[vc_row][vc_column]
ESL speaking games chip away at that. Not overnight, and not for everyone equally, but the shift in focus helps. When a student is trying to convince classmates that their “lie” is believable, they’re thinking about the game, not about whether their present perfect is correct.<\/span><\/p>\n The other thing fun ESL games do is force genuine interaction. It’s not performing English at someone, it’s actually needing to communicate something. That’s a different cognitive experience, and it’s closer to what language actually is.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column] Level: A1\u2013B2<\/b><\/p>\n This one is almost unfairly simple and it works every single time. Two options, no right answer, and students have to pick one and say why.<\/span><\/p>\n Would you rather live somewhere with no internet or no hot water?<\/span><\/i> Would you rather be invisible or be able to fly?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n What I like about it is the range. A very weak student can say “I choose fly because… nice” and that’s a win. A stronger student can argue, get challenged, change their mind. The same prompt works across levels without any modification.<\/span><\/p>\n This game takes five minutes and students are usually still bickering about their answers when I ask them to move on.<\/span><\/p>\n Level: A1\u2013A2<\/b><\/p>\n Assign a topic to each number on a die. Students roll and speak about whatever comes up.<\/span><\/p>\n Topics I use:<\/span><\/p>\n For very low levels, I put sentence starters on the board: <\/span>My favourite food is\u2026 \/ At the weekend I usually\u2026<\/span><\/i> It sounds almost too basic, but beginners need structure. The randomness of the dice actually helps, removing the paralysis of choosing what to talk about.<\/span><\/p>\n Level: A1\u2013A2<\/b><\/p>\n Students walk around asking classmates questions to find people who match a list of statements.<\/span><\/p>\n Find someone who has a pet.<\/span><\/i> Find someone who likes spicy food.<\/span><\/i> Find someone who woke up late this morning.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The movement alone changes things. And because students repeat the same questions several times, the language starts to feel automatic, which is exactly what you want with A1\/A2 learners.<\/span><\/p>\n One small warning: this can get loud. Which I personally consider a sign of success, but if you’re next to a colleague with a headache, maybe warn them first.<\/span><\/p>\n Level: A2\u2013B1<\/b><\/p>\n A topic, 30 seconds, no stopping.<\/span><\/p>\n Your dream job. Go.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The first time I tried this, a student looked at me like I’d asked her to sprint up a wall. But I give them ten seconds to think before they start, and that makes a surprising difference. After a few rounds, most students stop worrying about filling the time and start actually saying things.<\/span><\/p>\n This is probably the activity I’ve seen do the most for fluency over time. Hesitation drops. Sentences get longer. Students start connecting ideas instead of just listing them.<\/span><\/p>\n Level: A2\u2013B2<\/b><\/p>\n Three statements: two true, one false. The class asks questions and tries to guess the lie.<\/span><\/p>\n I played this with a class of teenagers once and one student claimed she had met a famous footballer. The entire class interrogated her for four minutes in near-perfect English because they were <\/span>convinced<\/span><\/i> it was the lie. (It wasn’t.)<\/span><\/p>\n That’s the thing about this game: students actually want to know the answer. The motivation is real, not performed.<\/span><\/p>\n Level: A1\u2013B2<\/b><\/p>\n Everyday situations: ordering food, asking for directions, returning something to a shop. Students act them out with a partner.<\/span><\/p>\n These feel slightly more “teacherly” than the other games, but they serve a different purpose. This is where students practice the kind of language they’ll actually need outside the classroom. It can feel a bit stiff at first, especially with shyer groups, but once students let themselves be a little silly with it, it loosens up.<\/span><\/p>\n Level: B1\u2013B2<\/b><\/p>\n Write a statement on the board. One side of the room is “agree,” the other is “disagree.” Students move to their corner and defend their position.<\/span><\/p>\n Homework should be banned.<\/span><\/i> Social media does more harm than good.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n This ESL speaking game isn’t for every group. With the right class, motivated, reasonably confident, and willing to argue, it generates some of the best English I’ve heard in a classroom. With a reluctant group, it can feel forced. I usually save it for later in a course when students know each other and aren’t afraid to disagree.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column] A simple list of clothes vocabulary for kids could be: bag, boot, clothes, coat, dress, glasses, hat, jacket, jeans, pair, shirt, shoe, skirt, style, sweater, trousers, T-shirt, watch, wear.<\/span><\/p>\n I usually introduce these with pictures, or more often, by pointing at what people in the room are actually wearing. Younger kids especially respond well to that because it keeps things concrete.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column] The mistake I made early on was thinking I needed a different game for every level. Usually you just need the same ESL speaking game with different amounts of support.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column] A few things I’ve found actually help:<\/span><\/p>\n If one student dominates:<\/b> assign roles before you start. Someone asks, someone answers, someone times, someone reports back. It’s harder to take over when everyone has a job.<\/span><\/p>\n If students go quiet:<\/b> don’t immediately ask the whole class. Go to pairs first. Give them a minute to talk to one person before you open it up.<\/span><\/p>\n If they use L1:<\/b> rather than just saying “English only,” give them tools. <\/span>Can you say that in English? What’s the word for\u2026? How do you say\u2026?<\/span><\/i> Make it a problem they can solve rather than a rule they’re breaking.<\/span><\/p>\n If the game runs short:<\/b> have a backup question ready. <\/span>What did you like about this activity?<\/span><\/i> What would you change? <\/span><\/i>Sometimes the meta-conversation is more interesting than the game itself.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column] Fun ESL games create that space. Even a ten-minute activity two or three times a week adds up significantly over a course. And sometimes a student who hasn’t said a word in three weeks will come to life during a guessing game, and you’ll remember why you started teaching in the first place.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column] Maryam, S. (2020). <\/span>Utilizing communicative language games to improve students\u2019 speaking ability<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>Journal of Languages and Language Teaching, 8<\/span><\/i>(3), 251\u2013263. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.33394\/jollt.v8i3.2733<\/span><\/p>\n Richards, J. C. (2006). <\/span>Communicative Language Teaching Today<\/span><\/i>. Cambridge University Press.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1776782615939{background-color: #f4f7fd !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/4″][vc_empty_space height=”39px”][vc_single_image image=”13580″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″][vc_empty_space height=”42px”] ESL speaking games are one of the most effective tools for breaking classroom silence: not as a trick, but because they give students a real reason to open their mouths. Once I started using them, the shift in classroom energy was hard to ignore.<\/p>\n Before that, I leaned too hard on gap-fill worksheets. My students could conjugate verbs perfectly on paper, then completely freeze the moment I asked them to speak. Games changed that dynamic. Suddenly there’s a goal, a bit of competition, something to do; and English becomes the tool to get it done rather than the thing being studied.<\/p>\n Research backs this up too. Richards (2006), Al-Garni (2019), and Maryam (2020) all point toward communicative tasks improving speaking performance and motivation. But you don’t need a study to confirm what you can see: students talk more when the activity is worth talking for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13645,"template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[136,67,61,68,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13643","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pedagogy","category-resources","category-teaching","category-teaching-resource","category-tips-tricks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookrclass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/13643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookrclass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookrclass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookrclass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bookrclass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/13643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13651,"href":"https:\/\/bookrclass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/13643\/revisions\/13651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookrclass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookrclass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookrclass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookrclass.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A few fun ESL games that have genuinely worked in my classes<\/h2>\n[vc_single_image image=”13648″ img_size=”large”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
Would you rather?<\/b><\/h3>\n
Roll & speak<\/b><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/span>Without that scaffolding, some students just stare at the die like it’s betrayed them.<\/span><\/p>\nFind someone who\u2026<\/b><\/h3>\n
30-second talk<\/b><\/h3>\n
Two truths and a lie<\/b><\/h3>\n
Role play cards<\/b><\/h3>\n
Debate corners<\/b><\/h3>\n
A1 level<\/h3>\n[vc_column_text]At A1, the goal is recognition and very basic production. Students should be able to name common items and slot them into simple phrases. Red hat. My shoes. I wear a jacket in winter. That is enough at this stage.<\/span><\/p>\n
Adapting ESL speaking games for different levels<\/h2>\n[vc_single_image image=”13649″ img_size=”large”][vc_column_text]Most of these fun ESL speaking games work across a range of levels with small tweaks. For A1 students, add sentence starters, keep turns short, and use visuals where possible. For B1 and above, remove the scaffolding, push for longer responses, and add follow-up questions.<\/span><\/p>\n
When things go wrong<\/h2>\n[vc_single_image image=”13650″ img_size=”large”][vc_column_text]Sometimes a game just dies. A student refuses to speak, someone takes over the whole activity, the class finishes in three minutes and you have twenty left, or everyone quietly switches to their first language the moment you turn around.<\/span><\/p>\n
One last thing<\/h2>\n[vc_column_text]Students don’t get better at speaking by being told to speak more carefully. They get better by speaking more, in situations where the stakes are low enough to take risks.<\/span><\/p>\n
FAQ<\/h2>\n
What are the best ESL speaking games for absolute beginners? <\/h3>\n[vc_column_text]Roll & Speak and Find Someone Who\u2026 are good starting points because they offer structure and predictable language patterns.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text]
How often should I use ESL speaking games? <\/h3>\n[vc_column_text]As often as they fit. A short activity two or three times a week is more useful than a long one once a fortnight.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text]
Do games help shy students? <\/h3>\n[vc_column_text]Often yes, but it depends on the game and the student. Pair-based activities tend to work better than whole-class ones for anxious learners<\/span>[\/vc_column_text]
Should I correct mistakes during the game? <\/h3>\n[vc_column_text]Generally, let them speak and give feedback afterward. Interrupting kills the flow. Note down common errors and address them as a group at the end.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text]
Can I use the same game with different levels? <\/h3>\n[vc_column_text]Yes. Most games just need different levels of support: more scaffolding for lower levels, more open prompts for higher ones.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
References<\/h2>\n[vc_column_text]Al-Garni, S. A. (2019). <\/span>The effect of using communicative language teaching activities on EFL students\u2019 speaking skills at the University of Jeddah<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>English Language Teaching, 12<\/span><\/i>(6), 72\u201386.<\/span> https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5539\/elt.v12n6p72<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
About the author<\/h2>\n
Anik\u00f3 L\u00e1szl\u00f3<\/h3>\n[vc_column_text]Anik\u00f3 has a background in primary and secondary education and previously worked as an English teacher with teenage learners, which gave her valuable insight into the needs and interests of this age group. At BOOKR, she works as an Educational Content Manager, with a main area of expertise in curriculum alignment. She plays a role in ensuring that the content of BOOKR\u2019s library aligns with a wide range of curricula used across different parts of the world. In addition, she is responsible for writing texts, creating games, and developing supplementary teaching materials. One of her key projects at the company is refining the adaptive placement test. She also delivers webinars for teachers, offering practical advice, sharing her experience with BOOKR, and supporting educators in making the most of the application.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"