Picture cards play a large part in teaching vocabulary to students learning English as a second language. The pictures help students learn English words for common objects. The games add variety to lessons and encourage interaction with other students in English. Picture cards present an entertaining method for learning English.

Matching
Use picture cards to play a matching game with your students. Students can sit in groups for this game. Give each group a stack of cards with pictures and words in English. To play the game, the children flip a card over and identify the picture, saying the word out loud. The student must then find its match. However, the student should say the name of the card or lose a turn.

Picture Identification
This game, which asks students to identify pictures when they hear the English word for them, tests comprehension. Teachers can place two large pictures of objects or actions on a white board. Two students stand near the whiteboard, and when the teacher says the name of the picture, the student who touches the correct picture first earns a point. For more advanced students, the teacher can use the picture's name in a sentence, and students can touch the correct picture, corresponding to the sentence.

Bingo
Play Bingo with pictures. Instead of using words or numbers on your Bingo cards, use pictures. To play the game, say a word or use a sentence to describe the picture. The students must mark out the correct picture. The first student who marks out pictures in a straight or diagonal row, wins the game. The winner must then name all of the pictures used to check her answers.

Go Fish
Students can play variations of Go Fish with picture cards. Simply substitute cards with pictures representing vocabulary words that you want the students to practice. Teachers use Go Fish to teach students how to request objects. Therefore, while playing the game, students can request matching cards from other students using "may I have" as a key phrase. Another variation of the game includes matching vowel sounds, according to "Gold Fish Middle Sounds" on the Really Cool Stuff website. Students try to match words with the same sounds. In either case, the student with the most matches wins the game. Teachers can buy or make picture cards for Go Fish and other games.