The Auction

Have you ever been to a subasta before? In the Philippines, subasta means auction , and it is defined as a type of sale where price of the item is negotiated through the process of competitive and open bidding. It is normally, a public sale at which items are sold to the person offering to pay the highest price.

This reinvention of auction for EFL classrooms doesn't have items up for sale and it doesn't have currencies or toy money involved. What is negotiated in this reinvention is vocabulary (target language), and the means of exchange are number cards. The aim of the game is to put up the highest number (from 2-10) possible to win. This is a "winner takes all" game, meaning the player to put up the highest number takes all the other cards.

Target Language
(In this video)
Class            What do you have?
Player           I have (some paper).

Also best for practicing:
(Occupations)
Class            What does (he) do?
Player           He is (a doctor).

(Places)
Class            Where are you going?
Player           I am going to (the park).

Players
four (4) or more

Materials
picture cards
number cards (tramp cards)

How to play
1.  Determine the order of play.
2.  Shuffle one deck of tramp cards (minus the Kings, Queens, Jacks, Jokers, and  Aces), make two piles, and place them face down on the playing surface. Place a  picture card (target language) between the piles of number cards, for example;  picture card of ribbon. The class asks the question: "What do you have?"
3.  The first player answers: "I have (some ribbon)." He then takes a number card from the pile; place the card in-front of him, but keeping it facedown.
4.  The second player takes his turn. The class asks the question again: "What do you have?" The second player answers: "I have (some ribbon)." He then takes a number card from the pile; place the card in-front of him, but keeping it facedown.
5.  The third player takes his turn and does the same. When all the players have had their turns, the teacher calls out: "Turn over your card now!"
 6.  Players turn over their cards at the same time. The player with the highest number takes all the cards. If there's a draw (two or more players with the same number), they do rock-scissors-paper, and the winner takes all the cards. The game continues until there are no more cards to turn over. The winner is the player with the most number of cards.