ESL Games and Activities: Memory Game

Another game that is good for little kids, although it can be adapted to older students as well.

Instructions:
You will need several flashcards and some magnets to play this game. Put several flashcards on the board using magnets. Give the students a minute to look at them all. Then, choose one student to go outside.

While this student is outside, remove one of the flashcards from the board. Call the student back into the classroom, and ask him/her to identify which flashcard is missing.

To make this harder, you can rearrange the position of the flashcards each time. For older or more advanced students, try using a larger number of flashcards.

Alternative Method:
You can also use this memory game to improve students’ reading, and it works well for both younger and older students.

Simply take a reading passage from a classroom book, or make up a paragraph using vocabulary words, and write it on the board. Ask one student to read it. Then erase a word, and ask the next student to read the entire paragraph, including the missing word. 

Continue erasing one word at a time and asking students to read. Eventually, there will be no words left on the board, and students will be able to recite the entire paragraph from memory. You’ve essentially tricked them into memorizing a whole paragraph!