I always like to use classic games such as battleship in the foreign language classroom. These types of activities don’t typically require a lot of explanation because students are familiar with the how the game is played and they can get right on task practicing their language skills. You can read about how language instruction is improved with “fun and games” in a post that I wrote previously.
- French Verb Form and Vocabulary Battleship Activities
- Spanish Verb Form and Vocabulary Battleship Activities
Here is an example of how battleships can be used to practice clothing vocabulary and colors in Spanish. Students place boats (filled in boxes) on the game board. Students play against another student and try to find and sink the boats of the opponent. There are pictures of clothing down the left side and colors across the top (this can also easily be done with with subjects and verbs). To choose a square, the player must say the article of clothing and the correct form of the color. All of the necessary vocabulary (boat names, hit, sunk, miss, examples of how to say a sentence) are on the sheet for student reference. There are two grids for each player to use, one to put his/her own “boats” on and the other to keep track of the opponent.