Musical Chairs

Musical Chairs can be easily adapted to be an ESL game. The great part about it is that usually, kids already know how to play the game and you don't have to waste any of your time trying to explain it. More time for play!

MUSICAL CHAIRS

Target English: any
Things You Need:flash cards, chairs, music
Age: 4 or older (Kids over 8 years old tend to think that this game is not cool anymore. But your classes may enjoy it...)
English Level: any

Game Outline:
1. Place the chairs in a circle. Use one chair less than the number of students that you have. Place one flash card underneath each chair.
2. Play the music and let the kids walk around the chairs. When the music stops, students must find a chair to sit in.
3. The student who is left without a chair is "out". That student must go around and ask each of the other students a question about the card that's under their chair.
4. Remove a chair and play again.

Variations

  • Sometimes young kids can become very upset about getting "out". While learning how to deal with losing is an important part of growing up, the focus in your classroom should probably be on learning English. To combat this, you can either make sure that you have enough chairs for all students, or always have just one chair less. Then the student who is "out" for that round, can continue to play.
  • Have the kids do different actions around the chairs. You can tell them to skip, jump, or crawl, for example.

Hope you and your kids have fun with this game.

Love,
Shannon Sensei

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