Lesson Resource of the Month: Board Games for the Classroom I

Board Games for the Classroom I by multiple contributors

Are you a board game fanatic looking for ways to bring your love for some of the classic games you played as a child into your ESL classroom? Well, look no further. Fulbridge’s Lesson Resource for this month is jam-packed with ideas for adapting board games in fun and engaging ways to help strengthen your students’ English abilities. Ranging from Battleship to Guess Who to Cranium and more, these games can be adapted for students of a variety of ages and English skill levels. (We previously featured a Lesson Resource of the Month on adapting card games for the classroom. You can find that resource here.)

Battleship 

This classic guessing strategy game can be easily adapted as a way for beginner – intermediate level students to practice spelling, vocabulary words, grammatical concepts, or using key phrases. Check out some of the Battleship-themed materials ETAs have created below.

1. “Alphabet Battleships” by Maggie Min, Primary South Korea ETA
2. “Appearance Battleships” by Elizabeth Beavers, Secondary South Korea ETA
3. “Frequency Battleships” by Cara Mooney, Secondary South Korea ETA
4. “Prepositions Battleships” by Cara Mooney, Secondary South Korea ETA

 Cranium

This board game designed to help kids practice thinking in a variety of analytical and creative ways has been adapted into a bomb-style game by Josh Brandon, Primary South Korea ETA. You can find the template for his Cranium-inspired game here.

Guess Who

This classic game can be easily used to help students practice key vocabulary words and constructions related to giving physical descriptions of a person. Check out some of the lesson materials ETAs have used incorporating a Guess Who game. 

1. “Guess Who” by Abigail Bard, Secondary South Korea ETA
2. “Relative Clauses Guess Who” by Robyn Kincaide, Secondary South Korea ETA

Scrabble

This game in which players use letter tiles to create a sort of crossword and attempt to win the most points is a great way for students to practice spelling and dig up old vocabulary words from the backlogs of their memory. Check out different Scrabble-related materials used by ETAs below. 

1. “Drag and Drop Scrabble” by Hillary Veitch, Secondary South Korea ETA
2. “Text Twist Scrabble” by Cara Mooney and Kate Trexel, Secondary South Korea ETAs

This Lesson Resource of the Month post is Part I of a two-part series. Check back in mid-April for Part II!