught and practised in class. Besides, when the players have spotted the mistake, asking them to give the reason why a given structure is incorrect is a must, just to make sure there is no room for doubts in the exam.

Nonetheless, what if you are planning to assess a specific grammar structure, nothing but one grammar point? In this case, each of the 27 grammar tables can easily turn into an ESL grammar auction game. 

B2 First Auction Game

Let’s suppose students have studied WISH, IF ONLY, I’D RATHER, IT’S TIME and HOPE. After using such structures in various types of exercises, we should plan a hard play – the auction game.

How is the auction game played?

Material: one copy for each student or pair of students.

Instructions: Players start with $100, which is the initial amount of money in their account. They must bet up to $20 for each of the eight sentences in turn. How much they bid depends on how certain the players are that the sentence is correct or incorrect.

Model: 

Player ONE: “I think the first sentence is incorrect. I bet only $10 since I am not completely sure about it.”

Player TWO: “This sentence is grammatically correct. I bet $20 since I am sure about it.”

Player THREE: “This sentence is grammatically wrong. I bet $20 as I am certain it is incorrect.”

Teacher: “If you bid for its incorrectness, you have won the money you’ve bet, so add it up to your initial $100, otherwise, you’ve lost the money you’ve just bet. Subtract it from your initial amount of money. Write how much you’ve got now in the last column, which corresponds to the first sentence.

Why is the sentence grammatically wrong? What is the correct form?”

As you see, we have easily adapted one of the grammar charts, with its eight sentences, to assess just one of the grammar structures we need. As easy as ABC ;).

Just as we’ve turned a jeopardy game into an auction one, any of the thirty grammar tables can be used as the basis for a Quizizz or Kahoot quiz. These interactive platforms have already won our learners’ acclaim, haven’t they?

Stay tuned for more words of advice and handy material!