ESL Quiz Games

Here is a fun ESL quiz game that you can use with large classes. Draw a six-by-six table on the board. In the first column, write categories, e.g. sports, verbs, movies, etc. Put points in the other column headings, going from low to high. Tell the students that the categories represent the types of questions and the points represent the difficulty. Choose a category and point value, and start the quiz off with that question. The first student to put up their hand and make a sentence, answering the question correctly wins the square for their team and the points assigned to that square. Write the winning team's name in the square. The winning team gets to choose the next category and point value for all the teams to try to answer. The game continues until all the squares have been taken. The team with the most points wins the quiz..

This entertaining ESL quiz game can be played as a general knowledge quiz, or you can use it to review question and answer forms the students have been learning in class. On the board, draw an empty grid with numbers at the top and letters down the side. Also, draw a scoreboard. Draw five stickmen next to each team's number. Explain that behind each square on the grid is a big gun, a small gun, a bomb or an angel. A big gun means take two lives from another team. A small gun means take one life. A bomb means lose a life and an angel means win a life. Take it in turns to ask each team a question. If a team answers correctly, they choose a square from the grid. When they have chosen a square, draw a big gun, small gun, bomb or angel. The team can then take a life or two from another team or lose/win a life. If a team answers incorrectly, move on to the next team. The last team left standing wins the game.

Here is a strategic ESL quiz game for students of all ages. Draw a five-by-five dotted grid on the board. Take it in turns to ask each team a quiz question. If a team answers correctly, they connect two of the dots with a line either horizontally or vertically. The aim of the game is to join the dots together to make squares. When a team forms a square as a result of drawing a fourth line, they write their team's number in the square and have another turn. The game is over when all 16 squares have been completed. The team with the most squares wins the game.

This engaging ESL quiz game is ideal for practicing Wh questions. In the game, students form questions from sentences. Draw the table from the game sheet on the board. Tell the students that the question words represent the types of questions and the points represent the difficulty. Explain that you are going to read a sentence and that the students must try to guess what the question is. Choose a question word and point value, and start the quiz off with that sentence, e.g. Where? 300. Read the corresponding sentence twice at a natural speed. The first student to put up their hand and form the correct question wins the square for their team and the points assigned to that square. Students only get one try and may not write the sentence or get any help from their teammates. Write the winning team's name in the square. The winning team gets to choose the next question word and point value for all the teams to try to answer. The game continues until all the squares have been used. The team with the most points wins the quiz.