7 Golden Grammar Games for a Winning ESL

Lesson Plan
So, without further ado, here are our 7 favorite grammar games for the ESL classroom.

Would You Rather

This classic sleepover and bus trip game, ideal for getting participants to know more
about each other, can be a perfect giggle-inducing grammar game to reinforce recent
lessons. The game is simple enough, driven by straightforward questions and answers.

The main use for this game in the ESL classroom is to practice using conditionals and
discussing hypothetical situations (would you):
Would you rather get stung by a bee or bit by a spider?
Would you rather dance in front of ten thousand people or in front of the President of the
United States?

Not to mention, being able to compare things in English is something that students will
encounter frequently in interaction with native speakers. They’ll also get lots of practice
using verbs in their different contexts.

You can have students play this game in pairs, groups or as a whole classroom. Prepare
questions ahead of time and provide students with lists, or let their imaginations run wild
with freestyle play. Either way, a great way to add another tricky element to this game is
to see how many students would rather do one thing as opposed to the other after playing
for a while.
For example, you could ask one student: “Sara, how many of your classmates would
rather dance in front of the President of the United States?” Then this student must tell
you how many people chose this option in her group or in the class.
Blackboard Race

This game is plain and simple—a good, old-fashioned classroom favorite for the ages.

Divide the board into two halves, and divide the class into two teams. Call out a theme or
category for learned vocabulary words and have students run to the board and write as
many related words as possible.

For example, you might call out something like, “Animals you will see at the zoo!” and
one student from each team must run up to the board and write as many English zoo
animal names as they can think of within a certain time limit. This game gets students
thinking quickly and creatively.

Conjugation Pyramid
Similar to blackboard race, the conjugation pyramid is a race-to-win classic that is
beloved by language students everywhere. Set this one up for the very end of class when
there are a few minutes remaining—this will really get the pressure cooking.

Draw a pyramid on either side of the board and break it up into blocks—kind of like a
food pyramid, but with as many blocks as there are rounds in the game. So, if you want to
go 10 rounds, draw 10 blocks in each pyramid.

Then you’ll give your students a verb and a person (first person singular, second person
plural) and they will have to run to the board and conjugate the verb into each tense
accordingly. Depending on the skill level of your students and what you’d like to practice,
you can also choose a tense and have students conjugate the entire verb chart for that
tense. The student who gets the conjugations right wins their team a block in the pyramid!

When a student wins a pyramid block, fill in that block with chalk or marker to indicate
the progress. The first team with enough blocks to build their whole pyramid wins!

Tic-Tac-Toe
Draw up the grid for tic-tac-toe on the board. Fill in each square of the grid with a part of
speech you want students to practice. What exactly you choose to include here is totally
flexible, and depends on what lessons you’d like to reinforce. If you’re studying verb
conjugation in the present tense, for example, fill in the grid with verbs in their infinitive
forms.

Students will be divided into two teams for this game. The first team goes by choosing a
square from the tic-tac-toe grid. They then have to figure out, as a group, how to properly
conjugate that verb. If they get the answer right, then they claim that square of the grid. If
they get the answer wrong, then they lose their turn.

Keep playing until one team scores a tic-tac-toe!

Shootin’ Hoops
 Go down to the school’s gymnasium, playground or set up a makeshift basketball hoop in
the classroom. You can manage this without damaging school property by simply setting
up a hula hoop or other plastic ring as the “hoop” and by playing with a small inflatable
or foam ball.

Break the students into two groups or have them play individually against the rest of their
classmates.

There are two ways to go about playing this one. Before being allowed to take a shot,
each student must either:

1. Answer a question with the appropriate featured grammar pattern.

2. Create a basic statement using the featured grammar pattern.

If the student gets their answer or statement wrong or doesn’t phrase it properly, they
won’t get to take a shot.

If the student passes this part of the game, they get to take a shot. If they score, they get 2
points. If they don’t score but got the question right, they get 1 point.

Hot Potato
Use a foam or inflatable ball, and start up a fast-paced round or two of hot potato.

The objective, of course, is to pass the ball around in a circle as fast as possible. Before
passing the ball to the next student, the student holding the ball must show off their
English grammar skills.

When a student catches the ball, they must quickly think up a word that fits your given
criteria, spit it out and pass the ball before the allotted time runs out.

This is super flexible and can be adjusted to practice virtually any bit of grammar you’ve
recently introduced or would like to review.

For example, tell students learning the present tense that they must each say one verb
conjugated in the present tense, using first person singular or “I form.” Each student
will then have to say something like, “I run,” “I dance” or “I cry.” The ball gets passed
around and around, with students being eliminated whenever they draw blanks or
conjugate their verb wrong.

For easier games, give each student 6-8 seconds. For harder, faster paced games, give
students 2-3 seconds. You can also start slower and gradually increase the pace of the
game as it progresses.

Word Chain
In this tricky game, students will have to think quickly and creatively.

Start the class off by giving them a word which fits your desired theme. Restrict them to
only certain parts of speech, such as nouns or verbs. For an extra challenging session,
limit the words to certain moods and tenses. For example, every word given might need
to be in present or past tense. If you’ve been practicing nouns in class lately, say a noun.

The student who starts off the game will have to think of a word that begins with the last
letter of the word you provided. If you’re practicing nouns and said, “food,” then the
student could say “dog” or “dish.” If you’re practicing with adjectives and started with
“beautiful,” then the next student might say “lazy” or “loud.” Go around the classroom
playing this way and eliminating students who can’t think up words quickly enough.

And that’s that! 7 great grammar games to pep up your English classroom.

Have fun, and get those students learning English grammar!

Let’s move on to some examples, and you'll see what I mean.

How to teach the ever-elusive past

perfect tense
Yes, it’s hard to find an ESL student who spontaneously
uses the past perfect tense. In fact, there are some “native”
English speakers who don’t use it either (along with other forms
of “correct” English). But it must be taught, never overlooked, or
your students will be lacking something that they need to take
their English fluency to the next level. So, how can we teach the
past perfect tense so that it may be fully grasped by our students?
Here are the steps:
 Go to OurTimeLines.com where you may generate your
personalized timeline and see when major historical events
took place throughout your life. For example, if you were born
in 1971, you’ll see that the Internet was invented when you
were 2.
 Show students your timeline (or anyone else’s) and set up the
past perfect like this: “Sam, the Vietnam War ended in 1975. I
was born in 1971. You were born in 1995. So, when you were
born, the Vietnam War had ended 20 years earlier. When I
was born it hadn’t ended yet.”
 Give as many examples as you like, go over briefly how the
past perfect tense is formed (had plus past participle) and
make sure they understand you’re talking about two events
that took place in the past, but one before the other; then,
have students come up with examples of their own using the
timeline.
 Once they are comfortable using the past perfect in affirmative
sentences, move on to examples with questions; then have
them ask each other questions: “Laura, when you started
primary school, had terrorists attacked the World Trade
Center?”
Save the timeline because it will come in handy to practice the
past perfect in passive voice. Naturally, timelines are great for
many tenses, like the simple past or the passive voice.

Action!
Nothing shakes them up better than getting them out of their
seats. When you see your students daydreaming, not paying
attention, or simply bored, tell them to get up and form a circle.
Now, this simple exercise works great to teach numerous
grammar points, but here’s an example:

Say you want your students to practice the simple past of regular
or irregular verbs. Grab a small ball or bean bag and say
a verb out loud; toss the ball to a student who will have to say its
past form. He or she tosses the ball back to you and you choose
another student. Whenever a student makes a mistake, he or
she has to leave the circle. The last student left standing gets a
reward sticker or other prize. You can say a sentence in
affirmative, and they have to supply a question, or vice versa;
this activity can be adapted to any grammar point.

Celebrity Profiles
An awesome way to teach and practice any verb tense is
through biographies. Try this activity to contrast the simple past
and present perfect tenses. Find out which celebrities or sports
stars your students admire. Then find a short biography or write
one yourself summarizing a celebrity's main achievements. Read
the bio with your students and make sure they understand the
differences. Point out examples that clearly illustrate this:
“He starred in his first hit film in 1985. But he has workedin 20
hit films throughout his career.”
 Celebrity Photos
Another way in which you can use your students’ interest in
certain celebrities. Cut out celebrity pics from entertainment
magazines (in fact, I recommend stocking up on a big pile of
photos to use in a variety of activities). Use these pictures to
teach comparatives and superlatives: “Katie Holmes is taller
than Tom Cruise.”; “Shakira is more talented than Ricky Martin.”;
and it works great with comparative adverbs: “Shakira dances
better than Ricky, too.”

A or an?
This activity works great with beginners, including small children.
Cut up a list of several words that either take “a” or “an” and mix
them up. For very young learners, you may use pictures instead
of words. Then divide students into pairs of groups, and have
them put the words in two piles, depending on the article. Once
they have their piles ready, ask them if they can figure out the
rule by themselves.
By far the best ways to teach any type of grammar is through the
use of either realia or real life settings and contexts. Why would
a student be motivated to learn the conditional tenses if he has
no idea why he’s learning them, in other words, he doesn't
understand when and where he'll have use for them? When
teachers use real life settings and objects students will know the
grammar structures they learn will be useful for them.

So, take the cringing out of grammar lessons, and put some fun
into them. You’ll see that your students learn much faster, too.
P.S. If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking
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 Try These 6 Super ESL Games for Grammar Review

1. 1

Shoot for Points

We often need to review things that are no fun, things

like the past simple or past participle of irregular
verbs. Instead of the classic Q & A, try this. Use a large
container or trash can as your “basket”, give your students
a ball and have them shoot for points. But here’s the
catch: you’ll ask them a question in past simple, and
they’ll have to remember the past correctly in order to
earn the chance to shoot. They can get 10 points for
scoring or five if they miss (because at least they
answered the question correctly). You can try any variety
of this type of game, whether you use large balls or small
ones, or even a wadded up piece of paper.

2.2

Board Game
 Everyone loves a board game, and your ESL students
will particularly appreciate one if it’s not only loads of
fun, but also a helpful way to review essential
grammar. You can design your own to include the tenses
and structures your students have learned, or use any of
the ones already available at BusyTeacher.org.
This Grammar Revision Board Game is a perfect
example.

3.3

Tic Tac Toe

Tic Tac Toe is another versatile game, one that can be

adapted to suit a wide variety of needs. What you need
to decide first is which grammar your students need to
review for the test. Then, write the topics on nine index
cards or large enough pieces of paper. Arrange the cards
face down on a table or stick them on the board, in the
classic Tic Tac Toe 3 x 3 grid.

Next, teams take turns choosing a square (you can add

letters across and numbers down to make it easier to call
out the squares). You turn over the card and reveal to
your students the tense/structure/grammar point written
on it. Students must then either provide an example or
 ask a question that another team member must answer
correctly to get their X or O on that square. Of course, the
first team that gets three Xs or Os across, down or
diagonally wins.

4.4

Snakes and Ladders

To play this classic game in your grammar review

lesson, you’ll first need to prepare some cards: they
may have verb tenses written on them, questions
your students must answer or prompts from which to
say a complete sentence.
The rules are simple, but the game is so much fun!
Students must first choose a token to move around the
board (a different colored button for each will do nicely!)
Then they take turns rolling the dice to move across the
board. They must take a card and answer correctly to
remain on that spot, or move back two places if they are
incorrect. If they land at the bottom of a ladder, and they
answer correctly, they get to move up the ladder, but if
they land on a snake’s head they automatically move
down to where its tail is. Here’s a blank template you can
use or create your own.
5.5

Football!

This is a game I’ve played with students of different

ages and levels with tremendous success. First, you’ll
need to draw a playing field like this one on the board or a
large piece of paper:

Next, divide your students into two teams. Place a “ball”

token at the center. Then, students must answer
questions correctly to approach the posts and score a
goal. For example, Team A answers correctly and moves
right one step closer to their goal. Team B answers
correctly and moves the ball left back to the center. Team
A answers incorrectly and can’t move the ball at all. Team
B answers correctly and moves left one step closer to
their goal. If Team A were to keep answering incorrectly
and Team B correctly, then Team B will continue moving
 left to eventually score a goal. When a team scores, the
ball moves back to the center, and the team that did not
score last starts. The team with the most goals wins.

6.6

Jeopardy

I’ve mentioned this game in several articles, and it

happens to be my personal favorite. There is so much
you can do with it - you can review everything they’ve
learned in a single fun game. You’ll find it explained here.
All you have to do is replace the categories at the top with
tenses or structures you want them to review.

Not all grammar reviews have to be cut

and dried. Don’t underestimate the
power of games - they help students
use the resources they’ve acquired in
creative ways.
They engage learners to put the things they’ve learned to good use. The
competitive environment motivates them to give it their best effort.

If you’ve ever used these games for review, please tell us about your
experience below. And feel free to suggest other great games for grammar
reviews!
P.S. If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of those
sharing buttons below. And if you are interested in more, you should follow our
Facebook page where we share more about creative, non-boring ways to teach
English.

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