Apples to Apples is a great board game to get kids talking.  Students take turns as judge. The judge turns over a topic card and the other players select a card they think would best go with the topic, and place it face down, anonymously. The judge picks their favorite response. The player who submitted the chosen response scores a point and keeps the topic card.  There is a free editable version here in French and Spanish, and some pay options.  Teach students common game phrases like: Who’s turn is it?  It’s your turn, It’s my turn, Who’s next, Pick a card.

Guess who is another old favorite game appropriate for practicing interpersonal communication.  Players try to guess their opponent’s character by asking and answering questions. There are free versions at Teachers Pay Teachers in Spanish and French  You can make your own version.  Get different character sheets free, go to Google images and type in Guess Who. You could make your own with personalities from the target cultures. Here’s a blank form to get started, guesswhoblank.  Check out this free version using pumpkins.

And then there is giant Guess Who….

I collect old board games at garage sales and thrift stores, or buy them on sale after Christmas, so I have several sets of Scrabble.  I keep them on hand for fast finishers, stations, or sub activities.  Students can practice the alphabet while placing tiles on the game board.  I let novices spell words in English as well as the target language for double point value.  They can use dictionaries to check for possible words or correct spelling.  I really like the giant floor scrabble idea and see a project in my future.  I saw this in a post by Karen Christiansen to French Teachers in the U.S. on Facebook.

Here are the 98 letters you need to make.

Make your own giant Jenga out of empty soda boxes.  Or make your own using this wooden toppling from Amazon.com.  Check out the ideas for assessing interpersonal speaking using Jenga or Uno by The Creative Language Classroom.

Watch Ellen play Giant Jenga and check out my Pinterest board for other giant game ideas like Memory, Concentration , or Zap.