Warmups

Get into mindset of class. Ease into class n letting go of what has been done before. If
looking tired get them moving, if hyped maybe an independent task.
Simple to understand and execute. Only 5-10min job.
Doesn’t have to be academic or related to topics. Random is fine.

MUSIC

Strike a pose
Stand in circle. Play music and when the music stops, the first student steps into circle ‘My
name is…’ and strikes a pose. All copy. Continue…

Name song
T to introduce exercise, plays music. Each time the song pauses, T will ask Ss their name. Ss
to respond, “My name is XXX.”
T commences playing music. T pauses music and asks students their names. Progresses
through playing music until all students have answered at least once.

Hot potato
Pass object around and when the music stops, n the last one with the ball has to answer T
question ie. Name 3 colours in 5secs. If not, has to dance/funny face.
Adjustment - have Ss stand in pairs to pass the object to each other. Swap pairs during
activity.

Circular target on board

Ss throw sticky ball and depending on where they hit, they have to answer a question. Can
be numbered so they can’t see and relates to a topic ie. Name an animal, what is a
contraction etc. OR this can be used as a BONUS round game.

Paper Dance
Move around the room until music stops. Stand on an A4 piece of paper. Keep reducing the
paper in half each time. Students have to balance for 20secs each time or out. ADJUST - no
reducing paper n have to answer a question about the paper they are on. ADAPTATION -
write numbers on the floor (one less than total Ss) and when the music stops, the missing S
has to answer a T question.

Freeze dance
T plays music and when it stops, everyone has to freeze. If caught out moving by T then
have to sit down. Extension – instead of out, do a special dance or sing a song.
Song and actions
Watermelon, watermelon, papaya! Papaya! Ba-ba-ba-banana, ba-ba-ba-banana, fruit salad,
fruit
salad.
Watermelon, watermelon, (Hands circling from above head to down at ones sides) papaya!
Papaya! (make three chopping motions, and three again, in time with syllables on left arm)
Ba-
ba-ba-banana, ba-ba-ba-banana (cradle arms and rock back and forth as if holding a baby),
fruit
salad, fruit salad (hands on hips and tilt hips back and forth).
Ask kids if they want to go faster - repeat faster and faster until they can’t keep up!

DRAMA

Mime/Charades
List of actions (words or sentence) in a bag – random choice. S chooses one and acts out the
word/sentence for class/team to guess. Played either as an individual to the class or in
teams.

YES/NO only. Who Am I? / What Am I?

Pick a category (ideally related to something you’ve been learning recently). Get one
student to think of a word or person in that category (T can give hint). They should keep it a
secret.
The rest of the class take turns to ask yes/no questions to identify who/what it is.
Usually each round takes a couple of minutes, so 2-3 students can have a turn during a 5-
minute warmup. Play again in the next session and let others have a go.
TIPS:
Enforce the rule of taking turns to ask questions in an established order to allow shy
students to get involved.
Help out beginners by writing some question starters on the board beforehand.

Hot seat
Divide the ss into two teams. Make two students turn their back to the whiteboard. T writes
one word/sentence on the whiteboard. The teams must do nonverbal actions in order to let
the student from their team guess what the word/sentence is. ADJUST - Ss can call out
words to help guess BUT must NOT use the word on the board
Tv channels
T brings a TV remote or a ball and can bring a TV-shaped cardboard or simply put two or
three chairs in the front of the classroom.
Two students are being sent in the front of the class;
they will have to improvise themselves as a TV channel.
At the same time, the TV remote is turning in the class and the S who has it can choose to
say “Change channel” or not.
If a S asks to change channel then the students in the front will have to improvise a different
channel.

RACES

Board race
two teams lined up. Topic at top of board with line down middle. Write as many words
related as part of a team relay. Point for each correct word. Unreadable or misspelled no
points.
Board race (cup tower version)
Need about 9 plastic cups per team. Set the cups up in stacks of three, making a line
towards
the board.
Students have to race to put each of their three cup stacks into a tower then approach the
whiteboard to write the answer. Then on the return they need to disassemble and return to
their line.
The first child wins a point for their team!

Telephone line/Chinese whispers

2 teams. T gives a sentence to s at the back of line. Each s whispers to next s. The person at
the front has to then write up on the board.
ADJUST - T gives a sentence by action ie “I am fishing” OR simply a series of actions that
need to be repeated ie. touch head, twirl and raise arms in air. ADJUST - can just do one
word for younger students.

Letter relay
2 teams. T shows the student a letter and they have to draw it on the back of the s. Passed
on and the end s writes it up on the board. Extension – do the same but it’ll be a whole
word at the finish. Once each s writes the letter, they go to the back and commence the
next letter.

One touch one word

Two teams. T draws a line in the middle of the classroom. Then from one team to the other
the ball/balloon is thrown. Every time someone touches/catches the ball/balloon, that
person has to say an English word
LISTENING

Simon Says
Simon Says is an active way to start the class and it can double up as an effective behaviour
management tool. T says a command. If T says “Simon Says” before the command, the
students must do it. If T doesn’t say “Simon Says,” they mustn’t do it.
Don’t eliminate students who get it wrong. Have them do a silly dance/face or answer a
question.
TIPS:
Transition into a calm, attentive state by giving Simon Says commands like take a deep
breath, sit down slowly, look at the teacher, and relax.

Yes, No, Stand up, Sit down

*How to play:
1. Teacher explains: yes(nodding head up and down), no (shaking head from side to side),
stand up and sit down to the children by body language. But in this game, things are going
to be messed up.
+Yes means shaking head from side to side
+No means nodding head up and down
+Stand up means sit down
+Sit down means stand up
2. Teacher will ask students to perform an action only following his/her voice, not following
his/ her action. Students should be careful and try not to be fooled by teacher’s misguided
action. The person who lasts until the end will win the game and get a reward.

For example: Teacher says ‘yes’ while she is nodding her head up and down, students should
focus on the word she said ‘yes’ and shake their heads, if they follow the teacher nodding
their head, they will be eliminated from the game.

ADJUST: This game could be developed to next level by adding more actions to challenge
the students. Example: Yes, No, Stand up, Sit down, wave your left hand, wave your right
hand, jump,...
The Story Continues:
A. Get in a circle.
B. One person makes a sentence to start a story.
C. The next person repeats the sentence and then “continues” the story with another
sentence.
D. The next person repeats the first two sentences and then “continues” the story with
another
sentence.
E. When it gets around to the first person again … that person needs to tell the “whole”
story.
F. Everyone else checks to see if the person added or missed something in the story.
ADJUST - one student says a sentence and the next person only has to repeat the previous
sentence (not the whole story).
ADJUST - Ss sitting in a circle. T starts with a sentence and rolls the ball to another (who
hasn’t had a turn) and team create a story.

Marker/Pen game
T introduces game. Students broken into two teams. Line up opposite each other. Ss to
place hands on body parts called by T. When marker/pen is called, the first s to pick up the
marker/pen wins point for their team.
T commences calling out bod y parts.
Several rounds completed, potential adjustments: S to become T and T plays.

Guess the noise

This is a fun online warm up for young learners, who have limited vocabulary skills.The
objective is for the students to guess what’s making a noise. With a little adaptation, it can
work equally as well in one- to-one classes and group lessons.
In group lessons, the first child to guess the answer correctly wins a point. In one-to-one
classes, the child has to guess as many noises as he or she can in one minute.
How to prepare:
Using YouTube, Spotify, or other multimedia streaming service, queue up a number of
sounds that you students should be familiar with and know the names of in English (e.g. car
horn, cow, airplane, etc.).
As a tip, search for “____ sound effect” and you’ll find what you are looking for very quickly.
How to play:
Tell students that they are going to hear a noise. Play the audio tracks one at a time. Your
students should raise their hand if they think they know what it is. Play the track again if
they are all unsure.
Choose the student who raised their hand first and let them guess the noise in English. If
they are correct, they win a point. If they are incorrect, choose the next fastest student.
Tally up the scores at the end and the student with the most points wins.
An optional activity
After each noise, show a picture of what makes the noise. Very young children might like to
mime being the animal or object in the picture. It’s a little silly and helps burn off some
energy in the beginning of the lesson.

Dictation Game
Pick five to fifteen sentences or words from a previous lesson and dictate them. The
learners need to write them down with correct spelling.
If you have a group class, you can put learners in teams so they can discuss and agree on
what to write.
At the end, go over the words or sentences dictated and give points for completely correct
answers.

WORDS

Hangman/Snowman/Spaceman
(another name for Hangman)- get each student to take turns picking a letter of the
alphabet. If the letter belongs in the teacher’s chosen word, it gets written on the board, if
not, a part of the snowman is erased from the drawing on the board (melting). Students
must try to get the word before the snowman drawing disappears.
Adjustment - Spaceman- drawing of a UFO that’ll fly away if not guessed in time.

A to Z game.
Theme ie. food, sports, animals, things you take on holiday . Ss complete as many words
from alphabet in 5mins. Adjust - not all the letters.

Word association
The teacher gives an initial word and the students will go in order to say a word that is
associated with the word said previously. Ex: banana-monkey-tree-bird-feather…etc.

Fortunately/Unfortunately
Teacher gives an initial statement that begins with either “fortunately” or “unfortunately.”
Each student will go in order following this by alternating with a statement that begins with
“fortunately” or “unfortunately.” Ex: Teacher: Yesterday my car was stolen. Student A:
Fortunately, it was insured. Student B: Unfortunately, the insurance company went
bankrupt. Student C:Fortunately, my grandfather said he would buy me a new car. Student
D: Unfortunately, he’s lost his mind and doesn’t have any money. Etc.

Five Things That...

In this fun brainstorming game, students try to write down five words from a category that
match the teacher's answers. Explain that you are going to call out a category and that the
aim of the game is for the teams to write down five answers that match the five answers
you have written down. Call out a category, e.g. 'Five things that are made of leather'.
Teams then brainstorm and write down five answers. When all the teams have five answers,
they swap papers for marking. You then call out your five answers. For each matching
answer, teams score one point. Play several rounds. The team with the most points at the
end of the game wins.
Mouse and Cheese:
The point of this game is to guess the word or phrase. Draw a simple mouse at the bottom
of some stairs and cheese at the top. Each time the students guess the correct letter,
draw a little loop to show the mouse going up a step. The first team to the top of the stairs
gets the cheese. For any letters guessed that are not in the word or phrase, write it
underneath in a “word bank”.

Stop the Bus Categories Game

5-6 themes on a sheet. T gives the first letter. Ss have to write a word starting with that
letter in each column ie. ‘s’ for sport is ‘soccer’. First to finish will call out “Stop the bus”
with others putting pens down (hands in the air). T checks answers and allocates points.
Round two etc. ADJUST - less columns, easier/harder themes.

Boggle online
All class challenge. If anyone sees a word, put hand up and say the word. T types on list.
Timed activity.
ADJUST - can be played manually on the whiteboard where T fills in a 9 box table with
various letters. Ss work in pairs for a set time to write as many words using the letters. Can
set up as a 2 team race.

Acrostic Challenge
This warmup is good when you want students to come in and have something calm to focus
on straight away.
Write a prompt word on the board in a vertical direction, for example:
A
N
I
M
A
L
Students have to think of a word that begins with each of the letters to create a mini
acrostic puzzle. For example,
Apple
Night
If
Monkey
Artist
Look
TIPS:
To make it challenging, have students only write words related to the prompt word (in our
example, all the words would have to be animals).
Introduce new key words as the prompt word. Students don’t need to know what it means
to do the activity, and if it’s the topic of the rest of the lesson, you can transition smoothly
from the warmup to the main class.

Sleeping Penguins game

Find PowerPoint template online
Put students into groups of 4. Number the students in each group 1,2,3,and 4. Then,
all students should ‘go to sleep’ (close their eyes). When the teacher says ‘Number
1’, the number 1 students should wake up, look at the word on the screen, and then
go back to sleep.
Next, the teacher should say ‘Number 2’ and the number 2 students should wake up,
look at the word on the screen, and then go to sleep. Do the same with number 3
students and number 4 students. Once all 4 students have seen their word, the
teacher will say ‘Wake up’. Then, all students should open their eyes and tell their
word to their team mates. The fastest team to write down the sentence accurately is
the winner.

Storytelling
Ask S to share a word they know. Write on board. As a class (or in groups), create a short
story and share using all the words. Funny answers.

Word soup
Ss form 2 teams of 3 each.
T hands them 10–20-word tiles. Both teams have the exact same words and number of tiles.
Ss must form as many words as possible in 3 minutes. One S must take note of the words.
Teams with most words wins.

Words within words

Put a longer word on the board and ask students to find other words which use the same
letters. Set timer
for one minute and then “stop the bus”. Ask has the most words, write their words on the
board and then
have class add words not listed.,
BASKET, AIRPLANE, LEOPARD

Word addons/word snake

Start with a word and continue using the last letter to create a new word ie
snakelephantable. Extension – words based on a theme only ie ‘animals’, words using the
last two letters. Finish game with unable to create a word from last two letters ie. night
You can create a snake shape with the list.

Showdown/Shiritori:
a. Stand or sit in a circle.
b. The first person say a word (“pickle”).
c. The person to their left says a word that starts with the last letter of the previous
word.
d. Repeat.
ADJUST - can introduce a theme ie nouns, food

Sentence scramble
Before class have a few sentences ready. Put words up randomly. In groups they write their
answer. First pen down and hand up get to answer OR time limit.

Word buddies
Cards are given to students with different word starters/endings and they have to pair up to
make a word. For example, if studying prepositions, “un” and “der”, “be” and “hind”. Once
paired up, for an extra challenge, they can see if they can come up with any other words
using their sounds. For example “before” “because” etc.

GAMES

Dice roll
Materials: old cardboard box, paper, markers or sharpie
Create a dice with different actions on it (jump, sit down, turn around, clap, shout hooray,
etc.)
Or alternatively, you could have nouns that kids can act out (like airplane, car, bicycle, or
pretty
much anything you’re creative enough to make a move that’s associated with it).
Have the kids in a circle. Roll the dice into the middle of the circle and everyone has to do
that
action! Then pass the dice around the circle and have each child roll the dice.

BINGO:
For this classic game adapted for young learners, you can either create bingo cards and
a call sheet. For your call sheet, you can use the usual numbers and letters or get more
creative with vocabulary you have recently taught. For very young students, use
pictures instead of words.
Cut up the call sheet and put the squares into a hat. Give each student a bingo card as
well as something to mark their card with. Allow each student a turn to be the “caller.”
Have the caller pick one square at a time from the hat and call out what is on the
square. The other students listen for what is called and mark the called word or image
on their card. The first student to mark their entire bingo card calls out “Bingo!” and is
the winner.

Chair swap
One person starts in the middle, has to make a statement (can be “switch chairs if you…. Are
wearing… like…. Have never…. Can… cannot…etc. Depending on the class level and subject)
If the statement applies to you, you have to run and swap chairs. The person without the
chair
ends up in the middle.

BANG
In circle, T in middle. Points to person and says BANG. Person bobs down. People either side
square up. First to say other person’s name wins. Loser sits down. Circle smaller. Last pair
back to back. For example, topic ‘animal’ keep walking when T says an animal. When T says
something else “car” turn and call out other person name.
ADJUST - noone is eliminated, S becomes the ‘shooter’ and T plays.

Eye gaze
Look down at your feet. On count of 3 everybody looks up. If you lock a direct gaze with
another s then you are both out. Objective is to be the last pair remaining. Last pair back to
back. For example, topic ‘animal’ keep walking when T says an animal. When T says
something else “car” turn and call out other person name.

Quick Shooter
Students stand in a medium-large circle. Teacher will be “shooter” and stands in the centre.
Teacher
points to a student and say “bang!”, student will respond with “ahh!”. (Teacher can do
opposite as
well)
To increase the difficulty, Teacher will say a string command (eg: bang! bang!, aah!, bang!)
or
execute command on several students at a time.
Student who can’t respond quickly will be the “victim”, the “victim” will have to do some
cowboy dance.
(variation can be made like antonyms: tall – short, wide – narrow, win - lose)

Splat
Have the class stand in a circle.
Everyone gets a flash card (pictures, vocabulary words, etc.)
Go around the circle, practising all the words.
The teacher (you) says one of the words on the cards.
The student holding that card has to duck/crouch down.
The students on either side of the crouching student turn and face each other.
The first one to say the word on their opponent’s card is the winner and stays in.
Gather the cards from the losers for later. (I’ll get to it)
Continue in said fashion until you have only four students.
When you only have four students, collect their cards and have them face off in duel style.
Have the first two students stand back to back and give them each a new card.
Three steps, turn, look and shout. Faster person stays in
Repeat with the other two and then with the winners to determine the class champ.
Family Feud
The Family Feud ESL game is a version of the popular TV show of the same name (Family
Fortunes in the UK), adapted for your English class.
Setup
It is possible to make your own version of the Family Feud game using a computer
presentation.
However, by far the easiest way is to use our online Family Feud game, which has suitable
pre-made questions and answers for both kids and adults English classes.
Divide the class into two teams.
Game
1. Project a question on the board.
2. One team starts, and tries to name one of the common answers to the question. If the
answer is present, they win the amount of points assigned to that answer.
3. Usually the best way to play is for teams to just take turns giving one answer each.
However, if you want to make things more interesting, teams could continue until one
of their answers does not appear (perhaps up to a maximum of three answers).
4. Play passes to the other team, and the process repeats. You could specify a maximum of
three turns per team per questions, or just limit turns on an ad hoc basis.
5. Repeat for future questions. The team with the most points at the end of the game is
the winner.

I Spy
Classic game in a car on a journey.
This player says, 'I spy with my little eye, something that is...' and then gives some
description of the object, such as 'something that is red', 'something that is square' or
'something that is small'.
The other players take turns trying to guess what the object is.
Let the player who correctly guesses the selected item pick the next object or have all
players take turns in a set order. This may be best if you are playing with younger children
who may not be so good at guessing.
Offer extra clues if the players are completely stumped.
Variations
Alphabet I Spy – in this version of I Spy, suited for slightly older children (7-11) the clue is
the first letter of the object's name rather than its colour, shape and so on. For example,
if the object was a whiteboard, the player would say, 'I spy with my little eye something
beginning with w.' 3.
Positive, Negative Crazy
Write a discussion topic on the board (for example, food, pets, social media, or dating) and
then start passing a ball or “hot
potato” from student to student. As students pass the hot potato around, they must stop
when they hear you say the words
positive, negative, or crazy.
When you say, “positive,” the student holding the potato must stop and make a positive
statement about the topic. For
example, If the topic is food, their statement might be “My favorite restaurant is Ichiban
Sushi.”
If you say “negative,” they must make a negative statement about the topic, e.g., “I’ve never
eaten Chinese food!”
And, if you say, “crazy,” the sentence they create can be anything they like, such as, “One
time I ate a whole pizza myself!”

Who’s the Leader?

Form Ss in a circle and assign one S to cover their eyes while T assigns another S to be
the leader. Leader starts a dance and others follow. S with eyes closed can then open
their eyes and gets three guesses to decide who is leading. While S is guessing, the
leader can change dance moves. After three guesses, another round begins with a new
guesser and leader.

SPEAKING

Show n Tell
An activity that you can do with a long-time course when you know there are at
at least a couple of months of learning with this class ahead. T can organize the class
that way that in the beginning of each lesson, one S has to bring an item (or a
picture of it) they find «cool» or memorable and introduce it to the class, talking
for 1-2 minutes. Classmates are encouraged to ask questions. For kids, this can be a
Lego piece, a favorite superhero statue, an album with some collection they are
proud of, etc.

30sec babble
S picks a random word from the jar. T gives them 30secs to think of the topic. S then speaks
for 30secs about that topic.
Adjustment - write some topics on the board and number them. Then get learners to roll a
dice. Whatever number they land on, they must speak about the matching topic. Write a
selection of subjects on the board, students take it in turns to throw a sticky ball at
the board, whichever subject the ball lands on, they try to speak

Uses for an object.

T gives a S an object (example an avocado) and asks him or her to mention different uses for
it.
The activity ends when each S has answered once.

5. What’s the Question?

In this game, learners write down an answer to a question about themselves. The aim of the
game is for the rest of the class to try and work out what the question is. For example, if the
answer is ‘strawberries’, the question could be ‘what’s your favourite fruit?’, ‘what’s your
least favourite fruit?’, or ‘what did you have for breakfast this morning?’

I’m going on a picnic and I’m taking a ...

This is a guess the rule type game. Think of a rule which governs which items can be taken
on a picnic, for example, it must be six letters long, or it must start with a vowel. In this
example, the rule is that the word must be an uncountable noun. Teacher: I’m going on a
picnic and I’m taking milk. Student A: I’m going on a picnic and I’m taking eggs. Teacher: No,
you can’t take eggs. Student B: Can I take orange juice? Teacher: Yes, you can take orange
juice. And so on. Continue adding items to your picnic list until a student correctly guesses
the rule (the choices don’t have to make sense within the picnic scenario e.g. love,
information, air ). When you’ve finished, invite the students (alone or in pairs) to come up
with their own rules and let them run the game.

WHAT IS MY PROBLEM? (post-it notes activity)

It is a great way for students to see what they have remembered and what needs
reviewing.
HOW TO PLAY:
o Write problems (or subject matter) related to your most recent lesson on post-it notes
and stick one post-it note on each student’s back.
o The students must mingle and ask for advice from other students to solve.
o Students should be able to guess their problem or subject matter based on the advice they
get from their peers.
ie. a health issue or a vocab word or generally an object (banana).
Just a minute
T places into groups. Allocate numbers in groups. Put list of topics on board using random
generator chart. All number 1s will go first. 1min each to talk. Put a timer on the board.
Extension – answer a question after speaking. Then the 2s go etc.

Two truths and a lie

T asks Ss to write two truths and a lie on paper. One S to say 3 things about self. Students
discuss and vote. Reveal. Followup with another student doing same either then or another
lesson. ADJUST - all Ss write the list of 3 and share to class BUT T is the one to guess. Try and
trick the new T. To make it easier and faster, we can make it one truth and one lie. Each
student must come up with two sentences about themselves, one must be true, and the
other must be false. The rest of the students try to guess which of the statements is a lie.
Notes: Can simplify by choosing a subject (example: sports). Can simplify it further by
making each student say only one sentence and have the others guess if the sentence is true
or not.

Would you rather?

T starts with a question. For example, “Would you rather be a dog or a cat?”. Plenty of
PowerPoints with topics online.
T asks Ss to discuss this in groups. T can give Ss 5 minutes for discussion and then it’s
another 5 minutes for everybody to present their answers to
the class. Format up to T. It can be fun if you give young learners prompts with animals or
super powers.

The Snowball Activity

Have students write three things about themselves on a piece of paper. Then have them
crumble up the paper to resemble a snowball. Let the students have a snowball fight for
about one minute. Now everyone grabs one of the snowballs and has to try and find the
person who wrote on it. Once they find their partner, they have to bring that person up in
front of the class and explain what they learned about their new friend with the three facts
written on the piece of paper.

Synchronized Storytelling:
Students stand in a circle and the Teacher begins the game by starting the story off with 3-6
words that make up a sentence in a story (i.e., One day I was walking and...). The student to
the left continues the story by adding another 3-6 words that goes along (or goes off topic),
until it reaches the last student (to the right of the teacher), and this
student must end the story.
Adjustment - one student makes up a story and another student acts it out in real time. You
can give a student a story to read as a prompt instead.

I Went Into Town…

HOW TO PLAY:
Choose a topic such as “clothes”. The first student says, “I went into town and bought a t-
shirt”. The next one adds another item to the list and so on. “I went into town and bought a
t-shirt and a pair of jeans”. To make it more challenging, you can ask the students to name
the items in alphabetical order. So if the topic was “food” the first student could say “I went
into town and bought an avocado”. And the next would add “I went into town and bought
an avocado and some beans”.

Speed Dating (call it speed interviews)

Students should be from pre-Intermediate level where they can speak at length. This activity
can be
organized in the first session to break the ice, letting students to get to know each other, or
used to
have free speaking sessions.
Provide a list of conversation topics or questions related to the target language or the
learners interests.
Set a specific time limit for each conversation round, typically around 3-5 minutes. Use a
timer
or a bell to signal when it’s time to switch partners.
Repeat this rotation until everyone has talked to each participant.

Ooroot
– create a story. ‘Once upon a time there was a…’ The students make suggestions and the T
accepts one and continues to create a fun narrative. Can request to include vocab words.

ART

Picture Memory
Show 10 items on a tray/PowerPoint. Ss call out and confirm all ten. Remove one and see
who can guess what’s missing by calling out. ADJUST - T puts in pairs and they write down
answers which are checked later. Can remove more than one.

Picture prompt?
Get a picture of an object, or just write the word on the board so students can see it as soon
as they enter.
When they get in, they should get some paper or a mini-whiteboard and write down as
many uses for the object as they can think of. Write sentences, similar words etc.
Allow creative ideas and the use of advanced vocabulary. This activity works best with
intermediate and advanced students, but beginners can really test their verb vocabulary,
too.
TIPS:
Choose everyday objects and encourage students to think outside the box. Or get a picture
of something unfamiliar and have them speculate what it might be used for.
Get students to read out their favourite use for the object.
You could make it a competition of who can think of the most ideas. Just beware that you’ll
have to spend a fair amount of time counting, taking up the remaining lesson time.
Picture Spot The Difference
If you can find a picture related to the topic you’re studying, start the class by asking the
students to notice the difference between the pictures. Have a few sets available.

Picture Animal Kingdom

Bring up a picture of an animal and have the children make the noise out loud/gestures then
say and repeat the name of the animal together multiple times. Great for young kids
Pictionary
T sets up two teams. T calls up one student from each team. Shows them a picture and they
draw on the board. Team tries to guess the picture by calling out. First correct earns a point.
Further rounds.

Mr Squiggle
Choose 3 or 4 students. Have them face away from the board & draw a squiggle on the
board for each of them in 1 colour. Give each child a different colour to the one originally
used. They are to turn and face their squiggle. Give them 30 seconds to look at the
squiggle. After this, give them another minute to minute & a half to complete their
squiggle. The rest of the class are then to try to guess what picture each student has drawn
OR judge which one is best and why.

RANDOMS

Snowball of Friendship
Students should be from Elementary level where they can produce sentences. This activity
can be
organized in the first session to break the ice, letting students to get to know each other.
Instructions:
Give a piece of paper to each student.
Give them time to write three interesting facts.
Let them take turn to share their facts.
Once all complete their sharing, T collect their papers, scrunch and
wrap them up to make a snowball.
Ask ss to stand in circle and pass a snowball to open it up.
Ss will read a paper and identify who the one is that description.

Mystery Bag
The age of students can be varied. This activity can be organized with the purpose of
recycling
vocabulary and oral production.
Instructions:
Put several random objects in a bag.
Students take turns reaching in, feeling, and describing the object without looking.
Others guess what it is.

Hot and cold game - T sends a S outside, other Ss hide an object. S returns and given
feedback such as warmer, colder, hot, freezing etc.

All about me. In pairs, given 1min each to talk on topic of choice. Swap. Then share with
class.

Name ten
10 items that fit particular criteria ie. sports played with a ball, 3 letter parts of body (arm,
gum,rib).

Moving with eyes closed

Ss in pairs. One close eyes and other directs. Listens ONLY to partner and avoids other
people/property. In English only.

Joke of the day

Students all put a joke in the box. One read out each day or more. T to vet them first.

Attention
Call out commands. Attention, salute, march in place, STOP..sit down, stand up, walk in a
circle, clap your hands, STOP..run in place, swim in place, hop in place, STOP. Reward those
with good listening skills.

Blind tic tac toe/noughts and crosses

T draws chart on board with L (left), M (middle) and R (right). Two volunteers face away
from the board. Take turns giving instruction for placement ie. Middle middle, top left.
Difficulty is they are facing away from the board so instructions are the opposite to
remember.

Last Man Standing

Start with students standing in a circle. Stand at the centre with a ball.
Explain to the class that you are going to give the class a topic i.e. colours, sports,
clothes, food, hot things, school subjects, adverbs, countries.
Let’s say you’ve chosen colours. Pass the ball to a student, who must then say a
colour, i.e. red.
The next student the ball is tossed to must say a new colour, for example yellow
and the next student, and so on, and so on. As soon as a student either repeats a
word previously said or hesitates, then they are out of the game and must sit down.
Once a student is out, change the topic and the game continues on.
Keep going around the circle eliminating students and giving new topics until only
one student is left standing.
That student is the winner and the Last One Standing!!!

Find Objects in the picture

Similar to ‘Where’s Wally?’
Students have to find a particular object in a busy picture. Students can either explain
location based on prepositions of place ie. ‘top left under the table’ OR run to the board and
tap the whiteboard where it is.