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Draw the Sentence

This activity is ideal for slightly older kids and is better for smaller classes. If you have more than five or six children in your class, then you can simply divide your class into smaller groups.

Put your students in a line seated on their chairs, all facing the board. The teacher should write a simple sentence on a piece of paper, for example, "Grandma is shopping". You then show this sentence to the student at the back of the line (don't show the sentence to the other kids).

The student at the back of the line must now draw a picture of the sentence, so in this case, a grandma shopping. The student only has 60 seconds to draw the picture. Once finished, the student shows their picture to the student in front of them. This student must look at the picture and then write a sentence conveying the meaning of the picture and what they think is happening in the picture. The student writing the sentence should not show anybody, especially the person who showed them the picture.

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This second student now gives his sentence to the third student, who must look at it and draw a picture. Again, they only have 60 seconds to do this. Once the student has finished their picture, then they show it to the next student in the line, who must write the sentence. 

Keep alternating until the student at the front goes up to the board and writes down the sentence which they received. This will most likely differ greatly from the original teacher's sentence! Encourage the kids to not tell each other what the sentence is, otherwise they'll spoil the fun!

Stuart's tip: Don't make the lines too long, otherwise the students at the front will get bored and restless (as well as at the back after the first ones have had their go). The ideal length of the line should be no more than 5-6 students. If you have more students, then simply have more lines. 

Looking for more ESL activities for children?

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Meatballs

This is a really cool language ESL game for children, which is fun in the classroom and actually requires quite a bit of skill! This is an excellent speaking skills activity and you’ll notice improved speaking skills quickly in your children or teen students.

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Bankrupt!

A good whiteboard game for ESL Kids’ classes. Before English class, get twenty vocabulary or picture flashcards and write different values of money on the back of the cards. For example, $50, $100, $100, $150, $50, etc. On the back of two of the cards, write 'Donation' and on the back of another flashcards, write 'Bankrupt!'