ESL games for middle school students provide a break from hard work while at the same time, engage the students in active practice of previously learned skills and content knowledge. You can adapt any of the games listed below to utilize the vocabulary, grammar and content concepts being taught in your regular lessons.

Jumbled Words
Give students a list of words with all the letters mixed up. The students then race to put the letters in the right order to spell the words correctly. Students can compete individually against the clock, against one another, or in groups against other groups. This activity can be created at different levels so that with each round, the problems become more challenging.

Banana Race
Draw a large race track with a "starting line" and a "finish line" on the board at the front of the class. Place students in teams. Give each team a different colored paper banana with a magnet attached to the underside. Have the team captain put the team's banana at the starting line. Then, ask the students questions. With each correct answer, they can move their banana one step forward. The team that reaches the finish line first is the winning team. For more excitement, have the banana's move back one space for every wrong answer.

Fly Swatter Game
Divide the class into two teams. Divide the board in the front of the class in half with a bold line. Write the answers to a preset group of questions randomly on each side of the board. Be sure that the set of answers are the same on both sides, but not placed in the same positions. Have the teams line up in straight lines beginning several feet away from the board and going directly back toward the back of the room. Give the first person on each team a fly swatter. Ask a question. The person on each team with the fly swatter has to run to the board and "swat" the correct answer. The first person to correctly swat the answer gets a point for his/her team. Tally the points at the sides of the board. This game can continue through several rounds or end after just one round.

Bang! Spelling Bee
Write spelling words on several index cards, one word per card. Write the word "BANG!" on several cards as well. Fold the cards in half and place in a hat, bowl or other container. Divide the class into two teams. Have one student from team "A" come to the front of the class and draw a card. That student reads the card out loud and one member from her team then spells the word. If the word is spelled correctly, the team gets to keep the card. If the word is spelled incorrectly, the card goes back into the hat. If a "BANG!" card is drawn, the student has to yell "BANG!" and return all the cards to the hat. The object of the game is to have the most number of cards at the end of the game.