5 Fun ESL Review Games

Review games are a must for any classroom. They do so much more than just help students review material. They get students started thinking in English, build a team spirit among classmates, and they make English kinda, sorta, just a little bit fun. Here are 5 of my favorite minimal-preparation, go-to ESL review games.

1) Grab the Duck. This is a pretty self-explanatory title, to be honest. I placed this as number one because it’s my absolute favorite. 

• Divide the class into two teams, and call a student from each team to the front. 

• I have a rubber duck that I place on a podium or table, but you can use anything you like, and rename the game while you’re at it. 

• Read the definition of a vocabulary word or ask any other question. 

• Whoever grabs the duck in the center of the podium has the chance to answer the question. 

•  If he answers correctly, his team gets a point, and two new students come up. If he answers incorrectly, his opponent gets the chance to answer. 

Tips:

• When you call two students up, choose them strategically. Don’t choose extremely shy students for the first few rounds. 

• Try to match the student’s English levels. Don’t choose a high-level student with a lower-level student. 

• If you need the game to move a little faster, you can ask each pair of students two or three questions instead of just one question. You’ll be able to ask more questions and have less “lag” time as students sit down and new ones come up.

2) Tic-Tac-Toe. Just like the childhood game, divide the class into two teams. 

• Address a question to each team individually. 

• If any student on the team answers correctly, he can write his team’s symbol on the tic-tac-toe board drawn on the chalkboard. 

• Whoever gets three of his team’s symbols in a row wins.

Tips:

• This is a great game to put at the start of the semester since students understand how to play easily. 

• Asking the entire team, instead of individual students to answer also helps keep the pressure at a minimum. 

• This is the perfect review game when you don’t have much time. 

3) Connect the Dots. Just like tic-tac-toe, you just need a chalkboard and chalk to play this review game! 

• Before class, draw several dots in a grid pattern on the board. 

• Divide the class into two teams, and ask a question. 

•  If a student answers correctly, he can come to the front and draw one line to connect two of the dots. He can only draw vertical or horizontal lines; no diagonal lines can be drawn. 

• The goal of the game is to answer four question to create a box from the dots. The catch is, the box must be made completely by one team. If any other team draws a line as one of the four lines, the entire box is worthless. 

• For every box a team forms, they get one point. The team with the most complete boxes at the end wins.

Once students understand the strategy of sabotaging the other team from finishing their box by drawing one of their lines in the other team’s area, you’ll have a lot of fun competition on your hands. 

Tips: 

• There are two ways to organize who can answer the question 1) Give a question to each team, so the teams will take turns answering questions or 2) Allow anyone in the class to answer, from any team. I suggest using option 2 if you have a higher-level class, since lower-level students might get discouraged or embarrassed if their team never answers questions.

• To differentiate between the two teams’ lines, you can either use two different colors of chalk, or alternative between straight and squiggly lines. 

4) Classic Board Game. This review game is perfect for reviews before tests or exams, since it allows you to review a lot of material over a longer period of time.

•  Before class, draw a classic board game shape on the board. It can be square, like Monopoly, or it can have twists and turns like Chutes and Ladders or Candyland.

• Draw lines to create squares along the board game. 

• Fill in most squares with different colors of chalk or different symbols. 

• Divide the class into two teams.

• Allow each team to take turns rolling a die to determine how many squares they’ll move.

• Have each color or shape stand for a different type of question or task. Perhaps a blue square means students have to make a sentence with a vocabulary word; a yellow square could mean answering a question about class material. You can add in fun ones as well. Maybe landing on a star means you lose all your points, or a student has to move to the opposite team. 

• Whichever team reaches the end of the finish line first wins!

Tips:

• You can also assign point values for some squares, where students can get excited about earning points.

• Just like in Candyland, you can add in shortcuts or choices about where the students can go.

• Most of the time, I don’t tell students what each color or symbol means at the beginning of the game; that way, they’re kept guessing about what will happen as they roll the die. 

5) Gorilla, Man, Gun. This is a twist on rock, paper, scissors. 

• Choose one student to start. 

• He will challenge another student of his choice. 

• Have both students stand and play against each other. 

• The losing student should answer a question, then challenge a new student. 

  So how does it work?

                        Gorilla beats man.

                        Man beats gun.

                        Gun beats gorilla. 

Here’s how to make the different symbols with your body, just like you make rock, paper, and scissors symbols with your hands:

Gorilla ---------- Have students hold their hands up in a claw shape. You can encourage them to make a menacing face as well.

Man -------------- Have students hold up their arms as if they are showing off their biceps.

Gun --------------- Have students make a gun shape with their hands and pretend to fire. 

For example, if Student A makes the gorilla symbol, and Student B makes gun symbol, Student B will win.

Tips:

• Don’t keep this game going for too long, and don’t do it too early on in the semester. 

• Let the students get comfortable with each other before having them stand and answer questions in front of the whole class.

• In China, using a gun symbol isn’t an issue. If you’re teaching younger children or you’re teaching in a more sensitive environment/ culture, you can replace the gun with anything else you like, for example, a net to catch the gorilla. 

Try these games out in your own ESL classroom and see how they go!