Grammar. What can I say? Grammar. One of those necessary evils we encounter. So often, teachers retreat to traditional classroom activities when teaching grammar. However, there are several cooperative and communicative things we can do in the classroom to engage our students in grammar lessons. Below are just a few grammar games to show our students the fun side of grammar.

Group Table Games

1. Word Sort – Create eight small cards with the eight parts of speech and several more cards with general words (at least five general words for each part of speech). Have students group the cards with the correct part of speech. If you want to give a bit of a challenge, have students define each part of speech first on the back of the small card.

2. Sentence Scrambles – Create long, compound-complex sentences and have students put the words in order. For example:

It might be a good twist to just give a simple sentence first: The girl is very tired. Once groups get that sentence correct, give them the next group of words: and her feet hurt. Once that is complete, add the clause: who danced all night.

To make it more challenging, add more than one sentence to the mix.

Note: Students should be able to make multiple combinations of sentences. Make sure they know how many complete sentences there are, and that all words must be used.

3. Creating Sentences – Give students a subject, a verb, and an object. In groups, students must create nine sentences, using each of the nine tenses. E.g., give them: cat, to chase, mouse. They must come up with:

1. The cat chases the mouse.
2. The cat is chasing the mouse.
3. The cat has chased the mouse.
4. The cat chased the mouse.
5. Etc.

4. Matching Conditionals – Cut out the conditional sentences below, or create your own, and have students match the “if” clause with the other part of the conditionals:

Once finished, ask students to label the sentences as first, second, or third conditional (there are three of each).

5. Small White Board Games – Small clipboard-sized white boards are great resources to have in an ESL/EFL classroom. Usually, if you are doing a small white board activity, groups of four are best. All the activities below are a race. The first group to raise their white board over their heads with the correct answer gets a point. Here are some starter activities to spark your interest. The possibilities are actually endless!

1. Irregular Verbs – Call out the infinitive of an irregular verb. Students have to write the correct past tense or past participial. Spelling and neatness counts.
2. Picking out a word – Read a sentence to the class that has a particular grammar point you are looking for, e.g., prepositions. Read the sentence and have the students write the preposition on the white board.
3. Comparatives & Superlatives – Give students an adjective and have them change the form to its comparative or superlative. Make sure to give single syllable words, multisyllabic words, and irregulars…just to keep students alert.

Side note: White boards don’t only have to be for grammar. They can easily be used for spelling tests, vocabulary reviews, comprehension questions, naming flashcards, etc.

6. Mad Libs – Mad Libs are a great way to have students start thinking of parts of speech. If available, have some books on hand for students to use when they finish their work early (You can order them at Amazon). Or, the Internet has some great places where students can work on Mad Libs independently. This video shows how it is done: These are some great examples of online Mad Libs to play with students.

Passing Paper Games

7. Pictures and Propositions – Break students into groups of 10 and sit each group in a circle. Each student must have a blank sheet of white paper, a pen/pencil, and something to write on.  First, students should put their initials at the bottom right corner of their paper to indicate that this paper is theirs. Next, each student must write a sentence in a particular tense, such as present continuous. (You can even be more specific: The sentence must be present continuous, have a prepositional phrase but be no more than 10 words.) Once each student writes an original sentence on their paper, following the constraints, they pass the paper to the student sitting to their left.

It is very important that all students pass the paper at the same time, so that no student ever has more than one piece of paper at any given time. On their neighbor’s paper, students must draw a small picture under the sentence that represents the original sentence. Once the picture has been drawn, he or she folds over the paper to hide the sentence. Then, the paper is passed to the next student on the left. 

The next student (note: this should be the third person in the progression) is to write a sentence based on the picture drawn. The student should not see the original sentence. Once this new sentence is created, everyone should fold over the paper to hide the picture so that it shows only the latest sentence, and pass the paper again to the person on the left.

Students should then draw a picture of the new sentence.  Once complete, fold the paper and pass…the next student writes a sentence and so on: sentence – picture – sentence – picture – etc. Remember, all students should be working all the time on someone’s paper.   Papers are passed simultaneously. Remind students of the sentence constraints. Continue passing papers until students get their original paper back.  Unfold and enjoy.

8. Pass the Story – Similar to the activity above, this exercise starts with every student having a sheet of notebook paper, blank except for a story starter*, created by the teacher, at the top of each paper. Students are responsible for making a comprehensible story by writing one sentence and then passing the paper to the next person. (No need to fold papers over to hide the previous information.)

The next person reads all the sentences created so far and adds the next sentence of the story and so on…it works best if you put the class into circles of 10 people. Remember, students in each group must pass the paper at the same time.  Don’t forget to have students put their initials at the bottom of their papers to know which paper began with them.

*for example: There was a loud explosion in the kitchen.

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Sarah Sahr works at TESOL and has her Masters in ESL administration. She has managed a school in Vietnam, trained teachers in South Korea, implemented school reform in Qatar, run a circus train classroom for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, and taught 8th grade writing in Maryland. Prior to all that, Sarah was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia. She is also a certified ashtanga yoga instructor and has managed an eco-lodge in Chugchilan, Ecuador.

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