​Picture This!     Improve your descriptive skills by learning how to paint a picture with words. The players will need to find different pictures, print them out and fold the paper up to hide the picture. Place the folded pictures in a hat and mix them up. Then, each person will take a picture and describe it to the other players without them seeing it. Remember to focus on important details like colors, shapes, people, and places. The other players then have to try and guess the picture based on your description. They can also ask you questions to get more clues.

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Taboo    Each person thinks of a noun or a proper noun, writes it down, and then all the words go into a hat. Choose a word from the hat and describe it to the other players, but you also get a list of forbidden words that you are not allowed to use.

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Mind Reader    Write the name of a famous person on a Post-it note and stick it to your teammate’s forehead without them seeing it. Describe the person to your classmate without saying the person’s name. Your teammate then has to guess the person before time runs out – and they only get 30 seconds!

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The Big Question     Improve your question-and-answer skills and your fluency while having fun.  Start by thinking of a word – but don’t tell anyone the word! Then, your teammates must take turns asking you questions to guess the secret word, but you can only answer with one word.  Twist: you can’t ask “yes” or “no” questions, You also can’t nod or shake your head! Come up with clever & descriptive questions to help your teammates correctly guess the word.

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Charades is a fun-filled game that can help you improve your English speaking and vocabulary skills. By acting out different words and phrases, you can improve your vocabulary and gain a better understanding of nuances and non-verbal communication. Gather your friends and take turns ‘acting out’ various words or phrases without speaking. You can only use gestures, actions, and body language to explain the word or phrase, while your teammates try to guess the word within the time limit. Films, TV shows, and books are often popular choices to act out in a game of Charades.

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Board Race   This is best played with 6 students or more.  Split the class into two or more teams and give each team a colored marker. Draw a line down the middle of the board and write a topic at the top. The students must then write as many English words as they require related to the topic in the form of a relay race. Each team wins one point for each correct word. Any words that are unreadable or misspelled are not counted.

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Call My Bluff  (Truth or Consequences)    Call My Bluff is a ‘getting to know you’ kind of game. The game is excellent for practicing speaking skills, though make sure you save time after the game to comment on any mistakes. Write 3 statements about yourself on the board, two of which should be lies and one which should be true. Allow your students to ask you questions about each statement and then guess which one is the truth. Then flip it a give students time to write their own two truths and one lie. If you want to really extend the game and give students even more time to practice their speaking/listening skills, rotate partners every five minutes.  Bring the whole class back together and have students announce one new thing they learned about another student as a recap.

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Simon Says  In our repertoire of English games for kids, this is an especially excellent one for young learners.  The only danger I have found with this game is that students never want to stop playing it.   Stand in front of the class (you are Simon for the duration of this game). Do an action and say Simon Says [action]. The students must copy what you do. Repeat this process by choosing different actions - you can be as silly as you like and the sillier you are the more the children will love you for it. Then do an action but this time say only the action and omit ‘Simon Says’. Whoever does the action this time is out and must sit down. The winner is the last student standing.  To make it harder, speed up the actions. Reward children for good behavior by allowing them to play the part of Simon.

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Sentence Order / Word Order  Perfect for practicing tenses, word order, reading & writing skills, and grammar.    Write out six sentences, using different colors for each sentence. Cut up the sentences so you have a handful of words. Put each sentence into hats, cups, or any objects you can find, keeping each separate. Split your class into teams of 2, 3, or 4. You can have as many teams as you want but remember to have enough sentences to go around.  Teams must now put their sentences or words in the correct order. The winning team is the first team to have all sentences correctly ordered.

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Hangman     This classic game is a favorite for all students but it can get boring quite quickly. This game is best used for 5 minutes at the start to warm the class up or 5 minutes at the end if you’ve got some time left over. It works no matter how many students are in the class.    Think of a word and write the number of letters on the board using dashes to show how many letters there are. Ask students to suggest a letter. If it appears in the word, write it in all of the correct spaces and they get to go again. If the letter does not appear in the word, write it off to the side and begin drawing the image of a hanging man. Continue until the students guess the word correctly (they win) or you complete the diagram (you win).

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Pictionary    Before class starts, prepare words and put them in a bag. Split the class into teams of 2 and draw a line down the middle of the board. Give one team member from each team a pen and ask them to choose a word from the bag. Students draw the word as a picture on the board and encourage their team to guess the word. The first team to shout the correct answer gets a point. The student who has completed the drawing should then nominate someone else to draw for their team. Repeat this until all the words are gone - make sure you have enough words that each student gets to draw at least once!

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The Mime  Before the class, write out some actions - like washing the dishes - and put them in a bag. Split the class into two teams. Bring one student from each team to the front of the class and one of them choose an action from the bag. Have both students mime the action to their team. The first team to shout the correct answer wins a point. Repeat this until all students have mimed at least one action.

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Hot Seat   Allows students to build their vocabulary for any learning level.  Split the class into teams or pairs and elect one person from each team to sit in the Hot Seat, facing the classroom with the board behind them. Write a word on the board – you could get creative on how to select it, or it could be part of a theme. Each team member of the student in the hot seat must help the student guess the word by describing it in 5 English words. They have a limited amount of time and cannot say, spell or draw the word.

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Where Shall I Go?  Before the students arrive, turn your classroom into a maze by rearranging it. When your students arrive in pairs outside the classroom and blindfold one student from each pair. The blindfolded student should be led through the maze by their partner. The students must use only English directions such as step over, go under, go up, and go down to lead their partner to the end of the maze. It is also excellent for the adult EFL classroom, or if you're teaching teenagers.

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Splat   This is a brilliant EFL game to practice vocabulary while getting to move around a bit. Students love the competitive aspect and the fly swatters add novelty to a simple review session. Splat is a great way for students to see what they have remembered and what needs reviewing. This game works well with any age group, just adapt it to fit the age you’re working with.

Divide the class into two teams. Put flashcards with pictures of the target vocabulary on the board. Have two students come up to the board at a time and stand side-by-side. Give each a fly swatter.  Say a vocabulary word. The first student to say the word while “splatting” the correct flashcard with the fly swatter gets a point for their team. Ask two new students to come to the board and repeat.