Depending on their levels, many students may not be confident enough in their speaking to volunteer to speak in front of their classmates and teachers. It is a social risk to open themselves up and be vulnerable in front of their school community. Students learning a second language take the chance of being mocked or humiliated if they mispronounce words or say them out of order in a sentence. At times, even we as teachers don’t realize that we are embarrassing students in the way we correct them.

There are many learning strategies appropriate for an ESL classroom, but one way to encourage ESL students to practice speaking English is to create a low-pressure scenario using fun games. Students may be hesitant to participate at first, but before they know it, they will be taking risks and speaking aloud without even realizing it! Here are a few fun games to try with your ESL students.

ESL Games to Try in Your Classroom

Taboo

In my opinion, Taboo is the best game to get students talking when they might normally be timid and shy. Taboo is a great way for students to practice their vocabulary when describing nouns. There are several ways to play this game, but to start, I would recommend playing as a whole class to model the concept.

Create a Powerpoint or Google Slide presentation with one noun on each slide. Have one student sit in a chair in front of the board, facing the class. The class then describes the word that is displayed on the board (without using the actual word) until the student seated up front guesses the word. A modification of this could be to assign students into groups of four or five with a stack of index cards with nouns written on them in the middle.

Students take turns giving clues to the guesser until they say the word that is on the card. In the end, the student with the most cards successfully guessed is the winner. This game is always fun and students become more and more engaged as the game progresses. It is great for practicing vocabulary and synonyms, and the team aspect takes the spotlight off of a single speaker.

Pictionary

Like Taboo, this game is great for creating an atmosphere that is low-pressure and fast-paced for students to take risks in speaking. For Pictionary, have the class divided into two teams with each team sending one student to the board at a time. Divide the board into two sides and give each student at the board a card with a word (noun) to draw out for their teams to guess.

Setting a timer and having students draw as many words as they can while their team correctly guesses them before the timer runs out can add a fun level of intensity to the game. The team with the most words successfully guessed wins!

Guess Who?

Guess Who? is a great way for teams of two to practice adjectives and to use vocabulary words that describe physical attributes. This is especially low-stress for the most timid and shy ESL students, since they will only be speaking with one other person and not in front of the entire class.

The concept of the game is simple to use for any grade level. When using this game, be careful to actively monitor students so that they do not slip back into their first language when they think that no one is listening to them. Older students can play best three out of five games, or turn it into a class tournament and post the winners for other classes to see.

Jenga

Modifying Jenga to practice conversational English is a great way to get students speaking English aloud with each other in pairs or small groups. The teacher should use a permanent marker to write one question in English on each block piece. As a player removes a piece, they must ask the question to another player, who must answer the question in English before the other player can place the piece on the top of the tower. Here are several examples of questions to write on the blocks.

• Can you describe your favorite animal?
• Who lives at your home?
• Can you describe your favorite place to be?
• What is your favorite meal?

The bonus to using this game is that it also builds community and positive relationships within the classroom. Students will get to know each other and it can double as an icebreaker.

There are many more useful and fun games to implement in an ESL classroom. The key is to look for opportunities for students to speak English with each other in a low-stress, safe environment. Providing positive feedback and being extra conscientious of our own reactions to students speaking English will also encourage students’ willingness to take risks and try new words! These four examples will get you started on the road to students speaking English and having fun at the same time!

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Struggles ESL Learners May Face with eLearning

As challenging as it may seem to a regular education student, imagine if English is not a student’s first language. ESL (English as a Second Language) learners are facing so many additional struggles with eLearning. Access to online platforms can be very confusing. When ESL learners have to navigate through it on their own because their parents also do not speak the language, their participation will be impeded.

Additionally, the lack of face-to-face interactions with their teachers inhibits comprehension of lessons. Many teachers may just post activities with only typed directions. Because of this, ESL learners may be lost right from the beginning. ESL learners need to watch their teachers explain items and have a chance to ask a question right at that moment to clarify any misunderstandings. Teachers’ body language also helps with comprehension. When all of this is missing, ESL learners are going to struggle.

Finally, teachers cannot forget about the emotional stress that ESL learners may be under due to the pandemic. The majority of ESL students still have families and friends living in different countries. They may be experiencing fear and worry for those that they are not with during this difficult time. Teachers need to reach out to these students as much as possible while not in school. Online learning is just one of the many challenges ESL students are facing right now.

ESL Resources for eLearning

To help ESL learners at home, teachers can share a variety of apps and websites for them to use. There are so many resources on the web that assist with listening, speaking, reading, writing, and culture. Providing these websites and apps to ESL learners can help them progress with their language skills and overcome struggles with eLearning.

Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab. This is a website that provides listening practice for different language levels. The activities range from easy to academic listening on so many interesting topics. The listening activities have pre-listening questions, vocabulary to practice ahead of time, and then comprehension questions to answer after a student listens. This website also provides vocabulary lessons and quizzes and even cultural activities.

Activities for ESL Students. This is a website that provides vocabulary and grammar practice. Students can choose from easy, medium, or difficult levels. Then, there are many vocabulary and grammar quizzes on a large range of topics. Students can practice how to respond to sentences with the correct phrase. They can practice vocabulary for the classroom, group nouns, even homonyms. Teachers for The Internet TESL Journal created all of these quizzes.

VOA Learning English. This is another great website that is actually a free language course. It is set up with weekly video lessons that have ESL learners practicing speaking, vocabulary, and writing. This will have high interest level for secondary ESL learners because it follows the lives of young Americans. It also provides practice for pronunciation and vocabulary. ESL learners can choose from beginner level videos to advanced. Students are encouraged to follow the videos in sequence.

MosaLingua. In addition to websites, there are hundreds of English learning apps that ESL learners can download onto their phones. MosaLingua has students choose from 14 different categories of vocabulary and then creates flashcards, dialogues, and basic English grammar to help with communication. Beginners to advanced students can find vocabulary to suit their language level. The audio clips that are also provided with this app will help ESL learners with pronunciation.

SpeakingPal. This is an app that can fill the void for ESL learners in regard to practicing their speaking and getting immediate feedback from a teacher or native-English speaker. The lessons on SpeakingPal will teach ESL students new vocabulary and will have them respond to a variety of conversations. When the ESL student speaks into the app, words will be highlighted that need better pronunciation. The app will provide the pronunciation and have the student keep practicing it until they say it correctly. The goal of the app is to help ESL students be understood when they speak.

Busuu. This is another app to improve vocabulary and grammar for ESL learners. The lessons can be personalized to the needs and level of a student. They are self-paced and also provide a social component in which a student can get feedback from native-English speakers. The native-English speakers will comment on the students writing and pronunciation.

Google Slides. Teachers can also help ESL students with eLearning by providing video explanations of tasks that need to be completed. Furthermore, if teachers are using slides to present new material, providing the video recording and captions will increase comprehension for ESL students. Google Slides is an easy way to create presentations with video recordings, and it automatically generates captions from the video recordings.

Although these websites and apps are not going to replace in-class learning, they will be invaluable for ESL learners as they are navigating the new world of eLearning. Teachers can provide lists of apps and websites to their students and encourage them to use the sites in addition to the work that is provided through their schools. eLearning can be overwhelming with the amount of information out there. So, by providing a small list of websites and apps to try, ESL students will be more likely to actually use them and find success.

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