Esl Online Games

  Throughout section on the teaching of productive skills and the teaching of receptive skills our activate activities will usually involve some form of game and our final consideration here will be the use of games in the classroom. We can start with a definition of what we actually mean by a game and it basically has three components. A game is an activity that has rules it should have for its purpose in the classroom a teaching point and by nature to the fact that it's a game it should also include an element of fun. So that will be our working definition for a game that we're going to use in the classroom. There are many different types of games and they range between the competitive and those will require cooperation and there are all sorts of games that involve both of these...  [Read more]

  The next example of a game that we can adapt very easily for classroom use is the game of Jeopardy and in this particular game, what we can do is to have a set of levels for our questions, I'd say one through five, where one is going to be the easiest example and five is going to be the most difficult and then, in each of these sets of boxes, we can have various grammar points, such as tenses, perhaps modals, vocabulary and maybe even conditionals. So what the students can do is they can pick a particular topic first of all and within that topic, they can pick the level of the question that they want and then we can have a set of cards that have been created to fit into these slots and we can ask them that question at that level. So, a very simple adaptation of the game jeopardy...  [Read more]

  So, let's take a common game that's been played over the years, which is called Noughts and Crosses or Tic-Tac-Toe. What we're going to do is to adapt this game for classroom use. So, we've taken the normal Tic-Tac-Toe or Noughts and Crosses grid and we've just numbered out each of the particular squares. What we can then do is to form teams and those teams can then be asked a series of questions and they get to choose which question they want from 1 to 9. So, let's say, for example, they choose question 1. That could be on anything that they have studied ,the grammar or vocabulary. If they get that question correct and say they are the Noughts or the zeros then they get to put their mark here. What the next group will probably do is to try to block them in some way by choosing...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences When it comes to learning ESL, most learners associate it with memorizing spelling rules, doing countless grammar exercises, making abstract speaking topics, and translating sentences from L1 into English. In these, there is little or no listening and speaking practice involved, making English just one of the numerous boring school subjects. However, there is so much more to learning and activating the language if the fun element is involved. This doesn't only include traditional classroom games but also learning both at school and home with the usage of modern technology. Most children born in the 2000s have grown up using iPads and mobile phones, which makes them much more tech-literate even compared to the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning an unfamiliar language is no easy feat and with the globalization of the English language, more and more people are faced with the task of learning English to better their lives. It is no secret that English is one of the more difficult languages to learn given its many peculiarities and the lack of clues to pronunciation. This makes learning English not only more complicated but often frustrating for students who have difficulties understanding certain concepts. This is where games can have a huge impact. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Randi B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The most important job of any teacher,...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas ESL games are games that can be used in the classroom to practice certain language points and encourage active and creative communication between your students. There are many different games created specifically for use in the English language classroom that can be found online or in any number of resource books. But we are not limited only to those games designed for the class; the majority of games that we played as children or still play as adults can be adapted and used in lessons. Whether games are co-operative or competitive, they are a great way to provide students with a goal to be achieved by using the English they have learned. “Games are fun but are not suitable for the classroom.” There is plenty of...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences We must up our game as ESL teachers in the 21st century – both figuratively and literally. I use games to engage students and promote learning in my classroom for a wide range of learning objectives. Below is a short list of icebreaker games that I regularly use in my classroom, and I will discuss the learning target(s) that each game aims to facilitate and deliver as well as the context in which the game is used. Since I work with high school age and adult students, the games are geared for English Language Learners in these age groups. As learning communities become more globalized and data give more information on how people learn, one major challenge I find with gamifying learning in the ESL classroom is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas There are many famous games used by TEFL teachers that students know like the back of their hand. If you want to change up your online lessons and bring even more fun in your teaching, check out these seven non-trivial online ESL games to help you in every stage of the TEFL class. For this activity, you will need to prepare a digital image and share it with a student during the online class. You can find plenty of connect-the-dots worksheets on the internet. The student needs to have access to the drawing tool, so make sure the online conference program you use has this feature. Choose a picture that would accompany the lesson's topic. Ask...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas Hello everybody and welcome to the ITTT weekly live stream. It's Liza here and I'm super excited that this stream happens every week and we can talk about teaching and TEFL and stuff like that. So welcome and thank you for joining me. Today, we are going to talk about online ESL game design. Last week I started showing you the game I was designing, it was Monopoly. Today I'm going to show you the outcome of the game and also tell you a little bit more about online game design. Thanks a lot for letting me know that you are watching and right now please let me know at what stage of your ESL career you are at. As for me, I'm an online ESL teacher currently. I used to teach in a real classroom several years ago, but then...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The online mode of teaching has become a primary one in the COVID-19 era. For many teachers, remote work is not easy especially due to a different approach to creating materials. If you still struggle with games and activities for your activate phase of the lesson, take a look at the following three tools that can help you to versatile your Zoom classes and make your students super happy! Yes, it’s that easy! This tool is like a magic wand for ESL teachers because it’s easy to use and very flexible in adjusting dozens of favorite games. It's not just a visual aid for delivering a presentation to an audience, in fact, Google Slides can be used as a tool to create a unique learning experience for students. All...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Susan W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I am Susan and I'm 40 years female from Kenya and I have graduated with a bachelor's degree in Art in Education. I have been teaching young learners in Kenya for two years and I was invited to teach English in southern China and I am ready for the new challenge teaching abroad. I decided to do a TEFL test online so that I can acquire the Certificate and be employed as a qualified EFL teacher. I have learned a lot when studying the TEFL test and as an EFL teacher, I have come to realize that the social environment, age of different levels of students do...  [Read more]

TEFL Lemon began in 2014 as an ESL blog on the WeChat platform in China, quickly becoming the biggest ESL blog on WeChat. TEFL Lemon provided English teachers with ELT articles to read and share, as well as free ESL lesson ideas, ESL games and fun speaking activities which TEFL teachers could use in their classes. English teachers in China could also download free ESL flashcards on a variety of themes. Following their success on the WeChat platform, in 2018, TEFL Lemon decided to build their own website to offer their ESL Flashcard Games for Kids, ESL Warmers, ESL games and speaking activities for teens and adults for free to TEFL teachers around the world. You can visit their website here. Not only do TEFL Lemon offer teachers brilliant ESL games and teaching ideas, but they also have...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Flashcards can be great tools for eliciting vocabulary, but teachers should not overlook the numerous other uses for these great tools. Flashcard games can add excitement to young learners’ classes. The following activities are aimed to drill the vocabulary in the second study phase of the lesson, after the elicitation of vocabulary. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kiyomi Ann H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The liar game is a flashcard activity that can be used to drill vocabulary. This activity is ideal for vocabulary that a teacher is introducing as the activity involves repeating after the teacher. For this activity,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The lack of confidence is a great problem for the ESL setting. In this blog post, our TEFL graduate shares their thoughts on how to increase confidence in your students. Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Flashcards can be both helpful and disruptive if used not properly. In this blog post, our TEFL graduate shares their ideas on how to implement flashcards effectively. Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This blog post is devoted to the problem of games in the classroom. Our TEFL graduate shares their ideas on how to organize games effectively. Elizaveta Pachina Alumni...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas For the past couple of months, I have worked as an ESL teacher for the company Qkids. I took this course in order to obtain a certificate and meet the Chinese national standards. Even though I took it for that purpose only, it has been a very informative and helpful class. I have learned so much that I can apply to my own online ESL classes. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rebekah P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. In my experience, and from what I have learned in the class, it is very important to keep the students encouraged to maintain their motivation. The platform I teach on allows me to rewards a student’s good work...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Developing Language Skills is a key enabler in the global economy; even as the rise of the Internet, Smartphones and other technology the world is becoming smaller; but as it always has, language can present itself as a Barrier. As English is still the ‘de-facto’ global language thanks to its common business use are it time that TEFL providers adapt to the modern world and embrace new media to not only improve existing techniques but develop new ones and embrace existing online communities? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Matt F. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. What is New Media? New Media is defined as “products...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As with any subject, a student’s motivation can affect their interest in the subject matter. English is no different, in fact, I believe that motivation is the key difference in students who continue to progress and improve in English and those who don’t and discontinue English in their future. Now, this is not to say that all students with low motivation do not pick up any English through their learning, nor does it mean that a student with motivation will find English learning to be easy. However, I believe that motivation plays a key role in ensuring that a student remains engaged with the English language and eventually progresses into fluency. I wouldd like to present ideas that can add to student’s...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Games are a useful tool for teachers of EFL students because they help with motivation, engagement, and graceful failure (Plass 260-261). I will present a successful example of a teacher using games in an adult grammar class from Indonesia. Second, since I plan to teach online EFL students, I will present free digital games online teachers can use in their virtual classrooms. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Christopher C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Many professional articles have been written showing the importance of game-based learning theory for EFL students. Games have an element of ‘play’ in them, and so differ...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Speaking activities are essential for English learning as they give a chance to learn new linguistic points, including grammar and real-life listening skills. Unfortunately, teachers often omit communicative tasks in the classroom because they feel that it is difficult to manage them. There is also a lack of time to practice speaking; many course books provide ESL speaking activities only at the end of a unit. The educational system requires reading and writing skills to succeed in tests, so the value of communicative speaking is often underestimated. In this blog post, we offer you 5 engaging ESL speaking activities for English learners to enhance their communication skills....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching in the field of ESL learning is a task that has plenty of challenges that can arise in the classroom. Whether students are young learners or adults, learning English as a second language requires a lot of time and dedication in and outside of the classroom. Teachers must put a lot of patience, care, and effort into their lessons for the sake of their students’ success. They can find themselves teaching various types of classroom environments such as class sizes that are big or small, online or in-person, or multilingual or monolingual environments. These can affect the way a teacher chooses to run their class lessons. One of the biggest influences on a teacher’s methods is the number of students in...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching English in the classroom remains a popular educational choice for families and children in decades. However, a lot of students cannot attend in-classroom all the time for many reasons. That’s why teaching online has a potential extension possibility despite their limited competitive advantages in comparison with the general education method. Hence, online teachers need to be more creative in their lessons to increase learner’s interest. As a result, many interactive activities have been developed in online English courses. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Linh Vu T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Firstly, in my...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I have eight years of experience teaching English to children in Japan. I was usually the sole teacher in the classroom. I taught at an eikaiwa. An eikaiwa is when the children come to study English after school or on the weekends. Many personal qualities were important for me to develop as an English Teacher, to become successful and confident in the classroom. I will discuss these personal qualities, and how they improved my English lessons for my students. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rachel S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I learned how to stay calm in all situations, often I taught young children who would cry...  [Read more]

Anna Domiczek Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Puppets can serve as a wonderful pedagogical tool in the ESL classroom. Young children are very familiar with them since puppets play a large role in the world of children’s imaginative play, and they have become widely accepted as a pedagogical tool because they are valuable in serving as an anchor in overcoming the language barrier. Federico Riva Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Are you a non-native English teacher? Is your English level quite advanced, but you still make mistakes that bother you as a teacher? This live stream is for you! Liza will share her experience on mastering grammar and...  [Read more]

Anna Domiczek TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Shifting from a traditional classroom to a virtual setting can be daunting for teachers who do not have experience teaching online. This is especially the case if one has to keep young students engaged and motivated. What are the tricks to instill excitement and interest in preschoolers who do not have the intrinsic motivation to perform to achieve good grades? Their parents’ primary desire is for them to speak like the native and one day go off to an internationally renowned US university or work for a foreign company. Young students are motivated by something else- a desire to have fun in a welcoming environment. In the evolving ESL education market, the English teaching...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas You will find the web full of ideas for teaching vocabulary and, although most of them are undoubtedly good activities, some are only suited to a particular level. Here are some tried and tested activities that can be adapted to suit any level of student and a variety of class sizes. This is a great activity that can be used as a warm-up at the beginning of a class, or as a game at the end of a lesson. It’s suitable for any class size over 4 students and requires minimal preparation. Divide the class into two teams and have two chairs at the front of the class, set up to face away from the board. Have one student from each team come and sit in the chairs and tell them not to turn and look at the board. The premise...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate shares their personal experience of teaching English to ESL students and explains why reading is a crucial skill for them. ✅ Read this article to learn the key-points. Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate shares their personal experience of teaching English to teenagers and adults and explains how to use flashcards to increase the effectiveness of ESL classes. ✅ Read this article to learn the key-points. Elizaveta...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate shares their personal experience of teaching English to ESL students and explains why reading is a crucial skill for them. ✅ Read this article to learn the key-points. Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate shares their personal experience of teaching English to teenagers and adults and explains how to use flashcards to increase the effectiveness of ESL classes. ✅ Read this article to learn the key-points. Elizaveta...  [Read more]

Dana W TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Online learning has become extremely popular over the last several years. Many people take college courses and several other types of learning classes online, especially now during this global pandemic. If you’re considering online learning, you may have questions. What makes it different from taking a class in a language school? Are online teachers just as qualified to teach me? Will I learn the same information as I would face to face? I’d like to provide some clarity on what to expect when learning a language online. Anastasiia Ovchinnikova TEFL Information Alumni Experiences ...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate shares their personal experience of using games to teach English. ✅ Read this article to learn the key-points and find several fun activities for your ESA-based classes. Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate shares their personal experience of teaching EFL students and explains why building confidence is extremely important for ESL learners. ✅ Read this article to learn the key-points. Elizaveta Pachina ...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate shares their personal experience of teaching ESL students and explains why motivation is crucial in English learning. ✅ Read this article to learn the key-points. Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate shares their personal experience of using games to teach English. ✅ Read this article to learn the key-points and find several fun activities for your ESA-based classes. Elizaveta Pachina TEFL...  [Read more]