Ideally, ESL classes shouldn’t be large because for optimal language acquisition, students need ample opportunities to interact with English in real-life situations. Real-life learning environments, however, are often not ideal. Therefore, the application of games in large ESL classes helps to engage students in English-speaking activities that foster both learning and practice.

Conversation/Problem-solving: Story Strips
Make at least six lists of six sentences that go together to create a short paragraph. Type the lists on separate pieces of paper and cut the paper into strips so that each strip has one sentence. Shuffle the strips and randomly pass them out to the students. Note that all strips need to be distributed, so some students may need to take more than one strip. Give the students enough time to read their sentence silently to themselves and to memorize it. Then, collect the strips. Students should then mingle around the room asking questions to the other students and reciting their one line. In this process, students’ objective is to find others who belong to their “story.” As they find classmates who belong to the same story, they should stay together. The first team to complete their story is the winning team.

Story-Making
Write 10 to 15 song titles on the board. Divide the students into small groups and have them create a short story from the titles. The requirements are to use all the titles and to not alter them at all. At the end of the set time, have the students act out or read their stories as a presentation to the whole class.

The Price is Right
Divide the class into two teams. Have one member from each team come to the front of the class to guess the price of objects prepared in advance by the teacher. The students in the “audience” can call out prices to help their teammate. Note that the teacher needs to determine the prices before hand and have them written out on index cards to display at the end of the guessing. If students disagree with the price set by the teacher, they are welcome to argue their point, but in English. To do this, the contestant may return to the group for consultation.

Spelling Survivor
Line students up around the outer edges of the classroom. Call out a spelling word and have one student say the first letter. The next student should say the next letter and so on until the word is spelled correctly. If a student says a wrong letter, she should return to her seat. Repeat this process for as many words as it takes until there is a winner. The winner is the last one standing.