Activities
Hundreds of great activities and games for the ESL classroom. Whether you are looking for reading, writing, speaking, or listening, find a great idea here.
For more ESL games and activities, click here. A Chairway to Heaven In our view, the best classroom games for kids require no or little preparation beforehand, just like this one. However, as with all games with young children, it may take a few times of playing for children to Read more…
For more ESL games and activities, click here. Two Truths and a Lie Two truths and a lie, or sometimes even three truths and a lie, is an often used icebreaker in team building sessions. However, when it comes to English teaching, it is also possible to use two truths Read more…
For more ESL games and activities, click here. Kim’s Game Kim’s game is a very simple game to set up and play. You simply need a tray or table of objects and a cloth to cover the objects. Alternatively, you can use a picture and just hide the image from Read more…
For more ESL games and activities, click here. Alibi Alibi is essentially a role play in which some students play the role of police detectives, while others play the role of suspects. Students can get very into their roles, especially the police who “try to break” the suspects. A version Read more…
For more ESL games and activities, click here. Simon Says This classic children’s game practises instructions by responding with movement, therefore benefiting kinaesthetic learners through TPR (total physical response). Simon says or a similar game exists in many other languages, with many of these using the name “Simon says”. In Read more…
For more ESL games and activities, click here. Balloon Debates It can be difficult to think of debate topics that get students engaged. One that rarely fails is the balloon debate, as students have to debate as though their life depends on it! The basic idea is that a number Read more…
The Interruptions Game For more ESL games and activities, click here. Although we tend to think of interrupting as negative, it is in fact an essential skill for managing turn taking in a conversation. We need to be able to interrupt for a variety of reasons: We need clarification on Read more…
For more ESL games and activities, click here. Drilling Games and Activities The concept of drilling has its roots in behaviourist approaches to language teaching, such as audiolingualism, which believed that learning a language was largely about correct habit formation. However, while language teaching has moved on to other methods Read more…
For more ESL games and activities, click here. Comparative Arguments One way we authentically use comparative and superlative adjectives is to argue about which things are better or the best. Although this exercise doesn’t encourage students to directly argue for one or another thing being better, it does practise this Read more…
For more ESL games and activities, click here. Reverse Questions If you need a quick getting to know you (GTKY) activity or lead in, you could do worse than reverse questions. In this game, the answers to a number of questions are put on the board. Students then work out Read more…
