Kaboom !

Needed to liven up a lesson that included lots of practice of when to use past simple or past continuous ,some phrasal verbs, plus a test. So we then played Kaboom ! An empty grid ( like in battleships ) is put onto the board, and I had prepared 2 different sets of 10 questions beforehand, as well as having a copy of the grid on paper, but filled in with: Q, K or 5 in each square. The class was split into two teams and had to choose a square in turns. If they chose a square that had Q in it ( on my grid ) they had to answer a question, and got 5 points if they got it right, or it went to the other team.If they chose a square with 5 in it , they automatically got 5 points, but if they chose a square with K in it - it was " Kaboom ! " ie: they lost all their points ! The questions were general knowledge questions , 2 different sets - one on the UK and one on Plymouth, so we played two games. The students enjoyed it and were very engaged, including student O who was almost falling asleep in the grammar part of the lesson, but came to life when we played the game ! Perhaps I should use it to practise grammar or spelling in the future....I did think afterwards though that I should have less "K" s on the grid, as at the end of the game both teams got a " kaboom ! " and lost all their points !