Language learning games to make

They are effective because they require active participation from the user, which is not the case with TV or the radio. A video game, as its very name suggests, is entertaining. There are games for all likes.

Nowadays, there is a wide variety of games to choose from, and the video game industry is constantly growing. However, nowadays, there are many short games which only require as much time as it would take reading a chapter of a book or watching an episode of your favorite TV series. Language learning is a good reason for starting to play. Not only this, but you get to improve your reflexes, better your sangfroid, develop logical skills, reinforce your spirit of team work, perfect your creativity, strengthen your observational skills, become more patient, etc.

The interest from an artistic point of view is much stronger also, as you are transported into another universe with a different history than the one you live in. However, I always advise others to play on the computer or a console , as they are better for improving in a language simply because games developed for these two platform are better designed.

They have dialogues and written texts which are created for bigger screens and more powerful devices. Additionally, the length of these types of games and their plot tend to be more interesting than those designed for phones and tablets. Most of the games with stories and dialogues are difficult for beginners. Games from Telltale Game of Throne , The walking dead … , for example, have a time frame for answering in order to cause stress and limit the time available to properly observe.

In games from Elder Scrolls Skyrim , Oblivion , Morrowind … , however, there are many dialogues and you can take your time to answer. If you play one with them on, I recommend then playing the same game again without subtitles. I use this very technique with Skyrim , and I am learning new words at a surprisingly fast pace.

In this case, I recommend single player games. Maybe a team has misspelled an answer on the board. You take the opportunity to teach the correct spelling. Keep it short and sweet. Repeat after me. You need to make everyone in your class feel like a winner after the game—regardless of their team winning or not.

So make your games fun for everyone. Make them uplifting and build the confidence of all your students. A little competition is highly motivating, and a dangled prize can get those adrenaline juices pumping. But these are kids, and you can easily boost their enthusiasm and engagement with a promise of a reward.

Even as adults, you know from experience that the simple thought of a reward can really up the ante. So announce what prizes await the winners before the game. You can give them bonus points. Give something to everybody. You could be motivating the wrong thing. The games will always be secondary to language learning. Figuratively, of course! This game provides the kids with lots of opportunities to practice listening and speaking in the target language.

Create groups with three or four members and assign them a specific word or phrase. If you have a smaller class, or if you just want students to take longer to finish the game, consider having pairs instead. The smaller the groups, the longer the game. Oh, because the students will be blindfolded and mixed with other groups.

The goal is to find all their members as quickly as possible. At the sound of a whistle, everyone tries to locate their group by calling out to them using their cattle call. And these target words or phrases could be anything. You can also use Spanish colors, days of the week, numbers, etc. The important thing is that your students are actually walking and talking in the target language. The first one to do this wins! You can have several rounds of the game and assign different words for the groups each time.

You can play this inside the classroom or outdoors. Just make sure to clear the area from objects that may cause kids to stumble. We all know this classic. The boat is sinking! Group yourselves into three! Students who fail to find a huddle with the appropriate number of members are then sent packing.

This is repeated until the two last remaining souls on-board are declared winners. The twist comes with the creativity of the grouping instructions. It all depends on your target vocabulary. Everybody, jump three times! Each player will have to stick his or her card on their forehead for everyone else to see. The players each have 20 questions, hence the name of the game. If you have a very large group of students, you can divide them up into groups and play a variation of the game in which each group has a card and the rest of the groups take turns asking questions to guess what the word is.

The students will be encouraged to use all the vocabulary that they know, and they will also be practicing grammar in the form of open-ended questions, closed-ended questions, and elaborate answers with full sentences. It will improve vocabulary, oral expression and spelling. How to Play: This is one of those language learning games for the classroom that children, teenagers and adults can all enjoy!

Once you have everyone together, split the players into two groups. Divide the board in two and give each team a marker. To play, each player will take a turn picking a random word from the bag or bowl.

Once they do that, they will have to stand up and draw on the board so the rest of the players can guess the word. No words or sounds are allowed! The first team to guess gets the points. If you want to make it a little bit more educational, the person who guessed the word must stand up and write it on the board without looking at the paper. It builds up vocabulary, grammar, oral expression and listening comprehension. This game is an excellent way of putting your brain to work instead of just turning to the dictionary.

These STEM questions have been yoinked from our all ages, balanced, educational board game. Check it out on Ah-Ah-Amazon. How to Play: This is a fun and simple game. All you must do is write the alphabet of the target language on a sheet of paper and cut it into pieces. Put them in a bag or a bowl so you can choose one at random. Everyone will have to fill in the columns with a corresponding word that starts with the letter you chose. To practice spelling and to warm up!

This game is also really good for learning new words and practising words you have already learnt. For now, you can start to practise with this one and see how many words you can guess! Simon says is a great way of practising verbs in addition to learning and practising vocabulary. To play the game, one of you will be giving the orders and the others will have to do as they say. The game continues until everyone else fails.

A good way of making the game fun and a bit faster is giving the orders really quickly so that you have to act fast. That will also help the children get used to hearing the foreign language spoken quickly and having to react to it in a fast way which will definitely help them understand people better the more they learn. This simple game is also great for having some fun while practising vocabulary. This will help children practise their memory and their vocabulary in the language they are trying to learn.

This is a fantastic game, this one! If someone misses an item, they are out of the game for that round. If you are feeling clever and want to push yourselves, you can always make it a rule that you mention all the previous items too … this can get rather tricky though!

Definitely a fun and easy way for children to learn new words. When we speak, we do it to refer to things around us, so what better way than pointing at things around you and trying to name them in the target language.