Introduction:

These are three short games which allow students to practise the infinitive of purpose and revise some vocabulary. A lot of my students (especially Spanish) struggle with this structure and I think the following activities, which could be used as a warmer or a plenary session, are a fun way of practising it. You could do one activity only, two, or all three, depending on time.

Objectives:

1. To practise the infinitive of purpose.
2. To revise words for furniture and household items.
3. To revise words for places in town.
4. To revise words for different family members.

Procedure:

Option 1

1. Students stand in a circle.
2. Tell the students that they have just moved into an unfurnished flat and they have to buy new furniture, e.g. sofa, table etc.
3. The student to your right starts, e.g. I’m going to buy a sofa to sit on.
4. The next student repeats what the first one said and adds their own item with infinitive of purpose, e.g. I’m going to buy a sofa to sit on and a table to have something to eat on.
5. The next student repeats what the previous two students said, and adds their own item with infinitive of purpose.
6. The game continues until all the students have added their item and infinitive of purpose, or until the whole flat is furnished.

Option 2

1. Students stand in a circle.
2. Tell the students that they are going to be visiting places in the town they’ve just moved into, to run errands and to get to know the area, e.g. supermarket and cinema.
3. The student to your right starts, e.g. I’m going to the supermarket to buy groceries.
4. The next student repeats what the first one said and adds their own item and infinitive of purpose, e.g. I’m going to the supermarket to buy groceries and also to the cinema to watch one of their new releases.
5. The next student repeats what the previous two students said, and adds their own item with infinitive of purpose.
6. The game continues until all the students have added their item and infinitive of purpose, or until they have been to all the places in town.

Option 3

1. Students stand in a circle.
2. Tell the students that they are now going to receive visits from all the family members who want to see how they have settled in e.g. mother and cousin, but some relatives might have an ulterior motive for visiting them.
3. The student to your right starts, e.g. My mother is going to visit to make sure the new place is spotless.
4. The next student repeats what the first one said and adds their own family member and infinitive of purpose or motive, e.g. My mother is going to visit to make sure the new place is spotless and when she’s gone my cousin is going to visit to ask for some money.
5. The next student repeats what the previous two students said, and adds their own family member with infinitive of purpose or motive.
6. The game continues until all the students have spoken, or until the students have been visited by all the family members.