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Taboo is a great speaking and vocabulary game for ESL learners to improve their fluency, developing and describing skills.

What students need to do is explain and describe a word so that their partner can guess it, the only thing is that they cannot use any of the words on the card. This way they are made to think and speak in a flexible way.

Study the examples:

We hope you find this game useful and remember, you can use it with any topic. Download our master and make your own.

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This weeks game is called «Stop the Bus» and is a super simple vocabulary game for A1-B1 level students.

What the students need to do is choose a letter from the alphabet A-Z and write a word for each category that begins with this letter. The first student to finish says, STOP THE BUS!

All the students must stop to check this person’s answers. If the words are valid for each category, this person wins and receives a point.

Take a loot at our example worksheet to save on preparation time.

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This super fun game needs no introduction.

Bingo is one of the most popular ESL games around and never fails to please learners.

It can be adapted to any level on the CEFR (A1-C1) and has limitless possibilities in terms of topics and content.

Bingo is fun because it is competitive and also improves listening skills.

Here we have prepared Bingo cards for you. Enjoy!

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Are you practicing the key vocabulary for a topic? Well, you need to give this amazing memory game a go. We call it THE ACCUMULATION GAME and all English learners love it.

We have been using this activity for over 15 years now and we have perfected its execution to ensure that learners speak the most possible.

It is really simple, all you need to do is come up with a phrase related to the topic.. For example: I have lots of things in my school bag, I have got… or I like loads of different foods, I like…

Then you create a list of vocabulary related to the topic. About 20-30 words is enough. here we have prepared different topics for you.

HOW DO YOU PLAY?

What you need to do is choose a partner.

Working with a partner, one of the students will say the phrase and add one of the words from the list.

The second person needs to repeat all of what the first person has said and then add another word.

They continue like this until someone makes a mistake.

The rules are simple:

• You must say the words in the correct order.





• NO REPEATING





• NO WRITING THE WORDS IN ORDER

If someone makes a mistake, the other person wins and gets a point, and then they need to start the game over again.

So, that is it. THE ACCUMULATION GAME!

Let us know what you think… 🙂

I imagine that you have all heard of the game 3 IN A ROW, or «3 en raya» en español. Well, this is a version of it… but to practice your English.

3 in a row or 0/X as it is more commonly known is a really fun game to get your students to review target vocabulary and grammar.

It is really fun because anyone can play and it has an element of competition.

A great way to play is as a whole class activity or in pairs.

What do you need to do?

Basically, the pupils need to create a table like the image below and play 0/X. But this can become boring as the games do not last too long. So we have come up with ADVANCED 3 IN A ROW in which we use a much bigger board and much more vocabulary.

Instead of finishing as soon as someone has 3 in a row, the game continues and is based on a points system. Each time someone has 3 in a row, they get a point.

It is a game of strategy and cunning as you can block your opponent, get 2 points in one move at times and also reuse spaces… observe the images.

The great thing is that you can create your own games… with any vocabulary… with any grammar.

Now it is your turn to play.

Let us know what you think… 🙂

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One of the most difficult challenges when starting out to learn a foreign language is to reach a basic level in terms of the amount of vocabulary. It is clear that you need to have a word base to be able to form sentences and reach fluency. One of the common mistakes is to try to memorize too much vocabulary at a time, for example 100 a week are too many for the majority of people, especially people who are not seasoned language learners.

We suggest learning vocabulary based on The 5+ Standard:

When a student sets a challenge, it has to be attainable. We suggest that students should try to learn 5 words a day with example sentences. To assimilate them, they must repeat the same words the next day and add 5 more. This process is repeated every day and in this way, students can learn 35 words a week. 155 a month and 1825 words each year. With this amount of vocabulary, people can start to reach the levels of vocabulary they need to get towards an advanced level.

How does it work? 

Learners need to learn 5 words + synonym (the sooner people stop translating, the better). Then the learner should write 3-5 sentences in context. These sentences need to be useful and it is better to vary the use of tenses and the +/-/?

Learners need to review and recall vocabulary daily:

It is essential to review and go over vocabulary each day to internalise it. See our model to learn how to do this.

Monday – 5 new words

Tuesday – review the 5 words from Monday + 5 new words

Wednesday – review the 5 words from Tuesday + 5 new words

Thursday – review the 5 words from Wednesday + 5 new words

Friday – review the 5 words from Thursday + 5 new words

Saturday – review the 5 words from Friday + 5 new words

Sunday – review the 5 words from Saturday + 5 new words

The numbers: How many words will you learn?

Day = 5

Week = 35

Month = 140-155

Year = 1825

It is important to understand that when you begin, 5 words a days will be a sufficient amount, but after some time you might want to increase the amount of words to first 10 then probably 15 words a day. This way you can reach an advanced level within an academic year.

With around 2500-4000 words, a person can speak at a B2 level. The key is knowing how to use these words in context and not just translating them.

A2 – 500-1000 words

B1 – 1000-2000 words

B2 – 2500-4000 words

C1 – up to 7000 words

Now it’s time to practice your vocabulary and start improving.

Happy learning everyone, keep it up and see you next time!