How To Teach English W/ Games & Activities

This is a post on how to teach English (ESL) with games and activities. Now you might think that games are just an added distraction or a way to placate your kids.

If something is fun then you will want to do it. But if something is boring then you won’t want to do it. So if you want to learn something it should be fun. You should want to do it.

Discipline will only last so long.

There needs to be interest. If teaching is boring for you then it’s probably going to be boring for your students. But if you can make your classes more fun for your students then you can probably make them more fun for you too.

Kindergarten kids in Korea doing a warm up activity

It will be a win win situation.

You need to find games and activities that can be integrated into the lesson for them to really work. There are games that are fun, but that aren’t educational.

You want to use games in a way so that they help your students learn. It’s not like a separate thing.

Here’s a look at a few games that you can use to make your classes better.

1. Categramble

This is an icebreaker that you can use to warm up your students. Come up with a list of different ways of grouping people together. Have your class stand and gather around an open area on the floor.

Ask a question and then group the people together who do it in the same manner. Here are some examples:

Here are some ideas for grouping your students together:

• Clasp your hands together
• Cross your arms
• What leg do you put in first when putting your pants on?
• Were you born in the summer, winter, spring, or fall?
• Do you prefer: pizza, chicken, or hamburgers?
• Were you born in the morning, afternoon, or evening?
• Do you prefer basketball, skiing, martial arts, or tennis?
• Is your favorite color is red, blue, orange or green?

For example, if four people say they like the color red then have them stand together.

This activity can work with elementary children-adults who have possibly a lower intermediate level.

If they don’t understand you or what you are telling them to do then that means that this game is not appropriate for them or the way your explaining it stinks.

2. Whispers

This is a popular game. It’s good for practicing speaking in sentences and it’s usually pretty fun. It can work with most levels and ages of students.

• Separate the class into 2 different teams/lines
• Use a sentence from your lesson
• Whisper into the ear of the first student in line
• Have them whisper it to the person next to them
• And then continue on down the line
• Finally have the last student say out loud what he heard

You can sometimes get some pretty funny sentences.

Award a point to the team that says it correctly the fastest.

3. One hand, two hands

This is a good listening activity that can be used to practice singular and plural words and/or different phonetic sounds.

• Teacher says a word, for example, “lion”.
• If the teacher says, “lion” then the students raise one hand.
• If the teacher says, “lions” then the students raise two hands.
• If the students are cheating by looking around at the other students then have them close their eyes.

About the video

The video contains clips from both hagwons (private institutes) and public school classrooms in Changwon and Busan, Korea.

Conclusion

If you want to learn more about how you can make your classes more fun and teaching more enjoyable check out ESLinsider’s online TEFL courses.