The importance of English as a language is immense as it is regarded as a world language. To be more fluent in English, one needs to keep practicing it. To shine one’s English skills even more one should practice them in groups.
In fact, group activities can make an English class more interactive. By the way, let’s deep dive into some of the effective group activities for English class that you may try!
Here is an article that I have written about 25 Group Activities For Psychiatric Patients In 2023.
20 Group Activities For English Class
Various activities can be performed in groups to make the English class more productive. These activities will encourage the students in learning their lessons more accurately and to be more attentive in class. Some of them are listed below.
- Watching videos in the classroom
Watching videos in English class can be a great way to learn the language. It even makes the class interesting, and motivating, and makes students more engaged in the class. Every video regarding this language comes with pre and post-watching activities. Doing them will be beneficial for the class.
- Concentration game
This is a fun game focusing on the student’s vocabulary. It has different ways to play such as matching the words-meaning or words-picture. The class can be divided into pairs or a group of up to 5 for this fun game.
- Just a minute
This is a higher-level practice for adults and teenagers. A certain topic is provided to the student or performer on which he or she has to give a lecture for an entire minute. It really shines the vocabulary and the fluency of the student.
- Board Games
Board games are kind of a common choice for a large classroom as they are mainly performed by dividing the students into groups of 3-5. Board games really attract the students towards learning English and make them quite attentive. A little prize for the winner will motivate them even more.
- Odd One Out
It is a really good competitive practice for students in the class. In this, they compete against each other which helps to develop their vocabulary.
- Spelling and Dictation
It is really good practice in English class for developing listening skills and knowledge about spelling. The teacher will pronounce a word out loud and the students will write its spelling. Similarly, the teacher will read out a passage and the students will note it down.
- English Phrases and Expressions
It is beneficial for the students to know more about English expressions. It will help them to develop their conversation and they will feel confident in their speech.
- Determining whether the sentence is correct or not
It is a sneaky way to make the students concentrate on their grammar. This activity can be performed both in a small group or a large group of students.
- Jigsaw Activities
Jigsaw activities are really fun for the entire class. It is basically a situation where each of the students has a piece of information that they will merge to find the result. This is a group activity that can be performed with both small and large numbers of students
- Show and Tell
This activity can be performed each day with 1-3 students per day. In this, students can bring a little thing from their home and describe it in front of the class like what they do with it, for how long they have it, etc.
- Round Robin Story
This is an activity that focuses on the writing, listening, and speaking skills of the students as well as their creativity. The teacher starts with “Once upon a time…” and each group of students will add an idea to the story which will eventually complete it.
- Practicing Vocabulary
The students should be given a passage to read out loud focusing on their level of expertise. This will make the students fluent in reading and will also upgrade their vocabulary.
- Debating
A debate on a controversial topic is interesting and helpful at the same time. Divide the large group of classes into groups and give them a topic for the debate. This will upgrade their speech and vocabulary.
- Small talk activities
This speaking and conversation skill is one of the most important things that a learner should master. It may look easy from above but it has a lot of rules surrounding it. This skill is really important for almost every social activity.
- Vocabulary Sheets
A print-off of a vocab sheet is the best way to teach new words to a big class. Put new and uncommon words with meaning in the print-out and give it to the students so that they can learn them without hassle.
- Game ideas
Different brainstorming games are quite helpful for a large class. Divide the students into groups of 3-5 to complete these activities together.
- Hot Potato
It is great as a warmup for the students in the class. Put a picture on the projector’s screen or on the board and let the students discuss it in English. It will bring out some new ideas and develop the student’s vocabulary.
- Closest in Meaning
In this activity, the students will read out a sentence and create a new one with similar meaning. It is possible to make it as easy or hard as you want.
- Five Senses
This is kind of a good warmup for the students. In this activity, the teacher will bring an object to the class, for example, a bottle, and the students will use their five senses to describe the object. They can do it both in writing and speaking.
- Postcard writing
If you have a bunch of blank postcards, then consider this fun writing activity for your class. It is a really fun way to let the students work on their writing skills with some simple sentences related to their life.
10 English Teaching Games
The games which help the students to learn English are known as English teaching games. These games can be conducted to make the class more interesting and fun.
- Name games
It will start with the introduction of a student and then when the next student finishes introducing himself, he will tell something about the previous one which will eventually make the thing more interesting
- Simon Says
The basic premise of the game is that the student will do the thing the teacher says after using “Simon says”, or else they won’t do it.
- Pictionary
In this game, the teacher will secretly tell a word to one of the students and he will act it out while the other will guess and draw it.
- Make the connection
In this game, the teacher will put some phrases or words on the board along with its meaning while the children will connect them.
- Word Marathon
Give random alphabets to the students and ask them to write words starting with them. It will upgrade their vocabulary.
- Guess the flashcard
While holding a set of flashcards on your head, slowly reveal them and let the children guess what it is. It is a really fun and interactive activity.
- Word Hunt
Give the students a printout of a set of random alphabets with hidden words between them. Let them circle the words in it.
- Stand up if you…
In this game, the teacher will add something to the phrase such as “stand up if you know him”. The students who know the person will have to stand up here.
- 20 Questions
In this game, a student will give a topic to other students and they will ask him up to 20 yes/no questions regarding it.
- Charades
One of the students will mimic a word or phrase from their lesson while the other will guess it. It’s really good for vocabulary and speaking. But remember, no talking!
How Can I Attract My Students To English Class?
Without the attention of the students, it is almost impossible to teach a language like English. So for their attention, you need to attract them to the class. And this can be done by motivating them to learn English.
- Motivation can be one of the best ways to attract them as they will also be interested in learning English.
- You can tell them the facilities and pros of learning the language.
- Again proposing something out of the box also helps to grab their attention. Give them an interesting topic to research which is not related to their lessons but will secretly help their grammar and writing skills.
- Tell them to submit a report and to use uncommon words for taking it to the next level.
How Can I Make My English Class Interactive?
A good communication between you and the students will help to make your English class interactive. Introduce yourself and take their introduction. This really creates a good bond between you and your students.
Again don’t be too rude to the students or too friendly to them. Be in a neutral state and be mindful of your body language and the tone of your voice.
Add some stories and jokes to your lessons so that the students have fun learning it. Again take feedback from them after each class and let them ask you questions about the class or lessons or anything.
Make the class interactive by taking their opinion about how you should progress in your lessons and some other things as well.
These things will surely make your English class interactive.
Verdict
English is a really important language as people all over the world use it as the most common way to communicate. English classes are unavoidable for fluency in the language.
The activities, games, and ways to make your class interactive and to attract the students mentioned above will definitely be fruitful to you.
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