1.

Board Race

Skills practiced: Vocabulary; grammar

Who it's best for: Appropriate for all levels and ages

Materials needed: Blackboard or whiteboard, chalk or markers, eraser

Board Race is a fun game that is used for revising vocabulary, whether it is words from the
lesson you’ve just taught or words from a lesson you taught last week. It can also be used at the
start of the class to get students active. It is a great way of testing what your students already
know about the subject you’re about to teach.

This is best played with 6 students or more - the more, the better. This can be used from the age
of ranging from 7-25 years of age and it’s worked well in all age groups.

How to Play:
Split the class into two teams and give each team a colored marker.
If you have a very large class, it may be better to split the students into teams of 3 or 4.
Draw a line down the middle of the board and write a topic at the top.
The students must then write as many words as you require related to the topic in the form of a
relay race.
Each team wins one point for each correct word. Any words that are unreadable or misspelled
are not counted.

2. Call My Bluff / Two Truths and A Lie

Skills practiced: Speaking

Who it's best for: Appropriate for all levels and ages but best with older groups

Materials needed: Blackboard or whiteboard, chalk or markers, eraser

Call My Bluff is a fun game that is perfect at the start of term as a ‘getting to know you’ kind of
game. It is also a brilliant ice breaker between students if you teach classes who do not know one
another -- and especially essential if you are teaching a small class size.

The game is excellent for practicing speaking skills, though make sure you save time for after the
game to comment on any mistakes students may have made during the game. (I generally like to
reserve this for after the game, so you don't disrupt their fluency by correcting them as they
speak).

With older groups, you can have some real fun and you might be surprised what you’ll learn
about some of your students when playing this particular EFL game.

How to play:
Write 3 statements about yourself on the board, two of which should be lies and one which
should be true.
Allow your students to ask you questions about each statement and then guess which one is the
truth. You might want to practice your poker face before starting this game!
If they guess correctly then they win.
Extension: Give students time to write their own two truths and one lie.
Pair them up and have them play again, this time with their list, with their new partner. If you
want to really extend the game and give students even more time to practice their
speaking/listening skills, rotate partners every five minutes.
Bring the whole class back together and have students announce one new thing they learned
about another student as a recap.

3. Simon Says

Skills practiced: Listening comprehension, vocabulary

Who it's best for: Young learners

Materials needed: None

In your repertoire of English games for kids, this is an especially excellent one for young
learners. Whether you’re waking them up on a Monday morning or sending them home on a
Friday afternoon, this one is bound to get them excited and wanting more. The only danger I
have found with this game is that students never want to stop playing it.

How to Play:
Stand in front of the class (you are Simon for the duration of this game).
Do an action and say Simon Says [action]. The students must copy what you do.
Repeat this process choosing different actions - you can be as silly as you like and the sillier you
are the more the children will love you for it.
Then do an action but this time say only the action and omit ‘Simon Says’. Whoever does the
action this time is out and must sit down.
The winner is the last student standing.
To make it harder, speed up the actions. Reward children for good behavior by allowing them to
play the part of Simon.

4. Word Jumble Race

Skills practiced: Grammar, word order, spelling, writing skills

Who it's best for: Adaptable to all levels/ages

Materials needed: Paper, colored markers, scissors

This is a great game to encourage teamwork and bring a sense of competition to the classroom.
No matter how old we are, we all love a good competition and this game works wonders with all
age groups. It is perfect for practicing tenses, word order, reading & writing skills, and grammar.
How to play:
Write out a number of sentences, using different colors for each sentence. I suggest having 3-5
sentences for each team.
Cut up the sentences so you have a handful of words.
Put each sentence into hats, cups or any objects you can find, keeping each separate.
Split your class into teams of 2, 3, or 4. You can have as many teams as you want but remember
to have enough sentences to go around.
Teams must now put their sentences in the correct order.
The winning team is the first team to have all sentences correctly ordered.

5. Hangman

Skills practiced: Vocabulary

Who it's best for: Young learners

Materials needed: Blackboard or whiteboard, chalk or markers

This classic game is a favorite for all students but it can get boring quite quickly. This game is
best used for 5 minutes at the start to warm the class up or 5 minutes at the end if you’ve got
some time left over. It works no matter how many students are in the class.

How to play:
Think of a word and write the number of letters on the board using dashes to show many letters
there are.
Ask students to suggest a letter. If it appears in the word, write it in all of the correct spaces. If
the letter does not appear in the word, write it off to the side and begin drawing the image of a
hanging man.
Continue until the students guess the word correctly (they win) or you complete the diagram
(you win).

6. Pictionary

Skills practiced: Vocabulary

Who it's best for: All ages; best with young learners

Materials needed: Bag or box, slips of paper with target vocabulary words, blackboard or
chalkboard, chalk or markers, eraser

This is another game that works well with any age group; children love it because they can get
creative in the classroom, teenagers love it because it doesn’t feel like they’re learning, and
adults love it because it’s a break from the monotony of learning a new language - even though
they'll be learning as they play.
Pictionary can help students practice their vocabulary and it tests to see if they’re remembering
the words you’ve been teaching.

How to play:
Before the class starts, prepare a bunch of words and put them in a bag.
Split the class into teams of 2 and draw a line down the middle of the board.
Give one team member from each team a pen and ask them to choose a word from the bag.
Tell the students to draw the word as a picture on the board and encourage their team to guess
the word.
The first team to shout the correct answer gets a point.
The student who has completed drawing should then nominate someone else to draw for their
team.
Repeat this until all the words are gone - make sure you have enough words that each student
gets to draw at least once!

7. The Mime

Skills practiced: Vocabulary, speaking

Who it's best for: All ages; best with young learners

Materials needed: bag or box, paper to write actions

Miming is an excellent way for students to practice their tenses and their verbs. It's also great for
teachers with minimal resources or planning time, or teachers who want to break up a longer
lesson with something more interactive. It's adaptable to almost any language point that you
might be focusing on.

This game works with any age group, although you will find that adults tire of this far quicker
than children. To keep them engaged, relate what they will be miming to your group's personal
interests as best as possible.

How to play:
Before the class, write out some actions - like washing the dishes - and put them in a bag.
Split the class into two teams.
Bring one student from each team to the front of the class and one of them choose an action from
the bag.
Have both students mime the action to their team.
The first team to shout the correct answer wins a point.
Repeat this until all students have mimed at least one action.

8. Hot Seat

Skills practiced: Vocabulary, speaking, listening

Who it's best for: All ages and levels

 Materials needed: Chair for the “hot seat”, chalkboard, whiteboard, or paper to display
target word behind student

This is one of my students’ favorite games and is always at the top of the list when I ask them
what they want to play. I have never used this while teaching ESL to adults, but I imagine it
would work well.

Hot Seat allows students to build their vocabulary and encourages competition in the classroom.
They are also able to practice their speaking and listening skills and it can be used for any level
of learner.

How to play:
Split the class into 2 teams, or more if you have a large class.
Elect one person from each team to sit in the Hot Seat, facing the classroom with the board
behind them.
Write a word on the board. One of the team members of the student in the hot seat must help the
student guess the word by describing it. They have a limited amount of time and cannot say,
spell or draw the word.
Continue until each team member has described a word to the student in the Hot Seat.

9. Where Shall I Go?

Skills practiced: Prepositions, speaking, listening

Who it's best for: All ages and levels

Materials needed: Desks, tables, chairs, and other classroom furniture

This game is used to test prepositions of movement and should be played after this subject has
been taught in the classroom. This game is so much fun but it can be a little bit dangerous since
you'll be having one student in each pair be blindfolded while the other directs them. So make
sure to keep your eyes open!

It is also excellent for the adult EFL classroom, or if you're teaching teenagers.

How to play:
Before the students arrive, turn your classroom into a maze by rearranging it. It's great if you can
do this outside, but otherwise push tables and chairs together and move furniture to make your
maze.
When your students arrive, put them in pairs outside the classroom. Blindfold one student from
each pair.
Allow pairs to enter the classroom one at a time; the blindfolded student should be led through
the maze by their partner. The students must use directions such as step over, go under, go up,
and go down to lead their partner to the end of the maze.
10. Splat
 Skills practiced: Listening, speaking, vocabulary

Who it's best for: All ages and levels

Materials needed: 2 plastic fly swatters, flashcards with pictures of vocabulary, tape, board.
For high-resource classrooms, a projector and screen can display a slideshow with images

This is a brilliant EFL game to practice vocabulary while getting to move around a bit. Students
love the competitive aspect and the fly swatters add novelty to a simple review session. Splat is a
great way for students to see what they have remembered and what needs reviewing. This game
works well with any age group, just adapt it to fit the age you’re working with.

How to play:
Divide the class into two teams.
Put flashcards with pictures of the target vocabulary on the board.
Have two students come up to the board at a time and stand side-by-side. Give each a fly swatter.
Say a vocabulary word. The first student to say the word while “splatting” the correct flashcard
with the fly swatter gets a point for their team.
Ask two new students to come to the board and repeat.

At nine o’clock on Monday We have geography

At ten o’clock on Tuesday The lesson’s chemistry.

At two o’clock on Wednesday It’s time for history

At three o’clock on Thursday That’s biology.

French on Friday morning

Art in the afternoon

Homework at the weekend But summer’s coming soon.

In summer there’s a holiday And at Christmas too And once a year my birthday On the twenty-first of
June.

1. Pretend you are an alien from another

planet
As an alien, you don’t understand human emotions. Ask students to
explain what happiness is to alien you. They will try to use other
emotions to explain happiness, so you will need to kindly remind them
that you don’t understand those. Someone will figure out that what you
are looking for is figurative language (e.g., happiness is a Diet Coke at
11:30), and then, mission accomplished. This is one of my favorite
mini-lessons to do because when I start class with “I am an alien from
another planet …,” some give me weird looks, but most don’t even
flinch because they’ve already witnessed enough of my shenanigans
to think it may be true.

Embrace the season and let it dictate your unit

I change things up every year, but most recently I created a unit
around “Spooky Season.” We read “spooky” stories and watched
suspenseful short videos to evaluate how authors and storytellers
employ devices that heighten the suspense for the audience. In these
high school English activities, we analyzed theme and character
development and compared different mediums all under the umbrella
of Spooky October. As always, what works for my school and grade
level may not work for everyone, but some of my students’ favorite
spooky short stories were “Lamb to the Slaughter” and “The
Landlady.”

Write your own spooky story

After reading from our mentor texts and learning how to create
suspense, we write fictional narratives that will haunt your nightmares
… just kidding—I wanted to add a bit of drama. They pull from grab
bags I create of different character names, setting ideas, and props
they can use to create their own terrifying tale.

Turn everyone into a poet with blackout

poetry
Thanks to Austin Kleon, poetry is cool and accessible. If you haven’t
heard of blackout poetry already, it’s created by taking a newspaper or
loose book pages that can no longer be repaired and creating a poem
using certain words on the page. Then, you black out the rest. I’ve
done this every year and have changed my approach each time.
Sometimes I give students free rein and let the words speak to them,
and sometimes I’ll give them a specific topic I’d like them to create a
poem around. I love to see 25 different variations of “courage” through
poetry.

Go hunting for mechanics, usage, and

grammar errors
Doing a quick search of these kinds of fails on the internet will provide
you with a great deal of content. You can turn those fails into a
slideshow while the class finds the errors and corrects them, or you
can assign a few to each small group to tackle.

What’s better than a one-pager?

The name speaks for itself here. There are so many variations of one-
pager assignments that you could do, but the one that I like is to use
one-page as a blank canvas for them to demonstrate their
understanding of developing theme and symbolism. They sketch out
symbols and images that are significant to the book they are reading
and include text evidence to support their inferences and takeaways.

Play reviewsical chairs

When I first started teaching and was looking for solidarity,
understanding, and inspiration, I found love,teach. In one of her blog
posts, she suggested playing reviewsical chairs to prepare for a test. It
is like musical chairs, but you review. When the music stops, someone
is without a chair and they have to challenge someone else for their
chair by answering a review question correctly. This is a fan favorite in
middle and high school.

Listen to podcasts and discuss them together

Not all teenagers are familiar with podcasts, but it’s a great way to
introduce lessons in an interesting way. And so far, my students have
reported really enjoying them. In fact, I’ve even had students come
back and tell me they’ve continued to listen to a podcast series on
their own after we’ve concluded our lesson.

Podcasts encourage students to be actively engaged, because the

information being shared must be processed and visualized by the
students as it’s being said. I usually prepare questions for them to
answer as they listen, and then facilitate a discussion afterward. In my
classroom, this sometimes leads to mildly heated daba.

Introduce “chapter chats”

My students love being in charge of leading “chapter chats” in small
groups. By encouraging them to be leaders in discussing specific book
chapters, they take ownership in a whole new way. I’ve really enjoyed
watching my kids come up with thoughtful questions, bring food to
connect to something that happened in the text, and even create fun
games that encourage their classmates to recall information from the
chapter. Chapter chats are great high school English activities to
assess those speaking and listening standards while also making
them read critically because they are in charge of facilitating the
discussion.

Let your students be podcasters

Last year, I finally decided to let my students create their own
podcasts. I’ve wanted to do this for years but logistically was not sure
how to execute. It took a lot of planning on the front end of the
assignment and organizing where to find places for them to record
(makeshift sound booths), but we did it! They had to pitch their topics
and get a red, green, or yellow light. Then, they had to research, cite
evidence, write a script, and finally produce their own podcasts. We
listened to the episodes and answered questions on the “listening
guide” that they created. I loved this assignment and will definitely do
it again.

Throw parties with a purpose

We just finished reading The Great Gatsby, and since throwing lavish
parties was Gatsby’s thing, we threw our own 1920s soiree. I divided
my students into small groups to do research on their assigned topic
(historically accurate fashions, refreshments, ambiance, guest list,
etc.) and then deliver presentations. The students were responsible
for assigning each other parts, complete with instructions on how to
dress and what food or beverage to bring. They even provided each
participant with a lexicon (specific vocabulary) to use at the party. This
assignment was fun, and it also covered many standards, which is a
win-win for me!

Give speeches as characters

After watching a number of TED Talks and studying what contributed
to an effective performance, my students wrote and delivered
speeches of their own. They drew prompts for characters with different
occupations giving different types of speeches (e.g., Beyoncé giving a
Grammy acceptance speech). I found that my students were much
more confident and comfortable speaking when given permission to
act like someone else. This activity was a hands-down favorite event
for my eighth grade students. Those speaking and listening standards
can be tough to master, and high school English activities like this
helped us get there.

Read, solve, and create murder mysteries

My students in both middle and high school love true crime. I’ve
created murder mystery activities for high school English that fit really
well with literature units and that focus on making inferences, writing,
and using textual evidence. Once the premise of the mystery is
determined, students create their own case files, evidence, and clues
for their classmates to solve. I’ve had them pull from bags of evidence,
locations, and possible suspects to add another element of fun and
challenge. It’s simple, but they really like pulling things from mystery
bags. This activity is also an excellent support for students who
struggle with finding a starting point.

Read children’s books

I know many high school and middle school teachers who use
children’s literature in their classrooms to introduce literary
devices. Inspired by Ludacris, I once rapped Llama Llama Red
Pajama in my creative writing class before I had students write
children’s books of their own. I am sure there is footage of this out
there living sneakily on someone’s camera roll, but thankfully, it hasn’t
surfaced.

Perform plays
Just this week, one of my sophomore students asked me what we
were going to be reading next. We just finished 12 Angry Men. She
said she wanted to do another play. Then, another student chimed in
and agreed. Plays are appealing for many reasons. Plays allow us to
study literature without having to tackle the entire length of a novel.
Plays allow students to become characters and perform. Plays invite
students to let out their inner thespian. My students take on roles and
commit to them.

Pique interest by doing First Chapter Friday

It may seem uncomfortable reading aloud to your secondary students,
but I am telling you, they still enjoy it! Read an exciting first chapter
from books that you hope they pick up and read on their own. First
Chapter Fridays are especially great activities for high school English
if you have an expansive library of books for them to choose from.

Have them create SNL-style satirical sketches

When I teach my students satire and parody, I show them examples of
school-appropriate satire. Then, we discuss why it is satire. After we
get the hang of it, I have them write and perform them. I also happen
to have a weird collection of wigs and costumes in my room that may
help them get into character. Funny wigs are always an asset!

Write a summary of what they are reading

incorporating teen slang
My juniors are reading The Crucible and the language can be tricky for
them. After a long weekend, I was worried they would forget what we
read so I decided at 1 a.m. to write a Gen-Z summary of Acts 1 & 2.
They may have called me cringey and told me to burn my paper but it
made them laugh and they understood it so it was a W (as the kids
say.) Afterwards, I thought it would be a fun assignment to have them
write the same style of summary for Acts 3 & 4. It forces them to go
through and truly understand the dynamic relationships in the play and
how the events are unfolding. Then, they get to flex on everyone with
a summary that slaps.

To build background knowledge, create fun

stations
At the beginning of a short story or a novel, give your students the
background knowledge they need by setting up stations for them to
visit. When I had planned for my students to read Cask of
Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe, we had some ground to cover before
diving in. I set up stations that gave background information on who
Poe was, what Carnival was, information about the Catacombs,
vocabulary that they’d encounter and need to know, and finally
questions that focused on heavy topics they’d see dealt with in the
story.

Some of these stations were videos they watched that were posted as
QR codes, some were articles they had to read, and some were
discussion questions they chatted about and then wrote down their
consensus. To make it vibey, I added dollar-store battery-operated
candles, scattered plastic skulls around, and turned down the lights
with a spooky playlist playing.

Get them talking and thinking by using

anticipation guides
An easy way to get your students excited about the next story you’re
going to read is to have them complete an anticipation guide. This is a
great way to preview the topics that will point to themes in the story
they’re about to read. It’s also a great way to start some good
discussions before getting into the text. They’ll have a better idea of
what they’re supposed to be taking away from the literature if you
guide them in a way that’s engaging before reading. My favorite
anticipation guide is from The Most Dangerous Game. I teach at a
school where hunting is very popular so when we go over the
questions, I’ll have them sit or stand if they agree and then each side
will share their explanations as to why they chose what they did.

To teach figurative language, create a weird

grab bag
When my students struggle with figurative language, I put them into
groups of three or four. Then I throw weird things in a bag, and one
member of their group chooses an object from the bag. Once they pull
out their fake mouse or rubber duck or whatever item they’ve selected,
they have to write a few sentences using personification that is
inspired by the object they grab. Then, they choose their favorite
sentence and write it on the board for the class to see. We’ll then go
through everyone’s sentences to check to make sure we’re using
personification correctly and to inspire creativity! If they can write
incredible sentences using personification about an Expo Marker, they
can definitely challenge themselves in their own writing.

Guide your partner

2. Amazing News Reports

Budding young reporters will enjoy this challenge. Provide your child
with some crazy, funny and interesting newspaper headlines. Then
ask them to write the story all about what happened. As it is a news
report, you can remind them to ensure they include the five W’s
(What, Where, Who, Why, When). Here are a few examples of crazy
news articles you could supply…

3. Think, Write, Pass!

This activity is a great way to get your sixth-grade children
collaborating and working in teams to write stories. It can also throw
up some interesting and often humorous results. As we all know,
children learn best when they are engaged and enjoying activities!
Start by arranging children into groups of 5 or 6. Then, supply each
child with a different story prompt. Invite each child to spend five
minutes writing the opening paragraph of the story. When the time
is up, ask them to pass their writing one space to their right.
Continue this until the story has made its way completely around
the table and it has arrived back to the original spot. The children
then take turns to read the story aloud that they started to their
fellow teammates. Children can vote on the one they enjoyed the
most!

4. Time Capsule
Challenge your child to think of an object or possession that they
would like to put into a time capsule. The object should be
something that they believe people 100 years in the future would
not know how to use.

Once they have decided on the object, they will need to now write
instructions for how it was used in the 2020’s and state why it was
important to them.
5. Top Five!
A great way to personalize the writing experience is to ask children
to write about things they love and are passionate about. To set up
this activity, begin by asking children to think about their ‘top five’
on a topic of your choice (books, films, music, sports etc.). Everyone
should now make their list and then share it with the group. You can
invite children to defend their choices and spark debate amongst
the group. This is a great way of getting children to start using the
language they’ll need for the upcoming written activity.
Once the time sharing ideas is complete, it’s time for the real writing
to begin. Children should write a short blurb and review about each
item on their list. You can use popular film and music review
websites to help set up the format for this type of writing. Your
children are sure to have fun with this activity!

6. Fact or Fiction
Sometimes a little choice is all it takes to inspire young writers. By
giving them a choice between two different writing prompts or
genres can be all it takes to get the best out of them. To get this
activity up and running, simply display two different writing options
for your child to choose between. One prompt should be story
inspiration whereas the other option should be a factual prompt on a
topic they know well.

7. Sports Reporter
This is a simple activity that can spark interest in some of the most
reluctant writers in your group. Most children at this age have an
interest in a particular sport. You can harness this topic of interest
and turn it into a positive writing activity. Simply challenge children
to take notes on a match or game that they watch over the coming
week. This could be at a professional level or even a game in the
school gym. Ask children to focus on the main highlights in the
game (what happened, who won, star players etc.). Then invite
them to bring these notes along to class in order to write up their
full-length report.

8. Night Zookeeper
Night Zookeeper makes writing fantastically fun for children aged
six to twelve.

Our writing program for kids uses gamification to keep your child
engaged and entertained as they learn. There are thousands of
writing activities, from word games, to writing challenges and
interactive lessons. We also provide feedback from qualified tutors
on all of your child's writing.