Board Game: Conjunctive Adverbs / Transition Words (EAP)

It's hard to make EAP (English for Academic Purposes) class fun. Here is a board game you can play to lighten the mood and review conjunctive adverbs.

Conjunctive Adverb (Transition Signals) Board Game Instructions

Basic idea: Students read a sentence. Afterward, they roll the dice to move on the board. They then have to use the transition word on the square to `transition' from the previous sentence into a new idea.

To play, you'll need sentences that students can read. If you have recently studied some content (e.g. a novel), you can prepare the sentences based on it. Otherwise, an easier approach could be as follows.

• Give each student five or so blank slips of paper. On each slip, students should write a sentence. Give them ideas for sentences, for example, a sentence about
  • one thing they did yesterday.
  • one thing they want to do in life.
  • their opinion of [your current city].
  • something people should know about their home town/country.
  • The most important thing in life.

Again, these should be written in full sentences.

• Put students in groups of 3 or 4, and have them mix their sentences. Let them roll to see how goes first. The first player then rolls and lands on a square with a transition word (e.g. `Furthermore'). The student to their right then picks a sentence from the pile of slips and reads it, (e.g. “Next year, I want to visit New York”). The current player then adds a transition and a sentence (“Furthermore, I want to visit Los Angeles to see Hollywood.”). If the sentence makes sense, the student can stay in the square s/he landed on (`Furthermore'). Otherwise, they have to return to where they were.
• The game then goes on until someone finishes.

Notes: There are two tongue twisters and a question about FANBOYS on the board. Change these as needed.

I hope you can find this activity useful for your EAP classes.

-- Created by Matthew Barton (copyright) of Englishcurrent.com

Related Content

• Conjunctive Adverb Exercises (for students)
• Conjunctive Adverb Worksheet (for teachers)