The imperative mood is generally not difficult for my students to grasp. My younger students spend a fair amount of time listening to and (hopefully) obeying imperative sentences. My adult students often have children of their own, and so spend a decent amount of time using the imperative mood to run their households. That said, my students always feel more confident when they’ve practiced using a particular grammar concept after learning its name. It’s for that reason that I developed Imperatives Cover Up.
The Game
Cover Up is a favorite game in my classes. I like it because it’s easy and cheap to make and store. My students like it because it’s easy and fun to play. We have two different versions of the game:
- Cover the Board: In this version, each student has his/her own board. The goal is to be the first student to cover your board completely.
- Most Covers: In this version, two students play on the same board. The goal is to be the student with the most covers on the board at the end of the game.
The required supplies are the same for either version of the game. For every two students, you will need the following:
- a twelve-sided die (two six-sided dice can be used)
- a game board
- a set of covers for each player (milk jug lids, mini-erasers, plastic chips, or laminate the boards and use dry-erase markers to X the squares)
How to Play
Cover Up is a simple game to play, and the basic procedure is the same for both versions. The first student rolls the twelve-sided die and finds the corresponding square on the board. He/She then uses the information in the square to form a sentence using the target vocabulary or grammar. If the sentence correctly uses the target grammar or vocabulary, the student covers the square with one of his/her covers. Student number two then rolls the die, locates the square, and checks to see if it is covered or not. If the square is uncovered, he/she attempts to use the information in the square to form a sentence with the target vocabulary or grammar and covers the square when successful. The turn is over if the square corresponding to the roll is already covered. The game continues with the two students taking turns rolling the die, checking to see if the corresponding square is covered or not, and claiming squares when they are able. Once all of the squares have been claimed, the winner is revealed.
Imperatives Cover Up
In Imperatives Cover Up, the target grammar is the imperative mood. Each square features a different person who often uses the imperative mood. To claim a square, students must state an imperative sentence representative of one that a particular person might use. For example, a teacher might say, “Open your books to page three.” To help students, each square also has a greyscale image representing the person. The twelve people are parent, teacher, customer, police officer, chef, boss/manager, librarian, firefighter, doctor, coach, flight attendant, head of country.
Conclusion
Imperatives Cover Up is a fun game and makes for a nice way to build my students’ confidence with a relatively easy grammar skill. It is also a free download! You can get the game board and directions via the download button below the picture at the beginning of the blog post or from my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I hope you’ll try the game out with your students and let me know how it goes. Happy teaching, everyone!
The Gaming Grammarian 