Games for ESL Classroom Teaching


  In this section of our site you will find games and actvities for use in the classroom.

It's no secret that ESL young learners as well as adults respond well to games! Here are some games.

Beginner Level Games
Guess the time (race to write down time)

Medium / Advanced Level Games
Personality Game Points Card Game Proverbs minicard game
TV show running dictation Family Fued PPT game Tag on Questions- matching cards

ESL Games  

One of the fundamental approaches of ESL teaching in many schools is to use games to make it fun, interactive and interesting for the students.  A successful way of teaching children is to “trick” them into learning by playing games.  It can be tricky to manage this however, because there is a difference between playing and learning.  Games need to be managed well in your lesson plan to reinforce grammar or vocabulary, and must elicit the most speaking from ALL students.

Games are used primarily to reinforce vocabulary or grammar (review), and to practice conversation.  You can modify almost any game by incorporating a language point to play to make it an ESL game.  The best games get the MOST students involved at one time, with the MOST conversation and/or using the most language skills possible (reading / listening / writing / speaking)  They must be fun and exciting, interesting, EMPHASIZE the use of the target language and include all students fairly.  This is hard to achieve! 
There are many different types of games- from active to more quiet, from basic to advanced (using more skills or more complex procedures).    Here are some different ideas from my teaching experience.
"MENTAL" Versus "PHYSICAL" games
Mental games:  I find that these sort of games keep the children focused on speaking and producing the target language- and they are not distracted by moving around or watching others when you play a more “physically” oriented game.

Mental

Running Dictation

Running Dictation  is where you have sentences placed on the wall around the classroom, and with students in pairs, one student must run (the runner) and read the sentence, memorize it, and run back to tell the other student.  The other student must write down the sentence his/her partner tells him/her.
There are some variations of this game- for example, you can have one picture OUTSIDE the room, and the "runner" must describe the things in the picture and the writer will draw and colour what they tell him / her.  Another variation is to build a TV guide (the sentences tell which show is on at what time), and as a second part of the game, the students collect the TV show names and times and glue them in order (based on the sentences in the running dictation).

Student - Student

Memory

Memory is where you have a set of cards (or you can set this up in a powerpoint presentation file), and students must find matching pairs.  You must be careful that you encourage language- make sure that every time a student selects 2 cards- they must give you a sentence with the words.

Student - Teacher

Find Matching Pairs

In this game, you make cards for the target vocabulary, with 2 or 4 cards for each word (depending on the size of the class).  You give every student a set of cards, and their goal is to find as many pairs as they can.  They must ask the other students “Do you have a”, or you change the question to fit the target structure. 

Student - Student

2 Truths and 1 Lie

Using the target structure, the students write 3 sentences- with 1 lie and 2 truths.  You can exchange the papers among the students- and they read out the sentences- and the students guess which is the lie.  You can give a point to the students who are correct and tally the points for a winner. 

Student- Student

Family Fued

If you are teaching adverbs of frequency, you can present a listing of what you usually do, sometimes do, always do and never do (you conceal the answers)- and the students must guess what the answers are.  There are different point assignments for different answers depending on how often or how rarely you do them! I have done this with a survey in class- and tallied the results- it was very fun and entertaining (but a lot of work to tally and present the results)

Teacher- Student

Jeapordy / Quiz Show

You have a quiz show with questions on the vocabulary and grammar you are reviewing.  It takes some work to prepare the questions- but it is a challenging and fun game for students.  Make sure to make higher value questions harder.

Teacher- Student

Assemble / Unscramble Sentences

Cut up the words in a sentence, different sentences, or for higher levels, different paragraphs, and have the students put words or paragraphs in order. 

Student- Student

Card and Question Game

Post a set of questions for every card in the deck around the classroom.  The children must find the question, and come back to you and answer it in order to get another card.  The person with the most cards wins (you should have 3 or 4 decks of cards to give out).

Student- Teacher

Physical games:  There are many students who enjoy these types of games, and they often need a break from sitting or long periods of only mental work.  The problem with these types of games is that students are often distracted and not focused on listening to other’s answers or concentrating on their own answers in these sorts of games.

Physical

Relay games

There are so many different variations you can create of a relay race game- but the main idea is that the students run up, answer a question or write something on the board, and then they run and tag the next team member. 
You can have vocabulary words- with pictures at the other side of the room (give a word- they must get the picture, and then they tag the next student), or you can give a word to a student when they run up to the board and they must give a sentence- or show them a flashcard and they must identify it. 

Teacher- Student

Musical Chairs (Variation)

I have played this game where you have the classroom chairs set up in a circle, with one less chair than the number of students.  When you say go, students must switch chairs.  The student who is left standing must answer a question.

Student – Teacher

Pass the ball

This is a very simple but successful game where a ball (or a bucket with words) is passed around the circle, and when the music stops, the student holding the ball or container must answer a question, give a sentence with the word.  I have played with 2 buckets - one with questions, and one with words that must be used in the answer. 

Teacher- Student

Soccer / Football / Basketball

For whatever grammar point or vocabulary you are teaching, you give a student a "point" which is actually a kick or throw.  I play students versus teacher, and the teacher gets a point if I stop the ball from going in, and the students get a point if it goes in.  You have to be sure that you encourage all the students to participate - not just the ones who know all the answers.  Watch how hard the students kick the ball (I have a very small one and I won't let them run and kick)

Teacher – Student

Fly Swat

Put up flashcards around the room OR answers to questions OR questions.  The teacher says the vocabulary word, gives a question or an answer- and 2 students race to hit the correct flashcard.

Teacher- Student

COMPUTER GAMES

 

 

PICK A WINDOW

 

 

 

 

 

Another great place for
www.barryfunenglish.com