Teaching English & Thinking
Teaching English just got a little easier with three ebooks from ESL Publications. These low-prep, high-interest logic puzzles, word games and trivia challenges help ESL students learn vocabulary and general knowledge while improving listening, speaking and critical thinking skills at the same time.
1. 160 Logic Puzzles and Word Games
Every good teacher has a stable of back pocket activities to fill unexpected gaps. They are called sponge activities. These 30 worksheets with 160 logic puzzles and word games are awesome sponge activities – time savers, not time fillers – because they frame language learning as a puzzle, challenge.
2. ESL Trivia Challenge
I’ve used trivia games in the classroom for many years because it’s always a big hit with students. ESL students love the game play – asking and answering, scoring points, laughing when they guess correctly. And there is always a little friendly banter. The prep is easy – copy enough question sheets for the students plus a few extra for early finishers. Explaining the game play and scoring system (1-2-3) takes a couple of minutes. Then, sit back and watch students play a game, learn English and improve fluency for the rest of the period.
There’s nothing worse than impossibly hard trivia questions. All questions have been written with non-native speakers in an EFL context in mind. No obscure questions about 1960s British rock bands here.
There are also two levels of questions.
- ESL Trivia challenge Volume 1 has 240 questions designed for high beginner students.
- ESL Trivia Challenge Volume 2 has 240 different questions (no cheesy repeated questions) written for intermediate+ students.
3. Teacher Resource Comb Pack
This resource has all three ebooks – Logic Puzzles and Word Games plus both trivia ebooks – so you get 30 worksheets of puzzles and word games plus 480 trivia questions. It’s the best value for teachers looking for a variety of materials.
PHOTO CREDIT
The image in this post comes from Desi and its use complies with the owner’s creative commons licensing terms.