10 Amazing Activities you can do with index cards

Can a simple index card hold the key to a creative language activity for your ESL students?

Read the following 10 ideas before you give your final answer.

10 Things You Can Do With Index Cards

1. 1
   New Perspective
   How you look at life all depends on your perspective, right? If that is the case, why not force a perspective change with this observational activity? Give each of your students an index card, and tell him to poke a hole in the card using a pen or pencil. It should only be big enough for him to see through it a little. Then have each of your students look around the room and write a description of something he sees through the hole (without naming the object). When finished, the rest of the class should listen to the description and try to identify the object.
2. 2
   Newspaper Headlines
   When it is time for your students to learn some new vocabulary or just practice what they already know, look to the newspaper for some inspiration. Cut out interesting individual words from the headlines and tape each on to its own index card. Then have your students each select two to three cards randomly. They should then try to combine the words into a coherent sentence or original newspaper headline. If you like, have your students write the article that follows the headline.
3. 3
   Why-Because
   For a little index card fun, give two cards to each student. On one card, have each student write a question that begins with the word “why”. Then on the second card, he or she should write the answer beginning with “because”. Collect all the ‘why cards’ in one pile and shuffle and do the same with the ‘because cards’. Then pull one card from each pile and read them together. You should end up with some funny combinations. After reading all of them, you can challenge your students to match up each question with an answer that makes sense.
4. 4
   Who Am I?
   Index cards have their place in speaking class, too. Collect one card for each student and put the name of a famous person that your students would know on it. Then tape one name to each student’s back, and he “is” that person. Give your students enough time to walk around the room and ask each other yes/no questions about who they are. (One question per person and then he must move on to another student.) If a person guesses his identity correctly, he may sit down. Keep playing until everyone has guessed who he is.
5. 5
   Story Starters
   If you give your students any free writing time in class, they may sometimes need a nudge in the right direction. When that is the case, have available a stack of story starters (one on each index card) that they can pull and use when they are looking for inspiration. When she is finished writing, have your student turn in her story with her card paper clipped to the top for your review or designate an area of the classroom to post original stories.
6. 6
   Memory Game
   Memory is another simple game you can play with index cards. This is especially useful when reviewing vocabulary. Simply write each vocabulary word on one card and its definition on another. Shuffle the cards and place them face down on a table. Each person can turn over two cards on his turn. If he is able to match the word to its definition, he may keep the set and go again.
7. 7
   Antonyms
   When you want to make the memory game a little more challenging, instead of matching words to their definitions, match words to their antonyms. Your students will still get practice using their vocabulary words as well as challenging their memories.
8. 8
   Order, Please!
   If you want to cast a wider net than isolated vocabulary, write one sentence of a narrative on each card. Then challenge groups of students to use transitional words and signal words to put the sentences in the correct order.
9. 9
   Take 5 Notes!
   Anytime your students are doing research, index cards are a functional and flexible place to take notes. You can find information on how to take notes on Busy Teacher or teach your students your preferred method for taking notes. Challenge them to read a magazine article and take at least five notes on index cards, and then have them use those cards as part of a larger research assignment. They will have the flexibility to rearrange notes as they like without losing valuable information in a cumbersome notebook.
10. 10
    Oh, How Practical!
    Index cards do not have to be relegated to the world of fun and games. They have practical uses as well. They are a concise place to keep emergency contact and allergy information about your students. It is especially helpful to have this information in one place should you ever need a substitute teacher.

When you can get one hundred index cards for only a dollar, the possibilities for your ESL class can be endless as well as inexpensive. The next time you are looking for some inspiration, shuffle on down to your local store and get a back of the 3x5 wonders.

With a little creativity and some blank cards, your ESL class can do more than you might think.

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.

10 Fun English Spelling Games for Your Students

Are your students ready for a fun filled game style spelling review?

Here are some ways to get their pulse quickening and the letters in the right order.

Try These 10 Fun English Spelling Games with Your Students

1. 1

   Unmix It Up

   Have students unscramble letters to make an English word. Using a current vocabulary list, have each student write the letters for one word on index cards – one letter per card. Then under the flap of an envelope, have each student write out the correct spelling of their word. Students then tuck the flap into the envelope, shuffle their letter cards and put them into the envelope in front of the flap. Now you have a learning center game ready for your students. Just put the envelopes out in a box or basket. Students using the center should pull out the index cards and arrange them to make a correctly spelled English word. They can check their answer by lifting the flap of the envelope when they are finished. As the year progresses, add words to the collection while leaving those that are already there and it becomes a way to review vocabulary as well.
2. 2

   Unmix It Up Relay

   Using the envelopes your students made for the ‘unmix it up’ learning center, have a spelling relay race. Divide your class into teams of five, and put a stack of ten envelopes on a desk across the room for each team. One at a time, students run to the desk, take the cards out of an envelope and unscramble the letters to make a word. When they think they have a correct word they call “check”. You should see to be sure they have a correctly spelled English word. If so, he should put the letters back in the envelope and put it on the floor before running back to their team. The next person then runs to the table and choose his own envelope to unscramble. Whichever team finishes unmixing all their words first wins the game.
3. 3

   Blind Relay

   If your whiteboard is also a magnetic one, this game will get your students excited about spelling. Divide your class into two teams. Each team should have a set of magnetic letters (the simple kind you find at the dollar store) on their half of the board. On your go, announce one word for each team to spell. One person from each team runs to the whiteboard and uses the magnetic letters to spell out the word. Just be sure you have enough duplicate letters to spell the words you call out. (For example, “taller” would require two letter ls.) The team that gets the word first scores a point. Then two other players take a turn. Play until everyone has had at least one turn. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. If you want to make the relay even more challenging, blindfold each person and position them at the board before calling out the word. They will have to feel the letters on the board to spell their word correctly.
4. 4

   Telephone Spelling

   This game is just as much a test of pronunciation and listening skills as it is of spelling skills. Divide your class into two teams, and have each team sit or stand in one long line. You whisper a word to the person at the back of the line, and she must carefully whisper it to the person in front of her. That person whispers to the person in front of him and so on until the first person in line hears the word. When he does, he should go to the whiteboard and write the word that he heard using the correct spelling. If he gets the word right, his team scores a point. If not, he does not score for the team. He then goes to the back of the line and the teams play again with a new word and a new player.
5. 5

   Secret Speller

   This game requires a small whiteboard or flipchart that you can face away from the students in your class. Set the flipchart up so it is opposite the front wall of the classroom. Put your students in pairs and have them choose one person to be the speller and one to be the writer. On the flipchart, write five to ten words that are difficult to spell or pronounce. When you say go, the speller from each team runs to the front of the classroom and looks at the list of words on the flipchart. He tries to remember as many of the words and their spelling as he can and runs back to his partner. He must then help his partner write the words on her paper, but the speller is not allowed to look at the paper. He can run back to the flipchart as many times as necessary to check spelling or remember words. When the pair thinks they have all of the words right, they call check. You should then look and tell them if the words are all correct or if there is a mistake. Throughout the game, the speller and the writer can say anything they want, but the speller can never look at the writer’s paper. The first team to get all the words written correctly on the writer’s paper wins.
6. 6

   Scrabble Slam

   Scrabble Slam is a fun spelling game that also builds vocabulary. Each card has one letter on the front and another on the back. (You can also create your own Spelling Slam cards by writing one letter each on index cards. Have more copies of common letters like vowels, t, s, r, n and l in your set, also omitting q and z.) Play starts with any four letter word laid out on the table and each player holding ten cards. The remaining cards go in a pile on the table. On go, players add one letter at time to the word to create a different four letter word. For example, pole may become poke which becomes pike which becomes bike. Every time a letter is laid down, it must correctly spell an English word. Up to four players play at one time trying to get rid of all their cards as quickly as possible. If someone plays a word that is not spelled correctly, players stop and that person must take a three card penalty from the draw pile. If no one can play a new word and everyone still has cards, each person draws one letter from the draw pile. The first person to use all her cards wins.
7. 7

   Hangman

   This classic grade school game gives your students a fun way to practice spelling.For the traditional rules, look here. Start by playing with your entire class, you putting a word or phrase on the board. Players guess letters trying to decipher the words. If a student calls a letter that is in the phrase, you fill in all the places where it belongs. If they call a letter that is not in the phrase they receive a penalty. After a practice round with you leading, have students break into groups of three and play on their own.
8. 8

   3-D Spelling

   Why have a spelling test with pencil and paper when you can use play dough, beans, toys or other fun items to write out the words. You call out a word to your class, and they race through the items in their desk to spell the word out on their table. They might spell the word by arranging crayons, paper clips or other items in their desk. If they do not have enough items in the desk to spell the word, they can use items from around the room though collecting items will take more time. The first person to spell out each word correctly gets a point. The person with the highest score at the end of the spelling test wins.
9. 9

   Spelling Battleship

   In traditional Battleship, you sink your opponent’s boats. In this spelling version, you sink their spelling words. Each person needs two 10 by 10 grids. Have students start by labeling the rows letters A-J and the columns 1-10. Then each person writes the same set of 5-7 spelling words on one grid, in random order and location, either vertical or horizontal. On the other grid, he tracks his opponent’s words. Players take turns calling out a coordinate, for example D-5. His opponent checks his grid and announces whether D-5 was a hit or miss. The first player should mark that square on his blank grid – red for a hit and blue or black for a miss. Play continues until one person finds every letter of all the words on his opponent’s grid. (For more detail on how to play as well as a printable grid, see Salvo - the complete rules.)
10. 10

    Sparkle

    This game tests spelling as well as listening skills. Have your students arrange themselves in a circle. Announce a word from the current vocabulary unit. The person to your left says the first letter of the word. The second person says the second letter. The third person the third and so on until the word is completed. The next person says ‘sparkle’. Then you call out a new word. If at any time a person says the wrong letter, he is out and returns to his seat. If a student does not say sparkle when the word is completely spelled or if he says it too soon, he is out. Play continues until only one person remains in the circle.

10 Fun Icebreakers for the Beginning of the Year

Everyone loves a good icebreaker—it’s a great way to get to know other people and help people feel relaxed in stressful situations, such as the first day of a new school year.

Here are a few icebreakers and some variations to the icebreakers to try during the first week of school to build a good sense of community in your classroom that will last throughout the year!

Try These 10 Awesome Ideas to Kick off Your School Year

1. 1

   Name Chain Games

   By far and away the best way to learn and retain student names is to do a name chain game to start off the class. You can vary the specifics to fit the needs of your particular class, but my class usually goes like this: the first student says 1) his or her name, 2) his or her home country, 3) one interesting fact about himself or herself, and 4) his or her favorite English word. The next student must then repeat all of the information about himself or herself and then say the name and favorite English word of the preceding student. The third student introduces himself or herself and then says the names and favorite English words of the preceding two students, and so on until the last student. For a challenge, tell the last student not to write anything down! As the teacher, you can also go last instead and impress the class with your knowledge of their names while simultaneously making the last student feel better. Make sure you quiz your students throughout the week to see if they can remember everyone’s names and favorite words. I’ve also made a practice vocabulary quiz using each of their favorite English words before which is a great way to transition them into your testing style.
   Variation: Instead of having students say their favorite English word, have them choose a word that starts with the same letter as their name, a favorite city, favorite food, etc... the options are endless!
2. 2

   New Year’s Resolutions

   Your students may familiar with this popular tradition in January, but a new school year should bring about new resolutions for students and teachers alike.Have students partner up with each other and discuss what goals they have for themselves for the school year. Encourage them to be specific with the things they would like to accomplish and what they want to be different. Make sure that you as the teacher make some resolutions too!
   Variation: While students are talking together, have them create a poster of their resolutions. Display the posters around the room to help students remember their goals throughout the term.
3. 3

   Name That Person

   Another great activity to get to your students to know each other a little better is a guessing game. Pass out small pieces of paper or notecards to each student and tell them to write down two facts about themselves on the card without writing their name on them. Collect the cards in a basket and mix them up before redistributing them to the students. Students take turn reading out the facts from the note card and the other students guess which person wrote the card.
   Variation: Instead of writing them down on notecards, have them discuss their facts with a partner. After groups have had some time to discuss, come back together as a whole class. The partners will take turns sharing facts and the rest of the class has to guess which partner the fact is about! Give a point to the partners who guess the facts correctly and a point to the partners who are able to fool the class.
4. 4

   Would You Rather....

   Line students up in two lines with each line facing each other. Tell them to come up with creative “Would you rather...” questions to ask their partners, such as “Would you rather eat pizza for the rest of your life or chocolate?”; “Would you rather be a ballerina or a florist?” etc... Give them a few examples to prompt them and see what kinds of creative questions they come up with. This will help to pique their creativity and get to know their new classmates. After a short time, have one of the lines move down so students will get to meet everyone in the other line.
   Variation: In a large circle as a whole class, have Student A pose a would you rather question for Student B to answer. To make things even more interesting, have Student B answer for a different student. For example, Student A might ask “Student B, do you think student C would rather have a crocodile or a zebra for a pet?” The students will then guess for their classmate; be sure to have Student C answer to see who close Student B was!
5. 5

   Find Objects to Describe Me ....

   A classic get to know you activity is to have students go through their backpacks, folders, pockets, etc... and find 3 or 4 things that they feel describe them very well.Students then need to describe their objects and why they chose them as their defining objects. Put students into pairs to share their objects or share as a whole class so that way everyone can hear about their new classmates!
   Variation: Send students around the building with cameras (phones work nicely these days) and take a picture of something in the building that they think defines them or could describe them.
6. 6

   Word Association

   A great speaking activity that helps to loosen up nervous students on the first day is a word association game. One student says a word (choose a category like travel if you wish to narrow things down) and the next person must say a word associated with that word; the next student says a word associated with that word, and so on. If another student challenges the association, the student must justify how those words are related. Make it a competition to see who can get the most points if you want to add a little friendly rivalry in the mix.
   Variation: To make things more challenging or adapt this activity for a higher level class, put extra restrictions such as the word you say must begin with the last letter of the word the previous student said. For example, if Student A says “Japan,” Student B might say “ninja.”
7. 7

   Who Am I?

   A great way to mix students up to arrange them into groups or just get them speaking to one another is to put nametags on the back of the students of famous people, teachers, movie characters etc... Make sure that these people will be well known by all of your students. Students must walk around with their nametag on their back that they cannot see and ask questions to their classmates about who they are.
   Variation: If you wait a few days and do this activity on the 2nd or 3rd day of class, you can put a classmates’ name on their back and their peers will have to know that classmate well enough to describe him or her to the student. This is a great way to review names!
8. 8

   Picture Story-Telling

   To get some of the more creative students included, give each student a blank piece of paper. Tell them to draw a picture of an event that happened to them recently, for example, a vacation they took, or a graduation ceremony etc... There can be no words on the paper. Put the students into pairs and have the partners guess what went the event was based on just looking at the picture.
   Variation: Before putting students into pairs, collect the students’ pictures and randomly redistribute them to different students. The students will then have to describe to the class what is going on in the picture. When they finish, ask the artist of the picture to say how close that student was and to narrate what actually happened in their life event.
9. 9

   I’m Cool Because...

   If students are getting sluggish and you need them to move around the first day, do this activity. Have all of the students seated in a circle and you as a teacher stand in the middle. To start off the activity, you will say “I’m cool because...” and then finish that sentence with something that’s true about you, for example, you’re wearing blue jeans, you speak 3 languages, etc... Then, every student who shares that fact in common with you must stand up and find a new seat. You also will need to find a seat meaning that one student will be stranded in the middle. This game is great for finding commonalities and getting in some good laughs!
   Variation: Play “I have never....” instead. When students are in the middle, have them call out things they’ve never done and have the students move who have done those activities.
10. 10

    3 Common, 1 Unique

    This activity is good for small groups. Randomly group students into three or four and give them a time limit to discover three things that all members of the group have in common and one thing that is unique for all of them. When the time is up, have each group report to the class. Then, change up the groups and have them do it again with their new class members. If it starts to get too easy, start ruling out common answers like “We’re all from different countries” or “We all breathe oxygen.”
    Variation: Try this with the whole class after doing it in small groups. If they’ve been good listeners, they should be able to recall many things that all students had in common. It may take awhile, but there are surely at least 3 things the whole class has in common!

The first day of school can be stressful for everyone, but these icebreakers will help you and your students get to know each other in a fun, interactive way to help build the classroom environment all year long!

How to Host Your Own English Language Olympics

As the year comes to a close, celebrate everything that your students have learned with this fun review of the year’s English lessons. Here’s how to host your own English Language Olympic Games.

Host Your Own Olympics in Your Classroom

1. 1

   Assign Teams

   You don’t have to put your students in teams to play these language games, but giving ESL students a partner does tend to decrease their stress and make fun activities like these even more fun. So think about creating teams of two to four amongst your students. Mix skill levels as well as the cultures of your students.
2. 2

   Create Country Flags

   Have students create fictional countries that they will be representing. In their teams, have students choose a name for their country andcreate a country flag.
3. 3
4. Host the Events
   The events are probably the most fun part of your English language Olympic Games. You have lots of flexibility to design events based on your students’ skills and what you are studying in class. Here are some ideas to get you started. Remember for each event, you will want to award points to the top three teams – five points for first place (gold), three points for second place (silver), and one point for third palce (bronze). It’s up to you whether you have one person from each team compete in each event, requiring your students to strategize who will participate in each event, or have everyone from each team compete in each event, which will give you a read on every student’s skills. At the end of each event, take a few minutes to hold a metal award ceremony. Have the top three scoring teams come to the front of the room and award them prizes for the round. If you like, choose three awards – gold, silver, and bronze – to use for every award ceremony. Let each team who won an award keep it in their possession until the next award ceremony at which time they return it to you and you pass it on to the top three teams for the next event.

Consider Vocabulary Diving

Use this event as a review of all your vocabulary words for the year. Write each word on a small slip of paper, and put it in a bucket. This will be your pool. Then, have one person from each team take turns “diving” their hand into the bucket and choosing a word. They will then have sixty seconds to write a sentence on the board, which clearly shows the meaning of the word they chose in their dive. If the sentence shows the meaning of the word, score five points. If it is also perfect grammatically, score another five points. Play as many rounds as you like and then award medals to the teams according to their scores in the event.

Check Equestrian Spelling Jump

While Olympic riders race to complete a jumping course in the quickest time, your students will race all at once to reach the end goal while spelling words. In essence, this is a spelling bee, but in Olympic style. To prepare, scatter several papers around your classroom floor or another open playing area. Tell students these papers are like rocks in a stream, and they will have to step from one to another to get to the goal. No two people can occupy the same spot at the same time. Students will have to choose what they think is the shortest route from their starting position to the goal. Have teams draw for the order in which they will play. On each team’s first turn, they begin at a designated starting spot. Give the player a word to spell. If that person spells the word correctly, he or she may jump to a square of their choosing. Then the next player goes. If a person spells a word incorrectly, they must return to the starting point. If they miss the square on their jump (both feet have to land entirely inside the paper) they must return to the starting point. Students will have to decide if they want to spell more words and take more careful steps or if they want to take bigger jumps in hopes of getting to the finish faster. The first person to reach the end wins gold, the second silver, and the third bronze.

Fill in the Blank Archery

Firing arrows in your classroom probably isn’t a good idea, but you can easily set up a dartboard for this simple game. First, choose the skill you want to test. - it might be a particular grammar point or comprehension questions on something your class has read. Then set up your dartboard with a line down the middle. Label one side A and the other side B. When students compete in the event, ask each person a question on the target structure and give him or her a choice of answers between A and B. The student must choose what answer they think is correct and then throw the dart at that side of the board. Award one point to the team if the dart lands on the correct answer. If the dart misses the board completely, subtract one point from their score. At the end of the game, the top three scoring teams are awarded metals.

Apply Vocabulary Wrestling

How many synonyms do your students know for common words? How many items can your students name from a given category? Find the answers in this simple vocabulary faceoff. Students from two teams come to the front of the room and face each other. You announce a category, such as sports. The players must then take turns giving an item from each category until one person cannot think of another one. The last person able to give an item for the category scores a point. Play enough rounds so each team has the same number of turns and award the top three scoring teams at the end of the event.

You can create other games of your choosing, or do an encore of in-class exercises after giving them an Olympic sounding name. Add up points for all the medals your students won, and award the final prizes in the closing ceremony.

Do you do any fun end of the year reviews with your students?

What are your favorites?