Personal anecdote: A children’s game

1. Children’s games.

Read this description of a popular children’s game.

At school we used to play a game called bullrush (it's sometimes called British bulldog). It was very popular, especially with the boys. Anywhere from 10 to 40 boys or girls could play. It was usually played on a football field. One player was chosen to be "it" and stood in the middle of the field. The others stood in a line at one end. The player who was "it" would then call the name of someone and they had to run across the field and reach the other end without being touched (or "tagged") by the player who was "it". If they got tagged, they would join the one in the middle, and call the name of someone else. On the other hand, if they managed to get to the other end without being tagged, all the other kids would shout "bullrush!" and run across the field together, with the one who was "it" trying to tag as many as possible. The game ended when there was only one person left who hadn't been tagged. That person then became "it" for the next game.

The game was often very rough, especially when it wasn't supervised by a teacher. Kids often ended up with bleeding noses. But it was great fun.

Choose the picture that best matches the description of how the game starts:

2. Sentence starters.

Use the phrases to complete the description from exercise 1.

3. Word order.

Put the words in order to complete sentences from the description.

4. Write.

Write a description of a game that you used to play when you were young. It can be an outdoor game or an indoor game, a ball game or a chasing game – whatever you like.

Mention:

  • where you played it
  • who you played it with
  • how the game was played
  • why you liked playing it

Write about 150 to 200 words. Use the description in exercise 1 as a model for your description. Check grammar, spelling and the organisation of your description carefully.