ESL ESSENTIAL GAMES

Over 170 Fun and Engaging ESL Classroom

Games for Students of All Ages

BOARD RACE
Team A Team B Team C
1. Play 1. Think 1. Run
2. Learn 2. Speak 2. Lis ten
3. Draw 3. Spell 3. Writ e
4. Smile 4. Read
5. Teach 1.

ESL
ESSENTIALS
SERIES
 ESL
ESSENTIALS
SERIES

ESL ESSENTIAL
GAMES

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pl THIRD EDITION
m
Sa

By Teach-This.com

WOR K S H EE TS , ACTIV ITIE S & GA M E S

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 Copyright © 2023 TeachThis Limited

Except as indicated in the Limited Duplication License, no part of this book may be
reproduced or used in any manner, without written permission of the copyright owner.

e
To request permission, contact the publisher at [email protected]

Limited Duplication License

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The publisher grants to individual purchasers of English Grammar Teaching Resources,
First Edition, non-assignable permission to reproduce these materials. This license is
limited to you, the individual purchaser, for personal use or for use in the classroom
m
with your students. It does not extend to additional teachers, nor does purchase
by an institution constitute a site license. This license does not grant the right to
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or intranet sites, whether or not a fee is charged). Permission to reproduce these
materials for these or any other purposes must be obtained in writing from TeachThis
Limited.
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Third edition January 2023.

TeachThis Limited

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99 Hennessy Road
Wanchai, Hong Kong

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 Notes for Teachers

The ESL Essential Games eBook

ESL Essential Games contains over 170 fun games for English teachers to use in the
classroom. Many of the games can be easily adapted to cater to multiple levels. There
are games for young learners, teenagers and adults. Most of the games require minimal
preparation time, so they can easily be used as last-minute replacement activities or fillers.
The games are also categorized to make selection easier.

These games can be used in any English course to supplement other materials. The games
are flexible enough to be easily incorporated into most lessons and can be used to introduce
and practice vocabulary or grammar, revise language structures, or improve core skills such
as listening, pronunciation and speaking.

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You can use these games as warmers at the start of a lesson, during the lesson to liven up
the class and reinvigorate students, or at the end of class to finish on a positive note and
round off the lesson.

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The games in this eBook provide engaging and interesting ways to help students make
connections between words and grammar. Making these connections helps quicken the
process of language learning. These games also help to build confidence, focus attention,
improve participation, and energize students. The games have been created by qualified and
experienced ESL professionals and have been tested and proven in the classroom.
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How to Use this eBook

Games can be easily selected by scanning through the table of contents. To help with the
selection process, all games have been categorised according to a particular theme and have
been arranged in alphabetical order. The table of contents shows the aim, the language skills
focus and the language level for each game. Shortcut hyperlinks have also been included to
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provide quick and easy navigation.

Each game comes with detailed teacher's notes that provide key information such as activity
types, language focus and aim, preparation requirements, and estimated time duration. The
notes also include a comprehensive step-by-step procedure, making the games quick and
easy to incorparate into a lesson plan. Each resource comes in a user-friendly and printable
A4 PDF format.

Levelling

The contents show the following abbreviated levels in brackets:

Young learners (YL)

Elementary (A1-A2)
Pre-intermediate (A2)
Intermediate (B1)
Upper-intermediate (B2)
Any level (Any)

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 Contents

Name Aim Skills Level

Answer Games
1. Hot Potato To motivate students to answer Speaking YL
questions.
2. N
 oughts and To provide a fun way to go through Speaking A1-A2
Crosses answers to questions in class.
3. Speak Button Game To provide a fun way to go through Speaking Any
answers to questions in class.
4. The Buzzer Game To motivate students to answer Speaking Any
questions.

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Brainstorming Games
5. Alphabet To review vocabulary and lexical sets. Vocabulary Any
Brainstorm
6. Brainstormers To review vocabulary for various topics Vocabulary Any

7. Brainstorming Race

8. Five Things That...

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and categories.
To review categories of words and
their spellings.
To review categories of words.
Vocabulary and
Spelling
Vocabulary
Any

A2
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9. Outburst To review vocabulary for various topics Vocabulary A2
and categories.
10. T
 he Invention To brainstorm possible uses for Speaking B1
Game everyday objects using can and could.
Category Games
11. B
 alloon Volleyball To review categories of words. Vocabulary A1-A2
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12. Board Races To review categories of words and Vocabulary and Any
their spellings. Spelling
13. Category To find words and put them into Vocabulary A1-A2
Battleships appropriate categories.
14. In the Circle To review vocabulary for various topics Vocabulary Any
and categories.
15. L
 ist of Categories To provide teachers a list of categories Teacher Any
that can be used for games in this resource
eBook.
16. M
 onkey in the To say words from various categories. Vocabulary YL
Middle
17. O
 ne by One To guess words from particular Vocabulary and Any
categories. Spelling
18. R
 ace to the To say category words beginning with Vocabulary and Any
Bottom a particular letter. Spelling

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 Contents

Name Aim Skill Level

Category Games continued

19. Scattegories To write category words beginning Vocabulary and Any
with a particular letter. Spelling
20. Seek and Destroy To identify words according to their Vocabulary Any
particular categories.
21. Stickmen To list words that belong to a certain Vocabulary Any
category.
22. Stop To think of the least uncommon words Vocabulary B1
belonging to a certain category and
beginning with a particular letter.

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23. S
 top the Music To review words belonging to Vocabulary Any
Game particular categories.
Classic Childhood Games
24. Cops and Robbers

25. I Spy
got... pl
To practice names of objects and the
structures: What have you got? I have

To name visible objects beginning with

a certain letter.
Vocabulary and
Speaking

Vocabulary
A1-A2

YL
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26. Mr Crocodile To review vocabulary for clothes, Vocabulary A1-A2
appearance and colours.
27. Mr Wolf To practice telling the time and basic Vocabulary YL
numbers.
28. R
 ed Light, Green To review numbers, the alphabet and Vocabulary YL
Light categories of words.
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29. Simon Says To practice imperatives. Listening A1-A2

Counting Games
30. Fizz Buzz To practice numbers 1 to 100. Vocabulary and A1-A2
Listening
31. Frog Bob To practice basic numbers. Vocabulary YL
32. N
 umber To practice numbers and lexical sets Vocabulary Any
Categories
33. Tinglish To review numbers. Vocabulary YL

34. 7 Up To practice numbers 1 to 7 Vocabulary YL

Describing Games
35. D
 escribe it To describe words and to guess words Vocabulary and A2
from another student's descriptions. Speaking
36. D
 escribing To practice describing personal Vocabulary and A2-B1
Dodgeball appearance. Speaking

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 Contents

Name Aim Skills Level

Describing Games continued

37. Details To write descriptions of visible objects Vocabulary and A2-B1
using adjective-noun collocations. Writing

38. Felix the Cat To think of appearance and personality Vocabulary and A2
adjectives beginning with a certain Speaking
letter and form basic sentences.

39. Hot Seats To describe words and guess words Vocabulary and Any
from descriptions Speaking

40. Swat To listen to a description and match it Vocabulary and Any

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with a word. Listening

41. Teammates To write descriptions of people and to Vocabulary and Any

guess the person being described. Writing

42. Ten Words

43. Beetle Drive

words.
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To describe and guess recently studied

Drawing Games
To review parts of the body
vocabulary.
Vocabulary and
Speaking

Vocabulary
Any

YL
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44. Don't say a word! To review and practice recently taught Grammar and Any
vocabulary and grammar. Vocabulary

45. D
 raw the To review and practice the present Grammar A2
Sentence continuous tense.

46. Pictionary To review general vocabulary. Vocabulary Any

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47. Quick Draw To review recently taught vocabulary. Vocabulary Any

48. T
 he Drawing To guess the names of famous films, Vocabulary A2
Game TV shows,books or people.

49. The Picture Game To practice prepositions of place and Vocabulary, A2-B1
adjectives for people and objects Speaking
and Listening

Drilling Activity Games

50. Coin Races To practice and repeat question and Grammar and Any
answer structures. Speaking

51. L
 ord of the Rings To practice and repeat question and Grammar and Any
answer structures. Speaking

52. Three Times To practice asking for and giving Grammar and YL
personal information. Speaking

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 Contents

Name Aim Skills Level

First Day of Class Games

53. M
 y Life in Five To use sequence words to arrange Writing and A2
Sentences information about a partner logically. Speaking
54. Secrets To practice asking and answering Wh Speaking A2-B1
questions.
55. S
 nowball Fight To introduce other students to the Speaking A2
class.
56. T
 eacher's Question To write and respond to questions Speaking A2-B1
Time about the teacher and course.

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57. The Name Game To give basic personal information Speaking YL
about oneself and report the personal
information of others.

58. Trip to the Moon To practice introducing oneself. Speaking YL

59. T
 wo Truths and a
Lie
60. Who am I?
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To introduce oneself by sharing
personal information.
To ask personal information questions

Flashcard Games
Writing and
Speaking
Speaking
A2-B1

Any
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61. F
 lashcards at To review recently taught vocabulary. Vocabulary YL
Dawn
62. Grab it To review or practice target language. Vocabulary Any

63. M
 r Wolf To practice asking and answering Speaking A1-A2
simple yes/no questions.
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64. Sumo To review recently taught vocabulary. Vocabulary YL

65. T
 he Flashcard To review or practice target language. Vocabulary YL
Exchange
66. Tiddlywinks To answer questions related to Vocabulary A1-A2
particular words.
67. Whisper To review words, sentence structures Listening and Any
or tenses. Speaking
Grammar Games
68. Correction To identify and correct grammar Grammar Any
errors.
69. G
 rammar Auction To identify and correct grammar Speaking Any
errors.
70. Grammar Races To review grammar points and Grammar, Any
recently taught vocabulary. Vocabulary and
Writing

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 Contents

Name Aim Skills Level

Grammar Games continued

71. Just a Minute! To practice peer correction of Grammar and B2
impromptu speech. Speaking
72. Verb Races To practice verb conjugations. Grammar A1-A2

Hangman Games
73. C
 onsonant To introduce new vocabulary or revise Vocabulary and Any
Hangman previously taught vocabulary. Spelling
74. D
 ice of Fortune To review previously taught Vocabulary and Any
vocabulary or sentence structures. Spelling

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75. Last Man Standing To review film titles, idioms, slogans, Vocabulary and Any
and the names of famous people and Spelling
places.
76. L
 etter by Letter To review previously taught Vocabulary and Any
Hangman
77. P
 arts of Speech
Hangman
78. S
 crambled
Hangman
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vocabulary or sentence structures.
To practice parts of speech, sentence
structure and grammar.
To review previously taught
vocabulary.
Spelling
Grammar and
Vocabulary
Vocabulary and
Spelling
B1

Any
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79. S
 entence To review or practice parts of speech, Vocabulary and Any
Hangman sentence structure and grammar. Spelling
Listening Games
80. English Whispers To review previously taught Listening and Any
vocabulary or language points. Speaking
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81. I t's not Musical To practice listening for specific Listening A2-B1
Chairs details.
82. Odd One Out To practice listening for specific Listening YL
details.
83. Sticky Fingers To practice listening for keywords or to Listening and YL
review recently taught vocabulary. Vocabulary
Miming Games
84. Back to the Board To review recently taught vocabulary. Vocabulary Any

85. Charades To review and practice previously Vocabulary Any

taught vocabulary.
86. Classic Charades To review and practice previously Vocabulary A2-B1
taught vocabulary or a film, song or
book titles.
87. Emphasize To practice stress, intonation and Pronunciation B1-B2
gesture to express emotion and and Speaking
attitude.

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 Contents

Name Aim Skills Level

Miming Games Continued

88. Verb Antics To review or practice verbs and verb Vocabulary and Any
forms. Grammar
89. What am I doing? To review or practice the Grammar and A2
present continuous tense. Speaking
Music Games
90. Let's Dance To review and practice parts of the Listening, Any
body, action verbs and imperatives. Vocabulary and
Grammar

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91. Musical Flashcards To review and practice previously Vocabulary YL
taught vocabulary.
92. Musical Madness To review and practice vocabulary for Vocabulary A2
parts of the body.
93. Word Grab

94. Word Snake

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To listen for detail and review practice
previously taught vocabulary.
To review and practice vocabulary
belonging to particular categories.
Question and Answer Games
Vocabulary and
Listening
Vocabulary and
Spelling
Any

A1-A2
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95. Balloon Stamp To practice asking and answering Speaking Any
questions.
96. Button Up To practice a variety of question and Speaking Any
answer structures.
97. D
 artboard Game To practice answering questions. Speaking Any
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98. Duel To practice answering questions. Speaking A1-A2

99. Fanning the Kipper To practice answering questions. Speaking A1-A2

100. Flinch To practice answering questions. Speaking A1-A2

101. Killer To practice asking and answering Speaking and Any

questions using different grammatical Grammar
structures.
102. Pac-Man To practice answering questions. Speaking A1-A2

103. T
 he Waiting To practice asking and answering Speaking Any
Game questions.
104. T
 hree-Step Tag To ask and answer target questions Speaking Any
set by the teacher.
105. True or False? To practice asking and answering Speaking A2-B1
questions.
106. Verbal Football To answer target questions set by the Speaking Any
teacher.

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 Contents

Name Aim Activity Type Level

Quiz Games
107. ESL Quiz Game To review previously taught grammar Grammar, Any
and vocabulary. Vocabulary and
Speaking
108. G
 uns, Bombs To answer general knowledge Speaking Any
and Angels questions or to review question and
answer forms.
109. Join the Dots To answer quiz questions. Speaking Any

110. W
 hat's the To review and practice Wh question Grammar and A2-B1

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Question? forms. Speaking

Sentence Race Games

111. Alphabet To review and practice parts of Grammar and A2-B1
Madness speech, grammar and sentence Speaking

112. Balloon Buster

113. Sentence Race

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structure.
To practice word order and sentence
structure.
To write sentences in a certain tense
using a specific time expression.
Grammar

Grammar,
Vocabulary and
Any

A2-B1
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Writing
114. Splat To review practice vocabulary, Grammar, Any
grammar and sentence structure. Vocabulary and
Speaking
115. Translation Race To translate sentences from the Speaking, Any
students' native language into English. Grammar and
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Vocabulary
116. W
 ords to To review or practice vocabulary, parts Writing, A2-B1
Sentences of speech and sentence structure. Grammar and
Vocabulary

Spelling Games
117. Backdraw To review and practice the spelling of Spelling and Any
recently studied vocabulary. Vocabulary

118. Blind Speed Spell To review the spelling of previously Spelling and Any
taught vocabulary. Vocabulary

119. Chopsticks To review the spelling of previously Spelling and Any

taught vocabulary. Vocabulary

120. Flower Power To review and practice the spelling of Spelling and A1-A2
recently studied vocabulary. Vocabulary

121. Remix To review the spelling of previously Spelling and Any

taught vocabulary. Vocabulary

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 Contents

Name Aim Skills Level

Spelling Games
122. Spell or Draw To review the spelling of previously Spelling and Any
taught vocabulary. Vocabulary

123. Spelling Grid To review and practice the spelling of Spelling and Any
recently studied vocabulary. Vocabulary

124. Spelling To review the spelling of previously Spelling and Any

Knockout taught vocabulary. Vocabulary

125. Spelling Race To identify and spell words from Spelling and Any
pictures. Vocabulary

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126. T
 he Spelling To review the spelling of previously Spelling and Any
Game taught vocabulary. Vocabulary

127. Up the Ladder To spell category words beginning with Spelling and A2-B1

128. Word Chain

129. W
 orld Cup
Spelling
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certain letters.

To think of a word that begins with the

last letter of the previous word.

To practice the spelling of general

vocabulary.
Vocabulary

Spelling and
Vocabulary

Spelling and
Vocabulary
YL

Any
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TV Game Shows
130. Blankety Blank To review and practice previously Vocabulary and A2-B1
taught vocabulary. Grammar

131. Blockbusters To review previously taught or general Vocabulary B1-B2

vocabulary.
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132. Countdown To review and practice general Vocabulary and Any

vocabulary. Spelling

133. F
 amily Fortunes To guess the top five answers in a Vocabulary B1
survey.

134. Mastermind To review previously taught Vocabulary and Any

vocabulary. Spelling

135. Strike it Lucky To review recently studied vocabulary, Grammar and Any
grammar or language points. Vocabulary

136. The Price is Right To practice saying the prices for Vocabulary Any
goods.

137. The Weakest Link To answer revision or general Speaking Any

knowledge questions.

138. W
 ho wants to be To answer revision or general Listening and Any
a millionaire? knowledge questions. Speaking

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 Contents

Name Aim Skills Level

Verb Games
139. Catch To practice verb forms. Vocabulary Any

140. Classroom Tennis To practice irregular verb forms. Vocabulary A2-B1

141. The Verb Tree To review and practice verbs and Grammar and Any
sentence structure. Vocabulary

142. Things we do... To review regular and irregular verbs. Vocabulary A2-B1

143. Verb Connection To make sentences or questions with Grammar and A2-B1
specific verbs and verb forms. Vocabulary

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144. Visual Verbs To review irregular verbs and their Vocabulary Any
various forms.

Vocabulary Games
145. Bluff

146. Collocation
Ladder
pl
To review and practice previously
taught words and their definitions.

To review and practice previously

taught collocations.
Vocabulary and
Speaking

Vocabulary
B1-B2

A2-B1
m
147. Over the Line To review recently taught vocabulary. Vocabulary YL

148. People to People To review parts of the body Vocabulary A2

vocabulary.

149. Ships of War To review vocabulary for particular Vocabulary Any

categories.
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150. Vocabulary Deck To review and practice vocabulary for Vocabulary Any
particular categories.

Word Association Games

151. M
 allet's Mallet To review and practice vocabulary for Vocabulary Any
particular categories.

152. Password To review previously taught Vocabulary Any

vocabulary.

153. What's the Topic? To review and practice various topic Vocabulary A2-B1
based vocabulary

154. W
 ord Association To review and practice general Vocabulary Any
Game vocabulary.

155. Word To review and practice general Vocabulary Any

Disassociation vocabulary.
Game

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 Contents

Name Aim Skills Level

Word Games

156. A
 Ship Comes To review and practice general Vocabulary and Any
Loaded vocabulary. Speaking

157. Balderdash To invent false definitions for words Vocabulary and B2

and guess true definitions. Writing

158. L
 ewis Carroll's To practice or review general Vocabulary and A2-B1
Game vocabulary and spellings. Spelling

159. M
 atch the To review recently taught vocabulary. Vocabulary Any
Squares

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160. Minimum To review general vocabulary. Vocabulary Any

161. T
 he Longest To review general vocabulary, Vocabulary and Any
Word meanings, and spellings. Spelling

162. Tic Tac Words

163. Two Words

pl
To review general vocabulary.

To review and practice general

vocabulary and sentence structure.
Vocabulary

Vocabulary and
Speaking
Any

Any
m
164. Word Race To review practice words belonging to Vocabulary A2-B1
various categories.

165. Word Square To review general vocabulary and Vocabulary and Any
spellings. Spelling

Yes/No Question
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166. Changing Chairs To write and respond to yes/no Grammar Any

questions.

167. Glug To practice yes/no questions and short Grammar and A2-B1
answers in various tenses. Speaking

168. T
 he Ring To practice yes/no questions, Vocabulary and A2
short answers, and adjectives of Speaking
appearance.

169. Throw a Question To review and practice answering basic Speaking YL

yes/no questions.

170. Twenty Questions To practice asking and answering yes/ Grammar and A2-B1
no questions Speaking

171. Virus To ask and answer yes/no questions. Grammar and Any
Speaking

172. Yes No Laugh To ask and answer yes/no questions. Speaking A2-B1

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 ESL GAMES FOR GIVING ANSWERS

1 Hot Potato

Activity Type Introduction

Speaking Game: Here is a quick and easy ESL game to motivate your students to
answering questions answer questions. This game can be played in any situation where
the students have to answer questions in class, e.g. answering
exercise questions.
Focus
Giving answers Procedure
Take a small object such as an eraser.
Aim
Hand the object to a student and then turn around facing away
To give answers to from the students.
questions.
Tell the students to pass the object around.

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Preparation After a few seconds have passed, shout 'Stop!'
None
The student holding the object at that time must then answer a
question set by you.
Level
Young learners

Time
pl
If the student answers the question successfully, they score a
point.

If not, the game continues.

When a question has been answered correctly, repeat the process.

m
10 minutes
Continue until all the questions have been answered correctly.

The student with the most points at the end of the game wins.
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BACK TO CONTENTS

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