How to play Fishbowl (Salad Bowl)
- Give each student 3–5 slips of paper. They write words, people or ideas from the unit, one per slip, fold them and put them in the bowl. (Or use a set you prepared.)
- Split the class into two teams and explain the three rounds. Round 1: describe the word with anything except the word. Round 2: say only one word. Round 3: act it out with no words.
- A clue-giver from team A has 60 seconds to get their team to guess as many slips as possible. Guessed slips go in the team's pile. Skipped slips go back in the bowl.
- Teams take turns, with a new clue-giver each time, until the bowl is empty. Count each team's slips.
- Put all the slips back in the bowl and play Round 2 with one-word clues, then Round 3 with acting only.
- Add up the three rounds. The team with the most slips wins.
Variations
- Round 4 for older students: drawing only, like Pictionary.
- ESL beginners: allow sentence frames in Round 1, such as "It is an animal. It lives in the ocean."
- Small groups: run several bowls at once with groups of 6 so more students talk.
💡 Teacher tips
- Skim the slips before you play so nothing unkind or impossible ends up in the bowl.
- Rotate clue-givers in a set order so everyone gets a turn.
- Round 3 gets loud. Agree that only the guessing team may call out answers.