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42 English Activities For High School: Challenges, Writing Practice, Games, Discussions, And Resources
March 27, 2024 // by Jill Webb
Are you an English teacher looking for learning games and activities to help enliven your English language arts teaching? We know that sometimes teenage students can easily lose interest. So, don’t be a boring teacher—bring a few unique ideas into your lessons to keep them invested! Below is a list of fun and creative activities for high school students. It includes a variety of English language learning experiences—from poetry to writing and more! If you’re ready to engage your students while helping them increase their language skills, read on!
1. Paint Chip Poetry
This is a fun activity that’s easy to understand and set up. This game will challenge your students to use paint names to create beautiful pieces of poetry. A mix of paint chips, poetry prompts, and “variation cards” to keep things interesting makes for a unique way for your kids to experiment with words and poetry. It’s also great to add to your classroom party game stash!
Learn More: Amazon
2. Figurative Language Challenge
You already know that nothing beats repetition when it comes to helping your high schoolers grasp new concepts—but coming up with new ways to practice concepts can be time-consuming! This bundle includes simple challenges to get your students practicing different types of figurative language; it includes metaphors, similes, alliteration, and more. Editable worksheets and slides review the concepts for your learners—then, they task them with developing their own examples. These activities are great for inclusion classes because they work in stations.
Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers
3. Six-Word Memoirs
This writing activity sounds simple but is deceptively challenging: writing six-word memoirs. Explain to your students that briefer writing demands greater attention to each word. Then, reinforce this lesson by having them each write their own memoir—in only six words! This activity is an innovative writing challenge, a hands-on introduction to memoirs, and a surefire way to get to know your teens and help them connect with each other. Plus, you can display their final creations along with corresponding images of their choosing.
Learn More: Six-Word Memoirs
4. The Break-Up Letter
Need a clever and relatable creative writing exercise ? Try this letter-writing activity with a hilarious twist. Rather than write a typical letter, your students will be asked to write a break-up letter! These printable prompts are a perfect way to get your teens thinking about how well they explain themselves in their writing.
Learn More: Presto Plans
5. Pop Sonnets
Here’s a fun way to fill some extra time with your teens—while also reinforcing their understanding of Shakespearean language. This clever book is full of familiar pop songs—rewritten the way Shakespeare might have penned them! “Translating” lyrics they already know will help your high schoolers practice and better grasp the language in Shakespeare’s plays.
6. Listening Skills
We all know it’s important to teach young kids how to listen; it can be easy to forget that your high schoolers still need guidance and practice to be good listeners! Be sure to emphasize this essential school and life skill with your teens—this blog post gives some concrete, tangible ways to teach and encourage active listening skills. Challenge your students to honestly complete a self-assessment of their own listening skills. Then, use these exercises to work together to improve their scores!
Learn More: The Secondary English Coffee Shop
7. Reading Bingo
A lot of the activities on this list are about class and group work—but there’s no getting around the value of good old-fashioned independent reading. Gamify your teens’ reading by distributing Bingo cards. Then, offer a prize for the first student to read all the books on the card or in a certain pattern! All you need to do is edit the cards to match your readers’ level and let the competition begin!
Learn More: Spark Creativity
8. Poetry Slam
Poetry can get a bad rap in high school—help your students get more engaged by making sure they know it’s not all love poems and sonnets! A poetry slam is an ideal way to expose your teens to a new medium. Inviting your high schoolers to perform their works for the class helps build their confidence and gives them a voice. You’ll be surprised when you see the smooth-talking skills of your kids!
Learn More: Teacher of Vision
9. Truth or Dare Grammar
If you need an easy lesson plan to review grammar, look no further. This fun game for your teenage learners will help get them invested in grammatical skills! You—and your kids—already know how to play truth or dare. This editable version is grammar-themed and school-appropriate. It’s a perfect activity to pull out at the end of the day when you still want to reinforce your kids’ learning.
10. Book Spine Poems
Have you heard of book spine poetry? It’s exactly what it sounds like; your students can arrange the text they find on book spines to craft surprisingly insightful poems! All you really need is a collection of books, but these simple worksheets will help your kids organize their work without having to carry around a stack of books. If you don’t have enough books on hand for everyone, never fear—turn this into an online game and allow them to “hunt” for titles online!
11. Soccer Ball Questions
You don’t need to be in the hot seat with questioning skills when teaching a lesson! Make one of these Socratic soccer balls—just add question prompts to a regular soccer ball. When it’s time to get your teens to practice their Socratic questioning skills, all you need to do is have them roll the ball and pose a question based on the first prompt they see.
Learn More: Building Bo o k Love
12. Black-Out Poetry
Here’s another great activity for your lower-intermediate learners—this black-out activity will challenge your students to use a page of a book to create a poem by blacking out specific words. Surprisingly, the rigid constraints are a creative way to help your teens who may struggle to find inspiration or with writer’s block. If you have early finishers, ask them to find fun images to pair with their fresh poem.
Learn More: Arapahoe Libraries
13. Review Game
A quiz challenge is a great way to review all the material for key lessons. In this fun game your learners will play a “Let’s Make a Deal” game—based on the popular game show. You’ll act as the game show host and make deals with the teams. This downloadable resource includes editable elements so you can customize the game and prizes for your own classroom.
Learn More: The Hungry Teacher Blog
14. Balderdash
Balderdash is a class board game for a reason. This small-group game will get your high schoolers laughing as they try to trick each other with made-up definitions for uncommon words. It’s a fun, unexpected way to teach new vocabulary while getting your students thinking critically and creatively! You can use a regular version of the game or just create your own using online resources.
Learn More: Boardgame Geek
16. NYT Crossword
A classic—and much beloved—game in the US is the New York Times daily crossword! Did you know there’s also a student version? Printing off one of the puzzles is a great, no-prep language exercise for your more advanced English classes.
Learn More: The New York Times
17. Inklewriter
Inklewriter is an innovative tool that can be used to get your students working individually on their creative writing. The free app makes use of interactive writing—sort of like a classic Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story made high-tech. The prompts and questions will guide your teens while still challenging them to flex their creative muscles as they create their own unique stories.
Learn More: Inkle Writer
18. Book Raffle
A book raffle tradition will help to get your lower-level class invested in reading—especially if your students don’t have many of their own books. All you’ll be doing is inviting your kids to compete for the chance to read specific books; creating excitement around a fundamental language activity in the process—independent reading! To get started, simply select a few books—they can be new or ones already in your class—and introduce them all to your learners. Then, your readers can enter their names in draws to win reading rights to their favorites. Once you have a few book raffles under your belt, feel free to modify the process to make it work for you and your teens!
Learn More: Brown Bag Teacher
19. Writing Prompts
Writing prompts are a classic classroom tool to jumpstart creative writing. Provide your students with this list of enticing prompts that are sure to help them produce literary genius. To get them started, you can let them pick their own from the list or assign them at random. Either way, you’ll have a low-prep way to get great results from your high school writers.
Learn More: Small World
20. Vocab-Zee
This language-themed twist on the classic game of Yahtzee is a great rainy-day activity or sub plan for your class. Put your students in groups and provide them with copies of the game instructions. Then, they’ll take turns rolling the dice and performing vocabulary-based actions based on their roll.
Learn More: Go Sadlier
21. Body Biographies
Help your pupils become masters of character analysis by assigning these eye-catching body biographies. Prompt your young writers to examine the different characteristics of each character—both tangible and intangible—and use them to create a character analysis. The visual aspect of the posters makes this activity more engaging than a written description and encourages your kids to search for different elements of character roles in the text. Not only will your students love doing this, but you’ll also be able to display their body biographies for reference.
Learn More: Study All Knight
22. Podcast Pairings
Consider pairing relevant literary podcasts with your classroom texts/discussions. Introducing a different medium into your teaching toolbox is an excellent way to change up your methods and better engage auditory learners. These podcasts are sure to give your students different perspectives on the topics and ideas that are introduced and discussed in your classroom texts.
Learn More: Building Book Love
23. Keyhole Book Scene
This is a clever visual way to emphasize the importance of different characters’ points of view. Having your students create a keyhole book scene gives you the opportunity to check your students’ understanding and comprehension of a story. Ask your learners to illustrate a scene from one of the texts they are reading—from the perspective of someone looking into the room through a keyhole. You can base the assignment on a specific character’s point of view or let your kids choose the perspective themselves. They should be encouraged to include different text elements and imagery to show what exactly the specific book scene “looked like” in their minds.
Learn More: The Room Mom
24. Crime Stories
Have you ever considered engaging your high school literacy students with creepy crime stories? Your teens can pick a real-life criminal and use their investigative skills to determine motives and other crime components. Then, have them choose a medium—blog, podcast, research paper, etc.—to present their perspective. The real-world aspect makes these narratives particularly compelling—and your learners will be so engaged in the crimes that they won’t realize how much hard work and learning they’re actually doing!
Learn More: Besp o ke ELA
25. Song Lyrics to Teach Paraphrasing
What teenager doesn’t love music? Here’s a great way to use this to your advantage! Print off lyrics to popular songs that your students will love. Then, challenge your kids to go through the lyrics and attempt to paraphrase what the song is saying, using their own words. This will help them get a better understanding of what their favorite songs are about as well as give them practice in their rewording skills.
Learn More: Mondays Made Easy
27. Selfie Fingerprint Poem
Poetry can be a tricky topic to introduce—and a particularly hard one to get your high schoolers excited about. With this fun fingerprint poem, your students can use colors and stanzas to create a poem that represents themselves and is as unique as their fingerprints. This is a great way to get your students excited about introducing themselves and things that they consider to be important.
29. Funny Short Story Study
Looking for something to break up the heavier literary units you have planned this year? This diverse bundle of hilarious short stories is perfect for teaching your students short and sweet literary concepts such as sarcasm, irony, foreshadowing, etc.
Learn More: Hopefully Home
30. Thought Bubble
Do your students need help delving into the thoughts of the characters you’re reading about? This simple thought bubble exercise will get your high schoolers engaged in deeper-level thinking. All they have to do is imagine what a character in a book, a short story, or even an image is thinking. Then, they can write it in a thought bubble on a sticky note. Getting into the habit of considering characters’ inner thoughts will encourage your readers to pay more attention to the text and make stronger connections with the stories.
Learn More: The Thinker Builder
31. Escape Rooms
Make learning fun for your high school English students by incorporating escape room activities in your classroom! You can download an escape room kit online that incorporates concepts from books your students are reading in class—or design your own! An escape room is an interactive way to encourage teamwork among your kids and enhance their understanding and application of the texts you’ve covered.
Learn More: Teach Nouvelle
33. The What If Game
The what if game is sure to get your students’ creative juices flowing! This group activity is fun and easy to set up. You’ll start by dividing your learners into groups of four to five, giving every group three cups—one for characters, one for settings, and one for actions. The groups will begin by brainstorming examples for each category and placing them in the cups. Then the real fun begins! Have your kids take turns drawing papers, one from each cup, and combining them in “What if?” questions. The last step is to use their what if question as a story prompt, being sure to fully explore the character, setting, and action they’ve drawn. Your high schoolers will enjoy the mix of group brainstorming and individual writing—and produce their own literary masterpieces in no time!
Learn More: Bespoke Classroom
34. Hexagonal Thinking
Hexagonal thinking is another dynamic group brainstorming activity—and a great way to help your students think critically about texts and make broader connections. After reading through a story with your class, separate your students into groups. Then, give each group a series of blank paper hexagons and have them fill in various themes, characters, quotes, and even simple drawings. Once they’re done, task your kids with working together to arrange the hexagons in a web—in a layout based on logical connections between the cards.
Learn More: Now Spark Creativity
35. Mock Trials
Help your students examine a text through mock trials. After reading through a story, pick a student to be the prosecutor (or a group of students to be a team of prosecutors) and a student to be the defendant (or team of defendants). Give your kids time and tips for drafting their arguments, and then select a jury from their classmates. When everyone is ready, it’s time for the trial! You can be the judge, critiquing your students’ logic and powers of persuasion. Your teens will have so much fun playing their roles that they won’t even notice the preparation and research involved!
36. Graphic Essay
Looking to shake up your students’ essays? Graphic essays are a clever way to introduce visual elements into a traditional writing assignment. Your students will use pictures and symbols to convey certain portions of the story. It’s a helpful way to engage visual learners and encourage all your kids to think and express themselves in new ways. They’ll appreciate the chance to inject their work with their own creativity—and the break from normal essay writing!
Learn More: Living in the Layers
37. Elements of Fiction Stations
Get your class up and moving around the room with these informative stations that teach the basic elements of fiction. At each station, your learners will delve deeper into elements of fiction such as setting, conflict, characters, point of view, and plot structure. You can have your kids visit these stations during certain time periods or even different class periods.
Learn More: Hey Natayle
38. Figurative Language Tasting
Who doesn’t love to eat tasty snacks while learning? Get your students actively involved in your delicious and savory lesson using a few snacks. Explain to your kids that the objective of this lesson is to practice using different figurative language elements to describe both the taste and feelings of snacks. Then, let the fun begin! Distribute the snacks to your young gourmets—along with prompts that challenge them to describe the tastes using various types of figurative language. It’s sure to help your high schoolers develop a taste for descriptive writing!
Learn More: It’s Lit Teaching
39. Explode the Moment
Are your kids having trouble expanding their thoughts and ideas during writing time? With this activity, your students will be challenged to expand or “explode” the moment they are writing about. For example, if your learner writes “The park was fun,” they’ll be prompted to explain the entire moment at the park, using sensory imagery. This is a relatable method to encourage your high schoolers to consider the “who, what, where, when” portions of their writing.
Learn More: Raise the Bar Reading
40. Figurative Language Sort
Even though this activity was created with younger children in mind, that doesn’t mean your high school students won’t be engaged and excited to participate. You’ll need to prepare for this activity by collecting some interesting pictures and writing sentences about them using different types of figurative language that you’ve studied in class. To begin, give your high schoolers (individually or in a small group) one of the pictures, along with the related sentences. Then, task them with categorizing the sentences based on the type of figurative language. Lastly, encourage those who finish quickly to come up with their own examples for each category!
Learn More: Teaching with a Mountain View
41. Movement in the Classroom
One way to make learning especially memorable for your students—and re-energize them if they need it—is to get them moving and actively participating in the engaging lesson. This doesn’t have to be complicated or require a lot of prep; you can find simple ways to add movement to work you’re already doing. For example, don’t just give your high schoolers a list of discussion questions; print out the questions and place them around your classroom. This will get your kids up and moving as they talk to each other!
42. Literary Puzzle Pieces
Sometimes a simple visual can give your students a new perspective on their work. Help them understand literary themes by comparing them to jigsaw puzzles—drive the point home by having them create their own paper puzzle pieces as they discuss the themes in your texts. First, put your high schoolers in small groups and give each group large paper puzzle pieces. Explain that each puzzle piece represents an element in your book; as they fill in the pieces they’ll be “solving the puzzle” of understanding your text. You can use this activity in different ways depending on the needs of your class, combining group discussion with independent work. It’s an ideal, hands-on discussion prompt to help your kids better grasp the subject material.
Learn More: Learning in Room 213
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14 Creative English Activities for Teenagers
Life is pretty complicated for teenagers, even without throwing English classes into the mix.
That’s why it’s so important for English educators to keep lessons for teens engaging and motivating .
Wondering how to do that?
I’ve been an ESL teacher for many years and these are 14 of my favorite English activities to get teenage students listening and chatting in the classroom.
They’re guaranteed to keep your students excited about class!
Online Activities
1. best for classroom quizzes: kahoot, 2. best for authentic content: fluentu, 3. best for digital flashcards: quizlet, 4. best for vocabulary definitions: knoword, group activities, 5. best guessing game: interview with the stars, 6. best for physical movement: grab the ball, 7. best fun musical activity: lyrics jigsaw, 8. best question and answer practice: i mustache you a question, 9. best for parts of speech: mad libs, 10. best word association game: apples to apples, 11. best for material review: jeopardy, 12. best discussion-based activity: werewolf, one-on-one activities, 13. best for vocabulary and spelling: board games, 14. best for creative writing: person, place, action.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Level: All levels
Focus: Vocabulary, spelling, grammar and review
Price: Limited free version available, paid plans from $19/month
In a nutshell, Kahoot! is a program for creating quizzes to play learning games with your class.
To get started with this addictive game, I recommend signing up and exploring the platform a little bit. This will allow you to get familiar with the layout of the site and practice creating your own Kahoot! quiz.
You can also choose from a massive selection of pre-made quizzes to make your lesson planning a little easier. However, I personally love to create my own quizzes because you can add images and videos, and make them more relevant to what your students are currently learning.
The Kahoot! experience is very similar to a fully personalized game show. After setting up the screen if you’re doing a live class or joining a video conference with the students, the teacher (or game show host, if you will) presents the game on their screen.
Students see the questions on the teacher’s screen, then enter their answers on their devices, using a PIN code that connects them to the game session. Scores are then tallied in real-time on the teacher’s game show screen.
By concluding the class with a game of Kahoot! I can summarize the lesson, finish on a fun note and reward good behavior.
Focus: Vocabulary and listening comprehension
Price: $299 per year for a minimum of 10 users (teachers and students)
The FluentU program includes quizzes, flashcards, a robust video library and more—all based on authentic video content. That means students can learn with English-language vlogs, movie clips, trailers, funny commercials and more.
To use FluentU for teenage learners, I recommend browsing the video library for content you know your adolescent or younger students would enjoy. You can do this by keeping an ear to the ground to stay up to date with the latest YouTubers, video games and films that they’re interested in.
You can assign specific videos or flashcard decks for your students to study, and can track their progress. Or you can let them choose the content that interests them and allow for a completely self-guided learning experience.
Every word is clearly defined, so all students have to do is hover their mouse over a word (or tap, on mobile devices) to get a definition, memorable image, example sentences and part of speech.
If they want to study the word later, they can add it to their vocab list right from the video player. After each video, students are tested on their understanding of key words from the content they just watched.
The best part of this kind of video learning is that it’s addictive: Students can easily go down the rabbit hole of content. All videos are followed by additional recommendations, so it’s easy to click from one video to another.
Videos can also be filtered by level, type and topic, making it easy to consume the kind of content that interests each individual student.
Finally, each vocabulary word (or phrase) has video examples of it in use—so if they want to see the word in use in another context, they can easily hop over to the next video that features it.
Focus: Vocabulary building
Price: $35.99 per year with 30-day free trial
Flashcards are undoubtedly one of the most popular and trusted methods of learning vocabulary in another language.
They’re like bread and butter for an ESL teacher and can be a fantastic tool to introduce and summarize English vocabulary, grammar rules and more.
On the Quizlet website, learning with flashcards is relatively straightforward. After signing up, you’ll have access to millions of flashcard “packs,” which are pre-made and cover the standard subject areas in a high school curriculum.
Be aware, however, that these flashcards are user-made and answers should be thoroughly checked before you share the quizzes with your students. Of course, you also have the option of creating your own flashcards to target particular learning areas.
In addition, you can tweak the flashcards to make them more teenage or kid-friendly and save your packs for later use. One way you might do this is by creating packs on video game vocabulary or YouTube phrases, for example.
You can also set up a Quizlet live game, which is similar to Kahoot!, discussed above.
After creating your custom flashcard deck, you can invite your students to a round of Quizlet to add a little bit of competition to the classroom. I’ve found this to be an excellent motivator, and it can really help bring students out of their shells.
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Focus: Vocabulary building and word definitions
Price: Free for a basic account, $45 per year for a pro account
I promise you one thing: Once your students start playing Knoword, it’ll be nearly impossible to get them to stop.
The strength of the online game Knoword lies in its simplicity. Students can get started with this game almost immediately and practice their reading, vocabulary and spelling.
Basically, the program will provide random word definitions and students must type the missing words as quickly as possible.
To use this game for teenage learners, I recommend that you give them a class code and pit students against each other for some healthy competition. You’ll also have the option to assign individual tasks and track the student’s progress.
Similar to Quizlet above, there are many pre-existing packs based on the school subject or you can play the main vocabulary definition game . You can also create your own customizable learning packs should you want to test your students on a specific area or make the coolest exam ever.
The main vocabulary game can be challenging, which is why this is recommended for intermediate students and above.
Level: Intermediate and up
Focus: Speaking and question forming
I’m always on the lookout for new twists on classic ESL games to give students an activity they haven’t done before. This game is somewhat similar to the popular game “20 Questions,” only with a few slight changes, making it extra fun.
The teacher will put the names of famous people or characters into a container. These names can be real, fictional cartoons or any characters you can think of (as long as the students know who it is).
Students will then draw out names and must assume the character. Instruct the students to answer the questions as if they were really that person or character.
If you’re teaching a lower-level class, you can model with an example and write some sample questions on the board to prompt the students. You can also do the question and answer one by one by having students come up to the front of the class one at a time.
If the students are slightly more advanced, I like to do a kind of “cocktail party” style approach where the students will mingle throughout the room and ask each other questions. Just make sure you move around the classroom and check that the students are practicing their English.
At the end of the party, students can do a vote-style assessment of who they think each of their fellow classmates is.
Level: Beginner and up
Focus: Listening
If I had to choose one “tool” for the rest of my ESL teaching career, it’d have to be a ball.
From introductory activities to summary games, you can incorporate a ball into almost any activity. Plus, I’m a big believer in action and movement in an ESL classroom.
For this group game, you’ll need a ball (or several) and some space. This game works great outdoors in a big open grassy area.
After placing the students into groups, they’ll then be equally spaced away from the ball in two teams. Of course, you can also play one-on-one, depending on the amount of space and number of balls you have!
The teacher will make a true or false statement. This statement can be an English-related statement, such as the word happy is an adjective or a statement related to skills you have been teaching in class.
If the statement is true, the students must rush to grab the ball before their classmates, but if it’s false, they must leave it be. Students or teams will receive a point every time they correctly snatch the ball before the others on the true statement. However, they’ll lose a point if they grab the ball on a false statement.
For a smaller (and possibly safer) version, you can play at the student’s desks with a small ball or object to snatch.
Level: Beginner and up
Focus: Listening, language structure and team collaboration
This is a go-to activity to create a fun atmosphere in the classroom. That being said, it does require a little bit of preparation.
Start by choosing some popular songs with clear singing and simple lyrics. Contemporary music and pop songs are always good choices, especially songs that your students might have heard before.
Next, print the lyrics on either one large page or smaller pages, depending on the size of the class. The next step is to cut the lyrics into lines and mix them up before handing them to your class or groups.
Inform the students that they’ll be putting the lyrics back together again in the correct order . You can also turn the activity into a competition to see who can put the “jigsaw” together the fastest.
What I especially like about the game is when the students catch themselves singing along to the lyrics. It’s like a sudden realization that they know more English than they think!
Focus: Speaking and listening
For this activity, all you need is a stick, some paper, pens and chatty students.
After cutting out a mustache and taping or pasting it to a stick, have the students pass the mustache around until you say stop (or play music and pause it to stop). Whoever’s holding the mustache under their nose gets to ask the class a question. Students take turns answering and then passing around the mustache.
Questions can be as simple as “What’s your favorite color?” or as complex as ethical debate prompts. You can write a few sample questions on the board to get things going.
If your class is usually shy, you can introduce this activity the day before and have them prep some questions as homework.
Of course, you can replace the mustache with any item if you’d prefer students to just hold an item in their hands rather than putting it up to their faces. Grab a ball from the “Grab the Ball” activity, for instance, and pass it around!
If your students aspire to travel the world or move to an English-speaking country, this is a fantastic way to practice listening comprehension and asking/responding to questions.
This game can sharpen communication skills, preparing students for a job interview or coffee with an English-speaking friend.
Level: Lower intermediate and up
Focus: Writing, listening and speaking
If you ever had a ton of fun with “Mad Libs” around a campfire, why not share that fun with your ESL students? This game tests their knowledge of grammar and parts of speech, and the results are hilarious.
Here’s how it works: Each “Mad Libs” story has blank words for you to fill in, usually parts of speech (you’ll be choosing nouns, adjectives, emotions, places, etc.) and you only get to read the full story after you’ve picked your words.
Writing.com has pages upon pages of “Mad Libs” puzzles that are great for teens. Or, if you’re tech-savvy, you can download an app onto your classroom device. The official “Mad Libs” app can be found on the Apple store.
Then just sit down with your students and go around the table asking for nouns, verbs, adjectives and more. For ways to get your students more involved, have them write the words down themselves or spell them out for you.
With more advanced students, you can even encourage them to write their own stories, then remove a certain number of words for their classmates to fill in.
Once your students get into it, they might start cracking up with the hilarious stories that come up!
Focus: Reading, speaking
This game is a great way to go more in-depth with parts of speech by doing word association using adjectives. And you can either buy your own box online or you can make your own cards that focus on the vocabulary you’ve been teaching in class. Genius!
You’ll want a group of three or more students to play this game with. Cards are split into two types: green for adjectives and red for nouns. Students get seven red cards and then one green card is put into the middle by the “judge,” who rotates each round.
Students then choose a red card from their hand that they feel fits the green card best, and place it face-down on the table. Once everyone’s made a choice, the judge reads all the cards out loud and decides which is the best of the bunch.
The winner of that round gets to keep the green card. Whoever has the most green cards at the end of the game is the winner.
You can mix “Apples to Apples” up a bit by playing opposites (they put in the card that least fits the adjective) or change things up completely by giving them several green adjective cards and one red noun card with the objective of matching a variety of adjectives to that noun.
“Apples to Apples” can also be a great way to get your more advanced speakers debating. For example, go around the table and ask whether the students agree with the winning card that the judge picked, or justify their own card choice for that turn.
Focus: Listening, speaking
It was the first day of classes, and I’d gotten my first group of teenagers. Our books hadn’t yet arrived. What did I do? I came up with a “Jeopardy” board.
As I found out, “Jeopardy” is a great way to review old information that may have been tucked away during the summer. Besides this, it’s also a great way to check student comprehension in a fun way.
Not to mention that the possibilities for quiz categories are endless. Some “Jeopardy” categories you might use include US vs. UK English, the present tense or superlatives. It’s a game that is easily customizable based on your classroom needs.
You can go into easier categories for lower students or harder ones to really challenge your advanced class.
There are several ways you can make this game, including both analog and digital versions. If you’d like more tips on how to create your own “Jeopardy” game for your classroom, check out our more in-depth instructions here .
For websites that have pre-made digital “Jeopardy” templates which also allow you to make your own, you can also check out Factile and JeopardyLabs .
Level: Advanced
Focus: Speaking, listening
The party game Werewolf gives a twist on your everyday role-playing exercise with a focus on discussion. Your teens will have to focus on banding together to either beat the Werewolf or outsmart all the others.
There are different variations of this role-playing game, but the most basic one has one moderator (in this case, the teacher) and a werewolf, while the rest of the players are villagers.
Werewolf has “daytime” and “nighttime” phases. During the nighttime phase, everyone closes their eyes. The moderator asks the player with the werewolf role to open their eyes. The werewolf silently selects a villager to “kill” by pointing, then closes their eyes. No talking is allowed during this phase!
Once a villager has been selected, the moderator begins the daytime phase by asking everyone to open their eyes. The moderator now spins a tale about a werewolf attack in the night, and announces which villager has been “killed.”
Students must now discuss who they think the werewolf is, while the person with the werewolf role must try to throw attention away from themselves. This phase requires some smooth talking skills and clear communication!
At the end of the discussion phase, the villagers eliminate one player, who they think is the werewolf. If they’re wrong, the game continues for another round. If they’re right, the game ends.
Focus: Speaking, reading, listening
There are tons of board games you can play one-on-one with teenage students. They’re great for sparking English communication in a fun environment.
- “Guess Who” is perfect for those who are learning to talk about features and characteristics. You can even go beyond how a person looks and work on what a person does. For example, you could print out a page of people in their work environments and your student can ask, “Do they wear a uniform?”
- “Scrabble” is also a classic game that teens enjoy. You can use the game to focus on vocabulary and spelling. If you get bored playing the old-fashioned way, you can tweak the rules. For example, allowing your student to choose one letter in any word on the board can be a fun way to get them thinking outside the box.
- For more vocabulary, you can always play “Word Battleship.” The gameplay is the same as regular “Battleship,” except instead of using boats you use letters to form words. It’s a great way to review words and focus on spelling, especially when the student is making their own board.
Focus: Writing and reading
A lot of teenage students really dislike writing. However, some are more enthusiastic about the idea if you give them the freedom to write what they want.
While the list of possibilities for creative writing exercises can seem endless, one of my favorite games that my private students really enjoy is called “Person, Place, Action.”
The student is given nine pieces of paper. On three of them, they write a person, on another three they write a place and on the final three they write some sort of action.
These can vary from short answers to long answers. Lower intermediate students could write “runs a race” for one of their actions, while a more advanced student could elaborate with “runs a race through the desert during the hottest day on record.”
These sheets of paper are then folded and sorted into their categories, and then the student picks one from each category. The student then unfolds their paper and writes a story with the given prompt.
I generally join in with writing on nine slips of paper with my student to give them more variety, and you can get some pretty wacky results with a little bit of brainstorming.
These activities are sure to inspire your students to love the English language and encourage them to strive for fluency. They won’t even realize all the learning they’re doing while having so much fun!
Related posts:
9 Motivational Songs for Students in English
6 Tips for Teaching English to Teenagers
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10 Essential High School English Lessons to Teach
In today’s society, it is important that students can use their critical thinking skills in their everyday lives. The perfect place for students to learn how and to practice critical reading, writing, arguing, and even listening is the high school English classroom. Here are 10 critical high school English lessons and skills that teachers should be teaching their students!
1. High School English Lessons to Teach: Rhetorical Appeals
When students learn about rhetorical appeals and can identify them in a text, students gain a much stronger understanding of the text, its purpose, and why the author wrote it.
Learning about and understanding rhetorical appeals also helps students become stronger writers themselves.
This unit includes a presentation for direct instruction and student activities to use throughout the school year.
2. High School English Lessons to Teach: Logical Fallacies
Logical fallacies are everywhere, and once students have a solid understanding of them, our students will be able to think more critically.
This logical fallacies unit includes a presentation for direct instruction and student activities.
3. High School English Lessons to Teach: Synthesis Writing
When students learn how to synthesize information, they use multiple sources to prove a point. True synthesis requires critical thinking skills and the ability to read and understand multiple texts simultaneously.
This synthesis writing unit includes multiple topics and links to articles to make assigning a synthesis essay in your classroom a breeze!
4. High School English Lessons to Teach: Email Etiquette
I make it a priority to teach this unit to my students every single year toward the beginning of the year. Ever since I started teaching email etiquette to my high school students, my inbox is a much friendlier place.
This email etiquette unit includes a presentation for direct instruction and student activities to use throughout the school year.
5. High School English Lessons to Teach: Paraphrasing, Quoting, and Summarizing
One of the best ways to teach students how to become better writers is to teach them the difference between paraphrasing, quoting, and summarizing, and then to teach them how to integrate all three skills together in one paper.
This writing unit helps students learn how to do so. It includes a presentation for direct instruction that will help you teach your students how to paraphrase, quote, and summarize the text. It also contains student activities that can be used again and again.
6. How to Annotate Text
This annotating text bundle includes three separate text annotation lessons: annotating text, annotating fiction, and annotating poetry. Each unit works together, but each lesson also focuses on key elements for the genre.
Just like teaching email etiquette, this is also a staple lesson in my high school English classroom.
7. High School English Lessons to Teach: Peer Editing
Peer editing is an essential skill that helps students be better writers and editors. However, for students to know how to peer edit, we first must teach them how to peer edit.
This peer editing stations and rotations activity includes direct instruction that helps students learn the art of peer editing and a proven stations and rotations method to help students effectively edit their peers’ papers.
I make sure I incorporate peer editing into all of my high school English writing units because it is such an important skill and part of the writing process.
8. High School English Lessons to Teach: Thesis Statement Writing
This thesis statement writing lesson includes everything teachers need to teach their students how to write a thesis statement.
It has a step-by-step and color-coded presentation and student activities to help them work through writing a thesis statement. You’ll come back to this lesson year after year.
9. High School English Lessons to Teach: Research Paper Writing
I feel like I am always telling students that the researching part is the most difficult part of the research paper writing process.
Students must learn how to research topics and compile their research into a well-organized paper.
This research paper writing unit includes a presentation with a step-by-step guide to help students navigate the tough research paper waters.
10. High School English Lessons to Teach: Speaking Skills
I like to give students about five minutes to quickly write their responses, and then we dedicate some class time to sharing responses and engaging in a class conversation with one another.
These ten high school English teaching resources are sure to help you not only get through the school year, but engage your students and build them into stronger, more confident critical thinkers, writers, and scholars in your classroom.
If you are looking for must-teach middle school ELA lessons, check out this blog post!
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10 Warm-Up Activities For High School English
Welcome, fellow adventurers of the mind, to a world of linguistic whimsy and grammatical games! As a high school student, you are probably familiar with the dread of walking into an early morning class and having to dive right into the lesson without any sort of preparation. But fear not, just like bell ringers, with the right warm-up activities, you can start your English class off on the right foot and set the tone for a successful and engaging lesson.
In this wondrous world of linguistic lunacy, we will explore various activities that will test your critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. From unraveling scrambled sentences to creating alphabet stories, from guessing games to storytelling marathons, we will traverse through a landscape of language, where words come alive, and creativity reigns supreme.
So, whether you’re a seasoned wordsmith or a budding linguist, whether you love the sound of your own voice or prefer to listen and learn, there’s something here for everyone. Let’s dive into the depths of language, and emerge victorious as masters of the written and spoken word. Are you ready to let your linguistic prowess shine? Let’s begin!
High-energy warm-up activities for high school English
1. word association.
Let’s get our creative juices flowing with a fun game of word association! We’ll start with a word and take turns saying words that are associated with it. Who knows where this game will take us?
In this activity, start by writing a word on the board and have students take turns saying a word that is associated with the previous word. For example, if the first word is “cat,” the next student might say “dog,” and the next might say “pet,” and so on. Encourage students to be creative and think outside the box.
As a variation, you could also play the game with categories, such as “things you find in a kitchen” or “types of animals.” This game will allow students to enhance their vocabulary, and hence, can be a suitable SAT Prep Activity .
2. Alphabet Story
Get ready to put your storytelling skills to the test with Alphabet Story! We’ll start with the letter A and go around the room, each adding a sentence that starts with the next letter of the alphabet. Are you up for the challenge?
This activity is a fun way to encourage students to practice their storytelling skills. Begin with the letter A, and have the first student start with a sentence that begins with that letter. For example, “Allison was walking through the park when she saw a strange creature.”
The next student would continue with the letter B, “Before she could get a closer look, the creature darted off into the bushes,” and so on. You could also make it more challenging by adding a rule that each sentence has to be a certain number of words or have a specific theme.
3. Pictionary
It’s time to let our inner artists shine with a game of Pictionary! One person will draw while the rest of the team tries to guess what they’re drawing. Who will be the best artist in the room?
In this classic game, divide students into teams and have one student from each team draw a picture of a word or phrase while the rest of the team tries to guess what it is. For example, if the word is “ocean,” the student might draw waves, a beach, or sea creatures. This game encourages creativity and teamwork and can be a fun way to start a lesson on descriptive writing.
4. Sentence Scramble
Let’s put our critical thinking skills to the test with Sentence Scramble! I’ll write a sentence on the board but scramble the words out of order. Can you work together to put it back in the correct order?
This activity can be a great way to help students understand grammar rules and practice critical thinking and problem-solving skills. You can write a sentence on the board, but scramble the words out of order, and then have students work together to put the sentence back in the correct order. This can be a fun and engaging way to reinforce parts of speech, sentence structure, and other grammar concepts.
Get ready to flex your persuasive muscles with a debate! You’ll work with a partner or small group to argue for or against a topic. Can you convince the other side to see things your way?
This activity can be a great way to help students develop critical thinking, communication skills, and personality, as well as the ability to respectfully disagree with others. You can assign students to break into pairs or small groups and debate a topic of your choice, or you can let them choose their own topics.
They can be related to politics , fashion, lifestyle, health, etc. Encourage students to research their positions and present their arguments in a clear and persuasive manner. This can be a great way to build confidence and encourage students to think critically about important issues.
6. One Word at a Time
Let’s work together to create a story with just one word at a time! We’ll go around the room, each adding one word to the story. Who knows where our imagination will take us?
This activity can be a fun and engaging way to get students thinking creatively and working together. You can start the story with a sentence, and then have each student add one word at a time, going around the circle until the story is complete.
This can be a great way to reinforce vocabulary and grammar concepts, such as sentence structure, parts of speech, and more. To make it more challenging, you can limit the number of words each student can add, or set a theme for the story.
7. 20 Questions
It’s time to put your detective skills to the test with 20 Questions! You’ll work together to guess a place, or thing or solve a mystery by asking yes or no questions. Can you narrow down your options and solve the mystery?
This classic guessing game can be a great way to encourage critical thinking and deductive reasoning skills in your students. You can choose any place, thing, or mystery for the students to guess, and they can ask yes or no questions to try to narrow down their options. This activity can also be a fun way to reinforce vocabulary and grammar concepts, such as synonyms and antonyms.
8. Who Am I?
Let’s see if you can guess who you are with a game of Who Am I? You’ll ask yes or no questions to figure out which famous person or character you are. Can you crack the code and discover your identity?
This activity can be a great way to get students thinking creatively and working together. You can choose any famous person or character for the students to guess, and they can ask yes or no questions to try to figure out who they are.
This activity can be especially effective in reinforcing vocabulary and grammar concepts related to adjectives, as students will need to ask questions that describe the person or character.
9. Mad Libs
Get ready to get creative with Mad Libs! We’ll fill in the blanks of a story with our own words and see what hilarious and wacky stories we can come up with.
This classic fill-in-the-blank game can be a great way to encourage creativity and reinforce vocabulary and grammar concepts. You can provide students with a story or passage with keywords removed, and then have them fill in the blanks with their own words. This can be a fun way to practice using parts of speech correctly, and can also lead to some hilarious and creative stories.
10. Tongue Twisters
It’s time to practice your pronunciation with Tongue Twisters! We’ll try to say these tricky phrases as fast and accurately as possible. Can you become a tongue twister master?
This activity can be a great way to help students develop their pronunciation skills and work on enunciation. You can choose any tongue twister for the students to practice, and they can take turns saying it out loud until they can say it clearly and accurately. This activity can also be used to reinforce vocabulary and grammar concepts related to pronunciation and phonetics.
Warm-up activities are an essential part of any high school class, be it math, English, or history. They can help students start the day on a positive note, build community and camaraderie, and set the tone for the rest of the class. By incorporating creative and engaging warm-up activities, high school English teachers can help their students develop critical thinking skills, improve their writing and communication abilities, and foster a love of literature and language.
These activities don’t have to be complicated or time-consuming, but they should be relevant, interesting, and challenging enough to capture the attention of high schoolers. With the right mix of fun and educational activities, teachers can create a dynamic and exciting learning environment that helps students reach their full potential. So, don’t underestimate the power of a good warm-up activity – it can make all the difference in a successful high school English class.
Sananda Bhattacharya, Chief Editor of TheHighSchooler, is dedicated to enhancing operations and growth. With degrees in Literature and Asian Studies from Presidency University, Kolkata, she leverages her educational and innovative background to shape TheHighSchooler into a pivotal resource hub. Providing valuable insights, practical activities, and guidance on school life, graduation, scholarships, and more, Sananda’s leadership enriches the journey of high school students.
Explore a plethora of invaluable resources and insights tailored for high schoolers at TheHighSchooler, under the guidance of Sananda Bhattacharya’s expertise. You can follow her on Linkedin
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Making English Fun
50 ESL Conversation Topics for High School Students.
Today, we turn our attention to high school students, who are at a pivotal stage of their English language learning journey.
At this level, students are ready to explore more complex and nuanced topics, making conversations not just a learning tool, but a gateway to broader understanding and critical thinking.
This article presents a collection of ESL conversation topics and starters, specifically crafted for high school students.
These topics are designed to provoke thought, encourage debate, and provide a platform for students to express their opinions and ideas in English.
We also offer a downloadable list of these ESL Conversation Topics for High School Students, an essential addition to your teaching toolkit.
You can find the download links in the sections below.
The Role of Conversation in Advanced Language Learning
For high school students , engaging in discussions in English is about more than just practicing language skills. It’s about connecting with global issues, understanding diverse perspectives, and developing critical thinking skills.
Conversations at this stage are an opportunity for students to articulate complex ideas, debate viewpoints, and enhance their understanding of the world around them.
Strategies for Using Conversation Topics with High School Students
- Encourage In-Depth Discussion : Choose topics that resonate with their interests and current global trends. This encourages students to think deeply and express their views.
- Facilitate Debates and Group Discussions : Use conversation starters as a basis for classroom debates or group discussions, allowing students to engage with different perspectives.
- Incorporate Current Events : Linking discussions to current events makes conversations more relevant and engaging.
- Support Critical Thinking : Encourage students to analyze, evaluate, and elaborate on their responses, fostering critical thinking skills.
50 Conversation Starters for High School ESL Students
Ready to challenge and inspire your high school students?
We’ve assembled 50 stimulating conversation starters, covering a wide array of topics from global issues, personal aspirations, to societal changes.
These prompts are crafted to spark engaging and meaningful conversations among high school students.
You can access the complete list for download below, ready for implementation in your classroom or for home learning discussions.
High School ESL Conversation Starters
- What are your thoughts on the importance of education?
- How do you think technology is changing the way we live?
- If you could start a charity, what would it focus on?
- What career are you interested in pursuing after high school?
- What’s a global issue you feel passionate about?
- How do you define success?
- What’s the most challenging thing about being a teenager today?
- What role does social media play in your life?
- Discuss a book that made a significant impact on you.
- If you could travel back in time, what era would you visit and why?
- What’s your opinion on the importance of environmental conservation?
- How do you handle stress and pressure?
- What’s your favorite memory from childhood?
- If you could meet any historical figure, who would it be and why?
- What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in life so far?
- Discuss a movie that you believe has a deep message.
- What qualities do you think make a good leader?
- What’s your favorite hobby or pastime?
- How do you think society will change in the next 20 years?
- What’s a skill you’d like to learn and why?
- If you could change one thing about your school, what would it be?
- What’s something you’ve done that took you out of your comfort zone?
- How do you think we can solve [a specific social issue]?
- What does a perfect day look like for you?
- What’s a piece of advice you would give to your younger self?
- What’s the most interesting place you’ve ever visited?
- How do you think the internet has changed human communication?
- What’s your favorite subject in school and why?
- What are your thoughts on [a current event or trend]?
- If you could learn one new language fluently, which would it be?
- What’s something you’re passionate about and why?
- Discuss a personal hero or role model of yours.
- What’s your favorite tradition or holiday, and how do you celebrate it?
- How do you think we can promote more tolerance and understanding in society?
- What’s your favorite form of artistic expression?
- Discuss a challenge you’ve faced and how you overcame it.
- What’s something you believe is misunderstood about your generation?
- What’s your opinion on the importance of space exploration?
- What’s your favorite family memory?
- If you could invent something, what would it be?
- What’s your opinion on the balance between privacy and security?
- How do you see the role of AI and robotics in the future?
- What’s something you’d like to achieve in the next five years?
- How do you approach making important decisions?
- What’s a book or movie that you think everyone should read/watch? Why?
- What’s an issue in your community that you would like to address?
- Discuss a historical event that fascinates you.
- What do you think is the key to a good friendship?
- If you could have dinner with any three people (dead or alive), who would they be?
- How do you think we can improve cross-cultural understanding and communication?
Promoting Engagement and Participation
Getting high school students to participate actively can be challenging. Here are some methods to encourage involvement:
- Create a Respectful Environment : Ensure that all opinions are respected and valued.
- Use Multimedia Resources : Incorporate videos, articles, or podcasts to make discussions more dynamic.
- Encourage Personal Reflection : Allow students to connect topics with their own experiences and views.
Preparing Students for the Future Through Conversation
Engaging high school students in sophisticated English conversations prepares them for future academic and career challenges.
These discussions are crucial for enhancing their language proficiency, critical thinking skills, and global awareness.
By integrating conversation into their educational routine, we’re equipping these young adults with essential skills for their future endeavors.
More ESL Conversation Topics
We have a selection of age / ability appropriate ESL Conversation Topics here on Making English Fun you can access below.
- 50 ESL Conversation Topics for Kindergarten ESL Students
- 50 ESL Conversation Topics for Grade School / Primary Students
- 50 ESL Conversation Topics for High School ESL Students
- 50 ESL Conversation Topics for Adult ESL Students
- 200+ ESL Conversation Topics for ESL Learners
There you have it—a guide to facilitating enriching English conversations with high school students!
Using these conversation starters, you’re not just enhancing their language skills, but also encouraging them to think critically, express themselves confidently, and engage with the world in a meaningful way.
We hope these resources empower you to guide your students towards greater linguistic and intellectual growth.
Enjoy your journey in teaching and inspiring these young minds!
Access the full list ready for download below, ideal for enhancing English learning experiences in both classroom and home environments.
Additional Resources
For more advanced and diverse resources for teaching English to high school learners, make sure to explore our website.
We offer a range of materials from in-depth discussion guides to interactive learning tools, all aimed at making English education engaging and effective for high school students.
Expand your teaching repertoire with these useful links:
- https://eflideas.com/2021/03/06/50-esl-conversation-questions-for-teenagers-and-adults/
- https://aloyanaraksya.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/50-conversation-classes-sample.pdf
- https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/50-conversation-starters-for-adult-esl-students
- https://allesl.com/esl-conversation-topics/
- https://www.learnenglisheveryday.com/conversation-questions-about-education/
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I have been a teacher of English for over 15 years, in that time i made hundreds and thousands of resources and learnt so much i think its worth sharing. Hopefully to help teachers and parents around the world.
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