The FUN ESL Lesson – No-Prep Games For Teachers
Giving YOU the chance to make English FUN again!
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About This Fun Lesson
This “Fun Lesson” is perfect for the end of the academic year, the last class of a course, or any time you want to give your students a break from the coursebook.
It’s not a traditional lesson with one clear language point. Instead, it’s a series of tried-and-tested games that flow well together, get students competing in teams and, most importantly, using all that English that might have slipped to the back of their minds.
You can use this with different levels and ages (recommended 12+). If you keep things competitive, even your more serious adult groups usually join in and have fun.
The whole lesson can easily fill around 90 minutes. Feel free to chop, change or skip activities depending on your class and energy levels. If something feels like it’s slowing down, move on to the next game to keep students on their toes.
Fun Activities & Games
1. One… Two… Beep!
As students come into the classroom, ask them to stand up. Tell them you know they learned numbers when they were beginners, but today you want to see who is really the best.
First, do a normal counting round: 1, 2, 3, 4… Then stop and introduce the rule: every third number must be replaced with “BEEP”.
Example: 1, 2, BEEP, 4, 5, BEEP, 7…
Let them try once slowly. Then explain that this time, if a student makes a mistake (wrong number, forgets to say “beep”, etc.), they are out and must sit down. The game continues until there is one winner left standing.
Restart the count from 1 every time someone is out. You can also be “cruel” and eliminate students for mispronouncing numbers. Ask the students who are already out to help you keep track of the counting.
2. Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Put students in pairs or small groups. Show them a busy picture with lots of objects and action. Explain that they will see the picture for a very short time and then you will hide it.
Their job is to write down as many things as they can remember. Show the picture a few times, each time a little longer.
When time is up, groups compare their lists and then check with the picture visible. Give 1 point for each correct item and -1 point for incorrect ones. The group with the most points wins.
Example picture: a messy bedroom scene works really well: “Messy room” image
3. Word Tennis
Ask students if they like tennis. Elicit key words: ball, racket, hit, net, court. Then explain they’re going to play tennis, but with words instead of a ball.
Demonstrate with one student. Choose a topic, for example colours:
- Teacher: red
- Student: green
- Teacher: blue
- Student: purple
The “ball” goes back and forth until someone takes too long (more than about 4 seconds) or can’t think of a word. That person loses the point.
Possible topics:
- Fruit and vegetables
- Things you can wear
- Things in the room
- Verbs
- Recent vocabulary from your coursebook
You can make it easier or harder depending on your group and change partners after a couple of rounds.
4. A–Z “NO” List Race
Draw a big NO on the board. Put students in pairs and explain they are going to have a race.
Their task is to write one word for each letter of the alphabet (A–Z) on a piece of paper:
A – apple, B – boat, C – country…
Then explain the twist: you will add topics to the NO list on the board. If “food” is on the NO list, they cannot include any food items in their alphabet.
As they write, walk around and keep adding new “NO” topics (e.g. animals, colours, countries). The first pair to finish shouts “Finished!” and you check their list.
Be strict: if a word is from the NO list, they must change it. Keep an eye out for missing letters or sneaky words that break the rules.
5. TBS – Sentence Challenge
Write four random letters on the board, for example: T B S M.
Students must work in groups to create a sentence where each word begins with one of those letters in any order.
Example with T I M S:
- This is my sentence.
- Or: The man is smiling.
When groups are ready, they read their sentences aloud and the class votes on the best or funniest one. Prepare a few letter sets and example sentences before the lesson in case students get stuck.
6. Word Shake – Spelling Challenge
This activity is adapted from: Wordshake – British Council
Create a 4×4 grid with 16 letters. Put students in groups and give them 3 minutes to write down as many words as they can using those letters.
- The letters don’t have to be next to each other.
- Each letter can only be used once per word, but can be reused in another word.
Scoring:
- 3–4 letters: 2 points
- 5–6 letters: 3 points
- 7+ letters: 6 points
- “Magic word”: 10 points
When you create the grid, choose one long “magic word” that uses many of the letters. If a group finds it, they get the bonus points.
7. Letter & the Picture
You’ll need another very busy picture (or several). Students should be able to see it clearly, either projected or printed for each group.
Explain that you will call out a random letter. The first group to find an object in the picture starting with that letter gets a point.
To keep control of the noise, tell students they must raise their hand before they answer.
Any kind of jigsaw-style busy picture works well. You can also use multiple pictures and change after a few rounds.
[Bonus] “You Say, We Pay” – Vocabulary Revision
This is a classic guessing game and great for revising recent vocabulary.
Set up two chairs in front of the board and divide the class into two teams. One student from each team sits in a chair, facing the class but not the board.
Choose two “writers” (one for each team). You secretly give them a word to write on the board behind the guessers. The teams must describe the word without saying it.
Example word: PIG. Students might say: It’s a pink animal… It’s fat… Oink oink! – but they cannot say “pig”.
Give teams around 2 minutes to guess as many words as they can, then change writers and guessers. If your class is small, you can have one writer and one guesser and let the whole class help with explaining.
Use vocabulary from your current unit, or words you really want students to remember.
I’m sure your students will enjoy this collection of games. I also have a Fun Lesson #2 with more
activities that I hope to share in the future.
Enjoy!
Luke – Native Speaker Online