Start your English as a Second Language (ESL) class for adults off with an icebreaker to give students a chance to get to know their peers while also practicing English in a relaxed setting. Icebreakers will help you as a teacher learn how comfortable your students are with the language as well as with interactions in a social situation. The game works better with adult learners but kids can play too if their level is high enough. Student Level: Intermediate, Advanced. Age Group: Kids, Adults. Continue reading. Monopoly ESL Board Game. This Monopoly ESL Game is adapted from the classic board game. It can be used as a way to improve students’ language abilities. One TV show that stands above the rest when it comes to ESL games for adults is The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Many of the segments they use are great fun to play in class, and work particularly well as warm-up activities. Perhaps the most popular is Password, a game in which students guess vocabulary words from single-word clues.
On this page, you will find several simple yet fun games, printable activities, and ideas for injecting fun into your ESL classes. Whether teaching younger, beginner-level students or older, more advanced students, these games are tried and true ways to make the learning process a little more enjoyable.
ESL Games for Younger Students (Beginner/Low-Intermediate Levels)
Simple and Classic ESL Games – A list of many time-tested games for teaching ESL to young learners.
Circle Memory Sentences – Students must remember all of the sentences said before his/her turn. Great for killing time at the end of class or reviewing vocabulary words at the beginning of class.
Read for Speed (all levels) – Read as fast as you can – can you beat the teacher’s time?
DICE BOMB! – Complete a task and roll the dice for points…but don’t roll the wrong number, or else!
Dice Gambling – Test your students’ gambling instincts with this fun way to review previous lessons.
Around the World (Flashcard Game) – A classic competitive flashcard game.
Hoops (Flashcard Game) – Get students running around and looking for the right flashcard in the right hoop!
Phonics Hammer (Flashcard Game) – An endlessly fun way to review phonics.
Memory Game (Flashcard Game) – Another way to turn reviewing flashcards into a fun activity!
ESL Trivia Time! – Printable trivia game that can be played with beginner-level ESL students.
ESL Trivia Time! (2) – Another printable trivia game that can be played with beginner- or intermediate-level ESL students.
ESL Categories (Beginner / Intermediate) – Similar to “Scattergories,” students must come up with words for different categories, using the same first letter for each word.
ESL Ad Lib Madness: “My Favorite Foods” – Similar to the popular “Mad Libs” activities. Good for reviewing parts of speech in a fun, silly way!
ESL Ad Lib Madness: “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” – Similar to the popular “Mad Libs” activities.
Good for reviewing parts of speech in a fun, silly way!
ESL Ad Lib Madness: “Manners” – Similar to the popular “Mad Libs” activities. Good for reviewing parts of speech in a fun, silly way!
I Dare You! – A fun team game in which students must complete tasks to earn points for their team.
The Question Game – You read the answer, and students must come up with the correct question!
Tag Question Game – Fun and simple review activity to practice using tag questions like “…do you?” or “…can we?”.
Don’t Say the Words! (Beginner) – Students must get classmates to guess a word without saying the banned keywords! (similar to “Taboo”)
Don’t Say the Words! (Intermediate) – Students must get classmates to guess a word without saying the banned keywords! (similar to “Taboo”)
Don’t Say the Words! (Intermediate) – Students must get classmates to guess a word without saying the banned keywords! (similar to “Taboo”)
Grammar Shapes – A printable board game for reviewing different English tenses (present, past, and future tenses)
The Bubble Game (parts of speech) – A printable board game for reviewing different parts of speech (nouns, verbs, and adjectives)
Phonics Flags (short vowels) – A printable board game for reviewing words with short vowel sounds.
Phonics Flags (long vowels) – A printable board game for reviewing words with long vowel sounds.
Phonics Flags (consonant blends) – A printable board game for reviewing words with consonant blends.
Phonics Flags (ar/er/ir/or/ur) – A printable board game for reviewing the ar/er/ir/or/ur sounds.
Phonics BINGO – Free, printable sets of Phonics BINGO cards. Each set includes 10 unique BINGO cards, plus a list of all the words contained on the cards.
ESL Games for Older Students (Intermediate/Advanced Levels)
Games For Teaching Esl Adults
ESL Trivia Time! – Printable trivia game that can be played with intermediate- or advanced-level ESL students.
ESL Trivia Time! (2) – Another printable trivia game that can be played with advanced-level ESL students.
ESL Categories (Advanced) – Similar to “Scattergories,” students must come up with words for different categories, using the same first letter for each word.
Don’t Say the Words! (Advanced: Weather) – Students must get classmates to guess a word without saying the banned keywords! (similar to “Taboo”)
Don’t Say the Words! (Advanced: Jobs) – Students must get classmates to guess a word without saying the banned keywords! (similar to “Taboo”)
Don’t Say the Words! (Advanced: Sports) – Students must get classmates to guess a word without saying the banned keywords! (similar to “Taboo”)
Don’t Say the Words! (Advanced: Transportation) – Students must get classmates to guess a word without saying the banned keywords! (similar to “Taboo”)
Survey Says – Give your students a survey, and turn the results into a fun activity! (Similar to the popular game show “Family Feud”)
Conversation Activity: Secret Sentence – Students try to slip a “secret sentence” into a conversation, and their classmates try to detect which sentence is the “secret” one!)
Conversation Activity: Sentence Pairs – Students receive half of a sentence and must find the student who can complete their sentence.
Conversation Activity: Dialogue Strips – Students receive individual lines from a dialogue and must find the students who can complete their dialogue.
Conversation Activity: Unfinished Dialogues – Students collaborate to complete (and expand upon) these unfinished dialogues.
Interactive Writing – This is a great writing activity in which each student writes a part of each story.
The Lying Game – Students take turns coming up with lies about themselves, and their classmates must guess which statements are true, and which are the lies!
We have tons of FREE, PRINTABLE ESL resources for teachers, including ESL worksheets, ESL grammar exercises, ESL writing exercises, ESL phrasal verbs worksheets, and an ever-growing bank of EASY, USEFUL games and activities for the ESL classroom.
ESL Phonics
Short vowels, long vowels, digraphs – you name it! Several free, printable and downloadable worksheets, a free alphabet e-book, and tons of free, printable flashcards and board games. Plus a complete downloadable Phonics Monster curriculum, full of stories, games, tongue twisters, and more!
ESL Dialogues
Several free, printable dialogues for all different levels, complete with discussion questions and sentence patterns. Plus a downloadable 3-book series of ESL dialogue e-books!
ESL Writing
Useful ESL worksheets for teaching writing, including error correction worksheets, transition worksheets, example essays and various writing assignments.
ESL Grammar Worksheets
Esl Games For The Classroom
Free, printable handouts and worksheets to help teach parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) and tenses (present tense, past tense, future tense, present continuous tense [a.k.a. present progressive tense], present perfect tense, present perfect continuous tense, past continuous tense, and more!! Plus a 3-book series of ebooks containing even more worksheets, available for instant download!
ESL Games and Activities
Simple games that can be inserted in a class at a moments notice. Little or no preparation required. Best of all…most of the games can be adapted to all levels. Includes games for both young (elementary) students and older (junior high / high school) students.
ESL Phrasal Verbs Lessons and Worksheets
Handouts introducing many commonly used phrasal verbs, with accompanying printable worksheets to review these phrasal verbs.
Idioms Worksheets
Printable lists of idioms arranged alphabetically, with explanations and worksheets. These are great for advanced classes!
Adult ESL Lessons
Several printable adult ESL lessons, including a long reading passage, discussion and comprehension questions, and review activities. Arranged by beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Plus several activities and ideas for teaching ESL to adult students.
ESL Vocabulary
Vocabulary lists for intermediate and advanced students, including several example sentences, as well as worksheets, quizzes, and tests.
Jokes and Riddles
When yawning becomes a pastime, it’s time to bring some jokes or riddles into the classroom. These are simple and suitable jokes, and they’re pretty funny!