DESCRIBE AND DRAW

Describe and draw is yet another activity/game that I have had great success with. This allows
students to practice listening and speaking skills alongside practice of prepositions and giving as
much detail as they can in English.

I have used this with all levels and all ages from young learners to adults. This post is more suitable
for teens and adults but I will be following up with one more suitable for kids.
Activity Time: 15 20 mins +
Materials required: Printable sheets click here
Number of students: 2 +
Skills practiced: Listening, speaking and Vocabulary.
Level: All levels

Method:
1. Print out the free printable or choose some images of your own. (I have chosen images that I have
taken around the world which teens find interesting as a post activity conversation where they ask
questions about the images.) I would recommend laminating these images as they can be used with
other groups and later used on the classroom wall for other activities.

2. In each group or pair one student is given the image. Before you give them the image, tell them
they they must not show the other students their picture.

3. Explain that they must describe in as much details the image they are given to their group/partner
and their partner must draw the image. You can give them a set amount of time. I usually give about
10 mins.

4. After the groups/pairs have completed their pictures, collect them or get them to show them to the
class. Then you can put them on the board and the class vote of the best image. Ask them why the
pictures deserve to win etc.

5. An optional post activity activity it to talk about the pictures they have just seen. I have found this
particular good conversation starter for my groups. It also can be a good opportunity to talk about
other cultures and compare that from their own. I have included image details if you wish to do the
post activity discussion. I have also included some example questions. I used this activity as
a preparation for students preparing for Trinity Exams.

Note: I will be posting follow up versions of this activity for young learners etc. If however you would
like to make your own I would reccomend Reuters.com or similar websites where you can get
images from the news and get students to talk about current events etc.
If you would like to share your own creations/leave feedback or suggestions please leave a
comment. Enjoy!
 BOREDOM BUSTER

Activity Time: 2-5 minutes a round

Materials required: A soft ball
Number of students: More than two
Skills practiced: Listening, speaking and Vocabulary.
Level: All levels

Method

A simple game I play is Bomb. When introducing this game for the first time I usually show the
class the ball and ask them what is it? they of course respond that it is a ball and then I tell them
No it is a bomb! I divide the class into two groups or more depending on the class size. I put 2
minutes or more on a timer. Then I give them a category such as animals for young learners and
when they get the ball they have to say an animal and pass the ball to the other team. No words can
be repeated. So they have to keep the ball until they answer. They have to keep the ball away from
their team because when the timer runs out, whatever team is holding the bomb loses the point.

Category suggestions:

Young learners:
Animals
Colours
Items in the classroom
Buildings (i.e Bank, Cinema etc)
Jobs (Teacher, policeman etc)
Fruit Etc

Teens
Countries
Jobs
Capitals
Things small enough to fit in a matchbox
Things you would find in a car
Things you would find in the newspaper
Adjectives, verbs and nouns asked randomly by the teacher.
Things you would find in a sports centre etc

With this game you can cover any area of the ESL course book or any random things to make them
think. This game is always enjoyed by all ages and a great way to develop quick thinking in English.
 5 WHITE BOARDS GAMES

Expanding Text

Activity Time: 10 minutes +

Materials required: Whiteboard and marker
Number of students: 2 +
Skills practiced: Writing.
Level: All levels

Method:
1. Write a verb on the board e.g Go
2. Ask students to go up to the board and add 1 3 words to expand on the verb.
e.g Go to school
3. Another student comes up and tries to add more. So a text is formed by the class.

Go
Go to school
Go to school said the teacher.
Students can only add to the beginning or the end of the the sentence.

Pictionary

Pictionary is easily an ESL/TEFL classic used in, Im sure, nearly every classroom.

Activity Time: 5 minutes +

Materials required: Whiteboard and marker, a timer
Number of students: 2 +
Skills practiced: Speaking and Vocabulary.
Level: All levels

Method:
1. Students are put into teams.
2. Teacher shows a word to the first student from one of the teams.
3. Students have to draw on the board in order to make their team guess the word they are trying to
draw.
4. If the team guesses correctly, they get a point. You can use a to allow a certain amount of time for
the team to guess and make the game a bit more interesting. Rinse and repeat, alternating turns and
teams.

Some ideas for picking words are; vocabulary seen in previous lessons, actions, films, people i.e
famous people, subjects and just about anything you can think of.

This game can also be used with Bomb scoring system.

Hangman

Activity Time: 5 minutes +

Materials required: Whiteboard and marker
Number of students: 2 +
Skills practiced: Speaking and Vocabulary revision.
Level: All levels

Method:
1. The teacher chooses a word from the dictionary and does not tell the students. This word can be
one reviewed in previous lessons.
2. Students guess letters in the word.
3. If the student guesses correctly, the teacher writes the letter on the board. If they students
guesses incorrectly, the teacher draws a part of the hanging man.

Naughts and Crosses

Activity Time: 5 minutes +

Materials required: Whiteboard and marker
Number of students: 2 +
Skills practiced: Speaking and Vocabulary revision.
Level: All levels

Method:
1. Draw a grid with nine boxes on the board.
2. Students in teams are assigned to be Xs or Os.
3. Teacher asks questions of the target language to be revised, spelling or to use words in a
sentence etc. (any revision you wish can be used) If they answer correctly, one of the students draw
an X or O. Whatever team connects 3 in any direction wins.

Whiteboard scrabble

Activity Time: 5 minutes +

Materials required: Whiteboard and marker
Number of students: 2 +
Skills practiced: Speaking and Vocabulary revision.
Level: All levels

Method:
1. A student writes a word in the middle of the board.
2. The next student writes another word starting or ending with one of the letters on the board. One
point is given for each letter in the word. If a word is longer than 6 letters, they get double points.
3. The winner is the first person to get to a set number such as 50 depending on time. You can also
set a category to practice a specific group, for example fruit, countries etc.
 MAFIA

Mafia can be daunting the first time you play it but after the students get the hang of it, they will soon
be requesting it again and again.
I have used this activity in summer camps with as many as 24 students with great success but I
would recommend it with smaller groups of 10 12.
Activity Time: 15 20 mins +
Materials required: One character card per student
Pre-teach vocabulary: accuse, accusation, investigate,
Number of students: 10 +
Skills practiced: Listening and speaking.
Level: Intermediate and above

Method:
1. Print out the character cards on card and laminate if you can as this game can be reused.

2. Tell the students that they are each going to receive a card. They must not tell anyone what is on
their card. Tell them that they must find who are mafia before the mafia kill all the citizens. The doctor
can save one person per round and the police officer can investigate one person per round.

3. Give each student a card.

4. Tell the students to go to sleepand close their eyes. You can say citizens of ________ go to
sleep

5. Ask the Mafia to wake up and choose who they are going to kill. When they have selected a
person by nodding or pointing tell them to go back asleep

6. Next invite the Doctor to save someone. Again like the Mafia this will be done in silence. When
they have chosen tell them to go back to sleep.

7. Then ask the police officer to wake up and choose who they would like to investigate. They
chose in silence and you nod and agree whether they are or are not Mafia.

8. Next say Citizens of _____ wake up! Last night there was a brutal murder and ______ was killed.
We know there are 4 Mafia amongst you. Who do you want to accuse?

9. Invite students to guess who they think is Mafia. The first round is usually quiet because anyone
can be Mafia, however by the second round students quickly become more vocal and accusations
fly around the room. Remember Mafia must defend themselves and avoid being detected. People
who are killed in the rounds cannot participate in the accusations or give any information that may let
the other know

10. Continue until either the Mafia or Citizens win.

 QUICK FIRE VOCUBOLARY

Method
1. Give the students small pieces of paper. Tell the students to write down vocabulary that you want
them to revise or you can get them to write down nouns etc

2. Students write down the words and put them in a container. Put the class into teams.

3. Set a timer for 2 or 3 minutes or however long you wish. The teams take turns. Students take
words from the container and explain them to their team. When the team says the correct word, the
next student takes their turn and moves onto the next word. The objective of the game is to explain
as many words as possible in the time allowed. Whichever team guesses the most correct words is
the winner.

LIAR LIAR

Liar Liar is a simple activity that I have used recently while teaching the topic of crime. Its a simple
activity and a great way to introduce the unit of crime. This activity uses authentic material and is a
great way to challenge students while engaging them with interesting material. I have used this
activity with teens and adults from B1 (lower intermediate +) to C1 (advanced) and I have had great
results with it. As always, I would love to hear your opinions and adaptations.

Activity Time: 20 mins +

Materials required: presentation below (optional)
Skills practiced: speaking, listening and writing.
Level: Teens and adults (Intermediate +)
Click Here to Download Powerpoint Lesson
Method
1. First, ask the class How do you know if someone is lying?
Encourage any types of answers. Write down the answers on the board.
2. Ask the class to take out a pen and some paper to write on. Tell them they are going to watch a
video. Explain that in the video, they are going to hear different ways to tell if someone is telling
lies. Explain to the students they should write as many as they can.
3. After you have watched the video, write all the different ways that the students heard on the
board.

4. Next, tell the students to write three questions about anything. Give them some examples e.g
What is the most exciting thing you have ever done?
Have you ever met someone famous?
5. Tell the class that they are going to ask each other the questions. Explain that the student who is
being asked the questions must lie about at least one of the questions.
The student who is answering the questions must give full answers and elaborate. The student
asking the questions can ask follow up questions for more information. (For example, one of my
students said he had been to Berlin. The other student asked what colour the taxis were in Berlin)
After the students have asked their questions, they must decide which question the student
was lying about and why they think this. Then, the student admits what they lied about.
 KIDS EDUCATIONAL GAMES

1. Flashcard Story

Give students some flashcards in pairs. Get students to invent a simple story using the flashcards.
The students tell the other students in class their stories.

2. Team game

Have ready two sets of word cards for the same flashcards for this game. Divide the class into two
teams. Stick flashcards (as many as there are children in each team) on the blackboard or on the
walls around the classroom. Give one word card to each child in both teams. When you call out the
name of one of the flashcards, the child in each team who has the corresponding word card gets up
and goes to touch the flashcard and hold up their word card as fast as they can. The child who gets
there first each time wins a point for their team.

3. Classify the words

Draw two or three large circles on the blackboard and write the topic words at the top of each one
e.g. animals, food, clothes. Children take turns to come to the front of the class, either individually or
in pairs, read a word card that you give them and stick it in the correct circle.

4. Flashcard whispers

Children stand in two lines facing the blackboard. Secretly show the last child standing in each line a
flashcard. This child then whispers the name of this flashcard to next child and so on up the line. The
child at the front runs to the blackboard and draws or writes the word. They then go to the back of
the line. Repeat the procedure several times.

5. Ball game

Have a soft ball ready for this activity. Stick 8-10 flashcards on the blackboard. Children stand in a
circle. Hold up the ball, say One, two, three and name one of the flashcards on the blackboard e.g.
Dog! as you throw the ball to a child in the circle. The child who catches the ball repeats the
procedure and names another flashcard. The game continues in the same way until all the
flashcards on the blackboard have been named.
 Game River
ESL River is a simple game that can be used to get students out of their chairs and revising
vocabulary and listening at the same time.

This game is always enjoyed and is sure to be requested again and again.

Method

1. Get students to stand in a line. Make sure they have plenty of space.

2. Pick a category of vocabulary you would like the students to practice. i.e animals. When you say
an animal, the students have to jump over the river.

If you say another word from another category and the students jump, the crocodile gets them and
they are out.

3. Let the students take control and they call out the words.

This game can be a great end of class activity.

QUICK FIRE VOCABOLARY

This activity is a simple way to practice vocabulary and speaking in the ESL classroom. Its a very
easy and quick game that doesnt require much preparation before class. This game can be adapted
to most levels and age groups.

Activity Time: 10 15 mins +

Materials required: A bag/box, blank pieces of paper.
Level: All levels

Method:

1. Give the students small pieces of paper. Tell the students to write down vocabulary that you want
them to revise or you can get them to write down nouns etc
2. Students write down the words and put them
in a
container. Put the class
into teams.

3. Set a timer for 2 or 3 minutes or however long you wish. The teams take turns. Students take
words from the container and explain them to their team. When the team says the correct word, the
next student takes their turn and moves onto the next word. The objective of the game is to explain
as many words as possible in the time allowed. Whichever team guesses the most correct words is
the winner.

CURIOSITY IDEAS
No one can deny the importance of curiosity in learning. But as teachers how do we integrate
curiosity into the ESL classroom? This post is going to offer some suggestions as to how you can
create curiosity in the classroom.

1. Riddles:

Riddles are one way in which you can create curiosity. I have used these in the ESL classroom and
have had some great interest in them. I usually have one riddle written on the board before class
starts. This is a great way to get students who arrive early something to think about before we start. I
have used these with teens but they could be used with adults too.

Examples: (Answers can be found at the bottom of the post!)

How many people are buried in cemeteries?

What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?

What can you catch but you cant throw?

2. Ciphers

Ciphers are great for young learners, especially those who are mathematically minded. They are
easy to set up and a great way to revise the alphabet and spelling and vocabulary. You assign a
number to a letter so A=1, B=2, C=3 etc and write coded messages on the board or get the kids to
write their own in English and get their friends to crack the code!

This website can be a handy way to write messages quickly on your computer for printing

3. Word Squares

Another way to break up your class or an activity to keep early finishers occupied while they wait is
with word squares.

This is a quick activity to put together, simply write 9 letter in a square, like above. Your class then
have to create as many words as they can in a given number of time. This can be done in pairs or
individually.

Riddle answers: 1. All of them! 2. A towel 3. A cold

CONCENTRATATION

Concentration is a great way to revise and study vocabulary. This can be a great way to help your
students remember spelling and words in a competitive memory challenge.
Activity Time: 5 mins +
Materials required: paper, pencils, list of vocabulary (on whiteboard or flash cards),
Skills practiced: Vocabulary and spelling, vocabulary revision
Level: Young learners

Method
1. Write words on the board that you want your students to revise or place flashcards of the words.

2. Show the students the words or flashcards and tell them they have one or two minutes to look at
the words and remember as many as they can.
3. When the time is up, students have to write down as many words as they can remember. When
they are finished they have to tell you what words they could remember. This is a great game for
students to revise vocabulary.
Optional

Put students in pairs or groups.

Get the students to put the words in the correct order.

THE STORY
The Story is a simple ESL warmer that can be used to get students talking and get them to tell a
story. This is a great way to introduce storytelling, practice past tenses, questions forming or just
practice speaking.

Method

1. Draw a picture of a person on the board. Get students to give the character a name.

2. Elicit more information from the students. Where is the character from, what job do they do etc.
Keep adding more information to the character while getting the students to give you as much
information as possible.

3. At the end get students to write or retell their story.

PICTURE DICTATION GAME

Method

1. Give each student a piece of paper (or get them to take out their notebooks).

2. Before class select a number of words you want the students to practice. Tell the students that you
want them to draw the word that you say. Tell them they can draw the pictures anywhere on the page
but do not let the person beside them see where they are drawing.

3. Dictate the vocabulary. For this example I have chosen swan, house, tree, guitar, sun, orange.

Students draw their secret pictures and each one will be different.
4. When students are finished, put them in pairs and they ask questions about their pictures. Give
students model language and do an example.

In my picture the tree is next to the house on the left.

The other student reply

Yes that is the same as my picture

or

Sorry, my picture is different. In my picture

5. Students take turns describing the differences in each of their pictures until they have completed
the picture.

This activity is especially useful for practicing for the Cambridge speaking exam but also practices
vocabulary, prepositions etc.

Follow up ideas: Students draw their partners picture from the description they gave and then
compare after.

Write a letter to your future self.