A selection of English ESL esl classroom games ppt slides

Learning about classroom language is a great way for ESL students to acquire new vocabulary. Teaching classroom language to ESL students is especially important for students who may want to work or study abroad. Regardless, this lesson presents many opportunities for students of all abilities to learn and/or practice classroom language in English. Keep reading this post to learn more about when to teach this lesson and how to do so effectively. 

When to use this lesson?

This lesson is best to use with beginner students looking/needing to develop functional language skills. Functional language skills are essential for students to have so they can interact in real life situations. So, this does not aim to introduce grammar and instead vocabulary in different contexts to create meaning. The point of this lesson is for students to gain language skills that they can use in their everyday lives, particularly in the classroom.

You can also use this lesson as a practice or break lesson with more intermediate students. Simply just ask your more experienced student to speak more, expand on concepts and formulate sentences independently. Regardless, at any learning level, students will appreciate your encouragement and guidance.

If you want additional lesson plans and support, including teachers’ notes, be sure to register for a free Off2Class account.

Language For The Classroom: A Lesson Plan For ESL Teachers

Looking for a hilarious way to break the ice, build classroom community, and get students talking? This “I’d Rather…” Icebreaker Game is perfect for middle and high school students!

Packed with funny and thought-provoking prompts, this game encourages students to make choices between two silly, challenging, or outrageous scenarios — and explain why! It’s an instant conversation starter that works for:

Back-to-school activities
Morning meetings
Advisory periods
Brain breaks
Team-building days
What’s Included:

PowerPoint Game – ready to play, just click through!
20+ hilarious “I’d Rather…” prompts to spark laughter and discussion.
Bright, teen-friendly design that keeps students engaged.
Why Teachers Love It:

No prep required – open and play!
Encourages critical thinking, creativity, and speaking skills.
Builds classroom rapport in a fun, low-pressure way.


"I’d Rather…" – Fun Icebreaker Game for Teens (PowerPoint) ESL

The classic game everyone knows and loves. Great for classroom warm ups and reviewing spelling. For more of our ESL games, be sure to check out our page at www.ready2goesl.com

Hangman powerpoint game

Yet another version of the Mario PowerPoint game. This one was made for Japanese students (5th grade of ESL to 2nd grade of JHS). Easily editable, take this as a template. Stole it from my previous employer!

Mario Game - Super Mario Bros. Classroom Blast

Teach the letter sounds D, E, and F with this zero-prep phonics lesson for beginner ESL learners. This free PowerPoint includes a warm-up, vocabulary practice with pictures, Quick Say drills, and high-energy movement activities where students say sounds and perform actions. Perfect for Pre-A1 / Grade 1–2 classrooms and teachers who want a ready-to-use, highly visual introduction to D/E/F sounds. All animations, teacher notes, and classroom-tested activities are built in—just open and teach.

Phonics Lesson 4 – Letters D, E, F (Free ESL PPTX) _ Warm-Up, Vocabulary & High-Energy Games

ODD ONE OUT-Great Game for ESL classrooms
Find the word which doesn't belong to the others.
Examples- "Which is the odd one out?"
1.Lions 2.Wolves 3.Bears 4.Dolphones
The answer is 2 (regular plurals)

ODD ONE OUT-Great Game for ESL classrooms

A quick and dirty ESL lesson or game to play in the classroom to practice vocab.  Nice for a fun lesson with kids 



Why do I have to write 160 characters when I don't need them ah!



What can you Remember

ODD ONE OUT(3)-Great Game for ESL classrooms

ODD ONE OUT(2)-Great Game for ESL classrooms

Free D–E–F phonics lesson for Pre-A1 ESL students. Includes a phonics song, movement game, and short story. Zero-prep and classroom-tested. This free D–E–F phonics lesson is designed for Pre-A1 / Grade 1–2 ESL learners and is ready to teach with no preparation. The lesson introduces the letter sounds /d/, /e/, and /f/ through a clear, engaging structure that keeps young learners active and focused. Students learn through songs, movement, and a simple phonics story, making it ideal for beginner classrooms. What’s included: Phonics song & chant for warm-up Movement game to practice beginning sounds Short phonics story using D–E–F words Clear teacher notes and lesson flow This resource works well as a standalone phonics lesson or as part of a larger phonics sequence. Perfect for teachers looking for a free, high-quality ESL phonics PPTX that actually works in real classrooms. Level Pre-A1 | Primary Grade 1–2 Lesson Length 30–40 minutes.

Phonics Lesson 5 – Letters D, E, F (Free PPTX)_ Warm-Up, Vocabulary & High-Energy Games

Bring a bit of fun to your classroom with this easy to use and customizable game that your students will love! Great for reviewing vocabulary and sentence structures. Edit the words and pictures required to review for each lesson. Complete with detailed instructions on setting up and how to play the game. Works on both mac and PC.



For more games from Ready2GO ESL, check out our store here:



https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Ready2go-Esl

Student Warrior Battle Review (Built-in scoreboard)

Coconanza Review

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

For personal or classroom use only. Uploading on other internet sharing platforms or any commercial use NOT PERMITTED. Share Alike.

Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License

how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

24 Esl classroom games English ESL powerpoints