As an English teacher myself, I understand the struggle of wanting to introduce engaging activities without spending endless hours creating them. Personally, I’m a big fan of low-prep, engaging, and effective ESL interactive activities. In this post, I’ll share with you 5 top ESL interactive activities that will make your classes even more awesome and won’t take the whole day of preparation!
1. Storytelling: Boosting & Revising Vocabulary
Storytelling is a powerful tool for ESL teachers looking to spice up their lessons and boost their students’ vocabulary retention. When we hear a story, our brains light up with activity. This engagement helps us retain information more effectively than rote memorization. For ESL students, storytelling offers a dynamic way to encounter and absorb new words in context.
But crafting a story from scratch can be daunting, especially for learners still building their language skills. That’s where a handy tip comes in: provide your students with a story context or outline. By giving them a starting point, you empower them to focus on vocabulary and let their imaginations run wild in creating unique and exciting narratives.
Example
For interactive and engaging storytelling sessions, I often turn to the Genial Wheel Quiz. With a few tweaks, it transforms into a top-notch tool for storytelling activities, even though it doesn’t look like it at first sight!
How to do it
I replace the numbers on the wheel with the target vocabulary from the lesson. Additionally, I provide a brief story prompt to guide my students’ creativity and save their mental energy for grasping new vocabulary.
Take a look at what I did for one of my lesson plans, aimed at learning new vocabulary related to crime and police. I integrated the target language and crafted a concise prompt:
Check it out here:
2. Giving Grammar a Real-World Touch
Understanding grammar in context is paramount for ESL students. When grammar rules are presented within the framework of real-life situations or scenarios, students grasp them more readily.
To facilitate this, I always break down grammar topics into manageable chunks and embed them within common communicative situations.
By presenting grammar in bite-sized portions and connecting them to meaningful contexts, students can see the relevance of what they’re learning.
It’s important to show that grammar is a tool for effective communication and not a set of abstract rules to memorize.
In Genially, I can seamlessly transform grammar exercises into immersive experiences, allowing students to envision themselves in real-life scenarios. Now, here’s the catch: there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. So, I’ll share a couple of my ideas to give you a solid grasp of what I’m talking about.
Example
Using the Anime Comic template, I crafted an ESL interactive activity where students practise introducing themselves and sparking conversations. Using the prompts, they bring dialogues to life, practising correct grammar, whether in pairs role-playing, or solo.
Similarly, for practising the third conditional, I designed another ESL interactive activity. Students complete dialogues with third conditional sentences based on contextual cues. This activity offers two levels of difficulty: one without prompts and another with optional hints accessible by tapping a light bulb icon.
3. Gamification for ESL Lessons: Fun with Purpose
Games aren’t just fun—they’re a powerhouse for learning! They inject excitement into lessons, sparking engagement and motivation among students.
Here’s the thing: while games are fantastic for energising the classroom, it’s crucial not to lose sight of the educational objectives.
As teachers, we need to strike a balance between enjoyment and effectiveness.
Every exercise should serve a purpose, whether it’s reinforcing grammar rules, expanding vocabulary, or improving communication skills. Understanding the educational value of each ESL interactive activity ensures that our lessons are not just entertaining but also meaningful, ultimately leading to tangible improvements in students’ language proficiency.
To ensure this, always give your students a clear communicative aim. They should know precisely why they’re communicating, what problem to solve, and what outcomes to aim for. This should come both from the teacher’s instructions and the design of the game itself.
Example
Check out my creation inspired by the template Chaotic Kitchen Escape.
How to do it
Here’s the kicker—I tweaked the template to fit my needs, so it looks nothing like the original game when it comes to the mechanics! But I borrowed its awesome design!
Here’s a tip: Genially templates offer stellar designs that you can repurpose for your own activities. It’s a real time-saver, and the results look simply stunning!
In ‘Dinner with Friends’, students dive into culinary adventures, following recipes and describing their actions. I even threw in some typical dialogue examples for extra guidance. All the elements are draggable, so students can comment on their real-time actions, making the experience even more immersive and engaging! And the communicative purpose? Students should cooperate to “cook” three dishes for their dinner together! It seems fun, but in reality, your students will use lots of new grammar and vocabulary from the lesson in a natural environment.
4. Going Beyond Vocab & Grammar: Exploring Cultures
Learning English isn’t just about memorizing words and grammar—it’s also about exploring different cultures. By learning about how English is used in different countries, students can understand more about the people who speak it and how they live. It helps students understand and respect people from different backgrounds.
This is called being ‘interculturally competent.‘ It means they can connect with people from all over the world and understand their points of view better.
Example
Let me share a personal example: I’m from Ukraine, where Halloween isn’t a widely celebrated tradition. However, I make it a point to introduce this topic to my students to broaden their understanding of English-speaking customs and traditions.
To make the learning experience more immersive, I designed an ESL interactive activity where students decorate their houses for Halloween. Sure, it might not be typical for Ukrainians, but it’s a fun way for my students to delve deeper into the traditions and have a blast!
But it’s not just about having fun. As students collaborate and agree on decorations, they naturally use a ton of vocabulary related to Halloween. It’s a win-win situation: students get to have fun while expanding their language skills and cultural awareness.
5. Reinventing Flashcards
Flashcards are a tried-and-true method for mastering vocabulary, and for good reason! They offer a simple yet powerful way to reinforce word meanings and associations. By regularly reviewing flashcards, students can strengthen their memory and recall new words.
But here’s the trick: it’s not just about flipping through cards mindlessly. Flashcards are most effective when used actively and in the context.
Example
How to do it
Let me show you how I did it. In this genially, I included a couple of photos of celebrity couples and added target phrases that students can use to describe them. Using the phrases, students can describe the relationships the couples have.
With Genially’s interactive image mode, creating engaging flashcards is a breeze! Choose captivating images that spark curiosity and imagination, then add a task to describe the pictures. To give students a helpful nudge, include a tooltip with a word related to the image, providing them with ideas for discussion and expanding their vocabulary in context.
These are just 5 random ideas for how you can make the most of Genially in your classroom, but there are many more! I really hope these ESL interactive activities and geniallys inspired you to create more for your students! Here’s to creating memorable and impactful educational experiences together!
