Online Games for Teaching English
Technology has taken the field of education by storm and teachers have to take courses, in their spare time, to learn how to use technology in their classrooms to support learning. There are so many resources online that can be embedded into the classroom to teach English language skills to students. These online games are appropriate for students whose primary language is English and for students who are English Language Learners (ELL). A Google search will locate online resources that offer a broad range of language games that will support the development of appropriate spelling, grammar and vocabulary.
Online Games for Teaching English: Spelling
A visit to the Free English website will bring up a large variety of online games related to spelling. One of the games is called Sand Castles. The purpose of this games it to help students identify what letter or letters make the middle sound in a word. Students are shown two different spellings of the same word. When a student selects the correct spelling, a part of the sand castle miraculously appears. One way to set up this game is to identify different letter sounds a student needs to work on such as: "oo"/"u" or "ee"/"ie".
Another online game, found at the Free English website, is called Word Builder. The Word Builder online game allows students to look at misspelled words moving on a conveyor belt and to pull a lever to fix the spelling. This particular online game has six difficulty levels so, there ought to be a level to fit all variety of learning levels in a classroom.
One other online game, fund on this same site, is called Word Builder. This online game has a conveyor belt that moves words across the screen. Clicking on a word stops the conveyor belt. Children can pull a red lever to fix the words by adding the correct letter.
Online Games for Teaching English: Vocabulary
Vocabulary development is a life-long learning requirement for everyone. It is a must for young students. The Study English Today website has some great online games that focus on vocabulary development. One of the online games students can play on this site is called Memory Squares which is set up in the format of a grid. Half of the squares in the grid have pictures of wild animals and the other half have the names of the wild animals. The gist of this online game is to match the picture with its name. This online game is time-limited so a student has to play for speed and awareness of label names. The site has a similar game that is about domestic animals.
Online Games for Teaching English: Vocabulary: Grammar
Check out the website called Literacy Zone for online games related to grammar development. On this site there is an online game called "Jellyfish from Space. The purpose of this game is to support practice in forming sentences that have a preposition or prepositions. This online game targets prepositions for "by", "until" and "since". It can also be set-up to provide support for the prepositions associated with the concepts of "between", "over" and "through".
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Published by Mary Starr Johnson-Gerard, Ph.D.
I am a Ph.D. Educational Psychologist with over 35 years of experience in the fields of human development, behavior, and learning. I have hands on experiences as well consultative experiences in all areas. I... View profile
- This article describes a variety of online games to support students in developing English skills.