Written by our August 2023 Alumni: Mia DePalma
Sometimes your lesson just runs by much faster than you had planned. Other times your students just need a bit of a break from the material. Working mainly with teenagers, I’ve tried to keep a few activities in my back pocket that are easy to set up, easy to explain and that are generally crowd pleasers for kids or adults.
20 Questions
This is a simple one, but it’s a classic. One person thinks of a noun (I like to narrow this down to just people or characters–but if you really want a challenge, expand the possibilities to any person, place, thing or idea) and the rest of the class need to guess what it is in 20 yes-or-no questions or less. This requires no setup and I’ve found that almost any level of English learner can enjoy it. It’s great for practising simple yes-or-no questions and it’s really easy to integrate target vocabulary into the game.
Two Truths and a Lie
This one is definitely a favourite, even at lower levels. We’ve all played it: each student thinks of two true statements about themselves and one lie, and the other students need to figure out what’s false by asking further questions. This is also a great way to practise questions, and I’ve found it great for active practice of present perfect grammar (speaking about experiences in the past). I like two truths and a lie in particular as an ice breaker activity, but it can be even more of a challenge for students who have known each other for a while. In general, I love this game for how versatile it is.
Debate Club
I started to play this game with my students originally as a variation of a card game in my classroom. In my version, I ask each student to write down their ‘hottest take’ on a piece of paper and then collect them. Then a paper is randomly chosen (I like to choose them and moderate the conversation to prevent anything too edgy from coming out) and the students need to form teams for agree/disagree and debate the topic. I would definitely recommend this one for more advanced levels, but it can definitely be a fun challenge for less advanced students that are eager to converse more.
Categories
I love this game for drilling target vocabulary, but it can also just be pure fun in an outdoor lesson or summer camp, but it is definitely the most complicated to explain activity of the four. This is essentially a game of tag with more words. One student (the tagger) stands with their back to the other students and chooses a category (ex. sports). Every other student lines up a short distance from the tagger and chooses something that fits the category but does not tell the others what they’ve chosen. The tagger will say as many things in the category as they can, trying to name the ones that the other students are thinking of. When they name the word another student is thinking of (ex. football), the student must run to a set finish line. The tagger needs to listen for the others, because if they turn around and no one is running they must take a step further away from the finish line. If they turn around and someone is running, they can go after the runner and try to catch them. I played this game every summer as a kid, and I think it can be really fun and vocabulary-expanding.
Join an upcoming TEFL course where in just 4 weeks you can be teaching in Prague and using these games, or creating your own!
TEFL Worldwide was awarded as the Top TEFL Certification Course of 2018 and 2019, the Best Teach Provider in 2020, a Finalist for Innovation in Alumni Engagement in 2024, and in 2025 – the Top Rated TEFL Course in the Czech Republic!
Courses offered monthly at teflworldwideprague.com
