5 Simple Reading Games For Beginners

Beginning students often get the short end of the stick when it comes to fun classroom reading activities.

They’re not ready to read a book. Even short stories are too complex. Forget about traditional vocabulary and reading games. But just because their skill levels are at the start doesn’t mean their fun level has to be, too. Here are 5 games you can play with beginning reading students that won’t overwhelm them with difficulty but are sure to create fun in your classroom!

Try These 5 Simple Games with Your Beginners

1. 1

   Choose Your Path Wisely

   This reading game takes as much room as you can afford to offer, and it can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it. The basic goal of the game is for players to get from the start to the finish of a paper path. To set up, decide on the words you want your students to read, and write each on a standard sheet of paper; laminate them if you so choose. Using those pages as well as blank ones, make one or several paths on the floor from the start point to the finish. (Think along the lines of paving stones.) When a student takes his turn, he rolls a standard six sided die. He is then allowed to move that many spaces (sheets of paper). If he encounters a page with a word written on it during his move, he must read the word. If he reads it, he continues to move his full number of spaces. If he cannot read the word, read it for him, but he must stay on that space and cannot pass that space until his next roll. Students choose which path they will take along the pages, and the first one to reach the finish wins.
2. 2

   I Spy Reading Edition

   This game can take as little as one or two minutes or as many as you want to fill, so it makes a great time filler to keep on hand for those down moments in class.To prepare for the game, write many words on a blank piece of paper in random order and positioned at all angles. The more words that are on the page, the better. Make sure you include words that your students can read easily as well as those that are more of a challenge. Then make enough copies of the page for each of your students to have one. To play, you read a word to your class. They race to find that word on the page. The first one to find it reads it out loud and then circles it or crosses it out. That person scores one point. Then wait until everyone in class has found the word. Read a second word, and students then search for that one on the page. The first to find it scores a point. As you call out more words, students will be reading many of the words on the page. It’s a great way to get in lots of reading practice without your students getting bored. Play until someone reaches a certain number of points or until you have called out all the words you want your students to read.
3. 3

   Reading Relay

   This reading relay may be a bit confusing at first, but it will become easier the more often you play it. You will divide your class into teams, and each team will need a list of target words, a pen or pencil, several loose letters they can use to spell out those words (game tiles, letters cut from cereal boxes, magnetic alphabets, alphabet beads, etc.), and a desk or table on which they can work. The first player from each team comes to the table and chooses a word from the list. She then spells that word out using the letters at her station and turns the list face down. The second player comes up and must read the word the first player arranged with the playing pieces. If he reads it correctly, he turns over the list and crosses that word off. He then chooses another word from the list and spells it out with the letter pieces. He turns the list face down, and the next player comes up. She reads the word, crosses it off the list, and spells out another word. Play continues until one team has successfully spelled out and read every word on the list.
4. 4

   Bean Bag It

   If you made word pages for “Choose Your Path Wisely” (#1 above) here is a way you can make them work double duty (that is, if they survived the game). Scatter the word pages on the floor in an open area, and gather some bean bags for the game. Have each student toss their beanbag into the playing area. She must read whatever word the beanbag lands closest to. If she does, she scores a point and you remove the word from the playing area. (You can make the game even more challenging by having students give the definition of the word or use it in a sentence as well.) Students take turns tossing and reading until all the word pages are gone. The student with the most points wins.
5. 5

   Bang! Reading Game

   Come Together Kids has a great reading game designed for two to four players that can be very effective in the ESL classroom. You can even have students make their own set of game cards to use during free learning periods. Give each student a list of target reading words (you will want to have at least twenty) as well as several blank index cards. Students write one reading word on each index card (they will get some writing practice in, too). In addition, students take between five and fifteen (depending on how long your word list is) index cards and write “BANG!” on each of them. Shuffle the cards and the game is ready. Give each group a paper bag, can, basket, or some other container to put their cards in. Players take turns pulling one card from the container and reading the word on it. If they read the word correctly, they keep the card. If a player pulls a BANG! card, she must put all of her cards back in the container. Play continues until you call time up. At that point, the player with the most cards in his possession is the winner.

Even beginning students love to have fun, and these games are just right for those in your reading class.

Try one or more with your students, and watch as the smiles take over! :)

Do you have great ideas for beginner reading games? We want to hear them! Share them in the comments below.

7 Great Games for Speaking Practice

Our students can always use some extra speaking practice, after all, it’s most likely the main reason they signed up for the course: they need to speak English in real life situations. But what they enjoy the most is playing games. So, let’s kill the proverbial two birds with one stone, and let’s play some games for speaking practice!

Have Fun with 7 Fabulous Games for Speaking Practice

1. 1

   Crazy Cubes

   When students give instructions, they often struggle to recall the right preposition. Play Crazy Cubes for some preposition practice! First, print two blank cube templates. Let’s say you want to practice prepositions of place. On one of the cubes, write down different locations or places in the classroom: the floor, the teacher’s desk, a chair, a table, a backpack, etc… On the second cube, write down different instructions:put your book, put your pen, put a piece of paper, put a ruler, etc…
   Divide the class into two teams. Each team takes turns rolling both cubes. Students must correctly give someone on the other team an instruction based on the prompts given in the cubes: Put your pen on the teacher’s desk. If the student uses the correct preposition, the team gets a point.
2. 2

   Spot the Differences

   Here’s another option to practice prepositions of place, this time, by providing descriptions. Print this worksheet. Divide the class into two teams and give each team one set of photos. Team members take turns saying the differences out loud. Team A goes first, then B, then A again. Give each team one point not only for spotting the difference, but also for each correct answer.
3. 3

   Perfect Possessions

   This is a great way to practice possessive pronouns. Cut out images of people from magazines. Make sure you have men and women, but also pairs and groups. Next cut out, pictures of cars, houses, dogs, and be sure to get some bedrooms and offices. Put the people in one bag and the possessions in another. Students take turns pulling one picture from each and talking about the items. Let’s say a student takes a picture of a man and a picture of a house: This is John. This is his house. His house is very big and has a swimming pool. There are three bedrooms in his house. Etc... Challenge students to say as much as they can!
4. 4

   Tell Me a Story

   Here’s a fun way to get students to tell you a story. You can use this fairy tale boardgame or design your own. Students roll the dice and tell their story by using the character they land on.
   Variation: Make your own boardgame by pasting pictures you’ve cut out from magazines or even celebrity photos. You can use people, objects, places, and make the game as long or as short as you want their stories to be.
5. 5

   What a Life!

   This game is guaranteed to spark conversations. Print a copy of the What a Life worksheet and cut out the different slips of paper that contain information on major life events. Students take turns taking a slip of paper out of a bag. They read their life-altering event out loud, and the rest of the class asks questions about it. As students take their turns, keep a tally on the board of how many questions each student asks. The student who asks the most questions in total wins.
   Variation: Students stand in front of the class and reveal a major event in their lives; it could be a memorable vacation or party, or an important milestone, like a graduation or their first job.
6. 6

   The Doctor is IN!

   Try this game to practice giving suggestions/recommendations or using should for advice. Write short messages on slips of paper; each message should describe a problem or a symptom: I have a fever and a stuffy nose. I feel chills, and I’m too tired to get out of bed. Students take turns taking a piece of paper. They must read the problem out loud and then proceed to give their recommendation: This person should stay in bed and get plenty of rest. They should also drink lots of water and take aspirin for the fever.
   Variation: Write other types of problems your students could solve, perhaps difficulties related to studying English, financial troubles or any kind they might share advice on.
7. 7

   It’s Movie Time!

   This worksheet also provides a great example of how to turn a speaking activity into a game. In this case, the topics revolve around types of movies and the kind your students enjoy the most. They take turns rolling the dice to see what to talk about.
   Variation: Edit this very same worksheet, or create your own with any topic you want them to talk about - health, the world of work, the environment – anything and everything you’ve covered in class.

To make some of these activities more of a competitive game and less of a simple speaking activity, simply introduce game elements. My favorites include a basic Tic Tac Toe grid, and a boardgame type of path that students move along with the roll of a pair of dice. They can take their turns after they roll their number, for example, but in order to be able to move that number of steps, they must give a correct answer. You might also want to give more advanced students a time limit, and say, for example, they must speak for a full minute. Or make it a competition to see who can speak the longest!

You can turn any speaking activity into a game if you use the right game elements.

Students of all ages will find speaking more enjoyable and will be more motivated to participate.