Top 10 Board Games for the ESL

Classroom
Board games can be a useful and ready
asset for the ESL classroom. Most require
little to no preparation, and with a little
patience, your English learners add a new
resource to their language studies. On top of
all that, board games are a fun way to learn
new vocabulary and make a change from
the normal routine.
Here are some tried but true board games that many ESL classes have
enjoyed.
Try These Top 10 Board Games With Your
ESL Class!
1
Scrabble

Hundreds of ESL students have played this classic word game. In

2
Upwords
Upwords is a game very similar to Scrabble. In this game,
students use their collection of letters to build words on the
crossword style grid. Unlike Scrabble, in Upwords players can
place letters on top of existing letters to change a word that is
already on the board. For example, on a player’s turn he may add
a T to the word bash turning it into bath. In this game, your
students will see the relationships between words and recognize
patterns in English spelling.

3
Bananagrams
A relative newcomer on the game scene, Banagrams uses letter
tiles to create a grid of words, but in this game no structure is
permanent. Players start with a set number of letters and use
them to create their own word grid. When one player has used all
of his letters, everyone must draw another tile and incorporate it
into their own structures. Each person can rearrange his word
grid as desired. This game can be fast paced when higher-level
students play, but even with less advanced students it is a ready
source for learning new vocabulary. In addition, it teaches
students flexibility with words and spelling structures.

4
Scrabble Slam
Similar to Upwords, Scrabble Slam uses cards printed with letters
to modify an existing word. In this game, there is only one four-
letter word on the board and all players must use their own cards
on this word. By the traditional rules, everyone plays at once, and
the player to use all of his cards first wins. However, ESL classes
may want to take turns playing on the word so your class has
time to think and absorb each of the words that are created.

5
Scattergories
Scattergories is a way for your students to practice using
the vocabulary they already know. In this game, students receive
a list of ten categories. With a roll of the 26-sided die, a letter is
designated for the round. Players must then think of a word which
begins with that designated letter to fit each of the categories.
Answers may be something like the following: boy’s name/Tom,
food/tomato, city/Toronto, game/tic-tac-toe. A timer is set, and
when time is up the group reviews the items they listed. Any
words that more than one player listed are eliminated. Each
remaining word is worth one point. This game can be a challenge
for students still learning the language, but it can easily be
adapted for lower level students. Feel free to define your own
categories, linked, perhaps, to a unit you are studying in class
and then continue as usual.

6
Catch Phrase
Catch Phrase is a word guessing game in hot potato style. The
starting player has a disk which gives him a word. He can say
anything to get the rest of the players to guess the word on the
screen. Once that word is guessed, he passes the disk on to the
next player. That person then does the same. After a random
amount of time, the disk will signal that time is up, and the person
holding the disk at that time receives a point. The goal of this
game is to have as few points as possible. To make the game
easier for your ESL students, you can challenge each person to
have his word guessed before the timer buzzes. Then reset the
disk and send it on to the next player.

7
Taboo
Taboo takes the concept of Catch Phrase and brings an even
greater challenge. In this game, players must get their team to
guess a given word, but each word comes with related
vocabulary that cannot be used in the description. They key in
this game is to think of another way to give the clues on the card.
Players do this by using similar but not the same vocabulary. You
can modify this concept and have your students write out clues
for a given word, avoiding the vocabulary on the card. Limit the
description to four or five sentences. If the class can guess the
word from the clues that are provided, the writer scores a point.
You can feel free to use vocabulary that the class has studied or
select specific words from those that the game supplies. This
game challenges your students to be creative with their language
use – a skill that is useful for all language learners.

8
Balderdash
The game of balderdash is best reserved for advanced students.
In this game, on his turn, a player is given an obscure vocabulary
word. Each player must create a false definition of the word in
hopes that the other players will believe it is the true definition.
When playing this game, the teacher should be moderator every
turn and correct any grammatical problems in the fictional
definitions as well as write the correct definition on an identical
slip of paper. Then s/he should read all of the definitions to the
players who must vote for the one they think is correct. Any
player that guesses correctly scores a point as does any player
who receives a vote from another player.

9
Jenga
Though not a traditional board game, Jenga can be a handy
resource for students to get to know each other. Using any list of
icebreaker questions (you can try these: 50 Most Amazing
Conversation Starters) , write one question on each block. Then
when your class plays the game, each person must answer the
icebreaker before placing the block on top of the pile. By doing
this, your students get speaking practicewhile getting to know
one another better. Besides, it is always fun to see who makes
the tower fall!

 10
I-Spy Books
Create your own board game with pictures from an I-Spy book or
any other pictures that contain a plethora of objects. On a piece
of paper, have your students write the letters of the alphabet from
a to z. Then let them look at the picture for a set amount of time
(three to five minutes is good) and try to identify an object that
begins with each letter. Of course, it will be nearly impossible to
find an item for every letter, but by using creative vocabulary and
having keen eyesight, your students will be able to fill in more
letters than they might think. This is another game that is good for
vocabulary development and is less threatening for beginning
level students.