While rote memorization and practice are important parts of teaching English to teenagers, games also help break up the monotony. Games encourage the teenagers to interact with one another and to think creatively and actively about the language they are using. Engage your teenagers using games that help them learn English by applying it to new and unique situations. Choose games that appeal to their interests and the activities going on in their lives.

Mime

Give each teenager an English verb that they know. Ask them to act out the verb in front of the class, and ask the other teenagers to guess what verb they are acting out. This game is an interactive game that gets all of the students involved while asking them to think about what they are doing. Reward each student who guesses correctly with a piece of candy or some other prize. This activity is perfect for a high-energy class.

Run and Write

Divide the students into two teams and line them up on either side of the class. Ask them to think about words for a certain category, like body parts or things found in a house. At the signal, one member from each team runs up to the board to write a word from the category before running back and handing off the chalk or marker. Then the next person runs up and does the same. The round ends when everyone has had one or two turns. The team with the most unique words wins.

Telephone

Divide the teenagers into groups of four or five. Ask each group to declare a listener, who goes into the hall and receives a single line or phrase in English. When they return, ask each group to line up with the listener at the head of the line. Then the listener whispers the line into the ear of the person next in line, who transfers the line on. Have the player at the end of the line speak the phrase out loud and see how different it is from the original line.

Hot Seat

Divide the class into small groups and have them pick a group leader. The group leader is seated so he cannot see the board, and the teacher writes 10 English words on the board. Those in the group spend one minute going down the list and trying to get the leader to say the English words indicated. The teammates may only use English words to encourage their leader to guess. Each team takes its turn and the winning team is the one with the most words guessed.