Match Up in Class: How to Run It Without Losing Pace

What the game is

Match up shows two columns of tiles: keywords on the left, definitions on the right. Students connect each word to its partner, either by dragging a thread or by tapping one tile and then the other. When they press Check, correct threads turn green and wrong ones turn red, so everyone can see straight away where the mistake is.

It is probably the most versatile template. It works in any subject where there is "a thing and what it means": a word and its translation, a date and an event, a formula and its name, a country and its capital, a term and its definition.

When it fits in a lesson

At the start: three or four minutes to bring back last lesson's vocabulary or concepts.
Right after you explain something: check that the new terms have landed while they are still fresh.
Before a test: low-stakes revision, because a mistake in a game costs nothing.

Match up works worst when students can guess pairs from the shape of the text rather than its meaning. If the definitions are all different lengths and only one starts with "A process that…", students will match it without thinking.

Preparing the pairs

Use 6–12 pairs per topic. You can add more, but then split them across pages.
Keep definitions similar in length and shape. That way students have to read them, not guess.
Include near neighbours. Pairs that are easy to mix up (affect / effect, bisector / median) do more for learning than obvious ones.
Use pictures for young learners and vocabulary. Any cell can hold an image, and picture + word usually works better than a translation.

How many pairs per page

The "Pairs per page" option goes from 2 to 30. For a projector, 6–8 is comfortable. On a phone, 4–6 works better: the tiles are bigger and students don't mis-tap. If you have 20 pairs, the game splits them into pages for you.

Three ways to run it

Whole class on the projector. Put the game on the screen and call students up one at a time. One student makes a match, and the class says "yes" or "no" before you check. That keeps everyone thinking, not just the student at the board. Ask why a pair is right, and the guessing turns into reasoning.

Pairs sharing a device. One student matches and the other checks and can stop them. They swap roles after each page. This works well when there are fewer devices than students.

At home via a link. Use "Assign to class" to send a link. Students join without an account and type their name, and you see results for each student and for each pair. If almost the whole class mixed up the same pair, start your next lesson with it.

Options worth knowing

Timer: a stopwatch (how long it took) or a countdown. A countdown suits a warm-up: two minutes and you're done.
Lives: when you don't want students matching everything at random.
Show answers at the end: turn it on for revision and off for a mini-check.

Common mistakes

Too many pairs at once. 25 pairs on one page is a table, not a game. Split them.
Every definition starting the same way. "It's when…" in every row is tiring and doesn't help students tell the pairs apart.
No talk afterwards. The most useful part is the two minutes at the end: which pairs did people mix up, and why?

One game, several formats

The same pairs also play in other templates: Flash cards, Find the match, Matching pairs, Anagram, Hangman and Crossword. The template switch is on the game page. That's handy when the same vocabulary needs several passes in a week and you don't want students bored with one format.

Ready-made games

The game library has ready Match up games by subject and grade. Open one and play it with your class, or save a copy and adapt it to your lesson.