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Matt's Race Games MegaPack!

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The Race Games Mega Pack contains 25 (yes, twenty five) PowerPoint based race games!

Each one works for between 4 or 5 players or teams. Each one can be used as a reward for almost any activity (whether it is a speaking activity, a grammar or vocabulary activity). Simply ask your class a question or to produce the target language for the lesson. If they are correct they can come to the Interactive Whiteboard and press, or click, the corresponding button for their team. Once they do, their team will move forward. Moving forward 7 times will win them the race.

The 25 race games all come as separate PowerPoint files (download them all as a ZIP file below) and include;

Batman Runner, Bicycle Race, Cat Walk, Dr Who Race, Foxtrot, Gruffalo Grand Prix, Hall Race, Hike, Homer Hop, Joker Creep, Mario Race, Moonwalker, Pacing Pandas, Penny Farthing Racer, Pigeon Parade, Pikarun, Polar Express, Pumpkin Passage, Regatta, Rex Race, Robin Race, Run Racoon Race, Snail Trail, Squirrel Race and Wolf Pack.

Each one is perfect for a different theme, so look through them before your lesson to find the perfect one!

WARNING: All games use animated GIFs for the characters and have moving backgrounds, so may not be suitable for epileptics.

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The Race Games Mega Pack contains 25 (yes, twenty five) PowerPoint based race games! Each one works for between 4 or 5 players or teams. Each one can be used as a reward for almost any activity (whether it is a speaking activity, a grammar or vocabulary activity).

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Things that happen in a flash are usually pretty exciting.

Think about it.

A flash of lightning, a flash in the pan, The Flash...

So why should flashcards be so boring?

Most of us associate flashcards with late-night study drills. For many ESL students, they've provided some of the most routine, un-immersive experiences possible.

But that's a shame, since flashcards are so versatile and have incredible potential as diverse, creative ESL classroom games.

We'll show you how, with five of our favorite ESL flashcard games. Several of these can be adapted for different learning goals and different proficiency levels (in other words, not just vocabulary memorization).

Let's get flipping!

How to Prepare Flashcards (from Most to Least Crafty)

Flashcards are easy to make, whether you're a crafty creative type or a left-brained Elmer's-glue-phobe. Here are some different methods for making custom flashcards for your classroom.

Index Cards with Words or Pictures

Index cards are some of my favorite classroom resources. They're so versatile and inexpensive. And they're great for making flashcards.

Index cards are also a super go-to when you want every student to have their own set of flashcards. Students can make their own without any special equipment or resources.

It's easy to write vocabulary on one side of the card and definitions on the back. But have you tried gluing pictures from magazines to your index cards? Or even using family photos if you're doing a family unit with your students? These can help build visual associations with new words, supporting memory retention.

If you have a picture bingo game around, you can even cut apart a board and stick those pictures on your flashcards.

Having pictures on your cards is particularly useful for lower-level students who may not have an extensive lexicon. They're also good for eliciting words from more advanced students when you want to work on their productive vocabularies rather than their receptive vocabularies.

If you're looking for an easy way to store your index flashcards, try punching a hole in the corner of each one and threading each set onto its own binder ring. Then hang them from pushpins on an empty bulletin board and let your students use a set during independent study periods.

Laminated Flashcards

If you have a laminator at your school or as part of your personal stash, a simple piece of paper can become a flashcard. Creating your cards this way has a few advantages.

You can create just about any type of card you can think of. Typing your words in overcomes the terrible handwriting obstacle (and if your writing looks anything like mine, the struggle is real). You can also copy-paste myriad pictures available online through image searches and clipart.

Using paper also allows you to make your flashcards any size you choose. You might even consider making one flashcard the size of an entire piece of paper, or what I like to call "Giant Flashcards." You'll see two activities below where 8.5 by 11 or A4 are the perfect paper sizes.

You might even consider creating a template in your word processing program so you can easily plug in new material for different classes or lessons.

Adapted Playing Cards

I've actually made flashcards out of regular playing cards. I simply printed out labels with the words and definitions I wanted on the cards and stuck them to the faces of the playing cards.

Since these cards are designed for play, they're especially sturdy-so they're great for fast-paced games or games where students have to handle the cards a lot. Again, we'll point you to games like these below.

It's also a good method to use if you want to keep your flashcards from one year to the next. It's slightly more of a financial investment, but you'll only be making these cards once.

Sticky Notes

If you only need your flashcards for one activity, try using sticky notes. They aren't as versatile as the cardstock or laminated variant, but they're the perfect size and cost next to nothing.

For two-sided cards, have students write the "answer" or hidden material (like a word's definition) on the sticky side, so the cards stay in place while they're playing.

Online Flashcard Creators

For maximum efficiency, try an online flashcard creator. These tools are great for standard flashcards that you'll print on regular paper and cut out. Some of them even allow you to paste pictures on the cards.

Popular online flashcard creators include Flashcard Machine, kitzkikz and Study Blue.

Now that you have your flashcards ready to go, it's time to have some ESL fun. Here are some activities that your students will love.

Carnival Cups

You know that popular magician's game where there's a ball under one of three cups, and you have to follow the cup with your eyes to remember where the ball is?

Your students will have fun trying to trick one another with that game, but instead of a ball under the cup there'll be a flashcard.

You'll need three cups and a set of vocabulary flashcards for every two players. This is where those index card flashcards come in handy. One player puts a card in one cup and does their cup switching as best they can. When they stop, their partner chooses a cup and looks underneath it.

If they find the card, they don't automatically win. They'll have to prove they know the word-they should provide the definition on the other side of the card, and you might also ask them to pronounce the word correctly, give a synonym or antonym or use the word in a sentence.

You can also play a different version of this game using flashcards that have fill-in-the-blank sentences or grammar rules on them. The player who finds the card will just have to demonstrate that they know the material on the card in some way.

If they get it right, they get to keep the card.

Play for a certain amount of time (10 minutes usually works) and the player with the most cards at the end of the game wins.

Alaka-Zam!

You know in horror movies, when the creepy music builds and the protagonist is hiding behind a cabinet, until finally the monster jumps out and sends your popcorn bowl flying? That's the kind of excitement this game generates.

For each game of two to four players, you'll need a set of flashcards as well as five additional cards -three that say "Alaka" and two that say "Zam!" This game works best if your flashcards are only one-sided. They can have a single vocabulary word, a verb tense or a even a grammar rule.

Players lay all the cards out in a pool on the table. On each person's turn, they select one card. If it's a regular flashcard, they must pronounce the word, give a correct synonym/antonym, definition or complete whatever other task you've chosen.

If the player is able to do the task correctly, they keep the card and add it to their personal pile. If they do the task incorrectly, however, they must return the card to the draw pile.

If a player draws an "Alaka" card, they can randomly choose three cards from an opponent. If the player can demonstrate that they know what's on each card, then can keep them. (If they have to give a synonym or antonym for their cards, their responses should to be different than the ones the original player or any other has given. This will help build their vocabularies even further.)

If a player draws a "Zam" card, that player can exchange their stack of cards with that of an opponent.

Play until all the cards are gone, and the player with the most cards at the end of the game in their hand is the winner.

Playing by Ear

Can you really use flashcards for a listening game? Yes, you can! Grab your giant flashcards and give one to each person in class.

You can use one-sided or two-sided vocabulary cards for this activity, but keep in mind students will be listening for specific words or phrases, so make sure the information on each card is minimal.

Then play a song or movie clip that uses the target words. When a student hears his or her word, they should stand and hold their card above their head.

This game makes listening skills relevant and creates some personal motivation for students to listen carefully. They'll have fun not only keeping an ear out for their own words, but also policing their classmates who might just miss a chance to show off their own giant flashcard.

FluentU is a great ESL-focused video resource to use for this game. It offers authentic English videos, like movie trailers, music videos, inspiring talks and more-and since all videos come with vocabulary lists and are organized by difficulty level, it's quick and easy to find one that'll work for your classroom.

The videos also have interactive captions, so if there's any confusion about one of the words you can simply click it for an instant definition and pronunciation. You'll also get pointed to other videos that use the word if you want to provide more context for your students.

For highly-targeted practice, you can write your own sentences to read aloud in class. If you want students to listen for certain verb tenses that are written on their flashcards, this is a good way to listen for those specific conjugations.

Phonetic "Slap"

Here's a pronunciation-focused game where those playing card flashcards come in handy. This is a fun game to have out for free learning periods when students can choose their own activities.

You'll need two players for each game and two sets of flashcards labeled with vocabulary words. You should also indicate a target sound for each word, either by marking it at the top of the card, using color coding or any other method that works for you.

Do this all on one side of the card and keep the other side blank. Students will start the game with the blank sides facing up.

Players turn over their cards together. If the two cards share the same target sound, players should slap their opponent's pile. If the first person who slapped is able to give the correct pronunciation of the word, they win both cards and add them to their hand.

You can have students play for a certain amount of time or until one person has all the cards.

For a more advanced grammar adaptation, put fill-in-the-blank sentences (with blanks for verbs) on the flashcards. Students should slap if their cards require the same verb or are in the same tense, and then should be able to fill in the sentence with the correct conjugations.

If you come up with your own adaptation, note that players will only see one side of the card for this activity, so make sure they don't need any information from the other side of the card to give the correct answer.

Living Board Game

This is where those giant vocabulary flashcards come in handy. Lay them out on the floor to make a game path around your classroom, including a green "start" space and a red "finish" space. Your students won't need playing pieces, since they'll walk along the game path toward the finish space.

Have students roll a six sided die (if you want to make a giant die to add to the fun, here are some good instructions). They'll then walk that many spaces along the game path.

Once students land on their space, they'll need to use the word on that space correctly in a sentence (if your cards have vocabulary words on the giant flashcards), correctly fill in the blank (if they're fill-in-the-blank sentences), identify the correct verb tense or whatever task the flashcards are designed to elicit. If they can't, they return to where they stood previously.

The game is over when someone reaches the finish.

This is a great game for practicing parts of speech if you include multiple forms of the same root word.

Sure, you could have pairs of students sit across from each other and read words off of flashcards, but why when there are so many other fun ways you can put those cards to use? Your students might have such a good time, they'll forget that they're learning in the process.

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to teach English with real-world videos.
Bring English immersion to your classroom!

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5 Surprising Games with Flashcards for Your ESL Classroom

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Things that happen in a flash are usually pretty exciting.Think about it.A flash of lightning, a flash in the pan, The Flash...So why should flashcards be so boring?Most of us associate flashcards with late-night study drills. For many ESL students, they've provided some of the most

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Listening Games for Sound Discrimination

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Listening Games for Sound Discrimination

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All we hear defines the world around us.
Whether you're hearing a child's laughter, a babbling book or a frat boy belching in your ear - sounds shape our world.

Listening is a major part of life experience.

Unfortunately, lots of people are so wrapped up in the speaking part that they forget this.

Sounds give us clues about our surroundings, while stimulating our thoughts with new feelings.

In the linguistic world, the phonemes and phonological structures of individual words, phrases and sentences serve to enrich our communication. They all add a colorful layer of meanings and emotions to our speech. Because sound plays such an important role in our experience, sharpening your ESL students' listening skills will help them to enjoy and apply English comfortably and interactively.

Why ESL Listening Exercises Are Critical

While sadly neglected in many ESL classrooms, listening is every bit as important as speaking. In fact, appropriate and accurate interpretation of a communicated message will encourage even your shyest ESL learners to participate more vigorously in communicative situations.

Why? Because listening goes beyond the mere act of hearing something. Listening is an art, a way we connect with others.

Becoming efficient listeners is especially critical for ESL students because:

ESL students spend most of their class time listening as opposed to reading or writing.

Efficient listening promotes healthy communication.

Having proficient listening skills enables ESL students to understand instructions and information, allowing them to follow or respond appropriately.

According to Frankfurt International School, "Listening is NOT a passive process; it is an active skill of interpreting the verbal and non-verbal output of the speaker in order to understand the message."

Communication Is a Two-Way Street

Because there's a speaker and a listener in every interaction, an efficient conversation is promoted when the speaker can communicate a thought clearly, while the listener can competently receive the communicated message, understand the words and their meaning in the associated context, evaluate the intent of the speaker and respond with socially and culturally appropriate verbal and non-verbal forms.

To help your ESL students develop the confidence and competence to listen, respond and interact in a conversation, let's nourish them with some entertaining ESL listening activities!

5 ESL Listening Activities to Sharpen Your Students' Ears

1. Listen and Read Along

Your students may be able to recognize words individually. However, when words are put into a set of related sentences, the time it takes to recognize and process them may cause your ESL students to feel overwhelmed. To give your students the full experience of how words are used in real life, try to have them listen and read along with you.

Audio books are great because they allow students to follow an accompanying text while listening. This way they can familiarize themselves with the sounds of English. I also recommend nursery rhymes and Dr. Seuss because they have lots of repetitive chunks of text. Not to mention, the reading is fun and relaxing.

2. Story Dictation: Say Sentences, Not Words

I am a big fan of applying language in social contexts. While dictation is definitely a part of my lesson plan, I like to give this seemingly daunting "test" an innovative twist. Instead of saying the vocabulary right up front, I like to hide my vocabulary within a few strung-together sentences. Students are supposed to identify the vocabulary and spell it out. This exercise challenges students to focus on what's being said, while listening for the vocabulary as sentences are dictated to them.

For example, the vocabulary word given to students in this round is beautiful.

I say: "It was a great day to take a walk. So Jenny decided to put on a beautiful dress and visit the Rose Garden."

Challenge for teachers: Use your vocabulary and sentences to tell a story so your students aren't just sharpening their listening skills, but also hearing a great story!

3. Blindfolding: Learning in the Dark

Have you ever wondered how the world would be if one of your highly relied-upon senses was taken away? The game "blindfolding" does exactly that by taking away your sight.
The Game Plan
1. Divide your students into two teams.

2. Each teammate is supposed to find a partner from the team and decide who would be the "Leader" and who would be the "Follower."

3. The "Follower" will be blindfolded and will need to accomplish an easy transfer task, such as take a pencil and put it on a certain person's desk.

4. The "Leader" will be given a task card and is responsible to help the "Follower" get to the destination successfully.

5. When the "Follower" successfully accomplishes the task, the next pairing of "Leader" and "Follower" sets off to accomplish a new, different task.

6. The team that successfully completes all tasks wins.

4. Telephone

Telephone is an easy and timeless game in the schoolyard. While the traditional method of passing messages down a row of students is certainly entertaining, I like to play telephone a little differently to incorporate the spirit of treasure hunting.
Materials

20 treasures (I like to use cards)

20 notes (each describing the location of the card)

The Game Plan
1. Hide 20 cards in 20 different places around the classroom. You can use poker cards or even make some all on your own. I like to use cards because they're so easy to be buried and hidden, but you're free to use any toys or other materials you wish.

2. Depending on the size of your class, divide your students into groups of two or three.

3. Divide the cards into two or three separate piles. If the numbers don't add up, separate a card and use it as a bonus card.

4. Have the first person pick a card from their container and whisper the message to the second person in line. The message is then passed down to the last person. This person is responsible for finding the card.

5. If the last person is successful, he'll bring the card back and earn a point for his team. The last person will then become the first person to pick out another note from the pile.

6. If the message is lost in the middle, the last person can request to redial and have the message repeated and passed down again. Depending on the level of your students, you can offer up to three chances for redial per person. If redials are used up, the card is returned to you. The last person becomes the first person and will need to pick up a new card to continue the game.

7. Points are earned as the students collects the treasures. The game grows exciting because teams who finish their piles first can steal notes from other teams to earn additional points.

8. At the end of the game, tally up the points and announce the winner.

5. Light, Camera, Action: the Joy of Learning Through Media

Learning through media helps your students to learn and practice everyday English as spoken by normal people!

Media emulates the interaction you experience from your real world. Videos and movies capture not only the verbal, but also the non-verbal cues in the context. This turns a listening exercise into a more engaging and interesting experience.

Have your students watch movies and short clips and listen to songs. Supplement with worksheets to evaluate how much your students manage to capture.

As your students develop their listening confidence, you can also invite them to create media of their own. Depending on the level of your students, you can make this a personal or group project. Encourage your students to be creative and experiment with English by recording a story, video or song. Ask them also to craft 5 questions related to the medium they created, so their peers can reap the full benefits of fun and learning.

Great Places to Start Gathering English Video Material

If you're looking for ideas or ways to diversify your media selection, YouTube is a great place to start. The site offers a wide variety of videos and clips that captures genres that range from humor to standard news reports. There are songs and even allegories to stretch your ESL students' imagination, while exposing them to the rich American culture.

While you're at it, go grab a few real-world videos from FluentU's awesome English video collection! We've got tons of video clips which are perfect for classroom learning activities.

Another great website is LearnEnglishFeelGood.com. It contains snippets of movies that are typically 2-3 minutes long. What's better is that the site also offers a list of questions at the end of every movie that can be used to quiz your students.

Using games and media in your ESL listening lessons will enable your students to experience "language in real action" firsthand. Enrich your ESL students' listening skills with these fun games and watch them play and grow simultaneously.

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to teach English with real-world videos.
Bring English immersion to your classroom!

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5 ESL Listening Exercises to Sharpen Your Students' Ears

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All we hear defines the world around us.Whether you're hearing a child's laughter, a babbling book or a frat boy belching in your ear -- sounds shape our world.Listening is a major part of life experience.Unfortunately, lots of people are so wrapped up in the speaking part that they forg

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10 Learning Centers Perfect for Listening and Speaking Class

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10 Learning Centers Perfect for Listening and Speaking Class

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by Susan Verner 7,666 views

Try one of the following with your class and give students some ownership in their own language learning process.

Apply These 10 Ideas for Listening and Speaking Centers

1. Listening for Detail

Can your students pick out important information when they listen to English, information such as dates, names and other specifics? On a classroom computer, bookmark or download some short informational passages. How to videos on YouTube are great resources for this type of listening. For each video, list five or so informational questions on an index card that the video answers. As a student listens to the passage, he notes the answers to the questions on a separate piece of paper. At this learning center, make sure you also have answer keys so students can check their own answers.

2. How Does that Song Go?

This learning center challenges students to listen for specific vocabulary as they listen to a popular song. Choose some of your favorite tunes or those you think your students will like that also have easily discernable lyrics. For each song, print out a copy of the lyrics with key words replaced by blanks (like a modified cloze exercise). As your students listen to each song, they should fill in the missing words as they hear them. As always, provide answer sheets for each song at the learning station so students can check their own work after they listen.

3. Listen and Watch

The British Council provides free listening activities on their website for ESL students. Videos range from beginner level to advanced and come with activities your students can do as they listen. Simply direct your students to the website on a classroom computer or on your students' smart devices. All they have to do is choose a video and an exercise to go with it. Note the segments on this website are in British English, so they might not be the best choice for those learning and teaching American English.

4. Following Instructions

If your students like working with their hands or exercising their art skills, this center will fulfill their learning style like no other. Your students will be following your directions for constructing an object with building blocks or drawing picture. If you choose to use Lego building blocks, record yourself as you talk through building a simple item. It might be a house, a letter of the alphabet, or any other simple design. Make sure your recording specifies colors and sizes of the blocks. At the center, make the Legos and the recordings available to your students. As they listen they should follow your directions and, hopefully, build the same object that you did. Similarly, if you want students to draw rather than build at this station, record yourself giving directions for drawing a simple picture without telling students what they are drawing. Include a reference photo at the center so your students can check their work. Once students have listened to a passage and drawn a picture or built something, they should check the reference picture to see how close they got to replicating your design.

5. Old Books to New Use

Do you have listening books and materials from a previous class that you aren't using this year? I know I have several on my bookshelf. These materials can have a second life in a learning center for your students. Simply put out the book and the audio that goes with it and let your students learn at their own pace.

Learning centers are great for helping students become independent, motivated learners. These are just some of the ways you can incorporate them into your listening and speaking ESL class.

Do you include learning centers in your listening and speaking class?

What are your favorites?

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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10 Learning Centers Perfect for Listening and Speaking Class

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by Susan Verner 7,666 views Try one of the following with your class and give students some ownership in their own language learning process. Can your students pick out important information when they listen to English, information such as dates, names and other specifics? On a classroom computer, bookmark or download some short informational passages.

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Slide Share Prepositions of Location by Aldyansyah

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Slide Share Prepositions of Location by Aldyansyah

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Slide Share Location of Movement by Vinicius Luciano Menezes Cotrim

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Slide Share Location of Movement by Vinicius Luciano Menezes Cotrim