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Games & Activities for the ESL/EFL ClassroomA Project of The Internet TESL Journal

This is a place were English teachers can share games and activities that they have foundHome Articles Lessons Techniques Questions Games Jokes Things for Teachers You may view the games in two different ways.Each Game on Its Own Page Many Games Per Page(This Section)

Number of Submissions: 132The newest addition is at the top of the page.

Bad Fruit: A Shoppers' Nightmare

Level: Easy to MediumThis is an oral communication activity appropriate for EFL learners in elementary/primary

Materials: "produce" and play money.

Object of Game: To accumulate as many products as possible.

Students are divided into clerks and shoppers.

The clerks set up "stands" to allow easy access for all shoppers (e.g. around the outsides

The shoppers are given a set amount of money* (e.g. dollars, euros, pounds, etc.) and begi

Students shop, trying to accumulate as many items as possible (each item is 1 unit of curr

Periodically, the instructor will say "stop" (a bell or other device may be needed to attr

The student with the most products at the end wins.

Students then switch roles.

*It is recommended giving students as much money as possible since students who run out ca

Alternative play for more advanced students: Clerks set the price of items. Shoppers have

Submitted by: Mike YoughWhat's the Question?

Level: Any Level

Type of Activity: listening and speaking

Purpose: review question forms previously studied in class

Procedure:Form two teams (three will work, but two seems to add just the right amount of competitiveExplain the game, with a few examples of answers in search of questions. Ask, 'What's the

Have two players--one from each team--come to the front. Style it like a game show if you

Next, read an answer to a question and say, 'What's the question?' The fastest player to r

Rationale: This game forces the students to think backwards a little, so they must provide

Submitted by: TimToilet Paper Icebreaker

Level: Any LevelThis activity is used as a "getting to know you", icebreaker on the first day of class.

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Teacher takes the toilet paper roll and takes several squares of toilet paper, then handsAfter everybody in the class has some paper, we count the squares we have, then we have toThis activity works well with substitute teachers also.

The toilet paper is such an attention getter.

Submitted by: Linda LeBlanc

Chain Spelling (Shiri-tori)Level: Easy to MediumThe teacher gives a word and asks a student to spell it, and then a second student should

This game can be made difficult by limiting the words to a certain category, e.g.. food, t

Submitted by: Huang ShufangBang Bang

Level: EasyDivide the group into two teams. Explain that they are cowboys and they are involved in aEditor's Note: Instead of saying the word in the students' mother tongue, it would be poss

Submitted by: LizBattle Ships - A Vocabulary GameLevel: Easy to MediumPreparation:Divide the students in to groups of four or five. Then ask the student to make the name fo

Ask them to choose the Captain and the Shooter. The captain's duty is to memorize his ship

Activity:Arrange all the captains in a circle, the ships' crews must line up behind their captains.The teacher must decide a lexical area of vocabulary, this vocabulary will be used to defe

Start the game by calling a ship's name, for example the ship name is "THE CALIFORNIAN". T

If the captain is late to reply (more than 2 seconds) or his crew can not say the words orThe teacher can change the lexical area for the next round.In the last round there will be two big groups battling to be the winner.

Submitted by: Agung ListyawanDescribing Appearances & Characteristics of People

Level: Easy to Medium (Low to low intermediate)Each student is then give one sheet of paper. One student sits at the front of a room. HIt is more interesting if the person being described is known by everyone. Once the studen

It is a good idea to encourage students to ask the interviewee student questions about who

Submitted by: DarrellSentence Race

Level: Any LevelA good game for large classes and for reviewing vocabulary lessons.

Prepare a list of review vocabulary words.Write each word on two small pieces of paper. That means writing the word twice, once on eOrganize the pieces like bundles, 2 bundles, 2 sets of identical words.Divide the class into 2 teams. get them to make creative team names.Distribute each list of words to both teams. every student on each team should have a pape

When you call a word, 2 students should stand up, one from each team. The students must thThe winner is the one with a correct and clearly written sentence.This is always a hit with kids. For more advanced students, use tougher words.

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Submitted by: Thomas D. J-BPaper Airplane Game

Level: Any LevelDraw a target (with points - like a dart board) on the white board or use a cardboard box

Submitted by: Ell SaundersPictionary (Game 1) - revamp - Charades (Game 2)

Level: Any LevelWrite out series of categories like professions (doctor, bus driver, etc.), animals, foods

Then for another day take the same categories (or create new ones) and play the same game

Submitted by: Ell SaundersSpelling Contest

Level: Any Level

First, if you have a large class you have to divide it in 2 teams. then the teacher says a

Submitted by: Revolle SoyerWhat's the Meaning?

Level: Medium to DifficultYou, the teacher, may need a dictionary do this activity.

Choose a word which is long, difficult, and unknown to the students, a good word to beginWithout using a dictionary, your students write down a definition. (They can work out theCollect the definitions and read them aloud.When you have finished reading, they will have to vote which of those is the correct one.After they have voted and none of the groups guessed the meaning you read the correct one

The idea of this game is to let students be creative and practice writing skills.

Then you can have the students to discuss their writings.

Submitted by: Natalia Iglesias from ArgentinaMore Games & Activities

To keep this page's filesize reasonable, we occasionally move things to other pages.Page 7 - (up to mid-July 2005)Page 6 - (up to the end of August 2003)Page 5 - (up to the end of December 2002)Page 4 - (up to the end of August 2001)Page 3 - (1999)Page 2 - (1998-1999)Page 1 - The Oldest Submissions (1998)