Suggested Sites

Lesson plans, simulations, games, environments

Lesson plans for using games (variety of types)

• • British Council/BBC's Teaching English - search for games: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ - primary and secondary, mostly non-computer

    • Grammar Auction: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/grammar-auction

  • Six games for the EFL/ESL classroom (2000) by Aydan Ersöz at http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Ersoz-Games.html

Language oriented sites (best with partners; link to curriculum)

These are good for a students of different ages. You will need to select ones that work for your students and your curriculum.

• • British Council Fun and Games, part of its LearnEnglish Kids area: https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/fun-games/games

  • EnglishClub: https://www.englishclub.com/esl-games/index.htm

  • ESL Games World - some online, some to download: https://www.eslgamesworld.com/members/games/index.html 

  • Brain Food (not just ELT) - look at language puzzles, logic puzzles, discrete reasoning puzzles: http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/ 

    • Advanced word games: http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/c/word.shtml 

    • Riddles can be fun for intermediate and above: http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/p/riddles1.shtml

  • American English online - The Lighter Side of TEFL. Select one or more that are appropriate for your level, then print them out to use them. These are more fun with learners in groups: https://americanenglish.state.gov/search/solr/Lighter%20side

  • Activities for ESL Students - exercises and games to play online. Be selective - many of these are ordinary quizzes: http://a4esl.org

  • Many Things for ESL Students - exercises and games to play online. The Flash games are interesting. This site was recently revised to be more mobile-friendly: http://www.manythings.org

  • American English online - music and games section: https://americanenglish.state.gov/culture-music-and-game-resources

    • Board games to print out: https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/activate-board-games 

    • Picture cards to print out: https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/activate-picture-this 

Game downloads (good for one-computer classroom or a lab)

Try these yourself first. You may need to add language activities to some of these, such as reporting or discussing with a team. Simulations are more complex than the simple games elsewhere, so be prepared to spend more class time on them or ask students to work on them in teams outside of class.

• • Download Free Games. Most are shareware with a free trial; some are good for young learners. Many work only on Windows; others are Android and iOS versions. Try them yourself first. You will probably need to add language activities, such as reporting on what you did: https://www.download-free-games.com/download/cat/simulation/

  • C-Evo - a free game where you build a civilization (Windows) at http://www.c-evo.org/files/files.php  or FreeCiv (similar game, but for Mac): https://sourceforge.net/projects/freeciv/ 

  • LavaMind - some mobile apps, including Biztopia and Jackpot Words: https://www.lavamind.com/ Most are free demos for games you pay to download.

  • The SIMS - a commercial game with online help and a large online community. If your students have this game, then you can add ask learners to read the help files and contribute to the forum in English: https://www.thesims3.com/

  • LinCity city creation game (free download for Windows or Linux) at https://sourceforge.net/projects/lincity-ng.berlios/ 

Teacher templates and creation tools

• • Templates with instructions (Jeopardy, Taboo) at https://www.eslgamesworld.com/members/games/templates/index.html

  • A variety of templates, including Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and Family Feud at https://www.lifewire.com/free-powerpoint-games-for-teachers-1358169 and https://games4esl.com/powerpointgames/  

  • Jeopardy-style game: see https://www.quia.com/cb/6309.html for a two-player example , or create your own from a template at https://jeopardylabs.com/ (online)

    • Sample Jeopardy game: https://jeopardylabs.com/play/basic-vocabulary-29

  • Wheel of Fortune game: https://www.gamesbytim.com/wheel-of-fortune-for-powerpoint/

  • Who Wants to be a Millionaire: Find a game on a specific topic or create a game online at https://www.superteachertools.us/millionaire/

  • Board game templates to fill in and print out

    • https://eslgamesworld.com/GamesTemplates.html

    • https://canva.com – free registration; search for board games and customize the ones you want

    • https://games4esl.com/printables/board-game-templates/ 

    • https://www.toolsforeducators.com/boardgames/  

  • Quiz maker for individual or team play - Kahoot! at https://www.kahoot.it

  • Crossword puzzle maker (just two of many): https://worksheets.theteacherscorner.net/make-your-own/crossword/ and https://crosswordlabs.com/ 

  • Create your own adventure makers: https://web.uvic.ca/hrd/quandary/index.php (only for Windows) and https://www.inklewriter.com/ (web-based)

Vocabulary games (play with partners)

• • Non-violent hangman (vocab): see https://www.novelgames.com/flashgames/game.php?id=8 (online) - watch for ads.

  • Boggle-style game (vocab): online (watch for ads, but students can click on a list of words that they didn't find after they finish) at https://www.wordtwist.org/init4.php

  • Fast English - timed matching game on different categories of vocabulary at https://www.gamestolearnenglish.com/fast-english/ - individual play, but there's a leaderboard. 

  • British Council vocabulary games: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/vocabulary/vocabulary-games 

    • WordShake is like Boggle: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/games/wordshake 

  • See more in the Apps section below - Kahoot! has quite a few options and can be played on computer or in the app.

Reading games

• • 5-minute mysteries at https://www.5minutemystery.com

  • Evil Landlady Action Maze (create your own adventure) at http://english-zone.com/convo/llady/llady01.htm

Listening games

• • English Club – online dictation at https://www.englishclub.com/listening/dictation.htm – sentence or paragraph length.

  • Listen and Write – more dictation options at https://www.listen-and-write.com - but lots of ads

  • ESL Games World at https://www.eslgamesworld.com/members/games/vocabulary/ has audio vocabulary concentration games

  • Non-digital information gap games: see ESLActivities at https://www.eslactivity.org/information-gap-activities, ESLKidsGames at https://eslkidsgames.com/category/listening-activity, and Montana Rogers-FluentU at https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/information-gap-esl/ . Any of these can be a lot of fun because they’re interactive and learners are solving puzzles.

Writing games

• • ABCya - skill-building for young learners, from tracing letters to punctuation to writing a letter at https://www.abcya.com/games/category/writing. Music and points make this feel more game-like.

  • 5-Card Flickr – choose five randomly-generated images and write about them at https://5card.cogdogblog.com/play.php?suit=5card – individual or team; vote for best story

  • Dictations, as above:

    • English Club – online dictation at https://www.englishclub.com/listening/dictation.htm – sentence or paragraph length.

    • Listen and Write – more dictation options at https://www.listen-and-write.com - but lots of ads

Grammar games

• • ESL Games World at https://www.eslgamesworld.com/members/games/grammar/

  • Games to Learn English at https://www.gamestolearnenglish.com/ has matching and sentence completion activities with points. One advantage of this site is that it has an explanation for the teacher with each game – very helpful! 

  • See more in the apps below, including Kahoot! at https://kahoot.com/ with thousands of ready-made grammar quizzes for individual or team play. Team play is more fun.

Online simulations and games

• • Online banking simulations (free) - content-based; good for intermediate and above. This takes a bit of setup: https://www.moneyinstructor.com/onlinebanking.asp

  • Simunomics, an online multiplayer business simulation (free) - good for more advanced students: https://www.simunomics.com/Login.php

  • LavaMind - some free trials, including Gazillionaire and Zapitalism, as well as some mobile apps: https://www.lavamind.com/ - pay for the full versions.

  • Sim City classic (free online game) - okay for a range of levels, with help. Not a very pretty interface, though: https://archive.org/details/msdos_SimCity_1989

    • SimCity commercial version at https://www.ea.com/games/simcity

  • Virtual Stock Exchange (free) - good for relatively advanced English for Finance students: http://vse.marketwatch.com/Game/Homepage.aspx

  • Quandary for creating action mazes (create your own adventure) at https://web.uvic.ca/hrd/quandary/index.php

Games for change - simulations

• • Search the Games for Change website for the platform and type of game: https://www.gamesforchange.org/games/ 

  • Way - two people who don't speak the same language need to communicate: https://makeourway.com/ (download)

  • Stop Disasters emergency preparedness game (free) - very good for content-based classes with intermediate to advanced students: https://www.stopdisastersgame.org/

  • Spent - simulation about living on a very limited amount of money: http://playspent.org/html/

  • Immigration Nation at https://www.icivics.org/games/immigration-nation

    • More simulations related to US government at iCivics: https://www.icivics.org/

Apps

See Kathy Schrock's Bloomin' Apps at https://www.schrockguide.net/bloomin-apps.html for an extensive list of apps, organized by Bloom's Taxonomy and by the SAMR system.

• • Johnny Grammar's Word Challenge: vocabulary, grammar, spelling quiz. Information at https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/apps/johnny-grammars-word-challenge; Apple and Google Play store

  • Kahoot! - many ready-made quizzes for individual or team play, or create your own. Information at https://kahoot.com or download the app at Apple or Google Play. 

  • Words With Friends - play a scrabble-type game with multiple people online. Information at https://www.zynga.com/games/words-with-friends-2/; download at Apple or Google Play

  • HeadsUp! ($.99) - one person holds the phone screen on their forehead and others give clues about the word. Way more fun than it sounds here. Apple and Google Play.

Learning environments/Virtual worlds (play with partners or small groups)

• • Facebook Games - join Facebook to play; can be multi-player, and usually can go for extended periods of time; okay for a range of ages and levels: Farmville, Oregon Trail, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. Watch to make sure that students don't buy things.

  • Second Life - download software, then register to use the site online; requires careful supervision: https://secondlife.com

    • Start with videos about Second Life

      • Teacher training videos about Second Life from Nik Peachey: https://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2008/02/second-life-teacher-training-videos.html 

      • Introductory video by Second Life about Second Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3gHCupXSMs

    • Edunation - virtual meeting rooms and resources for teachers: https://maps.secondlife.com/?q=edunation&s=Places

  • Whyville - virtual world for children with a hidden math and science focus. Read about it on their PDF: http://www.whyville.net/rjj/whyvilleBrochure_2015.pdf This world is free, but make sure that students don't try to buy things. Registration is free and allows more flexibility in what you can do: http://www.whyville.net/ 

Note: this site is the older http:// format, not the more secure https:// format

Last updated 11 March 2024 by D. Healey.