Fun ESL Games to Play in Class | Fun Ideas for the TEFL Classroom

If you’re looking for some of the best ESL/EFL games to play in class, then you’re certainly in the right place. We have fun TEFL classroom games for you to consider so keep on reading for a more lively English-learning classroom! ------- • Check out this blog post for more details including more fun ESL activities, worksheets, and lesson plans for this unit: https://eslspeaking.org/games-to-play-in-class/ • Want a video on End of the Year Activities for Students and Teachers? Watch @PocketfulofPrimary video here: https://youtu.be/6otHprYRUqM • Want a video on Last Day of School Activities? Watch that here: https://youtu.be/MBGqi0GlyGE ------ Check out my book 101 ESL Activities for Kids here: https://amzn.to/3lq6ZGc https://www.facebook.com/eslspeaking https://www.pinterest.ca/eslspeaking/ https://www.instagram.com/jackie.bolen/ https://www.tiktok.com/@englishwithjackie?lang=en #teachingenglishwithjackie #eslactivities #eslgames -------------------------------------------------------- Transcript: Here are some of my fun games to play in class. The first one is 20 questions (https://eslspeaking.org/20-questions-esl-speaking-game/). I'm sure you've played this game before. So that's when someone thinks of a secret person, place, or thing. a secret noun basically. And the other people have to ask yes/no questions. The challenge is to figure out what the noun is before the 20 questions are up. The next fun game you can play in class is Pictionary or Charades (https://eslspeaking.org/charades-esl-game/). I know this is kind of two games but they're actually very similar. Pictionary is drawing a secret word or phrase and charades is acting it out. Divide the class into two teams and then write down a bunch of phrases or words on little slips of paper. And one person comes up to the front and then either draws or acts it out and their team has to guess what it is. The next fun game you can play in class is Apples to Apples (https://eslspeaking.org/apples-to-apples-vocabulary-game/). Have a look on Amazon or just wherever you like to buy things at the store online, whatever and you can find this Apples to Apples game. It actually works really well for big classes and it's a nice vocabulary game. You can also make your own sets of Apples to Apples cards and I'll put the link down there where I explain how to do that. The next fun thing you can do in class is board or card games (https://eslspeaking.org/esl-board-games/). I love to play board games and card games in my real life so I always have kind of like a bunch of them that I have at home. I also like to have some at school. I just have them in a big bag and you can buy some old card games or board games sometimes at Value Village. The next thing you can do in class for a fun game is that I'm going on a picnic game. This is where you say I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing a book. Then students will ask you, "Can I bring my dog?" And I would say no and then another student would say can I bring my water bottle and I would say yes. Do you know why? It's a double letter. The last games you can play in class are kind of similar but related I guess. So the first one is an airplane, a paper airplane contest. I get students to make a paper airplane and then we go to the gym or the hallway or something. We have a little competition to see you can throw it the furthest. The next one is building the tallest tower. I bring a bunch of materials to class and I put students into small groups and give them say like 20 or 30 minutes to build a tower and then when the time is up. an alarm will go and then the tower has to stay standing for one minute. And then whosoever is the tallest that's still standing at the end of that minute is the winner. And then another idea related to that is I'm also bringing in a bunch of materials and then bringing in some raw eggs. So students have to design a container of some kind that they think will protect the egg when you drop it from the roof. This requires a few logistics so you need actually like another adult with you unless you teach adults because someone has to be on the roof dropping the things. Timestamp for Last Day of School Activities: 0:00 Intro 0:07 20 Questions 0:39 Pictionary or Charades 1:17 Apples to apples 1:37 Board games or card games 2:27 I'm going on a picnic game 3:18 Paper airplane contest 3:37 Building the tallest tower 4:00 Egg drop 4:20 Outro Tags: fun esl games, School Activities for ESL students, School Activities, last day of first grade activities, play ideas for school, last day of work games, last week of school games, preschool craft, group games for high schoolers, play ideas for high school, good games to play at school, last day of school activities high school english, esl first day activities, fun activities, school fun,