10 Fun ESL Games and Activities for Teaching English Abroad

If there's one thing experienced ESL teachers agree on, it's this: games aren't just a fun bonus—they're one of the most effective teaching tools you have.

Whether you're warming up a sleepy Monday class in Seoul, breaking down a tough grammar point in Madrid, or keeping a group of energetic 8-year-olds engaged in Bangkok, the right ESL game can transform your lesson. Students stay focused, build confidence, and—most importantly—actually enjoy learning.

The 10 ESL games below are road-tested by teachers around the world. They work across age groups and levels, require minimal prep, and are easy to adapt whether you're teaching in a physical classroom or online. Keep these in your back pocket and you'll never be caught scrambling for a plan B.

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• Skills practiced: Vocabulary, grammar 
• Best for: All levels and ages 
• Materials needed: Blackboard or whiteboard, chalk or markers, eraser 

Board Race is a classroom staple for a reason—it's energetic, competitive, and genuinely effective for vocabulary review. You can use it to kick off a lesson, revisit content from last week, or gauge what students already know before diving into a new topic.

It works best with six or more students, but you can adapt it for smaller groups. I've run it successfully with students as young as seven and as old as 25.

• Split the class into two teams and give each team a different-colored marker.
• Draw a line down the middle of the board and write a topic at the top (e.g., "animals," "food," "past tense verbs").
• Teams race to write as many related words as possible in relay format—one student writes, then passes the marker to the next.
• Award one point per correct, legible, correctly spelled word.

💡 Pro tip: Use a timer to add urgency. Two minutes is usually the sweet spot.

• Skills practiced: Speaking, listening, 
• Who it's best for: Teens and adults 
• Materials needed: None

This is the perfect icebreaker at the beginning of a new term (especially with a small class size!) or with a group that doesn't know each other yet. It's also a low-pressure way to get students speaking from day one—you might be surprised what you learn about them.

• Write three statements about yourself on the board: two true, one false.
• Let students ask you questions and try to guess which one is the lie.
• Extend the game by having students write their own three statements, then pair up and play with each other.
• Rotate partners every five minutes to maximize speaking practice, then bring the class back together to share one new thing they learned about a classmate.

💡 Pro tip: Save corrections for after the game. Interrupting students to fix grammar while they're speaking breaks their fluency and confidence.

• Skills practiced: Listening comprehension, vocabulary 
• Best for: Young learners
• Materials needed: None

Whether you’re waking them up on a Monday morning or sending them home on a Friday afternoon, this one is bound to get them excited and wanting more! Zero prep, zero materials, unlimited energy—Simon Says is a go-to for young learners who need to move. The sillier you are, the more they'll love it (and you).

The only danger I have found with this game is that students never want to stop playing it.

• Stand at the front of the class—you're Simon!
• Call out an action with "Simon says..." and do it yourself. Students must copy you.
• Occasionally give an action without saying "Simon says." Anyone who does it is out and sits down.
• The last student standing wins.
• Want to make it trickier? Speed up as the game progresses!

💡 Pro tip: Let well-behaved students take a turn as Simon. It's a great reward and gives them extra speaking practice.

• Skills practiced: Grammar, word order, spelling, writing skills 
• Best for: All ages and levels
• Materials needed: Paper, colored markers, scissors 

This game is excellent for practicing sentence structure, tenses, and word order—and the competitive element keeps energy high across all age groups.

• Before class, write 3–5 sentences on paper in different colors, one color per team.
• Cut each sentence into individual words.
• Place each scrambled sentence into a cup or envelope, one per team.
• Teams race to rearrange their words into the correct sentence.
• The first team with all sentences correctly ordered wins!

💡 Pro tip: Write sentences that include the grammar point you've been teaching. It doubles as a low-key assessment.

• Skills practiced: Vocabulary 
• Best for: Young learners 
• Materials needed: Blackboard or whiteboard, chalk or markers 

Hangman is a classic for a reason—it's quick (5 minutes or even less!), requires zero prep, and works with any vocabulary list. It's best used as a five-minute warm-up or filler rather than a main activity, since it can get repetitive.

• Think of a word and draw dashes on the board for each letter.
• Ask students to suggest letters one at a time.
• Correct letters go in the right spots; incorrect ones get added to the side, and you draw one body part of the hanging figure.
• Students win if they guess the word before the figure is complete.

💡 Pro tip: Let students pick the words once they get the hang of it—it gives them ownership and reinforces spelling.

• Skills practiced: Vocabulary 
• Best for: All ages
• Materials needed: Bag or box, slips of paper with target vocabulary words, blackboard or chalkboard, chalk or markers, eraser 

Pictionary works well with every age and skill level because it doesn't feel like studying. Kids love getting creative, teens love not having to speak, and adults appreciate the break from repetitive learning. Meanwhile, everyone's actively recalling vocabulary—win for all!

• Before class, write target vocabulary words on slips of paper and put them in a bag.
• Divide the class into two teams
• One student from each team draws a word from the bag and illustrates it on the board—no letters, no speaking.
• Their team shouts guesses. First to get it right earns a point.
• Rotate drawers so every student gets at least one turn.
• Repeat this until all the words are gone - make sure you have enough words that each student gets to draw at least once!

💡 Pro tip: Use words from your current unit so the game reinforces what you've been teaching.

• Skills practiced: Vocabulary, speaking 
• Best for: Young learners, but appropriate for all ages
• Materials needed: Bag or box, paper to write actions 

Miming is fantastic for practicing action verbs and tenses, and it's especially useful when you're short on materials and resources or planning time. Adults will tire of it faster than kids, so keep rounds snappy with older groups.

• Before class, write action phrases on slips of paper (e.g., "washing the dishes," "running in the rain") and place them in a bag.
• Split the class into two teams.
• One student from each team comes to the front, draws an action, and mimes it simultaneously.
• The first team to shout the correct answer scores a point.
• Rotate until every student has had a turn.

💡 Pro tip: Tailor the actions to your students' interests. If they're teens who love soccer, include sports-related actions. A sense of relevance keeps them engaged.

• Skills practiced: Vocabulary, speaking, listening 
• Best for: All ages and levels 
• Materials needed: A chair, whiteboard, markers

Hot Seat is consistently one of the most-requested games when I ask students what they want to play. It builds vocabulary fast, gets everyone involved, and creates genuine excitement in the room.

• Split the class into 2 teams, or more if you have a large class.
• Elect one person from each team to sit in the Hot Seat, facing the classroom with the board behind them.
• Write a word on the board.
• Their teammates describe the word without saying it, spelling it, or drawing it—the student in the hot seat guesses.
• Set a time limit and rotate until everyone has had a turn in the "hot seat".

💡 Pro tip: Project a countdown timer on screen to add pressure and pacing.

• Skills practiced: Prepositions, speaking, listening 
• Best for: All ages and levels 
• Materials needed: Desks, tables, chairs, and other classroom furniture 

This game is genuinely fun, slightly chaotic, and a surprisingly effective way to practice directional prepositions. Just keep a close eye on the room—one student will be blindfolded and navigating your furniture maze, so safety first.

• Before the students arrive, turn your classroom into a maze by rearranging it. It's great if you can do this outside, but otherwise push tables and chairs together and move furniture to make your maze.
• When your students arrive, put them in pairs outside the classroom. Blindfold one student from each pair.
• Pairs enter the maze one at a time. The sighted partner guides their blindfolded partner through using directional language: "step over," "go under," "turn left."
• The pair that completes the maze most accurately wins.

💡 Pro tip: Teach the key prepositions and run through a quick example before the game so students have the vocabulary they need to play.

• Skills practiced: Listening, speaking, vocabulary 
• Best for: All ages and levels 
• Materials needed: 2 plastic fly swatters, flashcards with pictures of vocabulary, tape, board. 

Splat is high energy, wildly competitive, and instantly beloved by almost every age group. Students love the competitive aspect and the fly swatters add novelty to a simple review session. Splat is a great way for students to see what they have remembered and what needs reviewing. 

• Tape flashcards with vocabulary images across the board.
• Divide the class into two teams.
• Have two students come up to the board at a time and stand side-by-side. Give each a fly swatter.
• Call out a vocabulary word. The first student to "splat" the correct flashcard scores a point for their team.
• Rotate pairs until all students have played.

💡 Pro tip: If you have the resources, use a projector to display images instead of printed flashcards for a more dynamic setup—and easier updates between classes.

More and more ESL teachers are leading online classes or working in hybrid classrooms—and the good news is that most of these games translate well to a digital format with a few tweaks:

• Board Race & Word Jumble Race: Use the chat box or a shared Google Doc as your "board."
• Two Truths and a Lie / Hot Seat: These work seamlessly on Zoom or Google Meet—no changes needed.
• Pictionary: Try skribbl.io for a free, browser-based version.
• Splat: Recreate digitally using a shared whiteboard tool like Jamboard or Miro with clickable image cards.
• Simon Says: Works on video call—just make sure students have their cameras on.

Read more: Best ESL Games for Teaching Online

The best classroom for practicing your ESL game repertoire is, well, a real classroom—and there's nothing like the experience of teaching abroad to sharpen your skills fast. Whether you're eyeing a school year in South Korea, a summer program in Spain, or a volunteer placement in Southeast Asia, Go Overseas can help you find the right fit.

Explore more resources for ESL teachers:

• How to Create the Perfect ESL Lesson Plan
• 40+ TEFL Terms to Know Before Teaching Abroad
• 10 Essential ESL Teaching Tools