Games & Apps for ESL

Wordwall.net

Wordwall is one of the (FREE) platforms that I use the most in my ESL classroom for a couple of reasons. 1) like I said, it's mostly free. 2) it's game based and therefore fun for young learners 3) you can make your own activities if you want to customize or tailor your lessons to specific needs (you get 5 free activities to make) and 4) if you go to wordwall.net/community you can search and use public activities that others have made and shared with the WordWall community. This is what I use the most! I don't need to reinvent the wheel on irregular verbs, for example. I can simply search an activity, click share, and give the link to my students. HUGE time saver! As an added bonus, there are over 10 different game formats, so you can choose which ones you like or your students like best!

The British Council

The British Council has a wonderful variety of worksheets, games, and songs for ESL students. Two things to note: 1) this is best for elementary learners grade 6 and under and 2) the spelling is in British English. I don't find this to be a big problem, though, as the spellings are only 1 letter different and kids do need to know these differences. https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/

Nearpod

I cannot describe my LOVE for NearPod in the classroom. This FREE platform allows you to create your own games, called "Time to Climb." You create the questions and input mutliple choice answers and then share teh link wiht the kids. You can select one of 5-6 themes/backgrounds (jungle, beach, Halloween, sports, space, etc.) for teh game to run in. Then the kids choose characters and if they answer a question correctly, they climb higher up the mountain. It's aborable, fun, engaging, practical, and effective!

Jamboard

Jamboard is a Google Extension that is somewhat similar to Google Slides. It's essentially an interactive Google slide page. Students can write, post note stickies, an draw on the pages. Think of it as a simple interactive whiteboard. I LIVED OFF of Jamboard during the pandemic. Check out some of the pictures below to see how I used it with ESL learners. It is super user friendly. The only caveat is that it is artistically limited (few colors, not a lot of options), but if you are creative, you can really make cool stuff!

PearDeck is a Google Slides extension that I really love to use. One catch upfront: it's not free and you or your district will need to purchase a premium version to really use most of the options. However, you can get a free trial of the Premium account with your school email address. PearDeck esentially takes a Google Slide and makes it interactive. Students can choose an answer choice, write a response, or even draw a response (the drawings are always really fun and hilarious). PearDeck works well with pretty much any age group grade 1-12.

PearDeck

BOOM Cards

BOOM cards are interactive flashcards that you can either make (do nto recommend--it's not easy to do) or buy (worth every penny!). I love BOOM cards because I can give them to my students as independent practice and/or early finisher activities. Check out some examples below. You can purchase directly from BOOM Learning or you can find them on Teachers Pay Teachers. Check out two cards (from different decks) for ESL students below.

DuoLingo

I don't think I need to explain DuoLingo a lot, other than to say that it's an app that you can download for free on your phone and/or computer. This app is great for vocabulary building. I do not find it useful for grammar or speaking practice, but for basic vocabulary development, it works great! I put this app on my classroom homepage and use it as an early finisher activity if students need a little something extra to do at the end of class. My ESL students really enjoy DuoLingo and never complain about doing it.