10 ESL Warmers and Games
1. Words Game
Write a word on the board at least 8 letters. Put students in pairs or groups to make as many words as possible from the letters. For example, from the word Forehead the following words can be made: deaf, deer, heard, herd, fore,redo,ec.
2. Word Badminton
Some teachers call this one Word Tennis but the concept is the same. Split the class into two groups or boys vs girls. Select a category like Food to start. Each team takes a turn saying a food item until one group messes up, then the other team gets the point. Continue with other categories like Clothes, Transport, Animals, Fruit, ec.
3. Word Race
A common classroom ESL game because all you need is a few markers and a dry erase board. Split the class into two or four lines, and split the board according to your groups. Pick a category like Vegetables, Colors, Hobbies, Jobs, depending on the age group. When the race starts the first student in each line writes one word, passes the marker to the next student in line and goes to the back. It is at your discretion when to stop the race, and then simply count the words in each group to find the winner.
4. Word Association
Put the students in groups. You can get it started by giving a group a word to make the first association. For example, if you say the word Apple, a group could say tree, doctor, fruit, or banana to continue the association. So students may continue something like this Apple-Banana-Monkey-Jumping-Running-Sneakers. The teacher can decide when an association doesn't work or a student can explain their reasoning.
5. Charades
Sometimes called Taboo but in the internet age it is best to not use that game name. I had two private students do a search of "Taboo" on their iPad in front of their mom and it was probably my worst teaching moment thanks to Google images. Any case, put students in two teams and select one student from each team. Show the two students the word and they will act it out until their team guesses. The first team to guess gets the point.
6. Ball Race
You'll need a pair of balls for this one. A pair of students from each team places the ball (or ball of paper) in-between the backs of two students. They must hold the ball with their backs and struggle to pick up the marker from the floor. The first team to write the word based on the category you pick will get the point.
7. Turkey Pluck
Start with a board vocab race from a category or write the vocabulary words from the lesson on the board. Have students trace their hand to make a four feathered Turkey. Students write 5 of the words on the paper they traced. Ask questions related to the lesson to select the first student, who will select a word by plucking it from an opposing teams paper. Everyone who has that word must rip it off their paper. Make the student use the word in a sentence, then select the next student from the other team.
After you go through half or so of the vocab words, the team with the most feathers left wins.
8. Improvise
Have a student select an object in the classroom they can hold and then pretend it is something else. (Like using a pencil case as a telephone.) The other students try to guess the object that the student is pretending it to be. After they guess it, the student passes the same object to the next student.
9. Stop The Bus
A common ESL game so your kids will know how to play. Write four or five categories on the board. Select a letter like "B". (For example, Animals, Transport: Bat, Bike) The first team to write down one from each category yells "Stop The Bus".
10. Label Race
This one isn't environmentally friendly but is a ton of fun. Put students in pairs and have them label each other: clothes, jewelry, body parts, ec. Allocate a certain amount of time and when time is up, the pair with the most correct labels wins.