4 Fun and Engaging Vocabulary Games for ESL Learners

4 Great Vocabulary Games For ESL learners. Let's take a look!

13 Sep, 20223 min read

Hi everyone! In today's blog, you will find 4 fun and engaging vocabulary games for ESL learners. Let's get started!!

The first game is ''I SPY...'' You can play this game with a group or just a student. Student A says ''I spy with my little eye, something beginning with a (says the initial letter of the word they see around.) ''D'' (Door). The other students try to find the object and if they still can't find it, you ask the student to give some clues. For example, ''What color is it?'' and the student replies: ''It is brown.'' Whoever finds the right answer, becomes the next student to play.

The second game is ''Ball Pass''. To play this game, you need a circle of students and a softball to play. First, have all your students sit or stand in a circle. Then choose a topic that is interesting and appropriate for their language level. For example, you can choose ''foods'' as a topic for young learners. You start the game by saying a food name and throwing the ball at another student. Everyone who throws the ball has to say an English word related to the topic. But don't forget, students who drop the ball are out of the game!

The third game is ''Blindfold Guess''. It's a really good play to teach ''Is it a/an...?'' or ''Does it have...?'' questions and animals or other things for young learners. You choose one student and blindfold her/him. Then you give the student a plastic animal and tell her/him to feel it and ask questions to guess the animal. Students ask questions like ''Does it have white fur?'' or ''Is it a lion?''. You can give the student a 1-minute time to guess the animal. If she/he guesses the animal right, you can give them prizes! Great for improving young learners' senses and vocabulary input.

The fourth game is ''Draw it!''. You choose one student to come to the board and then whisper a word into her/his ear. Then the student tries to explain the word by drawing. The first student to guess the word comes to the board to play. This game can be good for beginner learners to practice new vocabulary. It's fun and really useful.