Lions at School Vocabulary & Games

 This resource is included in the Zoo Animals for EFL. Click here:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Zoo-Animals-Flashcards-for-EFL-3611842

This Lion at School resource helps students review school vocabulary in a fun way during the school unit. Learners listen, read, draw, write, and play while practicing school items and basic prepositions in meaningful contexts. Perfect for centers, small groups, or whole-class review, this resource makes vocabulary practice interactive and easy to implement.

Flashcards

Speaking Activity. In this activity, the teacher shows a lion flashcard to the class and guides students through simple, structured speaking practice.

Teacher: Who’s this?
Students: It’s the lion.

Teacher: What color is the lion?
Students: Yellow.

Teacher: What does he have?
Students: A red book!

The teacher then models a complete sentence:
“The yellow lion has a red book.”

This routine is repeated with different flashcards. The predictable question pattern helps English language learners gain in oral fluency.

Writing Activity: Describe the Lion. In this activity, students look at the lion picture and write simple sentences to describe it. Using the model provided, students write:

“This is a yellow lion.
It has a purple calculator.”

This activity helps English language learners practice sentence structure,

Small cards

Lion’s Backpack Activity. Print the backpack template and place it inside a clear plastic sheet on the table. Give students the lion small cards. Students listen carefully and place the correct card inside the backpack as the teacher gives directions.

Teacher:
“Put the lion with the red crayon in the backpack.”

The teacher repeats the activity using different lion cards and school objects.

Feed the Lion – School Objects Review. Print the lion with an open mouth template to create a Feed Me box. Place the box on the table and give students the school object cards.  Students take turns “feeding” the lion as they review the vocabulary.

Teacher:
“Feed the lion the globe.”

Student:
(Places the globe card into the lion’s mouth.)

This engaging activity helps English language learners practice school vocabulary, listening comprehension,

Grab & Say – Quick Speaking Game. Place the small cards face down on the table. A student picks one card and says a complete sentence to describe it:

 “It’s a yellow lion.”
“It has a gray laptop.”

This quick speaking game helps English language learners practice oral language,

Worksheets

Design Your Own School Lion. Students add school objects on the lion and describe it.

Read and Color. In this worksheet, students read simple sentences and color each lion correctly. They match the lion’s color and the school object by following the directions.

This activity helps English language learners practice reading comprehension. It works well as independent work.

Body Labeling. In this activity, students cut and glue the body word labels to match the correct parts of the lion’s body. They then draw arrows to connect each word to the picture.

Read, Draw, and Color. Students read the sentence cards and follow each instruction to draw and color on the lion worksheet. They listen or read, and carefully place each school object on, under, next to, in front of, or behind the lion.

This activity helps English language learners practice prepositions of place. It works well for small-group instruction.

What Does the Lion Have? Students look at each picture and read the question and sentence. They then write the correct school object and color word to complete the sentence.

Spelling Bingo – How to Play. Students write five words or short sentences on their Spelling Bingo worksheet. The teacher mixes and calls the words using the small cards.

As students hear a word or sentence, they cross it out on their paper.
The first student to cross out all five wins Bingo!

Draw & Follow the Directions (Prepositions Practice). Students pick a card and read the sentence aloud. They listen carefully and draw the school item in the correct place on the lion worksheet (on, under, behind, next to, or in front of). This activity helps students practice prepositions, school vocabulary, and listening comprehension in a fun, hands-on way.

Make a Mini Book – Lion at School

Students cut out the picture cards and put them in order to create a mini book. For each page, they write a simple sentence (for example: “I have a blue pencil.”) and color the picture. When finished, students read their mini books aloud to practice vocabulary, colors, and sentence structure.

Check the Zoo Animals Unit for Preschool and Elementary ESL BUNDLE, at this link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Zoo-Animals-Unit-for-Preschool-and-Elementary-ESL-BUNDLE-5937781

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Giraffe Family for Elementary EFL

 This resource is included in the Zoo Animals for EFL. Click here:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Zoo-Animals-Flashcards-for-EFL-3611842

By linking the family unit with zoo animals like giraffes, learners can apply that vocabulary in a new context. This reinforces word meaning and helps them generalize language. Variety of activities to keep kids engaged. . 

Using the printable giraffe family flashcards offers a neutral, inclusive way to talk about family structure, which may vary from student to student.

Plan to use a grid with the flashcards or small cards to get an active response for the family language in review. Students will grid the information read out by you: This giraffe has a dress. It is red.

Students will produce simple identification sentences: C1!! It’s the sister giraffe.

Written work on their notebooks where they will write several sentences from the grid on the board. Use this activity during the zoo unit.

To add a hands-on, tactile element to your giraffe family unit, I included an engaging activity where students build family vocabulary words using fun foam letters. The small giraffe family cards serve as visual prompts and guides. Each student selects a card—mother, father, baby, sister, or brother—and then uses fun foam letters to spell out the corresponding word.

This activity reinforces letter recognition, word formation, and vocabulary recall in a playful, multi-sensory way. It is a bridge between zoo animals and family vocabulary.

Low-prep Pocket Chart Sentence Builder. Students use the blank sentence templates and write like “This is brother giraffe.” to build simple family sentences.

Create pairs with the printable puzzle.  Place all the pieces face down and students flip cards to find matching pairs.

This simple path board game featuring the zoo giraffe family members allows students to practice vocabulary while having fun. Students roll a die, move their token, and say the word on the space they land on (e.g., “This is the mother giraffe”).

In the giraffe family unit, worksheets offer a calm and independent way for students to review, practice spelling, match images to words, and even build sentences using the target vocabulary.

A giraffe worksheet for labeling each member using the vocabulary words.

Write the Name for the Giraffe Family Worksheet. Students look at each giraffe family member and write the correct name under the picture as they read the sentences. This activity supports reading comprehension, name recognition, and family vocabulary. It works well as independent practice.

Follow the path and Color – Giraffe Family Colors Worksheet. In this activity, students follow each line from the giraffe family member to the color word and color the path and leaf using the correct color. This worksheet reinforces color vocabulary, visual tracking. Then, write possessive sentences for each path.

Giraffe Family Tree – Write the Word Worksheet. Students will identify how each character is related to Bill. Learners follow the visual connections and write the correct family word (mother, father, sister, grandmother, grandfather) to complete each sentence. It will review the Possessive language.

Family Labeling – Giraffe Body Parts Worksheet.Students label the parts of the giraffe’s body by following color-coded lines from each word to the correct body part. This activity reinforces basic body vocabulary (head, eye, nose, arm, leg, foot, etc.) while supporting visual tracking. It’s a simple way to integrate body parts review into the giraffe family theme.

Finger puppets connect emotionally with new vocabulary bringing characters to life. Use these for Role-Play Conversations, speaking or creative play.

This resource is available individually here:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Giraffe-Family-ESL-Resource-13478626

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2024/04/zoo-animals-have-body.html 

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“Boost Language Skills with Board Games: Fun & Effective ESL Activities”

Here is the link to the complete resource:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Board-games-for-Elementary-English-Language-Learners-11333780

Find a variety of themed board games perfect for practicing vocabulary, sentence structures, speaking, and listening skills—all while playing!

Board games give students a chance to hear, use, and repeat key vocabulary and sentence structures in a natural, purposeful way. Whether they're counting spaces, asking questions, or making choices, students are communicating with a clear purpose.

Most of the games includes:

Color coded Question Cards with the color of the spot landed on, that students must answer a question correctly to take their turn and advance. The question cards provide purposeful language practice.

Color coded Tokens to reward points to students who answer questions correctly. These can be used to keep track of points.

Markers (player pieces) that students use to move along the board path. Just cut and fold and glue on the upper part of each one.

Parents can participate in their child's learning by playing the game and supporting language development. Send the PLAYGROUND BOARD GAME home.

Achieving goals within the FRUIT AND VEGETABLE board game, such as reaching the finish line or earning points, reinforces students' learning progress.

BIRTHDAY UNIT board game can be adapted to suit different learning levels or individual student needs, allowing for differentiation in instruction.

Teachers can observe students during games to assess vocabulary, PRESENT CONTINUOUS grammar, and communication skills.

Students interact with their peers during gameplay, promoting social interaction and collaboration during the FURNITURE BOARD GAME.

This board game for the Grammar: CAN, involves strategic thinking and problem-solving. Students need to plan their moves, make decisions, and adapt their strategies during the game, fostering critical thinking skills.

Board games create situations where students use CLOTHES UNIT language in context.

Players practice descriptive language skills as they describe the ZOO animals they encounter on the game board.

The objective of the game is to navigate through the various spaces on the game board, learning and practicing vocabulary related to different PARTS OF THE BODY.

All the board games are part of all the units Elementary English Language learners teaching Units-Discover BUNDLE at this link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Elementary-English-Language-learners-teaching-Units-Discover-BUNDLE-12982247

There are more board games included in the resource, go to the blog post and see which ones you would like to have:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2024/03/board-games-for-elementary-english.html

Find more creative ideas and engaging resources for teaching young learners, visit my blog for preschool teachers here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/26091497243

There are practical activities, tips, and resources designed to make learning fun and effective for little ones!