Keeping your 1-1 online lessons engaging is the single most difficult thing for an esl trainer. As trainers, it is easy for us to find various resources spread across the internet for a fun group lesson but the 1-1 lessons especially for children becomes a little bit of a hassle.
Inorder to tackle this situation, there is a necessity to jump into the psyche of the students. Traditional classrooms run for atleast 45 - 60 min but according to scientific research, a student can only be attentive in a class for 15-20 minutes straight. Consequentially, there is a need for their brain to be stimulated atleast twice (for 2-3min) in a 60 min class. What better way to do that other than have them play some ESL games where they get to passively learn and play at the same time. So, here is the list of 5 most successful esl games employed in our online classes.
Note: The ESL games given below are applicable for both adults and young learners.
Let's build a story together!
This is a definite hit in any esl class, especially for beginners. The title is quite self-explanatory - the trainer and the student are equal participants where each take turn to write one line trying to develop a story as they progress. What makes it an interesting game is that the participants can easily redirect the genre from horror to comedy to thriller or change the arc of the characters at any given point as they please. This game is also an absolute firecracker for a group class (you're guaranteed to ROFL!)
FOR: Beginners and young learners
Say 3 things about me
Right of the bat, this particular game is best suited for the intermediates who are fairly exposed to the language. This game easily exposes the students to the creative usage of the same word and familiarizes them with the different parts of speech. In this game, the student has to frame 3 sentences using the word given by the trainer. The catch is that the word given should be used in 3 different forms - as a verb, as a noun and in an idiom for each of the sentence formed.
An instance of how this game is to be employed in class is that the trainer comes up with a common word like "eye" for which the student frames the first sentence with an idiom of the word - "Eye for an eye is never a solution to any problem"; The second sentence uses the verb form of the word - "I have been eyeing (verb) that jewellery for a long time" and the third sentence uses the noun form of the word - "There is an issue with my eye (noun)".
FOR: Intermediates and Beginners
Picture Description
Okay, this one has to be on the list! There's a reason this particular activity has been widely used by millions of trainers over the years in Esl classrooms, both online and offline. The activity is especially simple - the trainer shows the student a picture and the student has to start describing it in a way, they best could. At times, when the students find it difficult to articulate or are puzzled on what to say, the trainers are required to step in and provide certain cue cards so as to help the students navigate through their ideas. This, further, prevents them from deviating too much from the topic of discussion.
FOR: Beginners and Intermediates
Figure me out
The next ESL activity is "Figure me out" which is a take on the literal and figurative meaning of the words. The trainer gives a word for the student to frame a sentence. The rule in this game, however, is that the student should not use the word or phrase in the literal sense but is rather restricted only to the figurative one. For instance, the trainer gives the word 'star' for which the student might frame a sentence that goes like "My daughter is the brightest shining star". Here, the word 'star' refers to the figurative meaning - excellence and not the literal meaning which is the heavenly body.
This game opens the students up to what we call the contextual meaning of words and helps them be discerning when conversing with a native speaker.
FOR: Intermediates
Story Building 2
This one is quite similar to the previously mentioned story building game. Here, the student is required to develop a story all on their own without the interference of the trainer except for one aspect. The trainer provides the student with a word that is randomly selected from a lot mix which has equal number of noun. verb and adjective. The student should form each sentence of the story using the words given on the spot. This particular game keeps the students on their toe as they have absolutely no idea about the word that is going to be thrown at them the next minute. It probes their creative thinking and helps them become more self-assured about their language skills. This ESL game also concentrates on the use of appropriate conjunctions as they learn to connect each sentences together to form a story.
FOR: Intermediates
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