Teacher Games Online

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 There are many benefits to using games in the classroom, including the creation of an engaging learning experience for students, a positive learning environment, and the potential for students to practice real-life situations with instant feedback. Also, gamification of learning can use students’ natural inclination for socialization, achievement, and award. Thus, games can be a great tool for teaching English as a foreign language. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tassyn M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Games should be used with a direct purpose and should be monitored carefully to see if the intended results are...  [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]

Ramon Perez Teaching Ideas As teachers, we constantly strive to provide fresh and creative ways to transmit new information to our students. However, our secret weapon has been and continues to be, games! Games are great tools to spark interest and participation in our students. The common issue we face daily is the what, when and how to implement these games and activities. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here we will see what low and high-intensity games are, their characteristics, and a few examples of games you can use in your future lesson planning.   Games have been a part of our social and intellectual upbringing, since probably before we could start walking. Some games require different aspects of ourselves, may it be...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching English as a foreign language with little to no experience is a daunting task and one that should be seriously considered. There are many aspects to teaching that I was expected to know and implement while teaching English in another country. I had to learn how to teach in about two weeks and although I learned many techniques and strategies, one of the most important tools and one of the most effective was including games in the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Patricia C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I was slightly skeptical at first because, even though games are fun, I hadn’t personally experienced...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Games activity in the foreign language lesson is one of the basic ways of learning English at primary school. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Özden G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The game - one of the most important means of education of children. Lessons from the use of games are an effective means of training and education, as the rest of the common construction of the lesson and the introduction of the game story took the attention of the entire class. In the game pupils get into a situation that allows them to critically rate their knowledge in an active step, cause this knowledge into the system. In the present...  [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 Teaching Ideas Games have proven to be a useful approach within a classroom environment when teaching English. In this essay, I will be discussing in further detail why it is beneficial for the teacher to use games as part of their teaching practice and the different types of games that can be played. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Alexander K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Games are exciting and fun, they are a good way to break the ice and engage students. Games can help build good relationships between students and the teacher because they are informal, so, this creates a comfortable environment for students to make mistakes without...  [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 Alumni Experiences I believe that using English learning games will have a great impact on the students in a positive way, having fun and integrating the new language in that activity is a big boost for learning. The coursebook is essential and a great study tool, but a variety of activity is very important. There are so many different types of games which is amazing because the fact that the teacher can provide a totally different game to play will keep the students' interest at its fullest, and that will make the student absorb a new language like a sponge. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Joakim A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Holding a summer camp can be an intimidating challenge for new and experienced teachers alike. For these kinds of English camps, teachers typically create up to 10 lesson plans for the duration of the camp. Summer camps can last anywhere between one week and a month or even longer. The main goal of an English camp is to have a fun and memorable time with the students while practicing their English. While this might sound easy, English camp is so much more than just playing a couple of fun games. If you want to hold a successful camp session, you’ll have to do a lot of research and preparation. The following games are great activities for teaching English summer camp abroad. Props will make your summer camp a lot...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences To begin with, I’ like to say that I’m pretty excited about writing this summary since this course was an interesting online journey and there are some things to share, indeed. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Denys L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The games play an extremely important role in teaching and particularly/especially during my classes! I consider this to be not just one of the teaching techniques, but the solid, essential, natural, and extremely useful part of the whole world of education. All of us, no matter how old we are, find ourselves enjoying the game. We have a playful nature either it is on the...  [Read more]

  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]

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]

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 Teaching Ideas A student coming into a classroom every day looking at the board and listening to a teacher talk for hours can become mind-numbing. This can increase the chances of a student daydreaming or potentially even falling asleep. One way of preventing a student from becoming disengaged or having his or her learning hindered is by incorporating games into the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Robyn W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Games can be played with any age group which makes them very flexible, and they can be used in a variety of ways when learning a new language. Just by playing games, a tremendous amount of...  [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 “Learning is not a game, although you learn by playing” When we teach it is not only a matter of writing on the board and expecting the students to absorb all the information and knowledge we have, it’s a matter of thinking and sharing what we know with the students. The best way of doing this is by connecting with them through games. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Juan G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. As a teacher, I believe that games bring you a methodology for teaching and it aids the student to be motivated in class. There are some teachers that avoid using games and playful dynamics often because they are...  [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 Nowadays there is a wide variety of how to teach English. Every teacher uses his or her unique methodologies and techniques to make lessons more informative and entertaining. One of the approaches could be using educational games in the classroom. Games in the classroom are a great tool for teachers as they can be adapted to different ages and levels. Within this essay, I would like to clarify why using games in the classroom for young learners is extremely useful and educational. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kristina S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There is no doubt that children have their own way of thinking and...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Having to organize and hold a winter camp is a daunting task, especially for new teachers who haven’t done it before. For these kinds of English camps, teachers typically create up to 10 lesson plans for the duration of the camp. Winter camps can last anywhere between one week to a month or even longer. The main goal of an English camp is to have a fun and memorable time with the students while practicing their English. However, there is a lot more to an English camp than just playing some games. Since most teachers need to create and prepare their lessons in advance, we have compiled a list of games and fun activities for teaching English winter camp abroad. Props will make your winter camp a lot more fun and...  [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]

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 Alumni Experiences The two TEFL courses I took with ITTT provided a comprehensive coverage of English teaching to non-native speakers. The 50-hour young learners course and the 120-hour TEFL course taught language points such as grammar and tense structure. The courses also went into depth on topics related to teaching English such as classroom management and lesson preparation. These aspects are very important to teaching English as well as mastering the English language itself. A skilled teacher must know how to handle different types of classes. This post was written by our ITTT graduate Jeffrey G. This course explained how teaching English requires vastly different methodologies depending on who is being taught. For example,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Practicing conversational skills is often daunting for students. However, with these awesome activities, you’ll engage your students in speaking quicker as they will like the tasks. Jenga is a favorite stack game to millions of people. Your students will get excited as soon as they see the blocks. For this activity, you need to customize the blocks a bit by writing 1 ice-breaking question on each piece. Students need to pull a block and answer the question before putting it on the top of the stack. You can adjust this game to online classes by using online Jenga. Also Read: Can I teach English as a foreign language online? Before the lesson, brainstorm as many personal characteristics as possible (e.g.: have a...  [Read more]

  In this video, Linda explains the difference between "then" and "than" two words often confused by native and non-native English speakers alike. "Than" is a conjunction used for comparisons, such as here: "Her car is faster than yours". "Then", on the other hand, is an adverb used to situate actions e.g. "I did my homework, then I had a nap?. As you can see, the usages of the two words is very different and cannot be used interchangeably. Keep their differences in mind and you'll not make any mistakes in the future. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly...  [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 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 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 Teaching Ideas Increasing motivation in the young classroom exponentially increases language learning success by increasing participation, desire to discover more language, student-initiated thinking in the new language, and confidence. Motivation can be amplified in many constructive ways. Some of these ways are building rapport, implementing a reward system, incorporating the students’ interests into the lessons, designing games, using puppets, using praise and encouragement, and giving motivating feedback. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Melanie L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Rapport is crucial in individual lessons as they can be...  [Read more]