Many of you may be wondering what fun, short and easy to prepare activities or games you could do during your online sessions with your students. You can find a selection of activities and games below.
If you already have a great toolbox of fun games and activities, we would love to hear from you so we can share it with the language teacher community.
Write a selection of words on the Zoom whiteboard (or on a Google Slideshow/ OneNote page) and let students memorise them for a set time. Once the time is up, cover the words and students have to write down as many words as they can remember.
Scoring: If the word is correctly spelled, students get 2 points, if the word is correct but incorrectly spelled, they get one point (e.g. wrong tone or letter).
Variation: Read out the words instead of writing them down. Read them about 3 times.
Extension: Let students write/ say sentences (or tell a story) with the words used.
Students get an old-fashioned piece of paper, draw their grid and write down their words - there are so many ways of playing this :)
Use the chat function to send one student a word to mime. Get the student to mime it as they would in the classroom.
Use a virtual dice to play traditional vocab games by throwing the dice and asking questions. Prepare tasks from 1-6 (or 1-12 if playing with two dice) and play online.
Use the Whiteboard in Zoom to play this old-fashioned game
This can easily be played online and helps with training students' memory. For further variations, follow this link.
The teacher starts with a short background story - going on holidays, going for a picnic packing your school bag etc. and then gives a starter sentence, e.g. I'm packing my bag and I take a pair of jandals.
The next student has to repeat the sentence including the item of the teacher and adds one item. The next student repeats the teacher's and the first student's items and add their own. This continues until everyone had a go. The class can help with gestures or words.
The original game penalises a student who gets the order wrong or forgets an item. You could give this student an extra little task so they don't just leave the game.
Use the chat function to send one student a word to draw. Get the student to draw it on the Zoom whiteboard or if this is too difficult, students can draw on paper and show it into the camera.
Pair students up and share Spot-the-difference picture. Use the breakout rooms for bigger classes or do it a s a whole group for smaller classes.
Share a picture through screen sharing and let students find the differences by using the annotation tools. Turn it into a competition - who is fastest, who can find all the differences etc.
Just play it as you would in a normal classroom. This helps your students to get active in front of their screen.
Another old-fashioned game, which can be played during your online session, using pen and paper. For ideas on categories, check out this website. You can also use parts of speech as categories, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives.
Let one student count through the alphabet quietly until another student says stop. The letter, at which the student stops is the starting letter for the words for each category. All students try to find one word per category. The person who finishes all categories first says stop.
Scoring: Students get 2 points if nobody else has it and 1 point for words that other students have, too.
Use the chat function to send one student a word to explain. Get the student to explain it as they would in the classroom.
Students play in pairs, using the Zoom breakout rooms. They have to know the meaning of a word (or describe what it means for seniors) to win a square.
Students think of a vocabulary and write it on the Zoom whiteboard. The class has to guess the word. You can turn it into a competition by scoring.
Prepare a variety of objects (e.g. classroom objects) on a tray. You can write the items on the Zoom whiteboard or prepare Powerpoint slides (first slide with all objects and then subsequent slides with an object each missing) and share your screen and play.
1. Show them to your students for 10 seconds and then take something away (without showing students what by pausing sharing and resuming) and students then guess what is missing.
2. Get students to write down everything on the tray after you showed all the items for 10 seconds. Students can add how many of each item you showed them - good for practising plurals!
This word game requires kids to create their own words from a longer word you give them. Choose one really long word with at least 8-10 letters. Kids need to try to find as many smaller words using the letters from the long word.
For example the word COMPUTER includes put, cot, term, core, mop, top, pet. Etc.
The student who can find most words, wins.
Students describe a simple picture to a partner to draw - use the Zoom breakout room. Students could describe their bedroom, their house, their garden, their favourite toy etc. Students draw their own creative pictures for a word or phrase. The more peculiar the better.
Use flashcards to jog students' imagination. one student starts the story with the first sentence and then each student takes a turn by adding another sentence. You could use the chat function to turn it into a written game or use Google docs/ OneNote.
Students are given a full sentence with the incorrect word order (use the Zoom whiteboard, chat function or create a Google Slide/ Powerpoint and share your screen. You say the sentence correctly and students listen and rearrange the given words according to what you say.
Students write 3 statements about themselves, e.g. things they like/ dislike. Two of them are true and one is a lie.
Students could send you the statements as homework and then during the online session, they have to guess who wrote it and what is the lie.
Alternatively, you do it all in the online session and students present their own 3 statements and classmates guess the lie. Very good game to train memory.
Put together a selection of questions for your current topic. Then add one group of words students shouldn't use (common words like interesting, nice etc.) and one group of words students should use (new words introduced during topic). Give students some time to think about answers to your questions in form of a mini speech. Classmates should check that words are note being use/ are being used. Follow-up with synonyms alternative ways to express a word they shouldn't use.
Competition: give/ take points for word used correctly/ incorrectly.
Students work in pairs or small groups. Give them a set time and ask them to write down as many words, phrases and/ or expressions from the last session as they can remember. The pair or group with the most items wins. You could add some music while students write down their words.
Variation: Students can earn extra points for correct spelling.
Addition: Students use the words in context and build sentences/ dialogue/ stories.
Great website to practise pronunciation and vocabulary in Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Korean as well as many other languages. You can use it as listening or reading practice.
This website offers a free memory card game in French, German, Japanese and Spanish and other languages. You can choose specific topics. Students can play this at home or you can play it during your online session.
Quizlet live: use the Zoom breakout rooms for the groups - assign the breakout rooms manually after Quizlet sorts the groups
Matching: Share your screen and play the Matching mode in Quizlet. Either get students to tell you the matching pairs or get them to use their annotation tools to connect them
Great collection of listening, vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing activities, many taken from Gianfranco Conti.
Short and fun ideas to use in your online lessons with almost no preparation needed and adaptable for different age groups.