1. Category dice challenge

Students compete in teams to spell vocabulary words in various categories.

This fantastic ESL game idea will help improve your students' vocabulary and spelling skills.

Divide the whiteboard into six sections and assign them a number from 1 to 6. Write a category heading at the top of each section. Use categories that are suitable to the age and level of your students. Some example categories might include: 

• animals
• adjectives
• food
• countries
• colours
• verbs

Divide the class into two teams. You can name the teams or let the students choose their own English team names.

Explain the rules of the game to the students:

• The teacher will roll the dice on each turn to determine the category.
• One student from a team will come up to the whiteboard and write a word in that category.
• The student scores a point for their team if they spell the word correctly and the word is a suitable match for the category.
• No points will be awarded if the student writes an incorrect or misspelled word.

Start the game by rolling the dice and announcing the category number corresponding to the roll. A student from the first team will come to the whiteboard and write their word.

Check the student's word for correct spelling and category match. If the word is correct, award a point to their team.

Roll the dice again for the next category, and have a student from the other team come up to write their word. 

Set a time limit for this game depending on the number of students or time you have.

Count up the scores at the end of the game and declare the winning team.

2. A dicey situation

For this ESL game, students roll a die to select prompts for a funny sentence, earning points for grammatically correct and humorous sentences.

Begin the activity by explaining the game concept and providing examples of how it works.

Write three lists of prompts on the board: six subjects, six verbs, and six tenses (the tenses can be repeated). These should be culturally relevant and appropriate to your students' age and level. Check the examples at the end.

Split the group into teams, depending on the class size.

For each round, the teacher rolls the dice three times to select a subject, verb, and tense for the student. That student then has one minute to come up with a funny sentence using the prompts chosen by the die.

Once the time is up, the student shares their sentence with the class.

Score each sentence based on grammar and humour, with 1 point awarded for a grammatically correct sentence, 2 points awarded for a funny sentence, and 3 points for a grammatically correct and hilarious statement.

At the end of the game, count up the scores and declare a winner.

Example prompts:

Subjects:

1. A dog
2. A monster
3. A zombie
4. A robot
5. My uncle/aunt/father/mother
6. A police officer

Verbs:

1. eat
2. sleep
3. dance
4. sing
5. fly
6. swim

Tenses:

1. Past simple
2. Past continuous
3. Present perfect
4. Present
5. Future simple
6. Future continuous

3. Whiteboard relay

Two teams of players race to the board to complete a series of language challenges.

Begin by dividing the group into two teams. Divide the board into two halves and create a numbered list of language challenges on the board at the bottom of each side. Make sure your students can reach.

Have each team form a queue at the back of the classroom and give markers to the students at the front.

When the game begins, a student from each group will walk to the board and complete a challenge. When finished, they return to their team and pass the marker to the next student.

The race ends when one team has completed all the challenges on the list.

Count the scores at the end, giving a point for each correctly solved item on the list.

The language challenges should be appropriate to the age and level of your students and target a language area that you need to revise or reinforce. Some examples:

• Write the months of the year.
• Convert a verb to past tense.
• Convert dates from their number format to written form.
• Make a statement from a grammar prompt.

When the game begins, a student from each group will run to the board to convert a verb to the past tense. When they finish, they'll return to their team and hand the marker to the next student.

The race ends when one of the teams finishes.

Finally, tally up the scores and give a point for each correctly spelled verb. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

4. Hot seat: Describe a sentence 

For this fun ESL game idea, students must describe past tense sentences to the player in the hot seat.

Divide the class into two teams and explain the rules to your students:

• Players will take turns sitting in the "hot seat" with their backs facing the whiteboard.
• The teacher will write a funny statement on the board using grammar structures that the students are familiar with.
• The team members will describe the sentence to the student in the hot seat without using any significant words from the board.
• The student in the hot seat must guess the sentence based on their teammates' descriptions.

Place the first student in the hot seat and write a funny statement on the whiteboard incorporating familiar grammar structures. Ensure the sentence is challenging but still accessible for your students.

Start the timer, and let the team describe the sentence. Remind the team members that they cannot use any significant words from the board in their descriptions.

The round is over when the student in the hot seat says the sentence. Set a time limit if you wish. Try to use culturally relevant references in your sentences. Some example statements to get you going: 

1. Harry Potter and Justin Bieber were walking to Africa.
2. A small sad pig sang a happy song.
3. King Charles climbed the Eiffel Tower.
4. A silly elephant was driving a giant car.
5. A hungry hippo flew to the moon.
6. A tired duck was eating a ham sandwich.

Tip:

• To help the students, divide the sentence on the board into three parts, the subject, verb and object. Encourage them to break up the statement and explain one part at a time. Show them how to do this if you need to.

5. Disappearing snowman(Hangman)

Students take turns guessing letters to spell out the secret word while practising spelling and reinforcing their knowledge of the target language.

This example is pulled from our article on how to teach the days of the week. 

We will use the child-friendly hangman alternative of a melting snowman for this hangman variation, but you can use your own idea. Here are a couple of other suggestions you could try:

• A pirate walking a disappearing plank.
• A person walking on a bridge over shark-infested waters.

To set up the game, write an underscore on the board for each letter in the chosen day of the week (e.g., for "Wednesday," write "_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _"). Next to that, draw a snowman with 3-5 elements that can be erased (e.g. hat, arms, nose, head, body) 

Explain the concept of the game to your students and select the secret word for the first round without revealing it to the students.

Students will take turns guessing one letter at a time. If a guessed letter is in the secret word, write it in the corresponding blank space(s) on the board. If the letter is not in the secret word, record it on the board and erase part of the snowman.

Have the first student guess a letter. Continue with the next student in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, depending on your preference.

If the students guess the secret word before the snowman disappears, they win the round. The round is lost if it melts before the secret word is guessed. In either case, reveal the secret word to the students and review its spelling.

Play additional rounds using different words. 

6. Snowball darts

Students have to complete a challenge to earn a throw of the snowball and a chance to win points for their team.

To prepare the game, draw a circular target on the whiteboard with several concentric layers of score values, with the highest score in the centre. Also, crush some old paper into a ball shape to use as a snowball. 

For each turn, give a student a challenge related to a language area you wish to target. For example:

• Spell a vocabulary item
• A pronunciation challenge
• Spell a verb in its past form
• Make a sentence from an adjective
• convert a noun to its plural form

Check out the example in our 12 ESL Games for teaching past tenses article.

If the student completes the challenge, they can throw a snowball at the board and try to win some points.

Depending on the class size, play as an individual or team game. Tally up the scores at the end and declare a winner.

7. Error correction

Students compete in teams to identify and correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors in statements on the whiteboard.

Split the group into two teams and explain the rules of the game:

• The teacher will write five statements on the board, each containing multiple errors (grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.).
• On each turn, a student from one team comes to the board to correct one error in any statement.
• Teams are not allowed to confer between turns, and each player in a team must go in a predetermined order.
• A team scores a point for each error they correctly identify and fix.
• The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Write five statements on the whiteboard with multiple errors. Ensure that the mistakes are challenging but appropriate to your students' level.

Start the game with a student from the first team coming to the board and correcting one error. If their solution is correct, award a point to the team.

Continue alternating between the teams until all students have had a turn or every mistake is corrected.

Finally, tally the points for each team. The team with the most points wins the game.

Tip:

• Throughout the game, review the statements and the errors, discussing the common mistakes and misunderstandings.

8. Noughts and crosses

The students play a version of noughts and crosses, answering questions to mark a square for their team on the grid.

Begin by dividing the class into two teams, draw a 'noughts and crosses' grid on the whiteboard and label the squares 1-9.

Assign a question to each square, but keep the students from knowing what they are.

On each turn, a student from one team will select a square and must answer a question. The questions should focus on either the target language of the current lesson or a recent area you want to revise. Some examples might include the following:

• Spell a word.
• Covert a verb to past tense.
• Give me a synonym or antonym for _____.

If the student answers correctly, they mark an 'X' or 'O' in the square for their team.

Play continues until one team gets three in a row, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally, and wins the game.

You can see an example of this game in our free alphabet and spelling lesson plan for beginners.

9. The synonym challenge

Players compete individually or in teams to come up with synonyms or antonyms for a list of words.

Decide first whether to play the game as an individual or team game. If playing as a team game, divide the class into small teams (2-3).

Explain the rules of the game to the students:

• The teacher will write a list of ten words on the board, one by one.
• Students have to write a synonym or antonym for each word on their paper.
• At the end of the round, scores will be counted together.
• Players score two points for a correct word that no one else guessed and one point for a valid word that another player also put down.
• The player (or team) with the most points at the end wins.

Write the first word from the list of ten words on the whiteboard. Give the students a set amount of time (e.g., 30 seconds) to think of a synonym or antonym for the word and write it down.

Continue writing the remaining words on the board, allowing students time to think and write down their answers for each word.

After all ten words have been presented, ask the students to share their synonyms or antonyms for each word. Keep track of unique and shared answers on the board.

Tally the scores based on the point system explained in the rules. The player (or team) with the most points wins the game.

Tip:

• To reinforce learning, review the synonyms and antonyms suggested by the students and discuss any misunderstandings or common mistakes.

10. Pictionary

Players have to draw images of the newly learned vocabulary on the board while their teammates guess what they are.

Start by splitting the class into two teams and dividing the whiteboard into three even sections. Then, in the top corner of each section, add three short vertical lines to represent three lives. These will be the number of guesses each team has per item.

On each turn, give one of the students a list of three new vocabulary items. They must then represent each on the board using only images and symbols. Their teammates earn 5 points when they guess it correctly.

Each team has only three guesses per item. Each time a player makes an incorrect guess, mark it as a lost life. If they use all of their lives, they must move on to the next item. Set a time limit of one minute for each round.

Tally the scores at the end and remove a point for each incorrect guess. The team with the most points in the end wins.