Teams
Scoreboard
No runs yet. Start a round!
📖 The One Big Rule
When your partner says something, you must do two things:
AND — Add something new! Give your partner something to answer.
You: "No, we aren't." → BLOCK! Conversation over.
You: "Yes! And I am bringing my pet penguin." → The game continues!
🚫 5 Things That End Your Conversation
- Blocking — saying "no" or "that's not true" to your partner's idea.
- Dead end — answering with only "yes", "okay", or "I don't know"… and nothing else.
- Not English — using your own language.
- Breaking character — stopping the scene to ask "what do I say?"
- Stalling — being silent for too long.
🏅 How to Score Points
- 1 point for every 5 seconds your conversation stays alive.
- +2 points every time you use a word from this unit's vocabulary list.
- +5 points for using the unit's grammar correctly.
Your team's score = all your pairs' points added together. Longest conversations win!
🍎 The Idea
"Yes, And" comes from improv theater (made famous by Second City Chicago). Actors must accept every offer from a scene partner and add to it. It is the perfect engine for language practice: students must listen, respond, and produce new language every turn — and a conversation "dies" the moment someone blocks or goes quiet.
Running a Round
- Add 2–4 teams in the Play tab.
- Each team sends up a pair (2 students). Enter their names.
- Draw a prompt card. Read it aloud.
- Press Start. The pair talks in English, in the scenario.
- Tap +Vocab / +Grammar each time you hear target language.
- When the conversation dies, press End Run and pick the violation.
- Points are added automatically. Next team's pair goes!
Beginner variant: give each pair one "rescue" — the first violation is only a warning.
Timing by Level
| Level | Silence limit | A good run |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 8–10 sec | 1–2 minutes |
| Intermediate | 5–6 sec | 2–4 minutes |
| Advanced | 3–4 sec | 5+ minutes |
You are the referee — the timer is only a guide. You decide when a stall is a stall.
Tips
- Model it first. Play a 60-second round with a confident student — include one deliberate block so the class sees a violation called.
- Call violations fast and clean. Explain after the run, not during.
- Spectators are learning too. The class watches like a sport — great listening practice.
- Silly is good. Penguins at the beach lowers anxiety and raises output. Serious language, silly scenes.
- Rotate pairs so strong speakers carry different partners each round.
Tournament Idea
Play 1–3 quick rounds per class period (~10 min) as a "season". At the end of the unit, the top two teams send their best pairs to a championship face-off on the same prompt. Longest single conversation takes the title. 🏆
💬 Prompt Deck
These prompts are drawn in the Play tab. Uncheck any you don't want to use. Add your own below — they are saved in this browser.