3 Fun Classroom Activities for English Language Learners
People often learn languages better when they're having fun because they focus more on the game or activity rather than on learning itself. Here are some fun activities that can be used in the classroom. These are great ideas for a new class to get to know each other, a warm-up exercise at the beginning of a class or they can be used at any moment to inject some fun into the classroom. The ideas used here can be adapted for any level of English.
The key to having fun using trivia questions is to make the questions quite easy. You shouldn't be testing your students but rather using the questions as a way to recap important vocabulary or grammar as well as learning how to communicate questions and answers effectively. The good thing here is that you can put students into groups or pairs to help students get to know one another or if the students are on their own then you can target students of different abilities with different questions. To add an element of excitement you can also pit students against each other so that the first students to get the answer right get the points.
This game is great for practicing new vocabulary and introduces a little bit of healthy competition into the classroom. It works well with younger students but I don't see why it couldn't work with adults either. What you need to do is to split the class into two teams. One volunteer from each team should sit in a special seat positioned at the front of the classroom with the board behind them. You should then write a word on the board. Each team must then take it in turns to help the student in the hot seat guess the word on the board. You should set an appropriate time limit and any other rules that you want to incorporate such as not saying, spelling or drawing the word. Continue the game until every student has had a turn either in the hot seat or at describing the word.
This game is better for advanced English learners and helps those students who are not as confident in speaking English to talk about themselves. The trick here is that the game isn't serious so students won't feel so nervous to talk about themselves. So, what is the game exactly? Well, you are going to have a mock election for class president. But explain that actually it's a job nobody wants to do. Each student must come up with reasons why they are not fit for the job. You can make this activity as quick or as long as you want to. For example, if you just want to use this as a quick classroom activity students could just make up three reasons why they're not the right choice for the role. If you want to turn the game into something that takes a whole lesson then you could put students into teams with a candidate for the role from each team. The teams should work together to come up with a slogan for their campaign, a speech and should point out who they think is a better candidate for the job. You could even then hold a ballot to see who the unlucky winner is.
These games will keep your students happy and engaged as they learn. These are just a few ideas of games that you can play with students. What other ESL games and activities do you like to use and play?
Trivia Questions
The key to having fun using trivia questions is to make the questions quite easy. You shouldn't be testing your students but rather using the questions as a way to recap important vocabulary or grammar as well as learning how to communicate questions and answers effectively. The good thing here is that you can put students into groups or pairs to help students get to know one another or if the students are on their own then you can target students of different abilities with different questions. To add an element of excitement you can also pit students against each other so that the first students to get the answer right get the points.
Hot Seat
This game is great for practicing new vocabulary and introduces a little bit of healthy competition into the classroom. It works well with younger students but I don't see why it couldn't work with adults either. What you need to do is to split the class into two teams. One volunteer from each team should sit in a special seat positioned at the front of the classroom with the board behind them. You should then write a word on the board. Each team must then take it in turns to help the student in the hot seat guess the word on the board. You should set an appropriate time limit and any other rules that you want to incorporate such as not saying, spelling or drawing the word. Continue the game until every student has had a turn either in the hot seat or at describing the word.
Don't Choose Me!
This game is better for advanced English learners and helps those students who are not as confident in speaking English to talk about themselves. The trick here is that the game isn't serious so students won't feel so nervous to talk about themselves. So, what is the game exactly? Well, you are going to have a mock election for class president. But explain that actually it's a job nobody wants to do. Each student must come up with reasons why they are not fit for the job. You can make this activity as quick or as long as you want to. For example, if you just want to use this as a quick classroom activity students could just make up three reasons why they're not the right choice for the role. If you want to turn the game into something that takes a whole lesson then you could put students into teams with a candidate for the role from each team. The teams should work together to come up with a slogan for their campaign, a speech and should point out who they think is a better candidate for the job. You could even then hold a ballot to see who the unlucky winner is.
These games will keep your students happy and engaged as they learn. These are just a few ideas of games that you can play with students. What other ESL games and activities do you like to use and play?
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