Forbidden words: a 20-minute ESL vocabulary game for grades 6–8

1. Teach four frames on the board: "It's a kind of ___." "It's a place where ___." "You use it to ___." "It's the opposite of ___."
2. Make cards. Give each pair three words from the current unit. For each card they write the target word at the top and three forbidden words below: the words most people would say first. For "library": book, read, quiet.
3. Form two teams. The first describer takes a card and has 60 seconds. Their team guesses aloud.
4. The other team watches the card. If the describer says the target word or a forbidden word, the other team claps once, and the card goes to the bottom of the pile.
5. A correct guess scores one point; the describer takes the next card until time is up. Then the other team plays.
6. Debrief after a few rounds: "Which frame helped most? Which card was impossible, and how could we describe it?"

For Spanish: "Es un tipo de ___." "Es un lugar donde ___." "Se usa para ___." "Es lo contrario de ___." For Portuguese: "É um tipo de ___." "É um lugar onde ___." "Serve para ___." "É o contrário de ___."

Tip: save the cards in an envelope. By the end of the unit, students have built their own review deck, and the hardest cards make good bell-ringers.

Differentiation: for newer learners, allow one forbidden word instead of three, and allow gestures and drawings on a mini whiteboard. For advanced students, add a fourth forbidden word or require full sentences only. For students who share a home language, let them make a card in that language for the class to try in translation. For students with anxiety about speaking, start in groups of three instead of whole teams, or make them the timer and scorekeeper first.

Quick check: each student describes one word to a partner in two sentences using two different frames, without saying the word.

If you try it, share the card your class found hardest to describe, and the clue that finally cracked it.