Five Easy Games and Activities for ESL Classrooms

It's a known fact that students retain more information if they have fun while they're learning. So what better way to have fun than play a game, right? There are countless websites out there offering plenty of great game ideas.

These ideas, however, are practical for any classroom, inexpensive (if not free) to prepare, easy to explain to your students, applicable in any lesson theme and guaranteed to be a success in your ESL classroom.

Game #1: O/X (T/F) Game

This game is super easy to prepare. Simply compose a list of 10-15 statements. Some will be true, some will be false. For example, "Halloween is December 25," and "Today is Tuesday." You can present these to the students on a Power Point (PPT), write the statements on the board, or simply read from a list you have typed/written out.

Here are the rules: Divide the class into 2 teams. Have everyone stand up. After each statement, count out loud to 3. On number 3, students must all make their hands into either an O or an X (O for true, X for false). If any student is incorrect, s/he must sit down. After all the statements are read, the team with the most people standing is the winner.

Game #2: Word search on the board!

This game is great because you have the attention of the whole class and you know that they are all speaking English. In addition, it's super simple to carry out. First, prepare a long string of letters with 3-4 words hidden inside. For example, "ABDJBATILAMIBALLEFRPENCILAU." Write this string of letters on the board. When you are finished, tell the students how many words hidden and have them raise their hands if they see a word. Call on the students, one at a time, and have him or her underline the hidden word and write it on the board.

Each strand of words takes about 4 minutes to complete and the students go crazy over this one! I usually do 3-4 each time and it takes about 15 minutes.

Game #3: Tried and True Hangman

So this game may not necessarily be PC, but it's a great way to teach the students writing skills and is a great refresher for the alphabet. Simply take words from your lesson to use. The way I play hangman is this: Draw a stick figure (ask the students if they want it to be a boy or girl, happy or sad, etc..) with all the appropriate limbs! Make dashes for however many letters are in the word you've chosen (ie. _ _ _ _ _ _ ). Make a box to write letters that the students guessed but were not in the word.

I like to go around the room or have students raise their hands one at a time to shout out a letter. If they guess incorrectly, place that letter in the "box" you've drawn and erase one limb at a time. If you erase the whole person, tell the students what word it was.

Game #4: Mad Lib

This is great fun for the students! Compose a short story and insert blanks throughout. (ie. Today is ______. I am _______ because today I will _________,. Etc.). On the back side of the paper, have a list of word-types the students need to come up with. So for my prepared story example, I would say: 1. Day of the week. 2. Feeling. 3. Action.

Once the students have come up with an appropriate word for each have them fill in the blanks accordingly.

When everyone is finished get volunteers to read their stories out loud. Mad lib's yield big laughs!

Game #5: Comic Book Frenzy!

This game may be for more advanced crowds, but you can definitely make this work with younger students, too.

First, obtain a comic book. You can pick these up from the store for cheap, print off a comic book page online, or even borrow one from one of your students (confiscate it if s/he's looking at it during class and make copies!). Next, white out the words in the word bubbles. Cut out each square of the picture (choose a comic strip with 4-6 squares) and glue/tape them randomly on another blank piece of paper. Make 5-6 copies (depending on your class size and how big you want your groups to be) and distribute them out, one per group.

Have the students cut the comics out and make their own story by adding words to the bubbles. (ie. "Hello Minsu! How are you today?") When they are finished, have each group present their story to the class (in English).

Good luck!