I teach in Korea—I start my days working with kindergarten and elementary students, then rush home for private tutors with ages up to 90! As well as weekly adult conversation classes! I often find that the Koreans are shy to speak so I need new and exciting ways to hear their voices!

This is a simple to make/do game that works great with lower levels in small group settings, especially one on one tutoring!

Included is  a game board with a start and finish. In each of the boxes leading up to the "finish" you write a topic/opinon/question.

For game pieces I usually use money, and you will need a die to determine how many spaces to move. I usually encourage 3 sentences per topic/question. Example questions/topics are: Who is your favorite person, What are you scared of, What makes you angry/happy, What is your greatest accomplishment, Tell me about your best friend/family, What would you do if you were prime minister. Also include "free" spaces-they are usually very excited to not have a speaking turn.

The file included for download is easily changed, as we've included the WORD file for easy changes! 

I was really surprised how much my students enjoyed this game, and I was told the students don`t often get asked of their opinons so they enjoyed the challenge-even in English! Variations can be made to review past lessons, have fun with it.

Download the file here. Remember — to download, you need to become a member!

Activities such as ESL classroom games are very important. Although, there are different daily school timetables from country to country, it is common for children from five to nine, to have a playtime breaks during their lessons. The class time after the morning break is an excellent time to learn, that's why more difficult parts of the program are assimilated better in this period. However, the last hour before lunch is a tired, a low energy period, when ESL classroom games can help.  

The school day has about three low energy times, and it doesn't matter if you are teaching the same children all day or if you are seeing them for a short period of time. These low energy times are the most interesting for teachers and students. ESL classroom games can help them learn through these times.

So, here's a good classroom game to help those students through low energy times. And what's more — we're providing this download free to non-members in both WORD and PDF.

Members can download from the links above, or head on over to the archive.

A ‘find someone who' activity is a speaking activity which involves learners trying to find someone in the group who matches a description.

Example

The group are practising using the present perfect for experiences. Amongst the group there are learners who have to:

• find someone who has been abroad
• find someone who has eaten something really strange
• find someone who has done a bungee jump

In the classroom

This is a very versatile activity, which can be adapted to almost any language aim. For example, learners can practice multi-word verbs (‘Find someone who has fallen out with their partner') or character vocabulary (‘Find someone who is a lone wolf').

I like to mix it up with some 'Find Someone Who... Bingo'. Members can download it here.

I've used this lesson on all ages of beginning to intermediate Korean students students from elementary grade 5 to university.  In the case of children, this lesson will not be suitable for absolute beginners. Usually, it's more appropriate for students who have a basic ability in English. The aim of this lesson is to teach students how to ask for information when they don't understand what was said to them. Print the activity sheet. Photocopy one activity sheet for each student in the class. It's just an aid to supplement the lesson!

Members can retrieve it from the archives located here.