Word Association is a simple 5 minute activity for the end of a lesson. It gets students talking and thinking about vocabulary. Explain to your students what word association is: when you hear a word, you say another related word that pops into your head. The...
Alias Words (also known as Don't Say a Word!) is a flexible activity which can be used in many different ways with speaking activities. The basic idea is that a Chosen Word cannot be used in the classroom and must be exchanged for another, nonsense, Alias Word. For...
This is A Long List of Proverbs. It can be used with activities such as proverb match (see below). A cat may look at a king A chain is only as strong as its weakest link A change is as good as a rest A drowning man will clutch at a straw A fish always rots from the...
Categories Word Search is a simple exercise which gives students practice in grouping and thinking about either semantic fields or parts of speech (word classes) or both. Preparation You will need a method of choosing a letter of the alphabet at random. This could...
A Story Chain is a simple method of passing a story around the class, giving each student plenty of practice in storytelling. Prepare a Story There are many different ways to do this. The stories should be short and able to be told in a minute or so. Most importantly...
Word Ladder is a simple game invented by Lewis Carroll (author of the Alice books). It's perfect as a quick 5-minute activity at the end of the lesson and is ideal for practicing and playing with vocabulary. A slight variation has it great for dictionary practice as...
Giving Directions is an activity to practice giving and receiving directions around town. It's simple to set up and involves practice in speaking and listening. Preparation You will need a town plan (or section of a town) for the class. With beginner classes the plan...
Backward Spelling is a simple filler activity you can play at the end of your class for a few minutes before the lesson ends. It helps with concentrated listening, vocabulary and spelling. Simply choose a word which the class will know and begin - slowly - to...
Here's a quick tip which serves two purposes: less work for you, more English practice for the students. Here we're talking about TEFL lesson preparation, but the same idea applies during the lesson itself for many tasks. It's well worth adopting this general approach...
The Alphabet Game is a very useful 5 minute end-of-lesson vocabulary game or warmer. Simply get each student (or group) to write a letter of the alphabet on each line of a blank sheet of paper. If you play this game often with the class and they're already familiar...
First TEFL Lesson Interview is a good activity for a 1-to-1 lesson to break the ice and get to know your student. It can also be adapted for larger classes. Quite simply, either before the lesson if you have the chance, or during the first few minutes of the...
Trading Places is a great ice breaker activity and a lot of fun. It's also ideal for practicing questions. It's simple to run this activity and no preparation is needed which means it's great to know for those emergency situations in class! Pre-Teaching With the...
Q & A Ice Breaker is an activity designed for a new class so that the students get to know each other and you, the teacher, can begin to understand the level and interests of your students. There are a number of different ways you can use this activity....
Family Tree is an ideal and fun activity for students to practice family relations and working within that semantic field. The basic idea is that you give your students a series of statements about a family such as, "Joe is Mary's brother" and, "Frank is Julie's...
Guess Who is a simple ice breaker which can be used on the first day of class. There's little preparation and it can easily develop into a chat or discussion with more advanced classes. All you need to prepare this activity are small strips of paper; say two for each...
Read My Mind is a simple game which you can play at the end of a lesson. It is ideal for groups of 3 or 4 and practices vocabulary and speaking. If this is the first time you have played the game with the class, begin by demonstrating it to everyone and making sure...
Introduction Dragon's Den is a detailed and long-term activity ideal for a class studying Business English. It is based on the popular television program where would-be entrepreneurs pitch their business idea to potential investors to try and raise money to get...
He Said She Said Circle is a simple activity for students to practice their reported speech (also known as indirect speech). Ideally you should run this activity after a lesson where students have been working on reported speech. If not, you should quickly run over...
Truth and Lies is a simple game which gives students practice making basic statements and also in speaking. It is good for beginner level students. Step 1 Each student begins by working on their own. They simply write down 3 statements about themself: one is false...
Celebrity Chat is a simple game you can play with classes of all ages and levels from beginners up to advanced. It helps practice speaking and listening. Activity Preparation First prepare a set of flashcards and on each one write the name of a famous celebrity...
Just the Facts is a simple game where students practice speaking and listening. It's fun, too, and can be used as a warm up activity to introduce a particular topic in the lesson. If done in this way, it will also help introduce students to a new area of study and...
Secret Words is a simple game you can use in the classroom. It can be adapted to many different levels. The game can also be used as a filler activity to take up a few minutes at the end of a class. Beforehand, prepare a list of words to be used. These should be...
Name That Title is a simple game which can be used with intermediate levels and above (although with a little careful tweaking it can be used with all levels and abilities). It practices speaking and listening and is an ideal way to spend 10 minutes or so at the end...
Clap Slap is a simple game which is great fun with younger children. It practices listening comprehension, word groups and also helps them to let off a little steam! Decide first on an appropriate word group. This will depend on your class and their level, but could...
Silly Sentences is an easy game which is ideal as a 5 minute filler activity at the end of the lesson. It practices sentence structure and vocabulary. Method of Play As the teacher, you write on the board a few random letters (or draw them from a bag of Scrabble...
Jigsaw Reading is a common reading technique. The name comes from the way in which jigsaw puzzles are put together: several pieces slotted into the right place to build up the complete picture. Essentially you divide the text into small parts. Each part is given to a...
This activity is ideal for teaching there is / there are to young children and then practicing it with them. In English to say that something "exists" or is in a certain location we use the phrase there is or there are according to whether we are talking about one or...
Alibi! is a longer TEFL game which can be played by an intermediate or above class. It involves a lot of speaking and listening and can also be helpful with skills such as note taking. For the teacher there is little preparation and once the students are...
Telephone (US name) or Chinese Whispers (as the game is known in the UK) is a simple game which can be used to fill a few minutes as a filler activity at the end of the lesson. Playing the Game Write down a phrase on a piece of paper. Depending on the level of the...
If you have the right class, using a play in the classroom is a great way to build enthusiasm for English as well as practice English amongst the students. Along with this there's a great feeling of satisfaction for the students in creating and putting on their own...
