Top 10 Fun and Engaging Vietnamese Language Learning Games for Primary School Students

Objective: To practice selecting words or syllables that appropriately match the meaning of the poem and fill in the blanks between the lines (for grades 1 to 5).

How to play: Students are asked to complete the missing words in the poetry:

For example:

1. The wind whispers to....

2. The leaves whisper with....

3. Brothers are like....

4. The torn and worn are wrapped up, good or....

5. A father's love is like ... Mount Tai

6. A mother's love is like .... in the East Sea

7. One sick horse, the whole ship abandons...

8. If you are good, you will meet.... Good people get Buddha, angels....

9. Gold in storm, white in....

10. Yesterday I went to the temple... The scent of grass still lingering in the mist.

Answers: 1. Leaves; 2. Tree; 3. Hands and feet; 4. Helping; 5. Mountain; 6. Water; 7. Grass; 8. Kind, protected; 9. Sun, rain; 10. Fragrance.

Objective: To understand the meaning of words and match them correctly with corresponding pictures. Develop quick thinking and confidence.

Preparation: Some pictures (images) of animals, and word cards (pre-written).

How to play: Distribute the pictures and word cards to groups. Instruct the groups to compete in matching the pictures with the corresponding words. The group that matches correctly and quickly wins.

Objective:

• Help students recognize and identify letters and syllables containing tone marks (acute, grave, question, tilde, dot).
• Distinguish between similar letters and tone marks.
• Preparation: 3 flags, 1 large display board, 3 small display boards, 24 letter cards, with the letters or tone marks written on them.

Rules:

• Select a letter card (or tone mark) among cards with similar-looking letters or tone marks and place it on the team’s display board.
• Each student from the team holds a flag, runs to the large display board, selects the correct letter card, and attaches it to the team’s display board. Then, they pass the flag to the next player. This continues until all cards are attached.
• The team that correctly, quickly, and neatly places all four letters on their board wins.

Organization:

• The teacher attaches the letter cards to the large display board.
• The class is divided into 3 teams.
• The teacher explains the rules of the game.
• Each student from the teams takes turns finding and placing the letters on their team’s board.
• At the end of the game, the teacher counts and scores each team’s performance.

Objective:

• Develop skills in writing names of plants starting with 'tr' or 'ch'.
• Enhance quick reflexes and accurately spell words starting with 'tr' or 'ch'.

Preparation: Divide the class into 3 teams. Each team gets 5 green leaf-shaped paper cards, 3 markers, and a large whiteboard to draw 3 garden sections. The teacher will serve as the referee.

How to Play: Each team will receive 5 leaf-shaped paper cards. The referee will announce the start and the teams will have 3 minutes to brainstorm and write the names of plants starting with 'tr' or 'ch'. After 3 minutes, the teams will place their cards on their respective garden sections. The class and the referee will check each team’s names to see which are spelled correctly. The team with the most correct answers wins.

Reward & Penalty: The winning team will be awarded a flower to add to their achievement board.

Objective: To help students memorize commonly confused sounds, understand the meanings of words, and reinforce spelling rules to improve writing accuracy.

Preparation: Prepare images associated with words containing easily confused sounds.

How to Play: The teacher selects 3 teams, each with 3-4 students, and names the teams: White Bear, Grey Rabbit, and Brown Squirrel. The teacher displays the images for 1 minute for the teams to observe, after which the teams will memorize the words accurately. Once the teacher signals, the images are removed, and team members take turns writing the words they remembered on the board. The team that writes the most correct words in the shortest time wins.

Reward & Penalty: After the game, the teacher will give feedback and award a flag to the winning team. The two losing teams will be asked to sing and perform the song 'Little Elephant'.

Objective: To practice writing correct sounds, especially the vowels ân, anh, ênh.

Preparation:

• Divide the class into two teams.
• Create 6 flower cutouts with double-folded paper on the back, each with the sounds ân, anh, or ênh written on them (each sound should appear on two flowers).
• Draw a mountain on the board, with steep slopes on both sides. Each slope will have 3 positions for hanging flowers. Mark the spots where players will 'plant' the flowers. The 6 flowers will be placed symmetrically on the slopes so both teams can plant flowers at the same time. Note: Flowers on the left side will match the sounds of flowers on the right side. Provide each team with 6 prepared flowers to place at the designated spots (2 flowers per spot). One team will use red flowers, and the other will use white flowers.

How to Play:

• The two teams participate, with one team climbing the right slope and the other climbing the left slope. Each team will receive one type of flower.
• When the referee shouts “Start,” both teams will send a member to the first position (starting from the base of the mountain). They will read and write the sound hidden behind the flower on the mountain, and discuss with their team to come up with words using that sound. They will write the word on their team's flower and stick it on the first position. The entire task, including writing the word and placing the flower, must be completed in 1 minute and 30 seconds. Teams that take too long will miss out on placing their flower at the position they were slow at.
• Once both teams have reached the top and planted all their flowers, the referee will check and tally the results. Each correctly written word earns one point. If a word is misspelled, the flower is removed from its position and not counted. The game continues until all positions are checked.
• The referee and the class will review and announce the winning team. Note: Have the students repeat each correctly spelled word a few times to get familiar with difficult sounds.

Reward & Penalty: After the game, the teacher will provide feedback and award the winning team with a flag.

Objective: To help students correctly write difficult sounds and commonly confused vowels.

Preparation: The teacher prepares several petal-shaped pieces of paper, each with a word missing a sound for the students to fill in. The teacher also draws two flower centers on a large sheet of paper, labeling each with words that contain easily confused sounds.

How to Play: The teacher divides the class into groups based on the number of flower centers and petals available. At the start of the game, each group must fill in the missing sound on each petal and then attach it to the correct flower center. After 5 minutes, the teacher will shout: “Stop!” The team with the most correctly and beautifully placed petals wins.

Reward & Penalty: After the game, the teacher will provide feedback and award flowers to the winning team.

Objective:

• Help students remember the syllables they've just learned; Teach them to find new words containing those syllables.
• Reinforce previously learned knowledge and skills.

This game is for 1st grade students.

Preparation: Paper and pens for each participant, or use chalk and a board to find words in groups.

How to Play:

• The teacher announces the game: 'Find words containing the syllable just learned.'
• Ask 2-3 students to repeat the syllable that was just taught.
• Based on the syllable learned, each participant (or group) must find as many words as possible containing that syllable within a set time limit (from 5 to 10 minutes depending on the students' level) and write them down on paper (or on the group board).
• Each individual reads the words written by the teacher on the board (or each group shares their findings).
• Once the time is up, everyone evaluates the results. The individual (or group) that found the most words wins the game.
• Ask the students to read the words they found.

After completing a lesson, to reinforce the knowledge learned, the teacher presents a word grid with words related to the lesson topic. The teacher chooses vertical words that are related or similar in meaning to the topic and uses these to form horizontal words with clues. The clues can be definitions or corresponding activities of the objects mentioned.

For example, with the topic 'Young Bamboo Shoots':

Word Grid: Young Bamboo Shoots

Preparation:

PowerPoint software to display the word grid.

Alternatively: Draw on paper in large letters for a class-wide activity and print worksheets for each student. (Preparation for solving the same word grid).

Using the vertical words in the grid, find the corresponding horizontal words, each of which represents a good quality in children. Clue: The words in horizontal rows 1, 4, and 6 are found in 'The 5 Things Uncle Ho Taught Us'. If students have difficulty solving the grid, the teacher can provide letter hints.

1: m

2: ă

3: n

4: g

5: n

6: o

7: n

Answers: The horizontal words are: humility, diligence, industriousness, courage, obedience, solidarity, and perseverance.

Objective:

• Develop the skill of quickly reciting verses from memorized poems in the Vietnamese textbook (from grade 1 to grade 5).
• Enhance memory and improve reflexes for swift responses.

Preparation: Memorize the assigned poems in the Vietnamese curriculum for each grade.

Form teams of equal size; appoint one person as the referee; decide on the poems (that have been memorized) to be used in the 'Poetry Relay' game.

Game Instructions:

• The referee announces the poem to be recited in the relay and explains the rules.
• Two teams select representatives by drawing lots (or playing 'rock-paper-scissors') to determine who reads first.
• The first representative (Team A) reads the first line of the poem and then quickly designates a person from the opposing team (Team B) to continue the recitation. The designated player must quickly stand and read the second line of the poem. If they read it correctly and fluently, they will pick a person from Team A to continue with the third line, and so on until the entire poem is finished. If the designated player (the one 'electrocuted') does not recite the line immediately (because they haven’t memorized it), the opposing team will chant 'one, two, three' (or the player must stand still as if 'shocked'). The player who previously recited the line will select another member from the opposing team to continue.
• The team that has the most players unable to recite their lines (who are 'electrocuted') loses. After completing one round of the poem, the teams can play again, switching the team that reads first, or they can switch to another poem for the relay.