English Language Games for Studying

There are many ways an English language student can have fun while practicing English language skills. One of the best ways is to practice with other English students by playing English language games. There are many English language games that can be really fun for an English student. Here is a list of some recommended guidelines and also some English language games.

Guidelines for Good Language Practice

Gather a group of English language students together for an hour or more and choose a game to play. The main guideline for students to follow for a good session of English language practice is to use only English while playing a game. If a word is necessary to look up, then it is good practice to have a dictionary available to translate such words. Only speak in English while playing the game, so make sure to look up a word quietly in a dictionary rather than asking aloud in another language. It is also good to only look up a word when it is really necessary, rather than relying on the use of a dictionary.

Charades

One fun game for studying the English language is known in English as “Charades.” Charades is a game that basically involves a person acting out a word with their body instead of speaking any words. The people playing the game with that person guess what word they are acting out by saying the word out loud. Charades is a good game to choose because it doesn’t require any purchase and can be played anywhere. It can also be a really fun way to study the English language while also practicing how to speak using only body language. Body language can be really useful for communicating with people in various areas of the world, without any need for words. It is actually a game that many people play while learning a language, without even realizing that it is charades. An example is a person holding their hand in the shape of holding a cup, and acting like they are drinking something. A person in the group watching would say: “Drinking” and another person would take a turn acting out a word for the group to guess. Charades can be hours of healthy fun while studying the English language.

Stickman

Stickman is an English language word game for two players. Stickman can be a really fun way to practice English vocabulary words a student already knows and also a fun way to use vocabulary words with other English language students. All that is necessary for a game of Stickman is two people with something to write with and also something to write on. A pen or pencil and a piece of paper are fine. One student silently chooses an English word that both students already know and draws blank spaces (underline dashes) for the amount of letters contained in the word horizontally across a sheet of paper. The student then fills in some of the spaces with some of the letters of the word, leaving some blank spaces in between some of the letters. Finally the student draws a circle to represent the head of a “stickman” drawing to the right of the blank spaces. Depending on the amount of blanks, the student should also draw in some of the other 5 pieces of the stickman’s body. These are one line for the body, two lines for the arms, and two lines for the legs. The other student playing is supposed to then guess what the vocabulary word is. They guess by writing a letter of the word into one of the blank spaces. If they guess a letter incorrectly, then the other student draws in another part of the stickman. The game is complete when the student guesses all of the letters correctly or the stickman drawing is complete. Students can take turns playing both roles in this fun game.

 

Scrabble

Scrabble is a really great board game for building English vocabulary. The game of Scrabble motivates students to know as many English vocabulary words as they possibly can. It is also a great way for students to practice spelling English words. The game of Scrabble consists of a game board and a bunch of small square pieces that have English letters written on one side. The game board is covered in a grid of squares. The object of the game of Scrabble is to score as many points as possible by placing the small square letter pieces on the board to form English words. Each of the letter pieces are each worth a certain amount of points when used. Players choose seven of the square letter pieces at the beginning of the game from a bag without looking. The players take turns forming words on the board. When it is a player’s turn, the player can make a word or pass or trade letters into the bag for new letters. When all players pass, the game is complete. Scrabble can be fun because the words all overlap on the board. It is a great way to improve English vocabulary.

Pictionary

Another fun game that can be really useful for studying English is a board game branded as “Pictionary.” Pictionary is basically a drawing edition of the popular Charades game. While the board game is a commercial product, the game of Pictionary can basically be played with a group of people and just a pen or pencil and paper. Instead of acting out the words, a person in a group will draw a picture and people guess what the person is drawing a picture of or about. For instance, a person could draw a picture of a person drinking something from a cup and people would take turns guessing by speaking “Drinking” out loud.

It should be noted that a person acting out a word or drawing a word can use hand motions or nod when people are guessing near to the right answer. People can also communicate this way if a guess is rather different from the appropriate answer. Hopefully you now have some fun new ways to practice English language with friends.