Wedding Role Play

Materials: paper and pen, one role for each student
Description: Type or write out a role in a wedding for each person in the classroom. Of course you will have the obvious characters- priest, bride, groom, etc. but make sure to write out a specific role for each person in the wedding party as well; some [...]

Not-What-It-Seems Auction

Materials: set of picture cards with objects,animals etc., these can be printed off a computer or drawn by hand
Description: For this you need a set of picture cards with objects,animals etc. Tell the class that you are going to auction these objects, and that each student has $100 to spend. Auction the items and keep [...]

“Find Someone Who…” Worksheet

This worksheet is half-sized, and is a good ice-breaker for early in the year. Students must (in English, of course) ask their classmates which of the squares on the sheet apply to them, and write their names. Then, as a class, you can review the “answers.”
find-someone-who
-Abeth S.

Reverse Team Pictionary

Materials: whiteboard and markers, pictures
Description: Create or find pictures to use. This game is best if there are several things in each picture. As an example, I’ll use teaching prepositions of place. The pictures can be unrealistic and fun, as long as the students know all the words. In one picture, show a big elephant [...]

Learning Numbers Using Cards

Materials: one deck of cards for each group
Description: This works best in small groups, no more than 3. Aces count as 1 and all face cards start out as 10. You can change this when practicing bigger numbers. When learning numbers 1-10, students place deck of cards in the middle. One student flips the top [...]

Greatest Bad Ideas

Materials: about 30 index cards, or cut up pieces of paper about the same size.
Description: First take the cards or pieces of paper and write hypothetical “problems” on them (eg. “My winter coat is not warm enough”, “I can’t afford to pay my rent”, “My cat makes me sneeze”, or something more absurd like “My [...]

Battleship

Materials: white board and white board markers, or paper and regular markers
Description: This is a good game for young beginners, because it doesn’t use a lot of English, and they have a lot of fun trying to figure out where the ships are. It can also be used as a reward game. To set up [...]

Telephone Numbers

Materials: Small scraps of paper, pens
Description: To begin, you need a lot of phone numbers. If your students have their own numbers that they’d like to learn in English, you can use those. Otherwise, make up a bunch of phone numbers. Whether you’re using real or fake numbers, you need to write each number twice [...]

Bean Jars

Materials: two jars or containers for each class participating, one filled with small beans or dried corn
Description: So, my counterpart and I were tired of the kids saying simple things in Bulgarian that they certainly knew the English for (like, “Can I go to the bathroom?”, which I think is the first phrase everybody learns!) [...]

Outdoor Basketball Counting

Materials: a basketball and hoop
Note: This is great for summer camps when you want to teach some basic English, and are outside playing with some kids. This could be adapted for the indoor classroom if you think creatively.
Description: During the summer I would meet with some kids in the park on different days and we [...]

This is a What?

Materials: Two (or more, if you’re feeling bold) random, small objects, such as a marker or comb.
Description: Students stand in a circle. You, the leader, show the group one of the objects and tell them what it is. Let’s say it’s a marker. You then turn to the person on your left (“Person1″) and prompt [...]

Mafia: A game of deception

Materials: A Deck of Cards

Description: Take a deck of cards and remove enough cards for all the “players” in the game. If I have a smaller class or a SIP class, each student gets a card – If I’m playing in a class, then students play in teams of two.  There should be a small [...]

Taboo – A Game of Oral Descriptions

Materials: pre-made taboo cards.
Time: 10-30 minutes
Preparation: Prepare the taboo cards. If you have played this game at home, you know that the word on the top of the card is the word the group needs to guess. The other 5 words below it are “taboo” – they are the first 5 words that come to [...]

Who Am I?

Materials: small pieces of paper and tape, or sticky notes

Description: When teaching human characteristics, there’s a fun game that I like to play. I write the names of famous people on small pieces of paper and stick them to the students’ backs. Then, working in pairs or small groups, the partner has [...]

The Ball Game

Materials: a ball
 
Description: One really simple thing that I love doing is to use a ball when I’m trying to teach my kids how to ask questions. I throw a ball to one kid, ask them a question, they answer, and then they get to throw the ball to another kid and ask a [...]