Concentration Game: Try out this Fun ESL Concentration Activity Today

Are you looking for a simple, fun way to get your students practicing English words? Then you’re most certainly in the right place! Keep on reading to learn more about Concentration, an ESL activity that your students will love. Try out this concentration activity for adults, as well as children.

Let’s get into all the details you need to know about how to play concentration with your TEFL students.

ESL Concentration Game

Skills: Reading and vocabulary
Time: 10-15 minutes
Materials: Concentration cards

This is an ESL word game designed to help students remember new words and definitions. It’s best for children and kindergarten kids, but you can even play it with lower-level adult students.

If your students want to speak English fluently, they’ll probably have to know more English vocab. This activity is an excellent way to help them with this.

Remember, the key to making words “stick” is repetition. Sure, students can study at home, but many of them won’t. That’s why it’s useful to build some repetition into your classes. This game is one way to do that.

How to Set Up Concentration: Make Some Cards

Make up sets of cards with words on half the cards and the matching definition on the other half. For example, you may want to do prepositions of place. Put the word on one card and then the corresponding picture on the other one (more ESL preposition of place games here). Or, you could have a  word and then the opposite one (more details here: Prefix Activities). Another idea is to use it for reflexive pronouns with a sentence with blanks and then reflexives on the other (check this out: Reflexives Games).

A total of 16 cards (8 sets of words and definitions) works well. Make enough cards so that there is one set for each group of four students.

You can use more cards for older students, and fewer cards for younger ones. Younger students may need picture-word matches, while older students can use word-definition ones.

If you teach the same thing multiple times, you may want to laminate the cards to make them more durable.

How to Play Concentration

Students mix up the cards and put them face-down on the desk in an organized fashion. The students play rocks-scissors-paper. The first student chooses two cards and places them face-up on the desk so that everyone is able to see them. If they make a set, the student keeps the cards (they’re removed from the game), gets one point and is able to choose again.

If they don’t make a set, the student places them face-down in the same spot (it’s a memory game!) and the game continues with the next student. I make a point to tell children NOT to mix the cards up and that this is actually cheating. If they do this, they will be eliminated from the game.

If I forget to mention this, some groups will start to mix them. And…then I’ve realized my mistake! Instead of a useful activity, it just becomes a random waste of time mostly.

Procedure for the Concentration Game:

1. Make concentration card sets of words and definitions (16 cards per set, one set per four students).
2. Have students mix the cards and place them face down on the desk in an organized manner.
3. The first students choose two cards and places them face-up on the desk. If they make a set, the students keep the cards and get one point. If they don’t make a set, the student places them face down in the same spot and the game continues with the next student who reveals two more cards.
4. The winner is the student with the most points.

Another activity to try out is this one: A to Z Game.

Do you like this Concentration Game?

Do you like this English game? Do you want lots more ideas for your ESL or EFL classroom to help your students learn vocabulary effortlessly and easily? Then you’re going to want to check out this book over on Amazon: 39 ESL Vocabulary Activities for Kids 7+.

There are dozens of fun ESL games and activities that’ll make learning fun. Add some variety into your classes so that your students are engaged while learning English at the same time.

The good news is that the book is available on Amazon in both digital and print formats. The (cheaper!) digital copy can be read on any device by downloading the free Kindle reading app.

Sounds like exactly what you need for your ESL lesson planning? Check it out for yourself over on Amazon:

Want to Learn about Student-Centered Language Teaching? 

Concentration is one of my favourite student-centred activities. After all, the students are doing all the hard work, not the teacher! Once you set the game up, you just have to supervise and offer feedback, while the students are thinking, reading, and actively learning English.

Check out this short video for more details about student-centred teaching:

What do you Think About the Concentration Game?

Do you have a favourite ESL word game or activity that you use with your students? Or, have you tried out this concentration one? Leave a comment below and let us know your secrets! We’d love to hear from you.

Also be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. It’ll help other busy teachers, like yourself find this useful teaching resource.

Last update on 2022-07-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API