Games for esl

These fun ESL first day of class games are ideal for helping students get to know each other and making introductions. The games are designed to help new students open up and start interacting from the very first lesson. There are games to help students introduce themselves and others, give personal information and learn one another's names. You will also find icebreaker activities to help you introduce yourself and gain insight into your students' level of English.

ESL Flashcard Games. Here you will find entertaining classroom games that use flashcards. You can use these flashcard games to teach vocabulary on a variety of topics, such as weather, food, animals, etc. These games also help students to associate words with pictures, communicate in English, and ask and answer questions. ESL Grammar Games.

These useful grammar games can be prepared quickly and cover a wide variety of grammar structures. The games are perfect for teaching grammar points, identifying grammar mistakes, reviewing tenses, revising a specific grammar area or general grammar. These games also help you to spot problem areas or common mistakes that your students are making. ESL Hangman Games. These ESL classroom games have been specially adapted from the original hangman game.

The games are ideal for practicing parts of speech and they work well when introducing new vocabulary or topics at the beginning of a lesson. You can also use these games to revise vocabulary, sentence structure or grammar points. ESL Listening Games. You can use these listening games to teach a variety of vocabulary, language structures and topics.

All the games require students to listen carefully for information or key vocabulary. ESL Miming Games. These amusing ESL miming games can be played by students of all ages and levels. The games help students to describe vocabulary and specific structures or phrases by using actions, gestures and body language. ESL Music Games. These lively and fun classroom games combine music with learning and help students to practice or review vocabulary. On this page, we provide creative and entertaining games that help students ask and answer questions using various grammatical structures.

The games can be adapted to students of all ages and levels and can be used to teach or revise any question and answer structure. ESL Quiz Games. Here you will find entertaining ESL quiz games and general knowledge quizzes. The games can also be used to review what the students have been learning in class or to revise question and answer forms. These games work particularly well with large class sizes. When they are able to independently label most of the items, I surprise them by having them labeled incorrectly.

Then they have to straighten out the mess. You can adapt this to any noun-based vocabulary list e. Your website has amazing flashcards and pictures that can be printed out and used for this. Have the students sit in a circle with you. Teacher starts by saying a word, then the S to the T's right must make a word that starts with the last letter of the word that the teacher said e.

Continue around the circle until someone makes a mistake. Line True or False: Put a line of tape on the floor and designate one side "True" and the other "False". Hold up an object or flashcard and say its word. If students think that you have said the correct word they jump on the True side, if not they jump on the False side.

Incorrect students sit out until the next game. Machine: This is good for practicing emotions and sounds. Pick one S to start. Give that S an emotion or a feeling to act. They must do an action and make a noise. One at a time students can add to it and you essentially create a "machine". This is a really fun game!

Submitted by N. Make Words Game: Write a few random letters on the board. Possible words: cat, peg, tea, hat, get, etc. The team with the most words is the winner.

You'll need a fairly long classroom with space for everyone to march up and down. Teacher stands at one end of the room against the left wall. Line the students up along sideteacher and teacher says "Go! As you all march together, teacher starts calling out the months in order "January", " February", etc.

Students repeat each month Teacher:"January", Students:"January". March along at a slow pace, but smartly backs straight, arms swinging. At certain points teacher suddenly shouts "Stop!

If someone is out of line order them back in line and then continue marching where you left off. Turn around each time you reach the end of the room and continue the march. Once finished start again, but this time walk briskly. You can do it the final time running! After a few lessons you shouldn't have to chorus the words - just get the students to chant together as they march. Name Game: Good for a first class. Sit the students in a circle. Point to yourself and say your name "I'm Jason".

Then students say their names around the circle. Name Memorizing Game: Have children sit in a circle. Start by saying "my name is.. For example "My name is Jo and I like the color Purple. It's really hard to be the last person in the circle! Submitted by Danielle. Number Codes: Cut out some squares and write numbers from on them. Put the numbers in a box and then instruct the students to place the numbers in a line as you call them out.

This also works well for phone numbers. Number Group Game: Play some music and have your students walk around the classroom. Stop the music suddenly and call out a number up to the number of students in your class. The students must quickly get together in a group of that number.

Any students who didn't make it sit out until the next round. Odd-One-Out: Write 3 or four words on the board. Sudents must circle the odd-one-out e. Pass: Sit the students with you in a circle. Teacher holds up an object or flashcard and says its name e. Teacher passes it on to the next S who also says its name and passes it on to the next S. Variations: change directions, speed rounds, have many objects going round at the same time.

Pictionary: Good for reviewing vocab. The S draws the picture on the board and the first S to guess the picture gets to draw the next picture. This can also be played in teams with a point system.

Picture Fun: Have students cut out a picture of a person in a magazine. Students should describe the person, how old they are, what their job is, what their hobbies are, etc.

This is good for practicing adjectives. Submitted by Kelly. You need something sticky, like 'Blue Tak' used for sticking posters to the wall that you can roll into a ball and stick on anything.

Model first: give the Blue Tak to a S and indicate that they should put it in a difficult-to-find place. Leave the room and give them a few moments to hide the Blue Tak e.

Is it in the front half of the classroom? Is it under the chair? When you finally find it have a S take the questioner's role. In a large class try having students play in pairs.

Puppet Conversation: Hand puppets really liven up a classroom, especially for young learners who are shy when talking to the teacher. You'll probably find that some students prefer talking to the puppet than to you! Fun puppet characters such as Sesame Street's Cookie Monster that talk to students can produce unexpected results. I always use Cookie Monster at the beginning of my young classes. Here's what I do: 1. Cookie Monster is sleeping in a bag.

Each S has to shout "Wake up Cookie Monster! Cookie Monster only wakes up when the whole class shout together into the bag. Cookie Monster says hello to each S and asks them questions their names, how they are, how old they are, etc. Students reply and asks Cookie Monster the same questions. Students and Cookie Monster sing the 'Hello Song' together. Cookie Monster says goodbye to each S individually and then goes back to sleep in the bag.

The actual lesson can now start. Question Ball: Have the students sit in a circle. The next step has 2 variations. Variation 1: Student 1 throws the ball back to the teacher and the teacher throws to another student asking a different question. Variation 2: Student1 throws the ball to a different student and asks that student the same question. Question Chain: Have the students sit in a circle. Continue around the circle and then start a new question. It helps to use a ball to pass around as the questions are being asked and answered.

Rope Jump: you need a rope for this one! Have students stand behind each other in a line. Hold a rope have a S hold the other end at a height that the students should be able to jump over. On the other side of the rope spread out some objects or flashcards and a box. Rhythmic Reading: This activity is fast-paced and lively, and improves their word recognition, speed, and confidence in reading. Choose a reading passage one page if using a basic text, maybe one paragraph if using a more advanced one.

Start a rhythm clapping or tapping on your desk. Choose one student to start. Each student must read one sentence or word, if you want , exactly on the beat and pronounced correctly.

Immediately after the first student finishes, the next one starts with the next sentence, and so on. If someone misses a beat or stumbles over words, they lose a 'life' or they are 'out'. If you use the 'out' method, it isn't so bad, because the 'out' students help to keep the beat and follow along. In my experience, all students, whether 'out' or not, have focused intently on the reading - waiting like hawks to hear someone's mistake. Of course you can vary the tempo, making it much easier or much harder.

This can also be played as a team game which team can make it to the end of the passage, on beat, with no stumbles or mispronunciations? Good luck! Submitted by Melanie Mitchell. Secret S: Students form two different groups in the class, each group prepares three questions to ask. Other group members try to give answers to these questions without using a word which contains the letter 'S' - quite difficult but fun!

The group which does not say this letter wins the game. Shirt Game: Divide the children into two teams and give a man's shirt to each team.

Be sure each shirt has the same amount of buttons down the front. At the signal, the first person on each team puts on the shirt and buttons all of the buttons down the front. The one who is buttoned-up first gets to answer the question you ask. Of course a question equals points. If the answer is incorrect, the person from the other team gets a chance to answer.

Shopping: This can be used with a wide range of objects plastic fruit works very well. Gather all the students and show them all the objects you have. Ask a S "What do you want? The S should reply e. Teacher then says "Here you are" and the S finishes with "Thank you".

At the end collect the objects by playing the 'Give Me' game. This game is designed for practicing "shopping" dialogue and vocabulary. Materials: "produce" and play money. Object of game: To accumulate as many products as possible. Students are divided into clerks and shoppers. Clerks set up "stands" to allow easy access for all shoppers e. Students shop, trying to accumulate as many items as possible each item is 1 unit of currency. Periodically, the instructor will say "stop" a bell or other device may be needed to attract attention in some cultural and classroom contexts and call out a name of one of the products.

Students with that product must then put ALL their products in a basket at the front of the room. The remaining students continue shopping. Students who had to dump their products must begin again from scratch with fewer units of currency.

The student with the most products at the end wins. Students then switch roles. Alternative play for more advanced students: Clerks set the price of items. Shoppers have the option of negotiating the price. There are two winners in this version: The shopper who accumulates the most products and the clerk who makes the most money. Silent Ball: If the students are being loud and off task play this game with them.

It really works and they love to play it. Have all the students stand up and give one student a ball make sure it is soft. Have the students toss the ball to each other without saying a word. Any student who drops the ball or talks must sit down. Submitted by Samantha Marchessault.

Simon Says: A good review for body parts "Simon says touch your knees". You could change Simon to your name to avoid confusion. When teacher says a sentence without the word "Simon" e. Slam: Sit the students in a circle and place some objects or flashcards in the middle of the circle. Tell students to put their hands on their heads. Teacher shouts out the word of one of the objects and the students race to touch it.

The S who touches it first get to keep the object. The S who has the most objects at the end of the game is the winner. Smells Game: Preparation: Take eight small, empty jars; opaque jars work best e. Put good-smelling things e. Only a small amount is needed. Place all the jars in a big paper bag. Execution: Write "It smells good" and "It smells bad" on the board. You can also draw a happy face and a disgusted face to clarify things.

Teach the phrases. Each S then comes up to teacher, one at a time. S must say whether it smells good or bad. Great fun! Submitted by Max Becker-Pos. Snowballs: The teacher or the students draw on the board items related to the Target Lesson fruits, animals, veggies, etc.

Make two teams. One S from each team gets a wet tissue "Snow ball" and stands up. The rest of the class picks a card which can not be seen by the two students standing, who will throw their "snow ball" as they hear the other students call an item out e. The team whose participant hits closer to the item called out, gets a point.

Submitted by Salvador. Spelling Bee: Have all your students stand at the front of the class. Give S1 a word to spell. The S orally spells the word and the teacher writes it on the board as it is being spelt. If the spelling is wrong the S is knocked out of the game. The last S standing is the winner. This also works well as a team game. Spin the Bottle: Sit students in a circle with a bottle in the middle. Teacher spins the bottle.

When it stops spinning the S it is pointing to has to answer a question. If the answer is correct then that S can spin the bottle. This is a good class warm up activity. Squeeze: Divide the students into two teams with their desks facing each other. The students closest to the teacher must keep their eyes open, the other students close their eyes.

The students on each team must all hold hands except for the two on the ends. The two farthest away from the teacher will be reaching for a small object, like a koosh ball or bean bag. The teacher flips a coin for the students whose eyes are open.

When it lands on heads the students must squeeze the hand of the next person, and then the next person and so on. The team who picks up the object first wins a point. Then the line rotates, the students with their eyes open move to the next seat. The students who reached for the object come to the front.

Submitted by Lynette Jackson. Stand Up Questions : Have the students put chairs in a circle, with one less than the number of students. The student left standing has to ask the others a question i. Are you wearing glasses? Scroll down to see the full list of resources and games for learning English we offer. Our free ESL game videos are fun online games for learning English.

These games are designed to be used in English lessons and are based on the topics that ESL students typically study. Games include vocabulary guessing games, English quizzes, telepathy games, and more.

Download free PowerPoint games and PowerPoint game templates for teaching English on a variety of different topics. These games are designed for English teachers to use in class with English language learners. Our fun online quizzes are great for English language learners and teachers to use. Online Quizzes general knowledge quizzes, English grammar quizzes, English vocabulary quizzes, and quizzes just for fun.

Download free printable ESL worksheets on a variety of different topics for teaching English language learners. Worksheets include printable worksheets for kids, activity worksheets, grammar exercise worksheets, vocabulary exercise worksheets, and more. Download free printable flashcards for teaching English on a variety of different topics for kids and beginner English language learners.