ESL Transportation Games, Activities, Lesson Plans & Worksheets

If you’re looking for some ESL transportation activities, then you’re definitely in the right place. You’ll find the best ESL transport games and activities, along with vocabulary, lessons and worksheets so keep on reading!

Transportation ESL Activities

Let’s get into the best ESL transportation activities.

#1: Concentration ESL Transport Game

This is a fun memory game that’s helpful when teaching new vocabulary words. Make up matching cards with one of the following combinations:

• Pictures/words
• Pictures/hints
• Words/definitions

Then, in small groups, students play a matching game to try to get as many pairs as possible. It’s challenging, fun and an ideal way to review new transport words. Find out how to do it:

ESL Concentration Memory Game.

#2: ESL Transport Surveys

Ask my students and they’ll tell you that I love to use surveys in my classes! They’re interactive, engaging, get students out of their seats to talk to classmates and also cover a range of skills. In short, the ultimate ESL activity! Plus you can make them for just about any topic including transportation. Find out all the details you need to know here:

Questionnaires and Surveys for ESL.

#3: Word Association Vocabulary ESL Activity

Unless you teach absolute beginners, it’s likely that students already know a good amount of transportation words in English. If this is the case, help them activate their prior knowledge before jumping into the new stuff. One of the easiest ways to do this is this quick warm-up activity. Learn more about it here:

ESL Word Association Warm-Up Activity.

#4: Man/Woman on the Street

A common conversation topic related to transport is how people get to school or work. It’s useful but certainly not that exciting. A way to liven this up a little bit is to make it into a fun interview-style activity. Find out how to do it:

Man/Woman on the Street ESL Interview Activity.

#5: Transportation Song for Kids

If you teach children, then definitely consider using some songs and chants in your English classes. However, if you’re not musical (like me!), then not to worry. There are a ton of great options on YouTube. Have a look and you’ll be able to easily find what you’re looking for.

#6: Dictogloss ESL Transport Game

If you teach slightly more advanced students, then consider using dictogloss. It’s challenging, covers a few different skills and is perfect for just about any topic, including this one.

Find (or write) a passage where someone is talking about how they get to school or work. Then, put students into pairs and read it out at a faster than normal pace for the level of the students. They have to work together to try to recreate what they heard. Read it again, even more quickly. Students do the same and then compare what they have with the original version.

#7: Transportation Idioms Activity

There are a ton of English idioms related to transport. Just a few of them are:

• hit the road
• drive someone up the wall
• rock the boat
• to be in the same boat
• throw someone under the bus
• off the beaten track

A way to make these idioms super memorable is to do this fun activity. Learn more about it here:

ESL Idiom Activity.

#8: Odd One Out

This is a fun review or warm-up game to try out. Write down a group of 4 words on the board, 3 of which are very similar while one is different. For example:

• Bus, taxi, boat, car

Students have to say which one doesn’t fit and why. There are sometimes many possible answers but in this case, most students would choose a boat because it’s on water, not on a road. Or, it doesn’t have wheels like the other ones. Find out all the details:

Odd One Out Game.

#9: Ball Toss ESL Game

This is a fun game for beginners who are learning some new transportation words. Write down some questions on a beach ball and have students toss it around the class, answering questions as they go. Find out more about it here:

ESL Ball Toss Activity.

#10: Running Dictation

#11: Dictation Writing Practice

Okay, so dictation is a little bit old school but it does certainly have some value and I like to do it once in a while. It’s ideal for introverts who may not always like talking to people and it’s a nice way to review spelling and punctuation. For beginners, say target words and students have to write them down. For more advanced learners, say sentences containing the target words and students have to write them down, using correct punctuation.

#12: Flyswatter Game

If you teach kids, then try out this fun ESL game. The way it works is that you write a bunch of the target vocabulary on the whiteboard. In this case, words like car, bus, airplane, etc.

Then, a student from each team comes up to the board and takes a flyswatter. The teacher gives hints about a word and the first student to slap the correct one gets a point for their team. Erase the word and add a new one and continue on until everyone has had a chance to play. Check it out:

Flyswatter English Vocabulary Game.

#13: Postcards Writing Activity and Transportation ESL

When writing a postcard, how we get somewhere is often part of it. For example,

• The boat ride was really bumpy.
• The bus ride was so long.
• I’m really tired because my plane got delayed and I had to sleep overnight at the airport.
• Etc.

Try out this writing activity with your students today:

Postcards ESL Writing Activity.

#14: The Hot Potato Game

#15: Word Challenge ESL Transportation Spelling Game

I like to include a bit of spelling practise in my classes and this is a fun way to do that. It’s basically a whiteboard race to write down the correct word. For beginners, just say the word but for more advanced learners, you could give a hint about it. Check it out:

ESL Word Challenge Spelling Race.

#16: A to Z Warmer

It’s likely that students already know a good amount of transportation vocabulary since words like car, bicycle, and plane are found even in phonics or young learner books. This is a nice warmer activity to help students activate their prior knowledge about this topic:

A-Z ESL Warmer.

#17: 120-90-60

Try out this fun speaking fluency activity with transportation-themed topics. Students can talk about a road trip they’ve taken, bike riding, or how they get to school or work in the morning. Learn more:

#18: Transport Themed Find Someone Who Bingo

This is traditionally a get-to-know-you activity but it can be adapted for just about any topic, including this one. Fill the board with things like:

• takes longer than 30 minutes to get to school
• walks to school
• lives on campus
• has their own car
• takes the bus every day
• etc.

Check it out for yourself:

Find Someone Who ESL Bingo Game.

#19: Brochure Scanning Reading Activity for ESL Transportation

If you can get your hands on some travel brochures, then this is a nice reading activity. Focus the questions on transportation-related things like the following:

• How long of a bus, car, or train ride
• Departing from where and going to where
• Etc.

Brochure Scanning ESL Reading Activity.

#20: Task-Based Teaching Activities

I love to include some task-based ESL activities in most of my classes. For this topic, a nice activity is as follows:

• put students into small groups
• have each group choose a different method of transport
• research things like pros, cons, history, etc.
• make a simple poster or PowerPoint slide
• do a short presentation to the class
• Q & A session to follow

Find out more here:

https://eslspeaking.org/task-based-language-learning

#21: Transport Problem/Advice Board Game

A lot of problems in our lives stem from transport! For example,

• not having our own car
• getting stuck in traffic
• expensive car repairs
• flight delays
• rough weather
• Etc.

It’s certainly possible to make a fun board game for students related to these kinds of problems, where students have to give some advice. Learn more about it:

ESL Problem and Advice Board Game.

#22: Listening Lesson Plan on Transport

It’s very easy to design your own listening lesson plan for transport. There are just a few simple steps to follow to come up with your own. Find out how:

#23: Hot Seat

Divide the class into two teams. One student from each team sits in a “hot seat” facing their team while the teacher shows a flashcard with a transportation word to the rest of the class. The team members must give clues or describe the transportation word without saying the actual word. The student in the hot seat tries to guess the word based on their team’s clues.

#24: Guess the Sound

Play various audio clips of transportation sounds, such as a car engine, a train whistle, or a plane taking off. Students listen to the sounds and try to identify the mode of transportation associated with each sound.

ESL Transportation Lesson Plans

What English teacher doesn’t like to save time, right? That’s where transportation ESL lesson plans can come in. Why do all the hard work if someone else has already done it! Here are some of the choices:

Lingua House

Games4ESL

You can also make your own quite easily!

Transport ESL Worksheets

If you’re a teacher then you’ll know how much time you can save by using ESL transportation worksheets. Here are some of the best options for that:

ISL Collective

ESL Tower

Boggles World

Teaching Transportation Vocabulary

Here are some of the most important transport vocabulary words to teach our students:

• bicycle
• boat/ship
• bus
• car
• driver
• fire truck
• garbage truck
• helicopter
• hot air balloon
• motorcycle
• plane
• reservation
• scooter
• skateboard
• submarine
• subway
• taxi
• ticket agent
• ticket gate
• train

ESL Transportation Vocabulary FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

How do you teach transportation vocabulary?

To teach transportation vocabulary, first teach the new words, using pictures or translation into the first language. Then have students do some practice with the new words, starting with controlled exercises to some freer ones. Then be sure to review lots so that students remember the words.

How do you introduce transport?

To introduce transport, you can ask students some questions like how they get to school or work. Or, whether they like riding a bicycle or going for a walk for leisure. You can also do a mind map as students shout out transport words that they already know.

How do you explain transport to a child?

To explain transport to a child, talk about how it’s a way to get from one place to another. For example, from their home to school. Then give some examples such as driving, riding a bike, walking, etc.

Did you like these Transport ESL Games and Activities?

Yes? Thought so. Then you’re going to love this book which you can easily find on Amazon: 101 ESL Activities for Teenagers and Adults. The key to better TEFL classes is a wide variety of interesting and engaging games and activities and this book will help you get there in style.

Pick up the digital version to take with you on any device with the free Kindle app for some lesson planning on the go. Or, keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office to use as a handy reference guide.

Whatever the case, pick up your copy of the book and get ready for some serious ESL teaching awesome in your life. Head over to Amazon to find out more about it:

Teaching Transportation ESL: Join the Conversation

What’s your top pick for an ESL transport activity or game? Is it one of the options from this list or do you have your eye on another one? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.

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