Teaching English is challenging because the subject encompasses so many areas and skills. In a typical year, an English teacher covers grammar, punctuation, sentence construction, parts of speech and writing. Students quickly become tired of copying sentences from a textbook or completing worksheets. Games help teachers add variety to the classroom routine and give students the chance to improve their use and application of English.

Elementary Games
Elementary school teachers need to play quick-paced games that help kids review English skills while having fun. Interactive computer games are beneficial because they are animated and have sound effects. Many websites have online games for students to practice recognition of parts of speech as well as story elements such as characters, plot and setting.

While computer games are great for students, they are usually designed for single players. Class members need to play games with each other so they can interact and learn from each other. In one game, teachers choose students to form two teams to compete in an English Quiz Bowl. The teacher is the moderator and asks each team to give examples of prepositional phrases, plural nouns or story elements. Teams receive one point for each correct answer. The team with the most points wins.

High School Games
High school students should have mastered the parts of speech, basic grammar and punctuation. Teachers usually focus instruction on applying this knowledge to the writing process. Writing is interwoven with the study of literature, especially in the final two years of high school. Games and activities should focus on building skills that enhance these two areas. Teen-agers are social, and they enjoy games that allow them to interact. For example, when introducing a specific type of genre, such as fiction, the teacher can divide the class into two groups and have them take turns telling short stories about group members. The other group has to decide whether each story is fiction or non-fiction.

To reinforce writing skills, students can pretend to be editors. The teacher can give a newspaper or magazine article to each student and set the timer for 10 or 15 minutes, depending on article length. Students are instructed to highlight subordinate clauses or compound sentences. This activity can be used to review parts of speech and grammar, such as subject/verb agreement. It is also a good way to show the proper use of punctuation. Students can be timed while they find as many commas or semicolons as they can in the allotted time. This also gives the class an opportunity to see sentence construction and transitioning of ideas in paragraphs.