Grammar glee? Yeah, I’ve got it. My students? Not so much. So when I overhear adult ESL students telling each other how much fun my grammar class is and how much they learn, YES, my head fills the doorway. The secret? Just play a grammar game! Our adult ESL students want opportunities to talk, especially in a safe and supportive environment. They want to practice the grammar they’ve learned in speaking activities, not just doing worksheets, no matter how much fun the worksheets might be. (Hey, mine ARE!)
Read on for three grammar games that are guaranteed to get them speaking!
Article Contents
Grammar Game #1: Late for Work
What I love about this grammar game:
Students can earn points for their own questions/answers AND if their partner slips up and doesn’t follow instructions. Consequently, this compels them to really pay attention to what they say and what their partners say in the quest to rack up as many points as possible.
With this grammar game, upper levels don’t earn any points if there is a grammatical error. For lower levels, I encourage them to correct each other and ask for help (from neighboring classmates as well as the teacher) when needed.
Grammar Concepts:
- information questions
- simple past tense
- past progressive tense (possibly)
Characters:
late employee, supervisor/boss (for odd numbers, have two late employees that commuted together, at least part of the way)
Preview:
Depending upon your students’ language and comfort level, you may wish to give the supervisors time to come up with some starter questions and the employees to devise answers to questions they think they might be asked.
How to play:
- First, the supervisor asks an information question to discover why the employee is late. Then the employee answers with a full-sentence answer. The supervisor is suspicious and asks MANY more questions to try to catch the employee in a lie. Supervisors gain one point for each information question asked AND one point for any answer the employees give that is not a full sentence.
- The employee answers all information questions with a full-sentence answer. The employee gains one point for each answer AND one point for any yes/no questions the supervisor asks. If there are two employees, they must take turns answers the questions. The supervisor can only earn/lose points on every other question.
Extension: Switch! Have the supervisors tell whether they thought the stories were believable or not. The employees now ask information questions to find out what made it believable/unbelievable.
Grammar Game #2: Speed Fortune-Telling
What I love about this grammar game:
Students can come with some really wild answers!
Grammar Concepts:
- information questions
- future tense
Characters:
fortune tellers, fortune seekers
Preview:
Have all students write 10-15 information questions using the future tense. This may be only the simple future for lower-level students, but higher levels can choose (or be required to) include future progressive, future perfect, or even future perfect progressive.
How to Play:
- First, have all the fortune tellers sit in a row (or in a circle, facing outwards, if space permits). Place a chair in front of each fortune teller, facing him/her.
- Begin with a fortune seeker in front of each fortune teller.
- Give students a time limit of 30 seconds to one minute during which the fortune seeker must ask as many questions and the fortune teller answer as many as possible.
- At the end of the time, all fortune seekers move one space to the left (or the right), and time begins again.
NOTES:
Encourage students to switch up the order of the questions they ask.
If you have an odd number of students, choose one of the students who has a stronger grasp of English and have her/him be the “assistant” to help random fortune tellers who get stuck for an idea on how to answer a question.
After any predetermined amount of time (your choice), have students switch roles and continue.
Extension: Have students write their favorite answer to each question. They may have to re-consult their fortune teller to get the exact (or as close as possible) wording.
Grammar Game #3: Hot Seat!
What I love about this grammar game:
Students have so much fun trying to trip each other up in this grammar game. Plus, requiring them NOT to answer a yes/no question with a yes or a no forces them to really think about how to answer, and the ticking clock ensures they don’t let themselves get hung up on just one question.
Grammar Concepts:
- yes/no questions
- information answers
- present tenses (simple present, present progressive, present perfect)
- With level 1: Use simple present
- For level 2: Use simple present and present progressive
- And with level 3: Use simple present, present progressive, present perfect
Preview:
Instruct students to create as many yes/no questions as they possibly can. Tell them that they will be asking a classmate and encourage them to include unusual and funny questions. For example: Do you ever brush your hair with your toothbrush? Are you sweating right now? Have you ever lied about being late for class? Depending on time constraints, you may wish to assign this as homework.
How to Play:
- First, place one chair at the front of the classroom, facing the students. This is the “hot seat.”
- Second, explain to students that one student will sit in that chair while the rest of the class takes turns to ask as many questions as they can. The student in the hot seat must answer WITHOUT saying “yes” or “no.” For example: I never brush my hair with my toothbrush. I am sweating right now. I have lied about being late for this class.
- For each answer that does NOT include yes/no, the class earns one point. For each answer that began with yes/no (even if the student interrupted himself/herself), the teacher earns one point. However, when the student corrects himself/herself and finishes the answer, I generally still allow them to earn a point, which equals it out.
- Give each person in the Hot Seat a time limit of one-two minutes to answer as many questions as he/she can.
Extension: Now, put YOURSELF in the hot seat and let the students attack you with their questions!
Read more about teaching adult ESL grammar!
- 2 Fun Activities for Reviewing Prepositions of Time
- Guide Them into Understanding Coordinating Conjunctions
- Conditionals Worksheets: 6 Quick Ways to Make Them FUN!
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