Board Games in the Language Learning Classroom

Overview:
Popular board games can be used to develop oral language skills with students. Game playing can be done with peers or teachers. It is also a great way to have fun and build relationships with both new students and more advanced learners.

Games can be purchased second-hand or brought in from home. Instructions for playing are the standardized ones that come with each game but can be modified to make the game quicker or easier to play. Cards could be chosen in advance based on targeted learning goals. New cards could also be found online, or developed for individual use. 

How board games support students:
Any early board games allow for peer tutoring and support oral language development and conversational skills. Some more advanced games also include some literacy.

Early Vocabulary building- Candyland for colours and numbers

Asking questions:
• Guess Who?
• Guess Where?
• Battleship
• Headbands

Vocabulary Building and Categorization:
• Apples to Apples (We like the Big Picture Edition)
• Memory Games
• Taboo
• Outburst
• Bingo

These are just some suggestions. Any board game that kids can understand how to play could work in the classroom.


Where to next:
Find some other game suggestions at:
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/board-games-to-learn-english/ 
https://busyteacher.org/7756-top-10-board-games-for-the-esl-classroom.html

English Learning Games: Bang! & Go Fish!

Overview:
Go Fish can often take a long time so students are encouraged to use the phrase “Does anyone have ___” so that the game is quick and students get lots of chances to ask their questions and match cards.
Bang is played with a deck of letters or word cards with several cards that read BANG! Students select a card, read the word/letter, possibly make up a sentence/word that starts with that letter (your choice) and then keep the card. If students are unable to read the card it can be replaced at the bottom of the deck or a player can help the student decode the word. If a student gets a BANG! card then all their cards go to the bottom of the deck. (The game never ends - so a time frame must be decided on prior to the start.)


How Bang! and Go Fish! support students:
Both Go Fish! and Bang! provide students with the opportunity to practice recognizing letters, letter sounds, sight words or new vocabulary. Go Fish! Is used to match upper case to lower case letters or to work on letter sounds or even words that begin with the letter. Many languages do not share the English alphabet and few alphabets have upper and lower case letters.
Bang! is a great way to consolidate understanding of new vocabulary and provide opportunities for students to understand meaning of words and to use them in context.
All our students need repeated exposure to new vocabulary in a variety of contexts to help them consolidate new word knowledge. This is a fun quick way that students can practice what they have learned.


Where to next?
Check out the Ministry Monograph on ELLs and Words: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/world_of_words.pdf