Theme: the role of games in teaching speaking for a2 level learners c0ntent introduction

Simon Says

A fun game where children develop their vocabulary and follow their teacher’s instructions (don’t they always?). Give instructions to your class, such as ‘hop on one leg’, or ‘pat your head’. But learners should only follow the instruction if first you say ‘Simon says’ (who is this Simon and why must everyone do what he says? A mystery for another time perhaps). You could even switch it up and nominate different learners to play the part of Simon.

9. Fly me to the Moon

A test of knowledge, and of paper aeroplane strength. Have your learners follow these instructions to create their own paper aeroplanes. Then put them into teams and ask them a set of questions- this could be about any of the topics you’ve covered. If a team gets a question right, then they can nominate one member from their team to try and throw their paper aeroplane at a target in the classroom. If it hits it, they get a point.

10. Interactive Games

Here at Twinkl, we’ve created a fantastic selection of interactive games that work great as fun ESL games for children. Interactive games on the computer are another way to keep games entertaining and varied. Scroll through this page to find hungry hamsters that need feeding with tenses, bingo playing aliens, and synonyms that need to be sorted to create a great soup. Ah, the wonders of modern technology. The benefit of these games is that they’re so simple to use- just pop one up on your screen in your class and get started.

11. Sh! It’s a Secret

Give each learner a specific word. This could be taken from these word cards. Then each learner has to prepare a short speech around the topic, hoping to hide the word that they were given. If after their speech, no one can guess which word they were given, they get a point. If anyone in the class correctly guesses the word they were given to hide, they also get a point.

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