ESL Jigsaws

Card Game for Valentine's Day (or after)

Posted by Nancy Callan on 13 February 2012 | 0 Comments

Tags: free handout, free material, free worksheet, card game, Hearts, Valentine's Day, elementary, beginner, intermediate, ESL, EFL

Callan's Holiday Jigsaws 1 (for beginners) and 2 (for intermediate) both have a Valentine's Day jigsaw. The jigsaw includes a board game on love and romance that students have a lot of fun with.

But maybe your students have already studied about Valentine's Day the previous year and you want to do something different. Maybe you have a class of elementary school students and want to do something with less focus on romantic relationships. 

Here's an idea for something completely different for Valentine's Day: have a card party and play the game of Hearts. Hearts is an easy card game that incorporates both elements of luck and skill. It's suitable for ages 7 and up and is played in groups of 3 to 5 players. 

At my school last year, we put two ESL classes together for a card party. We made it clear that the party had to be English only. We prepared students by teaching gambits like "It's your turn to deal the cards." Students were asked the day before to bring finger food snacks to share. We arranged the classroom so that it would be suitable for groups to sit together. 

I made a handout with vocabulary, instructions on how to play and some true or false questions to ensure comprehension. Students completed the exercise the day before, so we knew that everyone would be ready to play the game at the party. 

I've attached this free handout here for you to download and use, if you want to try a card party in your ESL or EFL class.