10 Ways to Turn a Boring English Lesson into Fun

1. Quest. They are not so popular for nothing. We are all treasure hunters and Sherlock Holmes at heart, and any English lesson can be turned into a quest. Children under 12 will be interested in treasure hunts, teenagers will like detective and horror stories, as well as quests based on popular TV shows. Decide on the theme, the final goal, the stages (what will the children receive after each task – a hint, a piece of a map or a new piece of evidence?), how the class will be divided into teams and what the winners will receive in the end.

2. Pumping superheroes. In the lesson, you can also solve another game task – pumping a character. Each student or group of students receives their own hero – for example, a character from the Marvel universe or a robot from Transformers. For each correctly completed task, the hero receives some kind of superpower or a powerful artifact. The winner is the one whose superhero turned out to be the most powerful.

3. Jumanji. All that is needed for this game is a large field with one winding path. You can draw the field yourself or download it from the Internet – there are a lot of them. Every second/third/fifth/seventh field will be not just a move, but a task. The main thing is that no one should know what to do. Tasks will be delivered from a mysterious black box. Think over the rules and prizes for the winners – and go on an adventure!

4. Business lesson. The curiosity of children knows no bounds. Therefore, the lesson – they will definitely like a business project – for them it will be a chance to prove themselves. The lesson, during which students create their own startup, helps to learn new vocabulary, practice in a lively conversation and apply all existing knowledge.

The idea is simple – the class is divided into groups, and each of them creates its own business project. The work includes developing an idea, creating a prototype (for example, a poster, a visual diagram, a Lego model) and presenting it to the teacher and the whole class.

Before arranging such a lesson, decide what exactly the students will present (advertising poster, prototype, video), how their work will be evaluated (no errors, poster creativity, original idea) and what the winner will receive. The subject can be anything.

Such classes are conveniently tied to the topics covered. Have you learned the names of animals? Let the children design their own zoo or environmental program. Passed the topic about food? Students can submit restaurant projects.

5. Role play. It is difficult to do without reading long (and sometimes not particularly exciting) texts. But you can motivate children if you later arrange a debate or a round table based on the text you read. For example, when reading a text about the extinction of sharks, the role of a marine animal expert is not so interesting.

And here, for example, the role “When you were 12 years old, you rested with your parents at sea. It was the third day, you were sitting on the beach and enjoying ice cream, when you suddenly noticed that a gray triangular tail was approaching the bathing people. It could only mean one thing! The shark is about to attack everyone! Running up to the lifeguard and resolutely taking the mouthpiece from him, you hurried to run along the beach and notify everyone of the impending danger … ”- can cause delight.

After all, this is a role written for a specific child, with a whole backstory! You only need 5-6 sentences for the students to read the two-page text.

6. Playing the spy. What is it like to be a foreigner in Russia? Now check it out. Give the children simple tasks – find out where the nearest supermarket is, how to get to the theater, which bus goes to the center. Go outside and try to find your bearings by asking in English for those who can speak it – workers at information desks in shopping centers and subways, tourist information points. Be there, support the child with the whole group. It is not easy to complete such a task, but the effect will be amazing.

7. “What? Where? When?” and “Who wants to be a millionaire?”. A hybrid of these two games comes with a bang. Divide the group into 2-3 teams and seat each at a round table. Equip a separate table for tasks and a top (it can be made from a spinning top or a pencil), lay out the cards with tasks in a circle and let each student spin the top in turn.

Students in teams do the chosen task at the same time in the time allotted to them – 1-3 minutes, depending on the complexity. Every 3-4 questions, insert a round of the format “Who wants to be a millionaire?” – call one student from the team and offer him one question with answer options. Time to think is limited, disturbing music plays, but there is always the opportunity to call a friend! Even the most boring verb form exercises will be performed with passion!

8. Zombie apocalypse. Hang a map of the world on the wall and shade a good half of all countries. These countries are in danger! In each of them, zombies are operating, which you need to fight in order to save civilians. But to get into the country, you need to get a visa – to complete some task in English (well, if it is somehow connected with the country).

After receiving a visa, the children rush into battle. The battle should be fun – the students complete tasks during which you can fool around to your heart’s content. For example, throw the ball into the basket or say a tongue twister while dancing.

9. Farm. Another game loved by children and adults that can be used for motivation is a farm. Let each child “pump” their ranch! Cut out colored icons of houses and products from cardboard – you will distribute them to children or glue them on a board – “ranch”.

Each new culture that can be obtained is a certain type of task. For example, assignments for missing articles are carrots, and assignments for verb forms are watermelons. Announce to the children in advance how many crops are available to them and how many they can grow.

10. Movie night. Host a movie night for the students. The real one – with soft ottomans, popcorn, a projector and a movie in English! However, students will have to work hard to get a movie ticket! Prepare 10 tasks. If the movie is 90 minutes long, completing each task entitles the children to 9 minutes of the movie. They will complete all the tasks – they will watch the tape until the final credits.

We use all these approaches at Skyeng Camp to make the training of children exciting and effective. Also, all the tricks can be applied to the most ordinary lesson with the most boring tasks from the textbook. So the teacher does not even need to invent anything: each game task is a typical exercise. But if they become the keys to the quest or the stages of an exciting competition, the children will show much more enthusiasm in completing them, and you will earn the title of the coolest teacher without making any special efforts.