Student Generated Tests are a good way to prepare quick tests or quizzes for the class but with little effort from the teacher. Ten minutes before the end of the lesson ask each student to individually write down 2 or 3 questions based on the material they have...
Fortune Telling is a fun way for your class to practice using future verb forms: will, be going to and suchlike. It is probably best with intermediate or above although you can adjust the level as appropriate. It is also a useful speaking activity. The basic idea...
What I Did at the Weekend is a common activity used in TEFL classrooms. At the beginning of the lesson as a kind of warm up the teacher will typically ask a few students what they did last weekend, or yesterday, or during the holidays, etc. This can be a useful...
Laying Down the Law is an activity which lets your class practice modal verbs used for permission. Running the Activity Firstly break your class into small groups of 3 or so. Then have each group brainstorm everything that is wrong with their town. Make them write...
Hidden Relations is a way to get your class into groups using a more extended vocabulary activity. Preparation Suppose you want to divide your class into 5 groups of 3 students each. You need to prepare 5 sets of cards and each set will consist of 3 cards. On those...
Verifying Tags is an activity which gets your TEFL class practising using question tags. Question Tags are often used to verify information of which we are not 100% certain. For example we might be discussing holidays and ask someone, "You went to the Seychelles a few...
Random Stories is a good activity for letting your students use their imagination and exercising all the skills. Preparation Cut out a large selection of random, unrelated objects from magazines. It's a good idea to make flashcards out of these so you can build up a...
Unique People is a game to practice the present perfect simple verb form. Firstly you'll need to make sure your class are familiar with the Present Perfect Simple verb form, both formation and usage. Ideally the game can be played after teaching the it and can be used...
If I were? is a simple activity to practice the second conditional and it can, with some adaptation, also be used to practice other conditionals forms. Preparation Prepare a few flashcards on which you have the name of someone or something which would fit in...
Lawyer Talking is a simple activity which allows students to practice making questions and then using the third person. With a small adaptation it can also be used to practice reported speech. In Class Preparation Get the class into pairs and have them write up 3 or 4...
What's Missing? is a very simple extra activity you can play with any set of flashcards you use. Quite simply, whenever you use flashcards in class, save this for a quick 5 minute activity at the end just go over the vocabulary you've been practicing. It requires no...
In Common is a quick game which can be used as an ice breaker or warmer or perhaps at the end of a lesson to fill 5 minutes. It's easy to set up, requires little or no preparation and is suitable for all ages and levels of class. The activity helps TEFL students...
Can You Do My Job? is a simple game which allows your Business English students to practice modal verb constructions. As with all activities, you should introduce this to your class in stages. What do you do? Using simple declarative sentences, write on the board a...
Pronunciation Whispers is a quick and effective variation on the Chinese Whispers/Telephone game where students pass a message along a line to practice pronunciation. Pre-Teaching First, identify a pronunciation issue with your class. This will depend on their...
Who's Lying Now? is a gameshow type of activity which encourages question and answers from students. It is based on similar television shows and require little or no preparation. The activity can be used for intermediate and above classes, from teenage to adult....
Sherlock Holmes is a fun ice breaker, ideal with a new class on the first day of school, ideally a class who do not know each other. The idea is that the class guesses the answers their partner will give to certain questions; from this the class can get to know a...
A Curious Visitor is a simple activity to practice relative clauses with your class. Preparation Prepare some flashcards with pictures of local objects, people or items specific to the country or region you are working in and the name of those items or people. For...
Lineups is a simple concept which can be used in many different ways. They are useful as an icebreaker activity so the class can get to know each other, but also to help practice certain language items. Finally, they are useful for a quick 5-minute activity at the end...
Distance Dictation (sometimes known as Energy Dictation) is great for a young class who need to work off some energy. It involves all the skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing and with an added element of competition it's a good all round activity for the...
Letter Hunt is a great TEFL game which helps with spelling, vocabulary and - of course - the alphabet. It needs no preparation and can be played in a variety of ways. Running the Game The first time you play this, it's better to demonstrate to the whole class. Later...
Sentence Completion is a TEFL activity which can be used to practice different forms of sentences. It works well with different verb forms, conditionals and so on. Preparation Write out a series of sentences which are examples of the kind of sentence/verb...
Building Diagrams is an activity to help students with reading comprehension and speaking. It can be run in a similar way to jigsaw reading in that groups of students come together to pool their knowledge to build a diagram. Basically the students are given a...
Lyric Swap is a fun activity for intensive listening. Depending on the song you choose, you can also use it to practice certain semantic fields or grammatical constructions. Preparation Firstly, select a song you think your class will like; as mentioned above, if you...
Picture Word Match is a very simple activity ideal for young learners. It helps reinforce vocabulary and spelling. Preparation Cut out and prepare a load of flashcards. These should be in pairs. On one put a picture of an item and on the other, the written name of the...
Alphabet Dictation is a simple way to have your students practice pronouncing the letters of the English alphabet. This is ideal with a beginner level class as what they learn in this activity will help later when it comes to you spelling out new words for them....
Ad Break is a simple activity which gets students working together in a project-like way. It can be completed in a longer lesson (say 2 hours). The idea is that students will practice language they've been learning by putting it together to create a television...
Banana is a fun activity for young learners (and even above!) to help practice asking and answering questions. It needs no preparation and is easy to run. Pre-Teaching With your class, go over how to ask and answer questions. These can be as simple as you like but...
Talking Dictionaries or Describing Words is a simple word game which teaches students how to describe words. It's a useful skill which lets students talk about something they do not necessarily know the correct word for. Preparation Either on slips of paper or...
Superheroes is a good speaking activity for the TEFL class. This is all about the students inventing a new superhero and testing them out in various scenarios to find out who has the most successful. Preparation You will need to prepare beforehand a number of...
The Welcome Code is a TEFL game adapted from an old drinking game - but without the drinking! It can be used to practice vocabulary and spelling and semantic fields amongst other things and so it's very flexible. Once your class is familiar with the game you can...
