If the chosen box contains a number, the scores simply add up. This could be a precursor to a full-blown classroom debate. For speaking and conversation classes, there are a ton of task-based … This is a brilliant game for helping them think quickly and speak more fluent English (rather than trying to translate from their native tongue). Their teammates try to guess words of the right color while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. Dixit really gets the students using the English language - sometimes even coming up with incredible stories! Choose who will run and who will write. Try not to always link reading skills too closely to speaking skills, because they may be having difficulties with the reading. The printable board includes questions like “What does your typical day look like?,” “What did you do on your last holidays?,” and “What will you have done by 2050?” It’s one of the most versatile ESL conversation games! Games and activities are a great way of getting the English language out of the stuffy text books and into the vibrant real world of spirited entertainment. Another option is to bring in pictures for them to talk about. The student with the card will need to describe this word until another student figures out what the secret word is. The game ends when all Mafia members are eliminated or there are more Mafia members than Innocents. Draw the noose … They may be literate in a different script but are struggling with English script. Players ask each other questions — "Why are you dressed so strangely?" It’s perfect for in-class activities, group projects and solo homework assignments. This game can be played between two teams. The players take turns playing the storyteller. Here you can find a range of short activities to use in your adult classroom with students at upper-intermediate level. articles, tenses or pronouns). If you have too few sentences then it will be harder to balance the correct and incorrect. Mature subjects such like social issues are appropriate to incorporate into your lessons, whether it be … The class is told the topic and asked to write down five words which they might expect to hear (other than common words such as articles, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs). This provides even more opportunities to speak. One student (or a pair) could handle the grid, another could handle the score board, others can make or choose questions or tasks and someone can be Game Presenter. When the students move around, the teacher quickly sits in someone’s spot, forcing them to become the teacher. There are a few other things to consider about teaching ESL to adult students: No matter the unique challenges facing each adult ESL student, with the right motivation, encouragement and direction they can still learn to improve their English speaking skills. All Rights Reserved. The players in this ESL game are on a boat crossing the Atlantic on the way to the Caribbean when suddenly the boat is hit. Teaching English is a roller coaster of moods and energy levels, full of ups, downs, corkscrews and loop-de-loops. (Or use vocabulary words like adjectives on one and nouns on the other. When all of their bids are written in, it’s often a good idea to get pairs to swap their papers with other pairs for marking. The name means “chitchat.”. Your Agora combines teaching material from ESL teachers all over the world, scheduling and grading tools, as well as complete customization for both you and your students, all in one platform. It can also be played between partners. Teaching English to adults of mixed abilities. Werewolf is a thematic alternative to Mafia - the Innocents become Villagers fighting against Werewolves. (At a later stage they could swap tasks.). So, for example, in a class of 20 you could choose 4 Suspects and then have 4 groups of 4 Police for questioning. Since I started teaching English as a Second Language, I've met many incredible people … … Fire up your students’ neurons with interactive activities that engage them physically as well as mentally. The aim of the game is to get the player to figure out the word. They all run to the lifeboat,  but there are a lot of people on deck. They are all “taboo” and cannot be used in the student’s description of the secret word. Quickly stand and place yourself back into the teacher position and debrief (talk with them about how they felt about the game). New on EnglishClub. However, there is only enough space for 6 people in the lifeboat. Create a stack of topic cards for your students, so that each student will have their own card. This is one of these no prep activities … You could make it 10 sides for 15 seconds each, for example. What characteristics would they have? All of our activities are designed around engaging themes engaging and relevant to adult learners of English. Students return to their original groups and are given a list of questions about their original text. If you’re looking more from us, be sure to check out our other ESL games, activities and worksheets: 43 Free ESL Worksheets for Teaching English English ESL Worksheets Login English ESL Powerpoints Video Lessons Teaching … Put the students into teams—at least 3 teams—and mark a place on the board to record each team’s score. The Sinking Ship is one of the best games to use in ESL lessons for adult conversation. The game ends when all Mafia members are eliminated or there are more Mafia members than Innocents. If you’re teaching a class overseas (rather than a class with mixed nationalities in your home country), you need to be aware of local sensitivities, especially to appropriateness in mixed gender situations. This useful activity requires students to use all four language skills—reading, writing, listening, and speaking—and if carefully planned and well-controlled can cause both great excitement and exceptional learning. #15: Task-Based Learning Activities. BBC Learning English is a MEGA RESOURCE for teaching ESL to adults; Business English Materials is perfect for your adult business ESL class ; Inspire your students to continue learning on their own. Always allow a few minutes of class time to talk about the activity, what they liked about it (or hated), how it made them feel and what they think they’ve learned. Players accomplish the task through a process of elimination that involves asking questions. is simple: place a card from your hand into the correct position of cards forming the play area in the center of the table. If you teach adults, they’ll probably love to talk about shopping for clothes, electronics, sports equipment, cars or other things. The teacher makes a statement, students referred to must stand and quickly swap places. If you run out of time but the game isn’t finished, declare a “no questions, just choose” period to fill the rest of the grid and find out who wins. It isn’t good enough for them to only mumble along with the crowd as in a drilling exercise. This central play area grows during the game, but it is merely a line of cards ordered according to the year of occurrence of the event depicted on it. Vary the location as well as the activities if you can. FluentU is a helpful tool for this purpose—it provides authentic English videos that’ve been transformed into level-appropriate language lessons. Go through the sentences, discussing which are correct and why. The Suspects go outside or to another room to prepare their story. They’ll allow you to make as many unique cards as you need to distribute a different card to each student in class. … 2. So do your students. In Taboo, one player has a card listing four words: The first word is secret. The Situation: Two rival spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents. Some of my favourite ESL games are adapted from drinking games into something slightly tamer. We have compiled resources for even more ESL games, including ESL games for adults online and ESL speaking activities for adults both intermediate and advanced. What characteristics would they have? Spymasters give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. This challenging task is great for more capable students and it involves reading. Teaching ESL to adults is an extremely rewarding and interesting profession. Each video comes with interactive captions that students can click for instant definitions and pronunciations, plus flashcards and exercises to help with retention. Everyone removes their markers and the game starts again. All of our activities are designed around themes engaging and relevant to adult learners and can be used to complement your course curriculum, giving students an opportunity to develop their English language and skills in motivating and enjoyable ways. FluentU has everything from news clips, to music videos, to inspiring talks and more, all organized from beginner to advanced. Another day use two different texts and try this activity again. Divide the class into two groups and hand out the texts. The ESL usefulness of this game is that is it completely adaptable. Depending on the size of your class, pick several students as “Suspects.” The “Police” can work in groups of 2-4, and you need one Suspect for each police group. For example, if they like history, you create a flashcard with an event (or a picture) on one side, and the name of the event and the date on the flip side. The teacher checks the secret grid, and writes the score into the grid on the board. 4. or anything else you can come up with — trying to guess who among them is the spy. There are a number of ESL websites that will allow you to quickly create a set of Bingo cards containing up to 25 words, phrases or even whole sentences. Don’t underestimate the importance of fun in the adult classroom. It can also be played between partners. Hang onto the question sheets for later. Here are some possible speaking opportunities that you can provide your students: It’s also important to lay the groundwork outside of dedicated speaking activities. Use. To customize, you can make your own set of cards to fit the level of your students. Students need to speak out loud by themselves and not just follow along in their heads while someone else speaks. That being said, speaking out loud in front of other people—especially in a second language—can be nerve-wracking for anyone. This is lots of fun because students will often bring in something that’s meaningful to them or which gives them pride. ), 2. They may start to run out of ideas, making the game lag. Here you can find a wide range of short activities to use in your secondary classroom. The ratio of correct and incorrect is up to you, but it’s a good idea to have more than 50% correct. To optimize Mafia as a game for ESL students, the narrator tells a detailed story about what happens at night, and during the day the players accuse one another of being in the Mafia. Keep a … The game has two phases; the night, when the Mafia might secretly “murder” an innocent, and the “day” when Innocents vote to eliminate the suspected Mafia member. Just by looking at their facial expressions, it can be hard to tell whether your students are really listening or whether they are daydreaming. Words come with example sentences and definitions. Many people think of this game as a listening activity, but it can very quickly become a speaking activity. In each interaction, the student asking the questions will note down the responses from their peers. 3. Each player has a role - policeman, citizen, etc. For a DIY version, if you know the hobbies or favourite subjects of your adult ESL student/s, you can create a game with a similar concept. Give your students a break with fun ESL games! For example: “Last Friday night, sometime between ___ and ___, someone broke into the ____ Bank on ____ Street.”. They can even be told which side of the argument they should each try to promote. The objective of Cluedo: Who Fixed it? The ship begins to sink. Students can have a lot of fun speaking while giving a presentation to the class. Having texts in front of them can make adult students feel more supported. 2. There are tons of great choices there when you’re looking for songs for in-class activities. And everyone wants to avoid the assassin. Here you can find a wide range of short activities to use in your adult classroom. If they’re struggling, it may mean that they’ve forgotten language lessons from earlier school days—we refer to students who have studied English before and later forgotten “false beginners.”. Both get your students engaged in learning new vocabulary, while having fun! Explain to students that this game is named after the strong wind that blows everything away. For incorrect sentences, it’s written in the “lose” column. Becoming competent at asking and answering questions is invaluable in language learning. Instead of having students bring their own objects, you could provide an object of your own and ask them to try to explain what they think it is and what its purpose is. As an English teacher one can be hard pushed to find activities that involve all learners in a multi-level classroom situation. *One-on-one: These ideas will help you add variety rather than having your student just listen to your same old voice. For example, if a student taps on the word “brought,” they’ll see this: Plus, these great videos are all accompanied by interactive features and active learning tools for students, like multimedia flashcards and fun games like “fill in the blank.”. When you are teaching English to adult speakers, it is important for them to practice speaking English so that your ESL adult and teen students can gain confidence and improve skills in speaking English.. You can find lots of ESL games for adults, ESL adult speaking activities and games here for your adults … Isn ’ t good enough for them to their own card actually watch on the board small as,! From their peers learning lessons for adult learners for products and services we believe in least... 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