Games in English classes in high school

In order to diversify the monotonous English lessons in high school, teachers use various tricks. We suggest you use the list of useful educational games that are suitable for high school children.

Games in English for teenagers are distinguished by their diversity, for example, they can be on various topics:

• spelling,
• grammar,
• lexical,
• phonetic.

These games are suitable for any level of English proficiency, so that teachers can choose a specific selection of games specifically for each class. Thus, all students will be involved in an interactive process that will help take their minds off the repetition of dry material and prepare them for upcoming exams.

Let's consider several sections of games in English for high school students, which can be used to review the studied material in preparation for exams in grades 10 and 11.

Lexical games for high school students

Such games will help teenagers to form lexical and phonetic skills in real communication situations. They will remove the language and psychological barrier when speaking in a foreign language.

"Puzzle"

The class is divided into several small teams. Each team of players is given a special envelope with a mosaic. The task of the guys: for a certain period of time to collect a whole picture and name in English the objects depicted on it.

Topic

teacher sets the theme of the game, for example, "Cuisine". The first player draws a card with a word on this topic and says it aloud. Further along the chain, the children name words on this topic. You can also complicate the task: you will need to name words starting with the last letter of the previous word. The one who cannot find a suitable word in turn is eliminated.

"Time"

The facilitator asks questions to each student in turn, using verbs in various tense forms: “What did you do on Monday at half past nine?”, "What will you do tomorrow at a quarter to five?" The task can be simplified: the guys will need to take turns saying what they do at a certain time of the day, for example, "I get up at 7 o'clock in the morning every day". In this case, each next player must pronounce the phrase of the previous player along with his own.

Banana game

At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher conducts listening on a new topic. Students listen to the text and memorize new words from it. At the end of the lesson, high school students are divided into pairs and conduct a knowledge test on the text they heard: one of them reads the text and says "banana", and the second must remember and pick up the missing word in meaning. For example, "Beside that visiting, museums and art galleries, exhibitions and theaters, simple "banana" or travelling can be very useful for every boy or girl, if they want to broaden their outlook, to study some subjects profoundly". Correct answer: sightseeing.

"Running Dictation"

The class is divided into two teams. The facilitator puts the text on the board. The “runner” from each team runs to the board and remembers a piece of text that needs to be passed to the “secretary” in the team. When the leader claps his hands, the runner takes turns. The team that writes down the entire text first wins.

"Memory Game"

The teacher prepares cards with set expressions, which he divides in half. The cards are stacked in two piles. Students should go to the table and draw a card from one pile. Reads what is written on it aloud and remembers what its continuation should be. The student then draws a card from the second pile. If the continuation of the phrase coincided with what he remembered, then he takes both cards, if not, he returns both cards back. The teenager who collects the most set expressions wins.

"The crocodile game"

High school students must guess in English the word, phrase or set expression that one of the participants shows. At the same time, the teenager should not make a sound while explaining the word with gestures.

More vocabulary games can be found here.

Phonetic games for high school students

Given the significant differences in English and Russian phonetics, we recommend introducing phonetic games in English lessons. This is a great way to train the perception and reproduction of foreign sounds and speech. These games are perfect for 10th grade students.

"Who quickly"

Students take turns reading the same poem. Their task is to read it not only quickly, but also to correctly maintain the tempo, rhythm, intonation, logical pauses and stress. The player who completes the task as accurately as possible wins.

"Remember the text"

Conducted in the form of an audition. At the same time, students should listen to the text several times, make notes on it, and then retell it. The winner is the one who can do it as close as possible to the original text.

"Tongue Twisters"

The children are offered tongue twisters, which are divided into different levels of difficulty. They can be implemented in any part of the lesson, as a warm-up between the main tasks.

Lungs: “Can you can a can as a canner can can a can? Give papa a cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup".

Medium-hard: “She sells seashells by the seashore. Frivolously fanciful Fannie fried fresh fish furiously".

Difficult: “Which witch switched the Swiss wristwatches? She saw Sharif's shoes on the sofa. But was she so sure those were Sharif's shoes she saw?".

English grammar games for high school

Everyone knows that this section is one of the most difficult. And in order to make it a little easier to remember the boring rules and learn how to put them into practice, we offer several games in English. They are perfect for both 10th and 11th grade students.

"Truth or lie"

Pupils write on pieces of paper several facts about themselves, one of which is a lie. Then they take turns reading the facts. The rest of the students should ask leading questions in English, trying to guess which of the facts is a lie. At the same time, you can introduce rules into the game, for example, when writing facts about yourself, use only the past tense or the “going to”.

"What's my problem?"

Players write various life problems on stickers. The stickers are then shuffled and randomly placed on the backs of the players. The task of the players is to explain to each other what the problem is, using, for example, only the “It's high time…”.

"Physical line up"

Children are divided into pairs. Everyone writes five short sentences on a piece of paper. Next, the children exchange, making the necessary reductions. Then a check is made. For example, “We are going to the cinema tonight. - We're going to the cinema tonight". “There is a chair in the room. - There's a chair in the room.

"T-shirt"

One of the high school students draws a shirt on the board and writes various dates, places, names and other words about himself in it. The rest of the guys have to ask questions in English and guess what all this data means. For example, "Have you ever played soccer?", "Is Ben the name of your pet?", "Will you celebrate your birthday on the 17th, November?".

"Word order"

Each player is given a set of cards, from which they need to quickly collect several sentences and compose a text. For example, "If I were a president, I would do nothing". The main thing is to keep the meaning and grammatical structure. The winner is the one who collects all the proposals the fastest. Another version of this game. Players are given words in English. And one "lucky one" is given or read out a sentence in Russian, which he must translate.

More grammar games can be found here.

Board games for high school students

Such games will appeal to high school students. They can be played during lessons at school, as well as in the company of friends or relatives at home.

"Lingua Polis"

	essence	The development of colloquial speech
	Players	2-6
	Age	8+
	Price	$27

In the game box you will find 26 event cards, 26 location cards and money cards of various denominations. The game begins with the fact that you need to lay out cards with locations. The task of the players is to get from the airport to the hotel in New York City. Along the way, players will expect difficulties that require knowledge of the English language to solve. "LinguaPolis" simulates various life situations that happen when you go abroad.

"Scrabble"

	essence	Vocabulary development, the transformation of a passive vocabulary into an active one
	Players	2+
	Age	6+
	Price	$34

The game consists of 100 pieces with letters. The task of high school children is to collect words from the available letters (each has seven chips). In this case, you need to use the letters laid out on the field and, if possible, take bonus cells in order to score more points.

"The Story Telling Game"

	essence	The development of colloquial speech
	Players	2+
	Age	8+
	Price	$32

During the game, students tell stories in which they must use the words from the cards in their hands (10 cards at the beginning of the game). After all the words have been used, the player can return the tile. You need to act quickly, as the timer is running at this time.

"Sentence Building Dominoes"

	essence	Grammar learning
	Players	1+
	Age	4+
	Price	$30

The game helps high school children learn how to correctly compose phrases in English. Players are dealt the same number of dominoes. A chip is placed in the middle of the table. Players take it in turns to add chips to what is already on the table and form phrases. The first player to be left without dominoes wins.

"Time Machine: Travel Between Mix of English Tenses"

	essence	Grammar learning
	Players	1-4
	Age	8+
	Price	$23

With the help of "Time Machine: Travel Between Mix of English Tenses" you can work out the use of 5 basic tenses of the English language: Future Simple, Present Simple, Present Continuous, Present Perfect and Past Simple. Depending on the color of the playing field, the guys must make affirmative, interrogative or negative sentences. The time indicator is also indicated on the field. The one who gets to the finish line first wins.

You can learn more about board games here.

Mobile applications

Nowadays it is difficult to find a person who can do without a phone. This also applies to high school students. In order for the guys to spend time at the screens of smartphones with benefit, we suggest considering several mobile applications for learning English. Thus, you can improve your level of English during the breaks between classes, on the way to school or in your free time at home.

Busuu

Suitable for iOS or Android

Essence: The application is designed to learn any of the 12 languages ​​on the principle of "10 minutes a day." The level of difficulty is determined after the student passes the preliminary test. The study schedule is compiled independently. The application has its own mini-social network where the child can communicate with native speakers and make changes to the homework of other users.

"Simpler"

Suitable for iOS or Android

Essence: The user chooses the level of difficulty on his own: for beginners (learning the basic skills of the language) or for advanced (determining his level). Education takes place in the form of a game, and homework in the format of detective stories.

"Puzzle English"

Suitable for iOS or Android

Essence: Learning is based on puzzle tasks that allow you to train your memory. The app has traditional lessons, audio puzzles, video puzzles, books, mini-games, podcasts, courses and more. The personal training plan is available in a demo version for several days, its further use is paid.

"Lingualeo"

Suitable for iOS or Android.

The bottom line: The application offers programs for self-study, thematic courses and access to your own media library. It will help the children prepare for the exam and other exams, such as TOEFL. In the application you will find relevant articles and books in English.

"duolingo"

Suitable for iOS or Android

The bottom line: learning takes place in the form of a game. The application allows you to practice reading, speaking, writing and listening comprehension. It is designed for any needs: career, travel, study and more. The teenager chooses the level of difficulty on his own, and the duration of training is 5-20 minutes a day.

Conclusion

There are a huge number of game options, and in this article we have presented only a small part of them. Using even this small list, you can turn a boring lesson into an entertaining and useful one.

Write in the comments your options for proven games for high school children, as well as leave feedback about your experience working with high school students.

And for those English teachers who want to acquire new and the latest knowledge about teaching methods for children of different ages, we offer online TEFL / TESOL courses. Now on this website there is a 50% discount on all training packages, hurry up!