This book has enjoyed a relatively long life since its first publication in 1979, serving language teaching (and language learning) needs in a great variety of schools and colleges across the world. It has been translated into many languages. A revised and greatly enlarged second edition was published in 1984, and has proved very popular.

We have learned that many teachers of languages other than English have found the book to be useful. They have reported to us that the games are essentially engaging and that their language concerns can easily be substituted for English in many, though not all, cases.

Over the years, we have gathered a great deal of information from teachers in many different countries concerning their experience of using our games with their students. In this third edition we have drawn on this rich experience and made a number of changes accordingly. Here they are:

• The eight sections of the book are based on broad teaching aims, e.g. Mainly speaking, rather than on types of games, e.g. Picture games, as in earlier editions. However, the book continues to support those teachers who want to adapt our games or create new ones of their own. It does this through the idea of families of games, that is, games in which the learners Connect, or Discriminate, or Create, or whatever. Within each section the games are grouped according to family.

• Concern for the individual learner has come to the forefront of teaching in recent years, and we have tried to reflect this in the choice and presentation of games. We have included a new section, Solo games; and we have included games covering a wide spectrum of individual preferences in ways of learning (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, etc.).

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