Activity 1

Finish the Sentence Quiz

Finish the sentences using the following words:
boring, camera, tomorrow, guitar, song, keys, volume, bed, thick, yellow, puppy, marathon
1. Im learning to play the ____________________.
2. It's going to be windy ____________________.
3. I like reading before going to ____________________.
4. I went to the pet store to buy a ____________________.
5. This movie is ____________________.
6. I'm training for a ____________________.
7. Please turn down the ____________________.
8. Where are my car ____________________?
9. My favorite color is ____________________.
10. I love taking photos with my ____________________.
11. Im listening to a ________________.
12. The book that I read is very _________________.

Finish the Sentence Quiz Answers (not on printable version)
1. Guitar
2. Tomorrow
3. Bed
4. Puppy
5. Boring
6. Marathon
7. Volume
8. Keys
9. Yellow
10. Camera
11. Song
12. Thick

Activity 2
Forming Sentences with Words
This fun ESL classroom activity involves students using a range of English words to form sentences that make sense.
Before you start you'll need to cut out a number of small pieces of paper, enough for one per student and preferably more. After this, write a
range of different words on the pieces of paper remembering that you'll need a wide variety to ensure it's actually possible for the students to
form correct sentences.
That means using everything from adjectives to nouns, verbs and adverbs etc. Here are a few examples of words that will probably come in
handy:
a, it, the, she, is, we, of, house, car, fast, slow, blue, went, live, happy, up, to, he, sister, will, no, yesterday, who, go, food, dad, see, run, small,
am, I, rabbit, movie, meet, but, think, can, space, fly, because, so, there, on, should, under, here, be, my, red, eat, not, today, tree, school, why,
really, please, yes, quiet, off.
It's a good idea to make to make multiple versions of important words and feel free to throw a few funny ones in there too.
Randomly hand out the pieces of paper to the students so they each have one word. Tell them they have around 5 minutes (or however long
you decide) to form sentences with other students (they don't need to worry about punctuation).

Once they think they have formed a correct sentence they should let you know so you can check it, if it makes sense, those students can sit
down.
The other students continue to try and form sentences until they are successful and sitting down, the 5 minutes has elapsed or there are just no
more sentences that can possibly be made.
Record the number of students who were unable to be part of a proper sentence and try to beat it in future rounds. Remind the leftover
students that some words can be harder to use than others so they shouldn't feel bad.
Activity 3
World Travel Trip
Help ESL students improve their listening skills while they learn the names of different countries from around the world with this fun classroom
activity.
Before you start you'll need a number of small pieces of paper (one for each student in the class) with a different country written on each one.
Here are some of the countries I use:
France, Australia, Italy, Greece, USA, Japan, England, Mexico, New Zealand, China, Germany, Switzerland, Iraq, Brazil, Canada, Portugal, Egypt,
South Africa, Ireland, Russia, Belgium, Korea, Argentina, Morocco, India, Spain, Canada, Nigeria, Scotland, Thailand.
Hand out the pieces of paper to the students (one each) and let them read which country they have. Explain to them that you are going on a
world travel trip and each one of the students is a destination on your journey.
You will read out clues to the next location and it's up to the students to listen carefully and raise their hand when they think it's their country
that the clues are referring to. Pretend to fly across the room, check the students piece of paper to make sure they are the intended
destination, read out the next clue and continue on until you've been to every country in the room.
Make sure you organize the order beforehand as well as the clues that you will read out. The type of clues you use depends of the level of your
class but here are some examples of clues I use:
France - Eiffel Tower
Australia - Kangaroos
USA - Statue of Liberty
Brazil - Famous for soccer
Egypt - Pyramids
South Africa - Animal safaris
Activity 4
One Part Drawing
One Part Drawing is a fun ESL classroom activity which is great for reinforcing keywords related to parts of the body as well as clothes and
accessories such as glasses and hats.
To get started, split the classroom into teams, preferably into columns or rows so you don't have to move desks around and they can easily pass
sheets of paper between each other. If there's plenty of whiteboard/blackboard space then you can use that but sheets of paper work fine
otherwise.
The aim of the game is for each student in the team to draw one part of an animal, person or character, combining their efforts to hopefully
produce something resembling the real thing. The students must listen carefully to the part you say at each point, quickly drawing it and
passing the drawing on to the next student so they can do the same. You then judge the completed drawings at the end of each round and
award points to the teams who did best.
For example, you might tell them to draw a monkey. With each team ready to go, say the first body part, which might be "tail!" the first student
then has around 10 seconds to draw a monkey tail somewhere on the paper before passing it on to the next student in the team. "Ears!" might
be the next part, the mouth, arms and so on. Mixing up the body parts adds to the fun so feel free to announce them in any order you please.
Change the order after each round so whoever started the first drawing finishes the next or allow them to move around as they please between
rounds. A good idea is to allow the last person to draw "anything!" to give them a chance to complete a possibly disjointed picture.
Here are some examples of things I got my Japanese ESL classes to draw:
Animals: monkey, giraffe, cat, dog, panda, koala, tiger
People: yourself, Ichiro, Harry Potter
Characters: Pikachu, Super Mario, Anpanman, Minnie Mouse, Doraemon, Sponge Bob
And here's an example of the order I would get them to draw the parts in:
Monkey: ears, tail, mouth, arms, legs, body, head, nose, anything
Giraffe: neck, legs, body, eyes, nose, ears, head, anything
Harry Potter: broom, glasses, legs, arms, body, clothes, head, anything
Activity 5
Classroom Pictionary Activity

Pictionary is a great game that is perfect for adapting into a classroom English activity. There are a number of different ways to play but the
following is what worked best for me and my ESL classes in Japan.

Make 4 sets of 10 cards (4 sets of 5 is fine if you don't feel you need so many), set 1 is for easy words, set 2 for medium, set 3 for difficult and
set 4 for very difficult. Write words of your choice on the cards depending on the level of the students you teach.

I tended to use objects for the easier categories and ramped it up to verbs and adjectives for the more difficult categories. Here are
some examples of the words I used:
Easy: book, car, tree
Medium: movie, snow, light
Difficult: open, shout, slow
Very difficult: surprise, clean, throw
Split the class into around 4 or 5 groups and have a student from the first group come up and choose a category, with 1 point on
offer for a successful 'easy' drawing up to 4 for a successful 'very difficult' drawing.
Once the student sees the word they have 1 minute to draw on the blackboard, remembering to follow Pictionary rules such as
giving no verbal clues and not drawing letters and numbers. The remaining students in the team try to guess the word (while the rest
of the class stay silent).
Continue the process with the other teams while keeping track of the scores. To spice things up a little feel free to let other teams
guess the word if the original team are unsuccessful in their 1 minute, giving them the chance to take each other's points.
Activity 6
Guess the Action

Help ESL students remember a range of important English verbs with this fun classroom activity where they attempt to guess the actions
performed by their classmates.

The game plays like a simple version of charades where a student receives a secret word and tries to act it out to the other members of the
team.

Before you start you'll need to make small pieces of paper with a range of secret words written on them. You can use any type of words you
want but I find verbs are best for this type of game so that's what I'll be using in this example.
To make the game interesting you can have easy words (worth 1 point), medium words (worth 2 points) and hard words (worth 3 points).
Here are some examples of words I use:
Easy (1 point): Eating, sleeping, running, singing, flying, cleaning
Medium (2 points): Laughing, studying, looking, throwing, talking, cooking
Hard (3 points): Thinking, pointing, lifting, climbing, opening
Split the class into teams and ask a student to choose easy, medium or hard. Give them around 20 seconds to act out the word in front of their
group (while other teams stay quiet). Continue the process with the other teams while keeping track of the scores and see who wins!
You might like to let other teams guess the word if the original team are unsuccessful in their 20 seconds, giving them the chance to earn extra
points.

Activity 7
Two Truths and a Lie
This simple activity will help students get to know each other a little better while helping improve their English at the same time. Give students
some time to think of two truths and one lie about themselves, with the aim of surprising classmates when they guess which one is the lie.
It makes it more fun if they think of facts that may trick or surprise others so encourage them to be creative.
There are endless options but here are a few examples:
I have two sisters.
I can't swim.
I am a black belt in karate.
My favourite food is chocolate.
I am taller than my dad.
I have never been skiing.
The next part can be done as a class or in smaller groups of around 6 students. The first student says their two truths and one lie (in any order)
while the others students listen and then guess which statement is the lie (usually by a show of hands).
Give everyone a turn and if it goes well you might want to have another round to give students the opportunity to think of more creative ideas
now that they have the hang of it.

Activity 8
Describe an Object
Enjoy this fun ESL classroom activity and help students become comfortable using a range of important English adjectives. Students have to
describe a random object while being careful not to use its name.
Before you begin you'll need to make small pieces of paper with the names of a range of different objects written on them. You can use any
type of objects you want but it's a good idea to separate them into categories such as easy (worth 1 point), medium (worth 2 points) and hard
(worth 3 points).
Split the class into teams and ask a student to choose easy, medium or hard. Give them around 30 seconds to describe the object (only words,
no actions) in front of their group without naming it (while other teams stay quiet). If they say the object's name or their team can't guess
correctly they get 0 points but if their team guesses correctly then they get however many points their object was worth.
Continue the process with the other teams while keeping track of the scores and see which team wins!
You might like to let other teams guess the object if the original team are unsuccessful in their 30 seconds, giving them the chance to earn more
points.
If the students are finding it easy you can write some words next to the object that the student isn't allowed to use when describing it. Here are
a few example objects you might like to use:
Ball - Can't use round, bounce or sport
Food - Can't use eat, delicious or snack
Computer - Can't use keyboard, screen or Internet
Money - Can't use cash, coins or credit
House - Can't use home, roof or room
Pen - Can't use write, ink or pencil
Sun - Can't use big, hot or sky
Moon - Can't use night, bright or light
Mountain - Can't use climb, big or hill
Window - Can't use glass, wall or look
Car - Can't use drive, wheel or license
Tree - Can't use leaves, nature or roots
Shoes - Can't use feet, socks or toes
Camera - Photo, picture, take
Activity 9
Countries of the World is a fun ESL classroom activity that helps students remember the English names of various countries from around the
world.
Split your class into teams of between 4 and 6 students and number each team. Give them space on the whiteboard/blackboard to write the
names of as many different countries as they can, one team at a time.
Let a student from the first team come to the front and write the name of any country in the world, a member of the second team then comes
to the front and does the same, the catch is that they can't repeat a country already used.
The game gets progressively more difficult as the number of countries left available runs out. If a team can't think of a new country then they
are out of the game, while the others continue until there is only one team remaining, the winners!
You can be lenient on spelling but make sure they don't have access to any maps or geography books which could lead to an unfair advantage.
If the game takes too long or the students find it a little easy then feel free to play the game in a similar fashion to the Animal Alphabet Relay,
where the first letter of each country chosen is removed from the alphabet, i.e. if the first team chooses Australia then 'A' is erased from the
whiteboard and other countries starting with 'A' such as Austria and Angola can't be used.
Activity 10
Unscramble Words
This ESL classroom activity involves a fun anagram game where students unscramble jumbled words that you write on the
whiteboard/blackboard.
Prepare a range of scrambled words (something related to what you've been teaching in your class works well) that can be put into easy (1
point), medium (2 points) and hard (3 points) categories. Split the class into groups of around 4 to 6 students and have a student from the first
group choose a category.
Once you have written the scrambled word on the whiteboard/blackboard the team of students have around 1 minute to come up with the
answer (while the rest of the class stay silent). Continue the process with the other teams while keeping track of the scores.
To change things up a little feel free to let other teams guess the anagram if the original team are unsuccessful in their 1 minute, giving them
the chance to take each other's points.
As well as having 3 categories of difficulty you might like to have different word categories ready to go such as animals, clothes, body parts, fruit
and sport.
You can find a large number of examples in our word scramble section but here are a few of the animals I use:
Easy (1 point)
bird - drbi
dog - dgo
cat - tac
lion - olin
Medium (2 points)
frog - rgfo
myoekn - monkey
tiger - greti
eagle - leeag
Difficult (3 points)
elephant - tpnlehea
giraffe - gfriefa
donkey - oendyk
crocodile - orcdcielo
Activity 11
Fast Answer Race
Put your ESL student's mental reflexes to the test with a fast answer race. This simple classroom activity involves two teams of students racing
each other to correctly answer your questions.
It's a good activity for learning opposites (antonyms) and parts of the body. While you can play the game using whatever type of questions you
would like to, I'll be using opposites in this example.
Split the students into two lines however you wish, this can be boys v girls, young v old or simply those who sit on the right side of the
classroom v those who sit on the left.
The students at the front of the line have one chance to listen to the word you say and correctly say the opposite word before the opposing
student can do so. If they are correct then they can sit back down at their desk while if they are wrong or too slow then they have to return to
the back of their respective team's line.
Continue this process until one of the teams has everyone sitting back down at their desk, they are the winners! Make sure the other waiting
students remain quiet to keep the game fair and feel free to play more than one round to give the losing team a chance to improve. You can
even introduce a points system where the winning team gets an amount of points equal to the number of students left in the other team's line.
Here are some examples of the opposites (antonyms) I use:
fast - slow
happy - sad
heavy - light
good - bad
high - low
hot - cold
in - out
north - south
on - off
new - old
left - right
tall - short
true - false
east - west
yes - no
up - down
Activity 12
How Many Words Can You Make?
Working individually or in groups, students try to make as many English words as they can from the letters that make up a word of your choice.
Write the word on the whiteboard/blackboard and give them 5 to 10 minutes (or however long you feel they need) to finish before checking
that their words are valid and spelt correctly. Whoever makes the most words wins!
Alternatively you could assign points depending on the length of the words created, i.e. 2 points for 2 letters words, 3 points for letter words
etc.

Here's an example of words that can be made from the letters in 'English':
7 letters: shingle
6 letters: single, sleigh, hinges
5 letters: shine, hinge, sling, lines
4 letters: legs, sigh, line, sing
3 letters: his, leg, she, gel
2 letters: hi, he, in, is
Activity 13
Simon Says is a classic game that works really well as a fun ESL classroom activity.
Tell the students to listen to the instructions you will give them, they can follow your actions too but at some stage you will try and trick them
so they have to be very careful not to get caught out.
Have everyone stand up and begin the game, for example you might start by saying "Simon says, hands on head" while placing your hands on
your head.
The students should follow your instructions, quickly putting their hands on their heads. If they don't do it correctly or are just too slow then
they are out of the game and should sit down (you might want to be lenient on students making mistakes during the first round).
Continue the game with those remaining, slowly increasing the speed in an effort to catch them out. At any point you can try and trick the
students by, for example, saying "Simon says, hands on ears" while placing your hands on your shoulders. Anyone who puts their hands on their
shoulders is out of the game.
It's a simple, fast activity that is great for improving listening skills and is especially fun for younger students who love moving around.
Activity 14
Parts of the Body Memory Race
This fun ESL classroom activity is a good way of reinforcing the names of different parts of the body for students studying English.
Split the class into two lines in a manner you see fit, this might be by last names, girls v boys, old v young or simply those who sit on the right v
those who sit on the left.
The students standing at the front of the line have to watch your movements carefully as you stand in front of them
and quickly point to a part of your body, this could be anything from your feet, hands, ears, mouth, nose, elbow, fingers, teeth, hair, shoulders,
knees etc.

The first student to correctly say the name of the body part can sit back down at their desk while the other student must return to the back of
their respective line.
Continue this process until one of the teams has everyone sitting back down at their desk, they are the winners!
Make sure the other waiting students remain quiet to keep the game fair, give them only one guess each and feel free to play more than one
round to give the losing team a chance to improve.
You can even introduce a points system where the winning team gets an amount of points equal to the number of students left in the other
team's line.
Activity 15
Food Bingo for Kids
Enjoy this printable food bingo worksheet for kids. Have students write 25 of the 40 listed foods into their bingo board squares. They can
choose any foods they wish and write them into any squares they please. Call out the names of randomly selected foods one by one as students
cross them off their bingo boards. Continue until someone completes a vertical, horizontal or diagonal line, you might like to reward them with
a small prize. The game can continue after this until a student completes their full bingo board and shouts out BINGO! Remember to keep track
of the foods you call out so you can confirm that the winning student listened correctly.
Food Bingo
Choose 25 of the following 40 foods and write them into your bingo board squares.
pasta, ham, salad, bread, rice, sushi, egg, tomato, carrot, mushroom, banana, apple, peach, strawberry,beef, ice cream, chocolate, soup, curry,
pumpkin, cheese, pork, cake, celery, fries, chicken, grapes, broccoli, fish, almonds, watermelon, pineapple, peanuts, beans, noodles,
cheeseburger, lettuce, biscuits, cherry, mango



Activity 16
Question Time!
Get to know somebody else in the classroom by asking them questions like you were doing an interview. Find out if they have a nickname, what
their favourite subject is, if they have any brothers or sisters and more. If you have time you can finish by writing a short paragraph that
describes them.
Find a range of printable English worksheets, classroom ideas and free ESL resources to use in your lessons right here at Fun English Games.
Question Time!
1. Do you have a nickname?
2. If you could be any animal, which would you like to be?
3. What kind of superpower would you like to have? (e.g. the ability to fly, time travel, super strength, read minds etc)
4. Which famous person would you like to meet?
5. What is your favorite subject at school?
6. Do you have any brothers or sisters?
7. If I gave you $100000 that you had to spend right now, what would you buy?
8. What is the strangest thing youve ever eaten?
9. If someone made a movie about your life, what kind of movie would it be? (e.g. action, romance, comedy, mystery etc)
10. Do you brush your teeth with your left or right hand?
Activity 17
Cities of the Alphabet
Use this printable worksheet to write down the names of cities starting with as many different letters of the English alphabet as you can, for
example T for Tokyo. Dont worry if you cant think of cities starting with difficult letters such as X.
Find a range of printable English worksheets, classroom ideas and free ESL resources to use in your lessons right here at Fun English Games.







Foods of the Alphabet
Use this printable worksheet to write down the names of foods starting with as many different letters of the English alphabet as you can, for
example R for Rice. Dont worry if you cant think of foods starting with difficult letters such as X.
Find a range of printable English worksheets, classroom ideas and free ESL resources to use in your lessons right here at Fun English Games.



Activity 18
Movie Reviews Worksheet
This printable worksheet gives students a chance to review a number of movie trailers, discussing what type of movies they are, interesting
things that happened and giving them an overall rating. Students can review full movies but trailers work better when working with a limited
amount of time.
Find a range of printable English worksheets, classroom ideas and free ESL resources to use in your lessons right here at Fun English Games.
Movie Reviews
Lets watch some movie trailers and review what we thought of them.

1) Movie name: __________________________________________
What kind of movie is it? ___________________________________________________
What was something interesting that happened during the trailer?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
How many stars would you give it? 1 2 3 4 5

2) Movie name: __________________________________________
What kind of movie is it? ___________________________________________________
What was something interesting that happened during the trailer?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
How many stars would you give it? 1 2 3 4 5

3) Movie name: __________________________________________



Activity 19
Countries Quiz

Finish the sentences by matching countries with the provided clues.

England, Japan, France, Greece, Russia, Australia, USA, New Zealand, Egypt, India


1. Koalas and kangaroos are found in ____________________________

2. The Sphinx is found in ______________________________________

3. The Statue of Liberty is found in ______________________________

4. The Eiffel Tower is found in __________________________________

5. The city of Tokyo is found in _________________________________

6. The Parthenon is found in ___________________________________

7. Kiwi birds are found in ______________________________________

8. Stonehenge is found in _____________________________________

9. The city of Moscow is found in _______________________________

10. The Taj Mahal is found in ___________________________________



Countries Quiz Answers (not on printable version)

1. Koalas and kangaroos are found in Australia.

2. The Sphinx is found in Egypt.

3. The Statue of Liberty is found in USA.

4. The Eiffel Tower is found in France.

5. The city of Tokyo is found in Japan.

6. The Parthenon is found in Greece.

7. Kiwi birds are found in New Zealand.

8. Stonehenge is found in England.

9. The city of Moscow is found in Russia.

10. The Taj Mahal is found in India.








Activity 20
Synonyms Quiz
Choose words from the list and match them with words that have similar meanings (synonyms).
Quick, Simple, Fantastic, Woman, Beautiful, Small, Delighted, Large, Weird, Smart

1. Great __________________________
2. Clever _________________________
3. Tiny ___________________________
4. Lady __________________________
5. Strange ________________________
6. Easy __________________________
7. Happy _________________________
8. Fast __________________________
9. Huge __________________________
10. Pretty ________________________
Activity 21
True or False Quiz
Name _________________________________ Date _______________________

1. True or false? You see with your eyes. _________________________________
2. True or false? Dogs have 10 legs. _____________________________________
3. True or false? 3 + 4 = 8. _____________________________________________
4. True or false? Sheep can't fly. ________________________________________
5. True or false? Yellow is a color. _______________________________________
6. True or false? 'B' is the first letter of the alphabet. _________________________
7. True or false? Shoes are worn on your hands. ____________________________
8. True or false? Up is the opposite of down. _______________________________
9. True or false? You hear with your nose. _________________________________
10. True or false? The Sun is very hot. ____________________________________

Score: ________ / 10
Activity 22
Noun Quiz
Help improve your English skills with our noun quiz. Read each sentence and write down which word you think is the noun. Give it
your best and see how well you know your nouns.
Find a range of printable quizzes, interactive games, free activities, fun ESL worksheets and other classroom resources to use in
your lessons here at Fun English Games.
Noun Quiz
Read the sentence and write down which word you think is the noun.
1. Winter is very cold. ______________________________
2. The man was tall. _______________________________
3. Close the gate. _________________________________
4. The car moved fast. _____________________________
5. School started early. ____________________________
6. Catch the ball. _________________________________
7. The doctor worked fast. __________________________
8. Open the door. _________________________________
9. The girl was happy. _____________________________
10. Look at the moon. _____________________________