Are you a fan of Taboo®? Then YOU DON’T SAY! is the game for you. And it can be played in two different ways. If your students are confident and articulate, have them play YOU DON’T SAY! like traditional Taboo®. If, however, you have students who are uncomfortable speaking in public, turn the rules upside down. Tell them to use some or all of the words beneath the green and red banner in their descriptions! This topsy-turvy approach encourages and empowers everyone to participate. You won’t believe what a positive game-changer it is. This package includes 36 Christmas-themed cards and a template for students to make their own YOU DON’T SAY! deck. Merry Christmas!

I’m reposting this old file because it’s Roald Dahl’s centenary and because “The Landlady” is an exceptionally well written, suspenseful and eerie short story that cries out to be explored at Hallowe’en by both middle and high school students. (It is not to be missed if “foreshadowing” and “appearance versus reality” figure in your curriculum.) I’ve summarized The Landlady and stirred the pieces in my cauldron. After your class has read the story, your students should be able to reconstitute the summary as a small group, co-operative activity.

In this co-operative review activity, students who have studied Hamlet are asked to match the text on the edges of sixteen triangles to reconstitute the following quotes: - This above all: to thine own self be true. - There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. - Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t. - To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream . . . - There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. - Brevity is the soul of wit. - I must be cruel only to be kind; thus bad begins, and worse remains behind - Get thee to a nunnery. - The lady doth protest too much, methinks. - O that this too too solid flesh would melt … - Good night, sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest! - When sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions. - Madness in great ones must not unwatched go. - One may smile and smile and be a villain - Happy in that we are not overhappy; on Fortune's cap we are not the very button. - Neither a borrower nor a lender be: for loan oft loses both itself and friend.

Here are 12 more rebus puzzles for students who enjoyed the free rebus “A little Christmas Rebus to decipher! (The Little Drummer Boy)”: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/another-little-christmas-rebus-to-decipher-6454697 Thanks to their texting skills, today’s kids “get” the principle behind rebus puzzles intuitively. The “Twelve Christmas Rebus Puzzles” start with simple thematic phrases like “baking gingerbread cookies” and builds to a 3-page invitation to students to make their own rebus. The invitation is, of course, in rebus format! An activity tailored for the run-up to the holidays.

A tiny Christmas cracker of an activity for the weeks before the holidays. Challenge your students to decipher the lyric, “I played my drum for Him, parumpapapum”! Merry Christmas, everyone! If you’d like some more Christmas rebus puzzles, have a look at: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/twelve-christmas-rebus-puzzles-11176843

This Easter “How Touching” puzzle is a bit like Boggle. This is a five-minute filler for English teachers. I’ve included mini B & W puzzle grids for teachers who are trying to cut back on photocopy costs.

When students match the sentence fragments printed on the edges of the triangles, they will reconstitute the 25 Easter facts and “sculpt” the Easter Bunny’s head. Although designed as a co-operative activity, the EASTER TRIANGLE puzzle also works well as an enrichment task for individual students. Here are 7 of the 25 Easter facts embedded in this puzzle: • Monks made the first pretzels for Lent. They shaped them like arms crossed in prayer! • A baby rabbit is a “kitten” or a “kit”. • This is a moai: (image) a giant Easter Island sculpture. • The Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny are imaginary characters. • In the movie, HOP, the Easter Bunny’s son wants to leave the family business to drum in a rock band. • North Americans eat 90 million chocolate bunnies every year! • A Ukrainian Easter egg decorated with intricate traditional folk designs is called a “pysanka”.

In this co-operative review activity, students who have studied A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM match the texts on the edges of sixteen triangles to reconstitute the following quotes: Sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow’s eye, seal me awhile from mine own company. Lord, what fools these mortals be! If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended, that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear. The course of true love never did run smooth. Things base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity. Never harm, nor spell nor charm, come our lovely lady nigh. The best in this kind are but shadows, and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them. Thus have I, Wall, my part dischargèd so. And, being done, thus Wall away doth go. Come, blade, my breast imbrue. And, farewell, friends. Thus Thisbe ends. Adieu. Hang off, thou cat, thou burr! Vile thing, let loose. In the temple, by and by, with us, these couples shall eternally be knit. The lunatic, the lover, and the poet are of imagination all compact. Never anything can be amiss when simpleness and duty tender it. We cannot fight for love, as men may do; we should be wooed and were not made to woo. When in that moment, so it came to pass, Titania waked and straightway loved an ass. Sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow’s eye, seal me awhile from mine own company. Am not I Hermia? Are not you Lysander? I am as fair now as I was erewhile.

The difference between homophones and homographs is (literally) illustrated in this homonym lesson camouflaged as a game. Students are asked to identify and write out the eighteen pairs of homonyms pictured in the puzzle: ad add ball bawl bare bear bat bat bowl bowl cents scents dough doe eight ate eye I flour flower knight night lynx links moose mousse pair pear piece peace pitcher pitcher sow sew waste waist Black and white and half-sized versions of the game board are included.

It includes thematic puzzles for Hallowe’en, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hannukah and • full colour copies and B &W copies of each puzzle • a thematic vocabulary for each theme • answer keys • a “how to play” guide Try the free TES activity, “Hippity Hoppity, Easter’s on its Way” to see if this activity is for you: https://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Hippity-Hoppity-Easter-and-39-s-on-its-way-boggle-6194577/

Originally designed for Modern Language classes, “Where are my Christmas gifts?” is a virtual scavenger hunt that encourages even reluctant students to participate enthusiastically in class. It works well as a full class and as a small group activity. You’ll be astonished to experience the phenomenon of an entire class listening “actively” because no one wants to waste a guess choosing a square from which the gift has already been claimed. After the oral treasure hunt, you can create an instant written assignment by assigning a handful of co-ordinates. I’ve included answer keys for the present and the future tenses but “Where are my Christmas gifts?” works well for almost all verb tenses. Please note that there are two versions of the game to accommodate those who know that the name of the one and only jolly old elf is “Father Christmas” . . . or “Santa Claus”. If you’d like more resources on this theme, just type “Christmas” into the search window of my shop: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/Carlav

In this small-group activity, Fate (the dice) will determine which Christmas character or icon your students will describe. A relaxed way to encourage students to use their best descriptive skills. If you'd like to extend the lesson to written work, just assign any dice coordinates (ie: •• x •••• or •••• x •) To see if “Express Yourself! (Christmas)” is right for your students, download the free resource, “Express Yourself! (Clothing): https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/express-yourself-clothing-11459227 I've included PDF and PPT formats.

Originally designed as a Modern Language tool, this virtual scavenger hunt encourages even students who are usually reluctant to participate in class to jump right in and to speak in full sentences. You’ll experience the phenomenon of an entire class listening “actively” because no one wants to waste a guess choosing a square from which the gift has already been claimed. After the oral treasure hunt, assign a handful of co-ordinates for an instant written assignment that will reinforce verb conjugations and vocabulary acquisition. “Where are my Valentine’s gifts?” has been designed to review virtually any tense. I have appended answer keys for four of them: the present, the simple past, the simple future and the conditional perfect.

In this co-operative review activity, students who have studied the Scottish play are asked to match the text on the edges of 16 triangles to reconstitute the following quotes: -But screw your courage to the sticking place . . . -Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it. -Let not light see my black and deep desires. -False face must hide what the false heart doth know. -There’s daggers in men’s smiles. -The attempt and not the deed confounds us. -Present fears are less than horrible imaginings. -Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble. -Give sorrow words. -Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. -Look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under ’t. -Out, damned spot! -What’s done cannot be undone. -The instruments of darkness tell us truths . . . -By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. -Fair is foul, and foul is fair. All nauseatingly fawning feedback gratefully accepted.

YOU DON’T SAY! is a themed variation of Taboo® that can be played in two very different ways. If your students are confident and articulate, they can play YOU DON’T SAY! following traditional Taboo® rules. If, however, you have students who are uncomfortable giving clues, turn the rules upside down. Tell them to use some or all of the words beneath the pink and white banner in their descriptions! This topsy-turvy approach encourages and empowers everyone to participate. You won’t believe what a positive game-changer it is. This file includes 40 “Valentine” cards about friendship, relationships and love. I’ve also appended a template for students to make their own YOU DON’T SAY! deck.

In this co-operative review activity, students who have studied ROMEO AND JULIET are asked to match the text on the edges of sixteen triangles to reconstitute the following quotes: Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. A plague o’ both your houses. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Parting is such sweet sorrow. Young baggage, disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday, or never after look me in the face. For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone till Holy Church incorporate two in one. A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life… Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man. Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast. Your lady mother is coming to your chamber: the day is broke; be wary… O true apothecary, thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. Tempt not a desperate man My only love sprung from my only hate! Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? O happy dagger, this is thy sheath. There rust and let me die. For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

In this co-operative review activity, students who have studied TWELFTH NIGHT match the texts on the edges of sixteen triangles to reconstitute the following quotes: Oh Time, thou must untangle this, not I. It is too hard a knot for me t'untie! She did commend my yellow stockings of late, she did praise my leg, being cross-gartered. O, had I but followed the arts! Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage. If music be the food of love, play on. Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale? Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em. This fellow is wise enough to play the fool and to do that well craves a kind of wit. Love sought is good, but giv'n unsought is better. If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction. This youth that you see here I snatch'd one half out of the jaws of death. Or I am mad, or else this is a dream. I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you. Better a witty fool than a foolish wit. Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines everywhere. One face, one voice, one habit, and two persons, a natural perspective that is and is not!

In this co-operative review activity, students who have studied THE TEMPEST match the texts on the edges of sixteen triangles to reconstitute the following quotes: Good wombs have borne bad sons. (Act 1, Scene 2) Hell is empty and all the devils are here. (Act 1, Scene 2) You taught me language, and my profit on't is, I know how to curse. (Act 1, Scene 2) But this swift business I must uneasy make, lest too light winning make the prize light. (Act 1, Scene 2) The wills above be done but I would fain die a dry death. (Act 1, Scene 1) I’ll rack thee with old cramps, fill all thy bones with aches. (Act 1, Scene 2) My library was dukedom large enough. (Act 1, Scene 2) There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple. (Act 1, Scene 2) Misery acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows. (Act 2, Scene 2) It was mine art, when I arrived and heard thee, that made gape the pine and let thee out. (Act 1, Scene 2) We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. (Act 4, Scene 1) How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, that has such people in’t! (Act 5, Scene 1) The strongest oaths are straw to the fire i' the blood. (Act 4, Scene 1) He that dies pays all debts. ( Act 3, Scene 2) Now I will believe that there are unicorns. ( Act 3, Scene 3) What have we here? A man or a fish?  (Act 2, Scene 2)