People's names game

Aim: students have fun learning new words
Level: pre-intermediate or higher
Procedure/ Summary: students or/and teacher translates names of class members or well-known local people into English.  Other students guess the hidden identity.

See next  an example for students in  Catalonia, Spain. You need to adapt the examples to your country.
These examples have been provided by John Lavery, 2013 British Council Workshop.

Part A: teacher "translates" into English the names people who are famous in Spain . Students guess who these people are

Example for Catalan students:


In pairs look at these two word texts. How are these people better known?

1. Joey Moneybox
2. Sawmountain Knight
3. Anthony Enjoy
4. Saviour Givehim
5. Andrew Goodfountain
6. Agnes Taylor
7. Anne Bottle
8. Arthur More
9. Justino Castor

Solutions: Josep Guardiola (guardiola in Catalan is a piggy bank), Montserrat Caballé (opera singer), Antonio Gaudí (Architect) , Salvador Dalí (Artist/painter) , Andreu Buenafuente (Tv presenter/Showman), Inés Sastre (model), Ana Botella (Politician), Arthur Mas (Politician), Justin Beever :-)

Part B: students in pairs or groups  "translate" into English  either the names of other famous people from their area or the names of  their classmates, or both.   The students write the names on the board. Later the whole class or groups guess who the people are. 

Thanks to  John Lavery,  speaker at the  September 2013 British Council Workshop for providing me with this idea.