Games for the Elementary

EFL Classroom













by Jeffrey Walter
Intensive English Teacher Training Program
Korea National University of Education

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CONTENTS


Games list and features page 3

Game descriptions pages 4-8

Websites page 9

Copyable sheets
Battleship
Bingo
Word search blank
Monkey
Student Fight popular answers
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ABC 123 X X
Basketball X X X X
Battleship X
Bingo X X
Blindfold Directions X X X X X
Buzz (3-6-9) X
Card Slap X X X X
Categories X
Chain Game X X
Charades X X X
Cockroach Game X X X
Dice Game X X X X
Duck, Duck, Goose X X X
English Tennis X
Fly Swatter Game X X X X X
Fruit Basket I X X X
Fruit Basket II X X
Go Fish X X
Guess the Card X X X
Hangman X X
Hot Seat X
I Spy X
Jenga! X X X
Ju-mong! X X X X
Line Quiz 1 X X
Line Quiz 2 X X
Lotto! X X
Memory Cards X X X X
Monkey Game X X X
Musical Ball X X X X
Picnic X
Pictionary X X
Rock, Scissors, Paper X
Scrabble X X
Sentence Scramble X X
Simon Says X X X X X
Spelling Bee X X
Student Fight X
Telephone Game (Whisper) X
Tic-Tac-Toe X X
Touch Something X X X X
Unscramble X X
Word Search X
Yes / No Jump X X X X X

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ABC 123
Randomly choose a letter and roll the die. You have to write that many words
that start with that letter. First team to pass through ALL students wins.

Basketball
Answer / ask a question and get a shot to put the ball in the box. 1, 2, or 3 points
for distance.

Battleship
This game uses a grid system on paper. You can use letters and numbers like the
original game, or change to vocabulary words. First, each student places his/her
ships on the board. Then students rotate turns by saying the corresponding grid
(ex. Tennis, 6). Student B says hit or miss (also You sunk my ship!).
Continue until one student has no more ships.

Bingo
Bingo can be used with numbers, pictures, or words.

Blindfold Directions
Put students in pairs or small groups. Blindfold one student. Other group
members must give directions (turn left, go straight) to navigate through the
classroom (move desks and chairs to make it difficult.)

Buzz (3, 6, 9)
The counting game. Students start counting but clap (or say buzz) instead saying
the numbers with 3, 6, or 9.

Card Slap
Students play in small groups. Cards are laid on the desks in front of students.
Teacher says a vocabulary word and students must slap / grab the correct card.
WARNING: This game can get violent, but you can avoid this by giving every
student his/her own cards.

Categories
Teacher chooses a category (ex. fruit). The first student names something from
that category (ex. Apple), followed by the next student and so on. This goes until
someone repeats a word or cannot think of one. To make it go fast, you can use a
clapping rhythm. Sample categories: fruit, animals, colors, jobs, food, drinks,
sports, weather, countries, things at school, things that live in water, body parts,
clothes, feelings.

Chain Game
Start with any English word on the board. (ex. clock). The first student must
write a word that starts with the letter k since clock end in a K. (ex. kite).
The next student must write a word that starts with E and so on. The team with
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the most correctly spelled words wins. Alternative: the team that finishes first
wins.

Charades (pronounced /sh-rdz/)
Teacher gives student a vocabulary word. Student mimes (acts out) the word for
students to guess.

Cockroach Game
This game uses a short dialogue (ex. A: Do you like soccer? B: Yes, I do. Do
you like baseball? A: No, I dont.) All students start as cockroaches and move
up to chickens, then monkeys, then students, and finally, teacher. Students must
do the corresponding animal motion for each animal as they walk around the
classroom to find another student of the same level (i.e. chicken and chicken).
YOU CAN ONLY TALK TO SOMEONE OF THE SAME LEVEL. Do the
dialogue. When finished, play rock, scissors, paper. The winner moves up one
level (ex. From chicken to monkey) and the loser moves down (ex. from chicken
to cockroach.) When you become a teacher, you must do the dialogue with the
teacher and win rock, scissors, paper to sit down.

Dice Game
Answer / ask a question and roll the die. You can either add up the points or
move a piece along the path.

Duck, Duck, Goose
For young learners. Students sit in a circle on the floor. One student walks
around tapping each student on the head and saying duck. One time, the
student says goose instead and runs around the circle. Meanwhile, the tapped
student must stand up and run THE OTHER DIRECTION and try to beat the
other student to the vacant spot. (Be careful when they pass each other!) You can
change the vocabulary (cat-cat-dog, red-red-blue, hot-hot-cold).

English Tennis
Similar to Categories (above), but students are in two teams and have to hit the
ball back by saying a word in the category. The winning team scores points as in
tennis (ex. 30-15).

Fly Swatter Game
Two students stand in front of the board with fly swatters. Teacher says a word or
sentence and students must hit the picture or word with the fly swatter. A good
way is to have words written on the board, but have the rest of the class call out
the vocabulary word when you show them a picture.

Fruit Basket I
Students sit in chairs in a circle while one student stands in the middle of the
circle. Assign each student one word from the target vocabulary, but re-use
words so that 3-5 students have the same word. The student in the center yells
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one of the words. Students who are that word must change seats while the
student in the center must find a seat. The student left with no seat starts the game
again by saying a word. The student in the middle can also yell Fruit Basket!
which means ALL students must change seats.

Fruit Basket II
If the group is small, have students sit at their desks in a circle and assign each
student their own word from the target language. Teacher says a word. The
student whose word is called must say any new word before the student in the
middle touches his/her desk. This continues until the standing student beats the
seated one. At that point, they switch positions.

Go Fish
Make cards for vocabulary or use regular cards for number practice. Put students
in small groups and each student starts with about 5 cards. Students need to
collect the whole set of 4 by asking other students, Do you have any
[vocabulary]s? Students can only ask IF THEY ARE HOLDING THAT CARD
ALSO. (So students can remember who has certain cards.) If the student who
was asked has that card, they must surrender ALL of that type, and student A
plays again. If they dont have the card, student B replies Go Fish, and student
A takes a card from the lake.

Guess the Card
Place one vocabulary flash card in a folder for one student. The class must guess
what card is in the folder by using the grammar and vocabulary (i.e. Do you like
soccer?) The correct student changes places and starts with a new card.

Hangman
You can use words, phrases, or whole sentences! The quick brown fox jumped
over the lazy dog uses all 26 letters of the alphabet.

Hot Seat
Student holds a flash card above his/her head so that only the class can see it. The
class must give clues until the student correctly guesses what the word is. (Ex.
Its a fruit. Its red. An apple!)

I Spy
Student looks around, chooses an object and says I spy something that starts with
a(n) [first letter of object]. Other students guess and the winner chooses the next
word.

Jenga!
Each correct answer earns a turn at Jenga.

Ju-mong!
Answer / ask a question and take a turn at archery.
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Line Quiz 1
All students line up in two lines. Teacher asks a simple question to the first two
students. The first to answer correctly sits down while the other goes to the back
of the line.

Line Quiz 2
Students in one row stand up. Teacher asks a simple question and the first to
answer correctly sits down. Continue with the same row until only one student
remains standing. Then students from that COLUMN must stand up and continue
the game.

Lotto!
Students choose number from a given range (ex. 1-20). Teacher randomly calls
the numbers as in the lottery. Winner matches the most numbers. You can also
have students randomly pull numbers from a bag.

Memory Cards
A memory game. You can match word-word, picture-word, present tense-past
tense, etc.

Monkey Game (Cars, Planes, etc.)
This is a racing game and the units can be for monkeys, cars, planes, etc. Each
correct question gains one space. I also like to add Rock, Scissors, Paper for an
extra chance.

Musical Ball
Students pass a ball around the class while music plays. When the music stop,
whoever has the ball has to answer a question.

Picnic
A memory game about what to take on a picnic. First student names something to
take (any noun is ok.) Example: elephant. The next student says the same
thing plus his/her new item. Example: elephant, computer. This continues and
the list grows larger and larger.

Pictionary (picture + dictionary)
Teacher gives one student a vocabulary word. The student draws a picture of the
word for students to guess. Can be done as teams and with a timer.

Rock, Scissors, Paper
This can be used to enhance any activity.

Scrabble
Scrabble can also be used to make words for spelling games.

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Sentence Scramble
Write words on the board that must be put in order correctly to make a sentence.
One point for a correct answer the group has.

Simon Says
Teacher says Touch your toes or some other order. Students only do the action
if the leader says Simon says first (ex. Simon says touch your toes. Great for
body vocabulary!

Spelling Bee
A spelling bee is a spelling contest. It can be done like Golden Bell, but
students who are eliminated need to keep practicing too.

Student Fight
This works well as a 2-day activity. One day, ask students lots of simple
questions (i.e. Whos your favorite teacher? Name something red.). Have
them give ONE answer only. Add up the answers and you will use the most
popular answers for the game. To play, ask the question to a student. If it is a
correct answer, that team receives those points. Then the other team gets a chance.
Continue playing until all answers are used.

Telephone / Whisper game
Students form lines. Teacher whispers a sentence to the 1
st
students in line, who
then whisper it to the next and so on down the line. The final student must say the
sentence correctly to the teacher.

Tic-Tac-Toe
Divide the class into two teams. A correct question / answer and you can mark an
X or O on the board.

Touch something!
Teacher says Touch something [color or adjective] and students run to touch
something of that kind in the classroom. Example: Touch something red!

Word Search http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/
Word searches are great for spelling and students who like quiet, individual work.
You can also have students make their own word search, and then exchange with
a classmate! Excellent for reading and writing.

Yes / No Jump
Teacher asks a question and students must jump / run to the correct side of the
room.




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Ball Toss Conversation
This isnt a game but its a fun way to get students speaking. One student tosses
the ball to another student and asks a question. The student who caught the ball answers
it and then tosses the ball to a new student and the fun continues.


Websites for games:
http://www.eslcafe.com/idea/index.cgi?Games
http://www.eslkidstuff.com/gamesmenu.htm
http://www.teflgames.com/games.html
http://genkienglish.net/games.htm
http://www.tefl.net/esl-lesson-plans/index.htm (worksheet maker too!)
http://members.tripod.com/~ESL4Kids/games.html
http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/JapanProj//FLClipart/default.html FOR CLIP ART
PICTURES!


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Student Fight Answers

Name something red
Fire truck
Apple
Blood
Post office
Pepper
Strawberry


Name something tall
Apartment building
Giraffe
Mountain
Elephant


Name something that swims
Fish
Shark
Whale
Turtle
People


What is a popular subject at school?
Korean
P.E.
Math
English
Art


Name a job
Doctor
Teacher
Police officer
Taxi driver
Nurse