On this page, you will find several simple yet fun ESL games, printable activities, and ideas for injecting fun into your ESL classes. Whether teaching younger, beginner-level students or older, more advanced students, these ESL games are tried and true ways to make the learning process a little more enjoyable.
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 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!