Top 5 Awesome ESL Activities With Less Than 1 Minute Preparation

Step 1

Separate the class into groups of 2-5. For larger classes you can use the rows of seats in your classroom to decide groupings.

Step 2

On the board draw a 4×4, 5,×5 or a 6×6 grid depending on how many students there are and how much time you have to play.

At the top of the grid write the numbers 1-6 and on the left side write the letters a-f.

Step 3

Write down points for each square on a piece of paper (don’t let your students see this paper) and put 4-6 typhoon symbols in some of the boxes instead of numbers.

The points are a great way to practice numbers, so use numbers which challenge your students. Sometimes we even use negative numbers or numbers like 999,999!

Step 4

The game is now set up and ready to play.

You can now ask questions to review material that you have studied previously in your class, such as “What’s this?” “It’s a ______.” Ago Kids ESL flashcards can be also be used to help review vocabulary for the game.

When a student successfully answers a question have them choose 1 space on the board using full sentences to describe which they would like, for example “I want A-2”. That team will be awarded the points for that space. When a student picks a space with a typhoon on it, then that team receives no points, but can choose to erase all the points from another team.

Once all the spaces have been chosen, the students can practice their math skills by adding up the points saying “7+15+5=27”

Step 1

Print out and laminate our free Ago Kids ESL “English Race Time” game set.

Step 2

Roll a dice or play rock, scissors, paper to decide who goes first.

In a clockwise order have each student throw the dice and move along the board, counting each space out loud.

Step 3

When a student lands on their space, have them call out the attached picture or use the target grammar points, such as “What’s this?” “It’s a ______”.

Continue playing until one student reaches the finish line.

More advanced questions or sentence patterns can be asked for higher level students.

Step 1

One by one have each student ask an “Are you _____ ?”, “Can you _____ ?” or a “Do you ______ ?” question to another student. The student cannot ask the same question to the same student twice, so it will be useful to have flashcards on hand to give enough options to the students. You can find many options in our “How Is The Weather?”, “Can You Fly Butterfly?” and “What Animals Do You Like?” flashcards.

Step 2

If a student answers “Yes, I _____” to any question, then the student who asked the question receives 5 points.

The game can continue to be played for any amount of time, or until one student reaches a certain amount of points.

Step 1

Choose a set of vocabulary, such as the days of the week, the alphabet, numbers, colors, etc. If you don’t already have your own set of vocabulary, then you can download and print off any of our Free ESL Flashcard Packs to use.

Step 2

Choose a “sit down word” from the set of vocabulary (we usually use the last word in the pack) and have all the students stand up.

Step 3

Starting from the 1^st student, have each student say a word or letter, for example, a, b, c, d, e, f, g …. when the “sit down word” is said then that student can sit down. Continue until there is only 1 student left. That student must try to say all the words by themselves.

Step 1

Give each student a word search worksheet. We have a variety of Ago Kids ESL free word search worksheets that can be downloaded for free. If you want to make you own, make sure to remove the word box!

Step 2

Choose a word for the students to find and have all the students ask the teacher, “How do you spell ______?”.

Step 3

The teacher must write the word on the board and say “Go!”.

Students must then find and circle the word in the search box and bring their paper to the teacher.

Points can be awarded for the fastest students.

For more advanced students, have them write down the chosen word in the available space.