Teach English Online: The Best ESL Activities for ESL Lessons Online

So, you want to teach English online but aren’t sure what to actually do with your students? I have some good news for you! I’ll share my best ESL games and activities for teaching English online so keep on reading!

Let’s get into the activities for English class online that’ll help keep your students engaged and happy to be learning from home. Keep on reading!

ESL Games and Activities for Teaching English Online

ESL teaching online isn’t difficult if you have a variety of interesting, engaging and student-centred activities at your fingertips. Keep on reading for the top ones to choose from to get started with teaching ESL online.

Or, you may want to check this out too: How to teach English online. If you’re looking for a job, have a look here: Best Online Teaching Jobs for English Teachers.

#1: ESL Role Plays

If your student is studying English for a specific purpose such as travel, being able to converse with their patients as a doctor, nurse or dentist, or someone who wants to serve customers in English as a banker, air steward, etc., then consider doing some role-play topics.

The student can play themselves and you can be the customer, immigration offer, or patient. Mix things up and use some different problems, as well as different responses. The goal is to help your student gain some serious confidence with things they’ll encounter out in the real world.

#2: Dictation Practice

An easy way to practice both listening and writing skills, along with things like spelling and punctuation is to do some dictation work. You can either dictate a passage or individual sentences. Consider starting with single words for low beginners. Learn how to do it here: ESL Dictation Activity.

#3: Dictogloss

This is a challenging listening activity that you can try out if you teach ESL online. The way it works is that you find a passage of some kind and read it at a slightly faster pace than normal. The student has to take notes about what they hear. Then, read it again and finally the student has to recreate what they heard, either by speaking or writing.

Want to give it a try? You can see all the details here: Dictogloss.

#4: Is that Sentence Correct?

This is a quick review activity that you can use for just about anything! The way it works is that you can make some sentences, some of which are correct while others are not. The student has to decide which ones are incorrect and make the required changes.

Besides using it as a warmer or review activity for your online TEFL class, it’s also the perfect homework activity. Find out more here: Sentence Correction Activity.

#5: Film English to Teach ESL Online

If you have students who love watching movies, then consider using Film English. They have a nice variety of shorter and longer films to choose from plus some great activities to go along with them.

For online ESL teaching, it’s certainly possible to watch some of the shorter ones together but the preferred option would be to have the student watch it before class. Then in class, discuss together and finally, assign some writing homework based on it.

#6: Proof-Reading and Editing

A nice activity for students who want to improve their writing skills is to focus on proof-reading editing. It’s a super important skill that often gets neglected as the teacher usually just corrects the mistakes!

There are two ways to do this. The first is to provide students with a paragraph with mistakes for them to correct. Or, teach students how to correct their own writing. Find out all the details here: ESL Proofreading and Editing.

#7: ESL Clothing Quiz

Try out this fun, interactive online game with your students:

#8: ESL Reading Lesson Plan

Out of all the skills to work on with ESL online, I generally prefer reading. However, there’s more to reading than just telling students to read! A single paragraph can yield so many more benefits if within the context of a well-organized lesson.

Do you want to know how to do this? Find out here: How to Plan an ESL Reading Lesson.

You’ll also want to check out this resource, short stories for intermediate English learners.

#9: Making Predictions Activities

A fun topic to do with online English teaching is to talk about predictions for the future. It’s time to get your crystal balls out! Find out some of the best things to do here: ESL Prediction Activities and Games.

#10: 20 Questions

#11: Breaking News English

Let’s get real here for a minute. If you’re an ESL teaching and don’t know about Breaking News English, it’s time to get aquatinted. It’s some serious online English teaching gold.

There are new stories in a variety of levels, along with very detailed lesson plans, or as I prefer, the mini-lessons that are 2 pages and far more manageable.

For online teaching, you can either have students read the article before class or read it together during class. Then, there are a ton of great discussion questions, vocabulary focus activities and more. Then, it’s possible to assign some writing homework, or even some of the activities in the lesson that you didn’t get to in class.

#12: Journaling, a Teaching English Online Writing Activity

One of the best writing homework assignments for teaching English as a second language online is to get students to keep a journal. It’s easy to do and can help students improve their writing fluency in a big way.

The key is that students do this exercise on a regular basis. Daily is best. Find out more about it here: ESL Journaling Activity.

#13: Mixed Up Sentences

Spending some time working on sentence structure when you teach English online will never be a wasted exercise! I love to use this one for my beginner students.

Write down some sentences on a piece of paper but mix up the word order. Students have to work to unscramble it. Check it out here as it makes a nice activity for an ESL lesson online: ESL Mixed Up Sentences.

#14: Business English Pod

If you teach business English online, then you’ll certainly want to check out Business English Pod. It’s heavy on the listening skills and while there is a paid version, I can usually find enough good stuff on there for free. As far as business English goes, it covers just about everything from writing emails to negotiations to telephone calls.

#15: English Conversation Lesson Plan (TV themed)

A nice activity for teaching English online is to use a conversation lesson plan like this one on the topic of TV. After all, many of our online students want to improve their speaking and listening skills and this is the perfect way to do that.

The good news is that this lesson plan has everything you need for a 1-2 hour class with intermediate or advanced level students. It’s one of my favourite ESL lessons online. Print it off right here:

TV ESL Lesson.

Like this TEFL lesson plan? It’s from this book:

#16: ESL Textbooks for Adults

There are various schools of thought when it comes to teaching English online. Some teachers prefer to piece together materials from a variety of sources.

However, there is certainly a case to be made for using one of the 4-skills ESL textbooks and going methodically through it. If students want to generally improve their English skills and aren’t worried about something specific like business English or a TOEFL speaking exam, this can be a great option.

Here are my top recommendations: ESL Books for Adults.

#17: British Council Learning English Online

This website from the British Council is a wealth of resources for both students and teachers. There are activities for all skills, ranging from writing to speaking, business English and more.

In terms of teaching ESL online, it’s possible to use some of these materials in class with your student. Or, consider assigning some of it as homework.

#18: Brainstorming Activities

One of my favourite activities for teaching English online are ones that involve brainstorming. They get some creative juices flowing in a big way and they are a nice option for a review or warmer activity.

There are lots of things to consider using for this. Here are some of my favourites: Fun Brainstorming Games.

#19: Current Events Lesson

A nice complete lesson plan to get some serious conversation going is this one on current events. It’s designed for teenagers or adults who are intermediate to advanced level. It contains the following:

• Warm-up questions
• Vocabulary challenge
• Idioms and phrases
• Conversation questions
• Writing prompts (ideal for homework)

In short, it’s everything you need to have an engaging and interactive conversation lesson with your online students. Have a look here: ESL Current Events Lesson Plan.

#20: English Expressions and Phrases

One of the most useful things we can do is to help our students learn, and know how to use new English expressions and phrases. This will help make conversational English much better if students have a wide variety of these things at their fingertips.

Here’s one example of common English phrases that can be used for offering help. Check them out:

Offering Help English Phrases.

#21: Daily Routine Activities and Games

One of the most interesting topics that I like to talk about for my private English classes is a daily routine. After all, everyone has their own experience to draw from and generally an opinion about what is the best time to get up for example. There are lots of ideas here: Daily Routines ESL Activities.

#22: Dialogue Substitution

#23: Freeze Group Writing Activity

Try out this fun group writing activity with your students. Everyone works together to collaboratively create some stories, line by line with each person adding something new. It’s easy to do using something like Google Drive or whatever online platform you’re using for teaching. Find out more: Freeze ESL Writing Activity.

#24: Closest in Meaning Reading Activity

If you’re looking for a simple, quick reading activity that’s ideal for reviewing vocabulary, then check out closest in meaning. Students have to choose a sentence that most closely resembles the target one. It’s very easy to do this online, or in class. More details: Closest in Meaning ESOL Activity.

#25: Five Senses

#26: Debates

If you want to help students with their speaking, as well as critical thinking skills, then consider having a debate about interesting or controversial topics. Of course, there are silly and funny things to debate as well. Find out some of the best ideas here: Good debate topics or, Simple Debate Topics.

#27: Advanced English Conversation Dialogues

If your students want to improve their English conversation skills by learning more phrases and idioms, then consider recommending this book filled with dialogues in American English to them.

#28: Odd One Out Teach English Online Activity

This is a quick, easy warm-up activity. The way it works is that you list 4 things, one of which doesn’t match and students have to pick that out and tell you why. For example:

• apple, banana, orange, eggplant

Most students will pick eggplant because it’s a vegetable, not a fruit. However, there are many different answers that are acceptable as long as students support it. Find out how to do it here: ESL Odd One Out Game.

#29: Business English Vocabulary

If you teach business people, then consider using some of these dialogues in American English. They are filled with more than 300 business English expressions, idioms and phrases.

#30: Use an ESL Warm-Up to Start the Class

#31: Vocabulary Sheets

These vocabulary sheets are ideal for teaching English online. Students can buy the e-version of the book easily on Amazon and then you do one lesson per class. If you want a no-prep solution for online classes, then this is it! Find out more here:

Vocabulary Sheets. 

#32: Post-Reading Activities and Strategies

When teaching online, I love to do some reading passages with my students. This is a nice fit because it’s far easier than trying to get students to interact with each other in breakout rooms, etc. For higher-level students, I like to assign a chapter of a simple novel for homework and then we can spend some time in each class discussing what they’ve just read.

The key is getting the most mileage from each passage and diving deeper into it after reading. Here are some of my top ideas for doing that:

Post Reading Activities.

#33: A-Z Alphabet Game

#34: English for Academic Purposes

If the students that you’re teaching online are preparing to study in English-speaking colleges or universities, then it certainly will not be time wasted to teach some English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Check out one of my favourite resources for doing that:

English for Academic Purposes Book. 

#35: Round Robin Story

Try out this simple collaborative writing activity with your online students:

Round Robin Story Activity.

#36: Show and Tell

I love to bring real life into the classroom. A nice way to do that is to get students to talk about something that is special to them. Check out this activity that can be easily done online or in person.

#37: There Is/There Are

There is/there are—they are key concepts for students to master and the bad news is that it can get a little bit tricky when you take into account things like modifiers and uncountable nouns. Have a look here at some of my favourite ideas for teaching this important grammatical concept:

ESL There Is There Are.

#38: Guessing Games to Play

There are lots of great guessing games to play, including some fun online ones. They also make a great option for online ESL/EFL lessons. Have a look here at some of my recommendations:

Fun Guessing Games to Play.

More Online English Teaching Games and Activities

Yes? Thought so. Then you’re going to love this book over on Amazon: 101 Activities and Resources for Teaching English Online. It’s the book you need for online teaching if you want to have engaging, interactive and fun classes that will have your students coming back for more.

You can get the book in both digital and print formats. Consider keeping a copy on the bookshelf in your office to use as a handy reference guide, or taking the digital version to your favourite coffee shop for some lesson planning on the go.

Either way, it’s some online ESL teaching awesome so be sure to pick it up today. But, only if you want to level up your English teaching game in a big way. Head over to Amazon to find out more about it:

Teaching English Online FAQs

There are a number of popular questions that people have about teaching English online. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

Can you Teach English Online Without a Degree?

It’s possible to teach English online without a degree with certain companies like Lingoda or Voxy. However, you’ll have more opportunities and command a higher salary if you do have a BA degree at a minimum.

What do you Need to Teach English Online?

To teach English online, you need a fast, secure Internet connection with a Zoom or Skype account. Plus, you’ll generally need a TESOL or CELTA certificate along with a bachelor’s degree. It’s also vital to be a native English speaker and to have a friendly, patient personality. Also, be sure to use a variety of games and activities.

Can you Make a Living Teaching English Online?

It’s possible to make a living teaching English online. The salary depends on the company but generally ranges from $14 USD-25 USD per hour. The higher qualifications you have and the more difficult subjects you teach, the higher the salary.

Is Teaching Online Legit?

Teaching English online is certainly legit if you stick with one of the more reputable companies like VIPKIDS. There are certainly lots of people who make their living doing this. However, the salaries are generally lower than with in-person teaching at schools and the jobs don’t come with things like health benefits.

How do I make an Online ESL Class Fun?

It’s certainly possible to make an online ESL class more fun by doing some of the following things:

• Use visuals, props and realia.
• Avoid too much text.
• Keep lessons simple and cover over 1 new grammar point or some new vocabulary words (max 10).
• Make use of all your screen space.
• Aim to make lessons as student-centred as possible.
• Positive reinforcement and praise.

If you do these things, it’ll be easy to make ESL lessons online more fun and engaging.

How can I Teach Online Effectively?

If you want to teach online effectively, here are a few tips to follow:

• Master the technology and have back-ups if needed.
• Set the right expectations for student behaviour and learning outcomes.
• Build community when possible.
• Keep track of the time.
• Use a variety of resources in your lessons.
• Cover different topics each lesson.
• Collaborate with other teachers and learn from them.

Have your Say about ESL Activities to Teach English Online

What do you think about these ESL online teaching activities? Did you try out something from this or do you have another one that you’d like to recommend? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. 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 online English teachers, like yourself, find this useful teaching resource.

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