Topic: Any

Level: Any

Materials needed: black/white board or paper and pen

Groups: 2+

Members per group: 2-3+

Instructions:

This activity is similar to RELAY ART

Divide your students into pairs or small groups. In their groups, have the students sit in a straight line all facing the board. Each student is facing another student’s back. The student closest (front student) to the board will write on it. (If you have many groups, have the students draw on a piece of paper.)

Tell the student furthest away from the board (back student) a word. They have to relay that word to the person in front of them. The students must face the board during this activity, no turning around. There is no speaking allowed. The back student must write the word on the front student’s back. The front student must try to write the word on the board correctly.

Variation – You can have many people in a line. The back student must pass the information through all the students to the front student, to write on the board. The more students, the more distorted the word will become. The funnier it will become.

Set a time limit per word. Depending on how many students per group, set 30 seconds. First team to write the word correctly gains a point. Continue with as many words as you want.

Finding teacher resources for ESL lesson plans and educational games can be time consuming. Let us know if you will use this ESL activity.

Got a question about this classroom activity? Suggestion? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Topic: Any

Level: Any

Materials needed: Ball (Object to pass), white/black board, flash cards or paper, writing materials

Groups: 2

Members per group: Approximately 10

Instructions:

This is a relay style game. Have your students stand in two lines next to each other facing the board or a table. Give the two students closest to the board an object that they can pass to the other students, for example, a ball.

On the board/table place English review items, for example;

Matching pictures and words

Matching words and their plural endings

Scrambled sentences

Anything that can be put together or something that has a pair using grammar, sentence structure, synonyms etc.

When the teacher says GO, the first student passes the ball over their head to the student behind them. The next student passes the ball between their legs to the student behind them. The next student passes the ball over their head to the student behind them and so on. If the ball falls on the floor it must be brought back to the front and restarted. When the ball reaches the last student, they run up to the board/table and try to unscramble/match/put together the English items. The first student who finishes gains a point for their team.

The student who was at the back of the line is now at the front of the line. Place a new English review item on the board/table and let the activity continue until all students get a chance at the board/table.

Finding teacher resources for ESL lesson plans and educational games can be time consuming. Let us know if you will use this ESL activity.

Got a question about this classroom activity? Suggestion? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Topic: Any

Level: Any

Materials needed: Paper, markers, an image of an object/person/place

Groups: 1+

Members per group: 2-3+

Instructions:

There are two ways to do this activity; silent or spoken.

The objective is to communicate what the picture looks like.

Spoken – Divide your students into pairs or small groups. In their groups, have the students sit in a straight line all facing the board. Each student is facing another student’s back. The student closest to the board will draw on it

Give a picture to the student furthest away from the board. They have to relay what the picture looks like to the person in front of them. The students must face the board during this activity, no turning around. The student with the picture must describe the picture to the student in front of them. (The picture must stay with the back student.) The front student then must draw the picture on the board. (If you have many groups, have the students draw on a piece of paper.)

Variation – You can have many people in a line. The back student must pass the information through all the students to the front student, to draw on the board.

Once the back student has completely described the picture and the front student has completed his drawing, compare the original with the drawing. It will probably look very different and funny.

Silent – The concept is the same as spoken but there is no speaking allowed. The back student must describe the picture using touch.

For example, if they are trying the describe hair, they can touch the hair of the student in front of them.

They can write/draw on the back of the student in front of them.

They can be creative in any way as long as there are no sounds exchanged.

The silent version is a lot more challenging because the students need to be creative. The more students in each group the more distorted the drawing will be. The drawing will be very funny.

Finding teacher resources for ESL lesson plans and educational games can be time consuming. Let us know if you will use this ESL activity.

Got a question about this classroom activity? Suggestion? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Topic: Any

Level: Intermediate +

Materials needed: Writing surface and materials

Groups: 2+

Members per group: 2+

Instructions:

Give each group a piece of paper/writing surface and pen/writing material.

Write a word on the board such as, KITCHEN.

Set a time limit, for example, 5 minutes.

The objective of the activity is to write as many words that relate to KITCHEN.

For example:

Utensils

Pots/Pans

Oil

Salt/Sugar

Blender

Anything that you find or do in a kitchen can be included. One point per word.

The higher the level of the students, the more that spelling counts.

Scoring:

1. Once time is up, have the students present their words. Count each groups total of correct words. The group with the most correct words wins.
2. Each word can only be used once therefore the group with the most unique words wins. For example, all teams wrote the word FORK. FORK will not be counted because it was used more than once. For example, SPICES, only one group wrote, SPICES, therefore they get a point because their word was original.

Continue this game with as many words as you like. This activity can take the whole class time.

Finding teacher resources for ESL lesson plans and educational games can be time consuming. Let us know if you will use this ESL activity.

Got a question about this classroom activity? Suggestion? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Topic: How to make a piñata

Level: Any

Materials needed: Balloons, colored paper, scissors, newspaper, glue and paste, candies, paint and brushes, and string.

Groups: 1+

Members per group: 1+

Lesson focus is provided following the activity instructions.

Instructions:

1. Blow up a large balloon and tie the end.
2. Cut newspaper into long, narrow strips and dip them into the paste.
3. Cover the balloon with the paper stripes. Leave the tied end piece exposed.
4. When the newspaper is dry, pop the balloon and remove it through the hole left at the top.
5. Paint and decorate the piñata.
6. Make two small holes at the top of the piñata and pass string through them.
7. Fill your decorated piñata will candies and hand it from the ceiling.
8. Blind fold a student and let them hit the piñata until it breaks and the candies fall out.

Variation: Reverse Piñata

Usually, all the candies get put inside the piñata but the variation puts the candies on the outside of the piñata. This is a less messy project.

Have the students blow up balloons and hang them from the ceiling. Have the student tape as many candies onto the outside of the piñata. Set a time limit. All the candy that the student can stick, within the time limit, is theirs to keep.

Make sure all the candy is wrapped before allowing the students to handle it.

Lesson Focus

Part A

These are the focus words for the lesson on piñatas:

Paste

String

Colored paper

Strip

Narrow

Dip

Ceiling

Blow

Take out

Through the hole

Hang

Pop

Part B

This is a piñata. A piñata is used during birthday parties and festivals. I hang my piñata from the ceiling. I hit my piñata with a stick. I want to break the piñata to get to the candies inside it.

Questions:

1. What is a piñata?
2. Where are piñatas from?
3. When do people use piñatas?
4. What is inside a piñata?

Fill in the blank:

1. up a balloon and tie the end.
2. the balloon with the newspaper strips.
3. Pop the balloon and          the piñata.
4. the piñata with candies.