9 Absolutely Essential ESL Games for Vocabulary Review

Well, it is that time again. You have finished your unit on (insert topic here) complete with vocabulary, listening, speaking, reading and writing activities, but you are not entirely done. The test is coming up in just a few days, and your students need some review.

When vocabulary is on that agenda, try one of these fun games to review the words your students have recently learned!

Try These Fun ESL Vocabulary Review Games and Activities

1. Charades Charades is a fun and lively game for your ESL class to play when reviewing vocabulary. Your students will be energized and enthusiastic when their acting skills are put to the test for their classmates. It is easy to have a charade vocabulary review ready for your class at almost any time and on a moment’s notice with minimal advance preparation. The easiest way to be ready at any time is to keep a collection of vocabulary cards for the words your class has studied. When you are ready to play, divide your class into two teams. Each student will take turns acting out one of the words from the cards that you have prepared. They will choose this card randomly on their turns and will have 2 minutes to get their team to guess the word without using books or notes. The actor cannot use any sounds but must communicate only through actions. The rest of the team should shout out any answers that come to mind. If the team is able to guess the word within the designated time, they score a point. If after two minutes the team has not guessed the word correctly, the other team gets one chance to guess the word. If they are correct, they score a point and then continue with their turn. Continue playing until you run out of time or you run out of words. The team with the higher score at the end of the game wins.For a twist try Reverse Charades or Role Play Charades.
2. Pictionary Pictionary is a similar and just as entertaining game to play for vocabulary review. The rules are similar to those of charades except that instead of acting out the word, the clue giver is permitted only to draw on the white board in front of the class. He or she cannot use any symbols, numbers or letters in his or her drawing. Again, give each person two minutes to try to get their team to guess the word. If they are unsuccessful, give the other team a chance to guess. Score the game the same way that you would score charades and announce the winning team at the end of the game. Pictionary is designed to help students remember important vocabulary words and connect terms with concepts.
3. Claymation How creative are your students? How daring are they? If you think they would have fun with this activity, modify the same general idea that you used in charades and Pictionary with clay or playdough. Again, the rules are generally the same but in this version your students will not be acting or drawing. They will be molding clay to communicate the target word to their teams. Follow the same general rules, but this time you may want to give each person three to five minutes before turning it over to the opposite team for their guess. Scoring is done in the same way.
4. All of the Above If you want to energize your students even further, add a little element of chance to the festivities. Using a six-sided die, have your students roll to see whether they will perform a charade, draw a picture or form their clues out of clay. For rolls of one or four, the student will give a charade. For rolls of two or five the student will draw his clues. For rolls of three or six, your students will use clay to give their clues. In all cases, no letters, symbols or numbers are allowed when giving clues. The element of surprise will make the review even more exciting and entertaining for everyone!

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