Fun Classroom Games to Teach Emotions to Elementary ELLs

 This resource can be found here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Emotions-Unit-for-Elementary-EFL-2023631

Games give students repeated exposure to the target vocabulary (happy, sad, angry, etc.) in a way that feels natural and engaging instead of repetitive drills. Many games require students to talk, listen, and respond. This encourages oral language development and gives them confidence in using English naturally.

Since the board game path has only emotion words, students need to match to emotion cards to stay in their spot.   Students roll the die and move along the path. If they land on “angry,” they must find the matching angry picture card. If correct, they stay; if not, they move back one space.

This Emotions Domino Game is designed to build vocabulary, practice reading, and make connections between words and pictures. Students match emotion words like happy, sad, angry, scared, worried, shocked, and excited with their corresponding *emotion picture cards.

Playing the Guess Who? Emotions Game/ Yes/No Questions.

To play the Guess Who game, teachers should prepare a display for each student. A simple way is to cut the front panel from a cereal box and use the side flaps to staple or tape it so it stands upright. Then, glue the printable part  on the front of the display. Each student will have their own standing display to use during the game.

 One student chooses a card with an emotion. The other students take turns asking yes/no questions:
“Is she happy?” → “No.”
“Is he angry?” → “Yes!”

Build the Emotion Words with letter tiles. Give students a pile of mixed letter tiles. Call out or show a picture of an emotion (e.g., happy) using the wheel. Students race to build the word with their tiles.

Guess the Missing Letter. Teacher shows an emotion word with missing letters (e.g., s___oc___e____). Students use tiles to fill in the blanks and find the small card to match.

Find creative resources and engaging activities to make learning English fun for your students. Follow me on Instagram for teaching tips, freebies, and more!

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I used the alphabet from Creative Fabrica, check my affliate link:    https://www.creativefabrica.com/product/groovy-smile-doodle-alphabet/ref/2670802/?sharedfrom=pdp

Backpack-School Unit activities for elementary ESL

 This resource, for any 2nd grade Elementary School learner, is found at this link at the TPT store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/School-Theme-for-Elementary-ESL-1707072

This material helps students reinforce common classroom object names (e.g., pencil, eraser, notebook) in the context of a backpack.

All your students learn in different ways, but most of them are visual learners. Use these classroom objects flashcards for any class level. Practice speaking in complete sentences. Place the flashcards in a real backpack. Model a sentence and the have a student pick a card and describe it: "I have an eraser in my backpack."

Use the manipulatives like the small cards included to make vocabulary learning more concrete. Cut the word out of each card to play match to each picture.

Reinforce Vocabulary with worksheets for recognizing classroom objects. Students match classroom object pictures to their correct word labels in the backpack mind map worksheet

Develop Writing Skills to encourage students to write simple sentences on the worksheets, and practice spelling.

Reinforce basic grammar by helping students understand and correctly use "Yes, I do." and "No, I don’t."

Worksheets allow students to practice at their own pace as in this reading comprehension activity.

Spelling Bingo is a fun and interactive way to help students practice spelling classroom object names. Give your students a bingo board worksheet. There are two boards. You can use one just for writing a classroom object word. Place your calling cards into the backpack container that you can make using the templates. Students will cross out the words they hear, the first one to do so wins.

Another version is to print the blank template into different colored sheets and have the stduents complete the bingo board writing a color and a word. Place all the cards into the calling cards backpack container and start playing. The first player to cross off all the correct items on their bingo card shouts “Bingo!”

Make sure to pick the games that are right for the students that you are planning with. Make sure that you understand the games and that you know the rules to use with them.

Here is a 28-tile word-picture domino set for your School Unit Game using the words: notebook, pencil case, eraser, crayon box, glue, book, scissors. Each tile has a word on one side and a picture on the other. The goal is to match the word to the corresponding picture.

Students make crosswords using the letters tiles. Play in teams.

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post: 

https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2023/07/school-unit-flashcards-for-elementary.html

Find the resource individually available, here:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Backpack-School-Unit-Flashcards-Dominoes-Spelling-Bingo-Letter-Tiles-13202360

I invite you find tools to enhance your classroom experience and support your students' language development.

Visit my Linktree here: https://linktr.ee/HolisticEnglishResources

Transportation Games for Elementary ELL

 This resource for any Literacy Teacher, is included in the Transportation unit for Elementary ESL at this link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Transportation-Unit-for-Elementary-ESL-4049752

The Transportation games turn learning into an enjoyable experience, keeping students interested and eager to participate. Bring in games that are not done on a flat screen!

Board games support visual learners who benefits from a road colorful path, tokens, and cards. The kinesthetic learners will love to move car pieces along the road.

Domino style game aims to match transportation adjective phrases with the images. It can be played alone or with a partner. Adjectives of size used: big, small, long, short.

The pocket chart cards are great to review key grammar points, such as the adjectives. It can be as easy as matching the picture to the word as in my example below. Move on to adding an adjective card to describe a vehicle.

Place a vehicle card in the pocket chart. Challenge the students to add as many adjectives as possible to describe that transportation object.

Students remember grammar structures through engaging gameplay. Have the students use the cards to mark the adjectives in their comparative and superlative form. They can also write sentences on their notebooks.

Key matching game. This kind of game will encourage students to communicate naturally in English.
Print and have ready a set of cards for every 2 or 4 students. They will shuffle the cards and hand out 6 or 8 cards depending on the size of the group. Let them know that the card with the keys is a card to match any other card.
They will hold the cards without letting their partners see them. They can make pairs (pictures and words) if they are lucky to have them and display on the table.
The game starts as a student 1ask another: Do you have a plane?
Student 2: Yes, I do! (hands in the card)
Student 1 displays the card match.
Students can play without direct teacher involvement. One student writes several transportation words backwards using the cards and another will write them correctly.
The set of cards can also be used as a Memory matching games to spark excitement as students try to find pairs with a word and a picture.

Give students just a few minutes to make as many words related to the transportation unit using the letters provided. The student with the most words wins!

Have one student write the transportation words backwards using the cards and the other will write them on paper in the correct way.

Write sentences. Hand in a template of the worksheets for the students to make complete sentences. They will cut up the words and put the words into the boxes to form the sentences. If you just want to cut printing cost, have the students write the words on the spaces on the worksheet, using the words cutout as a guide.

In pairs, students can check each other work and see if they have similar sentences and if they are correct.

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2024/12/transportation-flashcards-for.html 

This resource comes in a bundle, here: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Transportation-Unit-BUNDLE-for-ESL-Kindergarten-and-Elementary-7677380

Find practical strategies to make teaching easier and more effective. You’ll love visiting my other blog for younger learners.

https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/

Playground Games for Elementary ESL

  This resource is included at the Playground, Park, Recess Theme for Elementary ELL at this link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Playground-Park-Recess-Theme-for-Elementary-ELL-2073587

The games ensure a well-rounded approach to teaching the playground vocabulary. Use these to keep students actively involved in learning.

Students must analyze and match the correct domino pieces. This game appeals to visual learners (pictures) and kinesthetic learners (handling and placing dominoes).

Add fun by setting a timer and challenge small groups to complete the domino chain as quickly as possible. This adds excitement and focus!

Print the puzzle for the students to repeatedly see and connect written playground words with visuals, strengthening their ability to recognize and read new words.

A simple spelling activity to play in pairs or small groups. Use the game to promote teamwork, communication, and turn-taking, building social and conversational skills.

A dice and the game board pieces to start. Students will answer questions about the pictures on the cards of the color they landed on. This improves their ability to describe, name, or use vocabulary in sentences.

Students practice constructing sentences, reinforcing proper word order and grammar using playground-related vocabulary.

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post: 

https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2024/12/playground-small-cards-for-elementary.html

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