Teacher: Huỳnh Vũ Minh Thư

GAME BANK FOR ESL TEACHERS

Age: 5 - 10
Teaching areas Activities Procedure Materials Notes
Chant Stop the  3 groups – 3 areas 3 sets of pictures
chant!  Each group has a set of 6 pictures (T draw or print)
 The pictures face the floor.
 T plays the chant and stop at any item, Ss need to
find the right one and read out loud
Grammar Treasure  One (well-behaved) S go out of the circle, blindfolded FC (a toy), chair, Positions: On, in,
hunt  T and the class decide where to put the toy (in 5 table, bag, book, under…
positions) box, blindfold
 The S comes back and ask: Is it ON/IN/UNDER ….?
 If it’s correct, the class says YES, the S go and find it.

Sticky ball/  2 lines Chair, book, bag, Positions: On, in,

Airplane  T say the position (on/in/under the…) basket, table, 2 under…
competition  Ss throw the planes and balls to the right position. sticky balls and 2
 1st time: jump to the line, throw the plane paper planes.
 2nd time: hop to the line, throw the ball
ON, IN,  2 teams. (A) A pencil, a Positions: On, in,
UNDER  Put the items on group A on a table. pen, a ruler, a under…
game  Teacher say a sentence (e.g. A pencil is under the crayon, a ball,
chair). Each S from each team will jump to the table …
and pick the correct item then put it in the correct (B) A box.
position (group B).
 The faster team will get the point.
Pass the  The dice has six pictures. Music V-ing (E.g. sailing
balls – toss  Ss pass the balls around and toss the dice Dice a boat)
the dice  Ss who have the balls have to say a whole phrase 2 balls

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Teacher: Huỳnh Vũ Minh Thư

Throw the  Ss stand in 2 lines facing each other (zigzag) FCs

ball  From the first Ss the have to throw the ball in the
zigzag route. Teacher will show a FC of a vehicle and
S who has the ball have to say the whole phrase.
Target  Draw a dartboard with 6 circles on the board.
sticky balls  Each circle is assigned a number, each number is
assigned a vehicle (shown by FC also on the board)
 Ss throw the balls and say the whole phrases, if
they’re correct the will get the points assigned.
Jumping  Assign: Like/don’t like
game Jump RIGHT if you LIKE, jump LEFT if you DON’T
 Individual (2 teams – 4 circles): jump to the circles.
*T might leave a picture of hearts so that Ss know where
to jump
Basketball  2 groups of Ss stand in 2 lines. 4 baskets, heart Like/don’t like
game  T show the picture and get Ss to say whether they (like/don’t like)
like or don’t like the food then throw the balls to the cards
correct basket.
Song Musical  Ss make a circle and sit down Chairs, pictures,
chairs  Ss stand up and walk around when music plays tape
 T pauses the song, Ss have to sit down and say the
word (1st time: phrase, 2nd time: sentence)
 If Ss is not interested, remove one chair, the student
who doesn’t have the chair will say the word T
chooses
Freeze  Ss dance along with the music and have to freeze
dance when the music is paused.
 The S who loses has to read the word/phrase on the
FC/picture.
Bottle game Ss go around as music is playing, when music stops they Bottles

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have to get a bottle in the middle.

Vocabulary Cup shuffle  Each cup presents one FC 3 cups,
 3 cups and FCs at a time flashcards, small
 Shuffle the cups with a tiny dice in one of them. dice
 Ss guess where the dice is by saying the word.
Silly cat Teacher let Ss say the word shown, when there comes a FCs of unit being
(silly) cat Ss have to: clap hands 3 times OR change their taught, FC of a
seats OR stomp their feet… cat

Back to the 2 teams 2 slappers, FCs

board FCs on the board
2 Ss come turning their back on the board
Teacher (or another) Ss will read any word and the 2
Ss turn around to slap the correct FC.
The faster team will be the winner
Find the  S1 will come outside the circle and have his eyes Blindfold
animal/wor covered.
d  S2 (in the circle) is assigned the animal
 S1 removes the blindfold, the class helps him find
the class as the closer he is to the the “animal”, the
louder they say the word.
Boom bottle  2 team 9 Bottles
 T say the word  Ss point at their body parts (e.g.
hat – head)
 When T say “Boom”, Ss have to get the bottle.
Matching  2 teams Pictures
 2 sets of pictures flipped on the board.
 Choose 2 pictures, if match, say the word and get
the point.
Slap the  Whole class (boys vs girls) FCs
pictures  FCs on the walls around the class

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Teacher: Huỳnh Vũ Minh Thư

 Teacher (or a good S) say the word, the first team to

touch the correct picture wins.
Food Salad (Variation of fruit salad) Pictures of food Food
 Ss are given the food pictures as they stand in 2
lines.
 Ask Ss to sit on the chairs.
 T chooses the one who doesn’t have the chair (a
good S).
 T instruct the S to say the food name and try to
get another S’ chair.
Story Find Jumping to the table and find the picture matching with Pictures of the
pictures the audio (prepared with PPT) story (colour
printing), audio
(chunks)
Slap the Ss listen to the audio/teacher and slap the correct Slappers, audio
picture picture. (chunks)
Bowling Ss listen to the audio/teacher and throw the balls to the 2 balls, pictures
correct picture (bottle). of the story

Note:
 Some games are suitable for different areas.
 Teachers might want to modify if necessary.

GOOD LUCK! 
Updated: 14/01/2020

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