Game Ideas for the Classroom. Language teaching games for All ages. Using Games in Education for Language Learners for all levels and Languages.
Game Ideas for the Classroom
Game Ideas for the Classroom. Language teaching games for Young Learners, Teenagers and Adults.
Using Games in Education for Language Learners to teach Grammar, Vocabulary, Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking For all Languages Learners.
These games will help you get rid of the routine teaching time, warm up the students before the lesson, give students a break from the usual curriculum, use the time effectively when there is a little time left to kill, to assess and summarize at the end of the teaching and last but not least, to make your classes more interesting for your students as games make learning more fun and fast.
You can use these games for testing and teaching vocabulary, practicing conversation, learn tenses, improve syntax, making reading more fun, listening attentively and so forth. It is no doubt that when teachers use games where the students are active and responsible learners, the classes are sure to be more fun, active, energetic and challenging which fosters learning.
Games encourage many different skills; speaking and listening, problem-solving, as well as motor skills. Playing games together is also a great time for connecting with your students.
You live a new life for every new language you speak. If you know only one language, you live only once
~
Czech proverb
Game Ideas for the Classroom
Here are different kinds of games that work well for teaching languages to children, young adults, teenagers and adults for all levels and languages.
BOARD RACE
Time: 1-2 minutes
Age: All Ages
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Materials: Board, Board Markers
Language Area & Skill Level: Vocabulary
Description
Students race to write as many words as
they can on a given topic on a board that is used for writing in the class. This activity can be used as a revision activity after teaching vocabulary.
CALL MY BLUFF
Time: 10-15 minutes
Age: All Ages
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Materials: Post it notes, Pens and Pencils
Language Area & Skill Level: Speaking, Listening, Reading, Grammar
Description
Students write two truths and a lie about themselves on a piece of paper and exchange with their pairs and guess their partner’s truths and a lie. At upper levels, they give reasons as to why. Students keep their poker faces not to reveal the fact so that their peer guess.
MEMORY GAME
Time: 10 – 15 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Materials: Game Cards with pictures and/or words.
Language Area & Skill Level: Speaking, Listening, Vocabulary
Description
Students try to find the pair of a card on which there can be words or pictures illustrating a category of vocabulary that will be or have been covered during a class. The pairs can be synonyms, antonyms, picture-word matching, picture-picture matching that can vary depending on the level and needs of the class.
Teacher prepares and prints the cards beforehand and cuts them.
WORD JUMBLE RACE
Time: 5 minutes
Age: All Ages
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Materials: Jumbled Words and Sentences
Language Area & Skill Level: Grammar, Word Order, Spelling, Writing
Description
Students put the jumbled words or sentences in order in a given time. It is used for practicing and assessing the syntax.
DOBBLE
Time: 10 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Materials: Dobble Cards prepared beforehand.
Language Area & Skill Level: Speaking, Listening, Vocabulary
Description
Dobble is a card game on which there are symbols about various topics and students play at the same time, trying to be the first to find the only matching symbol on both cards and he/she names it out. This game is an observation and speed game. It’s used for teaching and revising vocabulary in a fun way. The teacher prepares around 60 cards each of which has 8 big and small symbols – can be the same size as well – for 3-4 players. Therefore, the teacher can prepare 5 sets of cards to teach and/or to revise different vocabulary items. The students can have a card in the middle, one card for each of them and can turn them upside down at the same time; they can have the pile of cards in the middle and one card for each player and they can turn their cards upside down and take the first card on the top of the file if there are matching symbols.
PICTIONARY
Time: 10 – 15 minutes
Age: All Ages
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Materials: Words prepared, a hat or bowl, board, boardmarker
Language Area & Skill Level: Vocabulary
Description
One student draws the word on a board or paper and the pair, team members guess the word. The pair or group with more correctly guessed words wins the game.
FRUIT SALAD
Time: 10 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Materials: Fruit names prepared beforehand.
Language Area & Skill Level: Speaking, Listening, Vocabulary
Description
This game could be used for teaching fruits to a beginner class or as a warm up before a class. The students sit in circle and one person in the middle stands at the beginning of the game. Fruit names are prepared on piece of paper according to the number of the students so that every four or five students get the same fruit on the pieces of paper on which there are names of the fruits. These pieces of fruit names put in a bowl or hat and each student draws a fruit name or the students who sit in a circle are given the names of the fruits by the teacher so that the same fruit names do not go to the same people sitting next to one another. For instance, if the class has twenty students five fruit names can be written on equal number of papers – four slips for each fruit. The student in the middle will try to get a seat, so he/she will shout out one, two, three or four fruit names at the same time and the students who have that fruit or those fruit names will have to stand up and change their seats. The student in the middle can also shout out ‘Fruit Salad’, therefore making everybody stand up and change their seats. The rule in the activity is that everyone whose fruit name is uttered has to stand up and sit on another chair and meanwhile, the person in the middle will try to catch a chair; therefore another person will be in the middle.
You can use of course use other topics to revise vocabulary, such as animals (you can say Zoo) or furniture (you can say house).
HOT SEAT
Time: 15 – 20 minutes
Age: All ages except for very young learners
Level: Elementary to Advanced
Materials: Vocabulary items prepared beforehand.
Language Area & Skill Level: Vocabulary, Speaking, Listening
Description
One student from each group sits on one chair their backs to the board and facing their classmates.
These are called ‘the hot chairs’. There appears or is written a word on the board and the team mates describe the word to the students sitting in the hot chairs by using definitions, antonyms, synonyms etc except for saying, spelling, miming, pointing to or drawing the word and the students with their backs to the board try to guess the word. The first students guessing it right gets a point for his/her team.
A time limit can be set to make it more challenging for students at
upper levels.
WHERE SHALL I GO?
Time: 15 – 20 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Elementary – Upper Intermediate
Materials: Directions for some destinations prepared before.
Language Area & Skill Level: Speaking, Listening, Vocabulary
Description
The teacher prepares the class or a suitable room as a town using
buildings and roads made with cardboard paper. Students work
in pairs. One student gets around the town with the directions
given by her/his peer. The pair or group with more number of
correct destinations arrived wins the game. The game can also
played in a way that one student is blindfolded and his / her peer
accompanies her / him by giving directions.
WHAT’S MY PROBLEM?
Time: 10 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Elementary – Upper Intermediate
Materials: Ailments or problems prepared beforehand, Tape.
Language Area & Skill Level: Speaking, Listening, Grammar,
Vocabulary
Description
Students have their problems sticked on their backs and
everyone else in the class can see what their problem is except themselves seeing their own problems. Students work in pairs or groups and get advices from their peers or group mates and try
to guess their own problems whether it is a health related problem or not.
WHO AM I?
Time: 10 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Beginner to Upper Intermediate
Materials: Paper slips, tape, post it notes, pens / pencils.
Language Area & Skill Level: Speaking, Listening, Grammar,
Vocabulary
Description
Students write the name of a celebrity, a famous cartoon character or any name that is known within their community on a post it or a paper. Then, they switch the papers without showing to one another and they stick it on the forehead of the other person. Each student ask the group ‘Yes/No’Questions to find out who they are. If they get a ‘No’ as an answer, then it’s another person’s turn to continue asking questions. The players can guess who they are at any time during the game. It’s important that students choose characters or celebrities of their own interest or a context can be decided before the game. E.g. Celebrities in the USA.
HOW ARE YOU FEELING TODAY?
Time: 10 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Materials: Dice with feelings – picture, drawing or both – on each side.
Language Area & Skill Level: Speaking, Listening, Vocabulary
Description
Students learn to express their feeling by using various adjectives. A big size dice can be prepared out of cardboard paper on which the vocabulary about feelings are written or there are faces showing feelings. One dice is prepared for each pair. One peer throws the dice, sees the feeling if it’s a word he/she mimes it and says it. If it’s a drawing, he/she utters it upon his/her friend’s question. This material and activity can be used to teach feelings and also to revise it. Various dices can be prepared so that students have numerous adjectives to describe their feelings each day when the teacher asks how they are feeling that day.
BINGO
Time: 15 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Beginner to Upper Intermediate
Materials: Bingo Card Games, paper slips.
Language Area & Skill Level: Listening, Vocabulary
Description
Bingo is a chance game in which teacher draws pre-printed cards or paper slips from a bag or hat where there are many of the topic items that students have on their grid cards. The teacher prints all the items that are on the students’ grid beforehand, cuts them and put them in a hat, bowl or bag. As he/she chooses the paper slips randomly, he/she reads it out and the students who have them crosses them out with the help of a pen, or small pieces of paper or thing to cover it. The student who has all the items on his/her grid drawn by the teacher – or any other student operating for this shouts out ‘Bingo!’ and he/she becomes the winner. It gives excitement to revision and assessment of vocabulary. The cards can be found online or prepared by the teacher or the students on a specific topic, which is also provided by some websites.
DOMINOES
Time: 15 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Materials: Game Cards with questions, answers/pictures.
Language Area & Skill Level: Reading, Listening, Grammar.
Description
This activity consists of cards on which there are questions and
answers at different levels. The previous card has a question the
answer of which is on the next card. The students sit around a table where everybody can see the dominoes as they are connected more. The cards are given to the students and the student who has the card on which there is the ‘Start sign’ and a question starts with this card. When he/she reads out the question, the other students check their own cards and the student with the card on which there is the most probable answer to the question puts the card after the previous card so that everyone can see the question and the answer. Then he/she reads the question on the card so that the others can check their own cards and see if the answers on their cards can be reasonable for that question. The same type of work can be prepared with pictures and sentences. When the student reads out the sentence on one card, the others check their cards to find the picture that illustrates that sentence and the same procedure goes on for the next sentence until they find the last card. These cards can be prepared according to the topic covered.
TONGUE TWISTERS
Time: 5 – 10 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Pre-Intermediate to Advanced
Materials: Tongue Twisters prepared beforehand.
Language Area & Skill Level: Speaking, Listening, Vocabulary
Description
Tongue twisters are a fun break for practicing the structure and pronunciation. As the students try to tell the tongue twisters, they are supposed to repeat it several times, therefore they remember the vocabulary, improve the pronunciation and have fun. The tongue twisters can be chosen from simple ones to the longer and complicated ones. The students compete to say the whole tongue twister without a break and pronunciation mistake. The students are divided into two groups and they are shown a tongue twister. They have the right to repeat it only three times and the team member who pronounces correctly and fully gets a point for the team. The team members take turns for the next tongue twisters. As they are challenging, students have fun learning.
YOU HAVE A POST!
Time: 5 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Pre-Intermediate to Advanced
Materials: Envelopes, small-size papers, pens/pencils.
Language Area & Skill Level: Writing, Grammar and
Vocabulary
Description
Teacher gives out envelopes, pieces of paper and pens/pencils
to the students. The students write notes to their mates in the class on various topics. For instance, they can write what they like doing with that friend, what kind of positive personality traits he/she has etc. This activity can be done towards or at the end of a school year to reflect on the students’ perceptions about one another. They can write their names at the end or prefer being anonymous. Students enjoy reading the positive messages from their peers.
Here are some energisers for the classroom for all ages and levels.
MY CHAIR
Time: 15 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Beginner
Materials: Chairs
Language Area & Skill Level: Speaking, Listening,
Vocabulary.
Description
Students sit in a circle and there is one chair free. The student sitting on the left side of the chair moves to the right side by putting a hand on the seat, saying ‘My chair!’ and sitting on that chair immediately. The second student does the same for the chair that was left by his/her peer. The third student does not do the same, but has to shout out a name of a student among the group and that student runs to the seat that was reserved by that peer.
Whenever, there’s an empty chair on the right side of a student, the row goes on like this. The key is to be quick, because if you are too slow to say a name or change the chair, you are out of the game. The main aim here is to make a new group of learners learn one another’s names and get to know one another. This activity can be used in a class where students meet for the first time or to check if they remember. The activity can also be adapted to any vocabulary item to revise.
HI! MY NAME IS …
Time: 10 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Beginner
Materials:
Language Area & Skill Level: Speaking, Listening,
Grammar
Description
This activity is simply introducing oneself with a body movement or gesture and remembering the actions of the other students along with their names.
These actions accompanying the introduction can be something that identifies the person, shows a fact about that person or can be anything that does not tell much about them.
Students stand in a circle, the student starts introducing themselves and makes a body movement or gesture. The student standing next to the first speaker repeats what the first student’s name is along with the body movement or gesture he/she made and does the same for himself/herself. As it goes further, the upcoming students have to remember more number of the names and movements / gestures; the last student in the circle repeating all names and gestures therefore. This activity can be used as a warm up activity for a new group or the first language lesson at beginner’s level. Depending on the topics covered, students can also add what they like, what they can do etc. so that the activity can also be used in the further lessons, this time without repeating the names.
SPIDER NET
Time: 15 minutes
Age: All ages
Level: Beginner
Materials: Knitting yarn.
Language Area & Skill Level: Speaking, Listening,
Vocabulary
Description
It’s a kind of name and introducing oneself game. This game can be used as a warm up for a new class or evaluation at the end of a class. Students stand in a circle and they are given a knitting yarn or a rope long enough to reach everyone. The first student introduces himself/herself and/or tells something about him/her and he/she holds one end of the yarn tight and throws the yarn to any person by saying his/her name so that that person can catch the yarn. The next person repeats first person’s name and what he said in order to learn something about him/her and the same procedure about himself/herself and the game goes on till the yarn reaches the last person and last person says the name of the previous person, what the previous person said about himself/herself and the last person says the things about himself/herself according to the content of the game. For example, they can say something outstanding about themselves whether it is a word or sentence such as “I am interested in horseriding.” or only “Horseriding.” This can also be done to reflect on people, to evaluate a lesson so that students can reflect on what they have learned. When the circle is observed from the top, a net can be seen that connected them.
Game Ideas for the Classroom
Here are some other Game Ideas for the Classroom you can find on Language Advisor
Game Ideas for the Classroom
