Not doing what I'm doing

 Not doing what I’m doing 

This activity is aimed at practising vocabulary and the ‘present continuous’ tense. It can lead to a very nice writing activity depending on the activities chosen by the students.

Procedure 

■ Students stand in a circle. One starts miming a simple action (e.g. brushing their teeth) and the person to their right asks them what they are doing.

 ■ They respond, giving any answer except what it is they are actually doing (e.g. ‘I’m sweeping the floor’). The student who asked the question then starts miming this new action (i.e. sweeping the floor). The person to the right asks what they are doing and the process is repeated. 

Variation ■ To make the game more difficult, the teacher gives the students two letters of the alphabet, which must be the initials of whatever actions they choose (e.g. R, L: reading a letter, riding a llama, rotating a lamp).