ESL Activities for Big Classes | Fun ESL Games for Large Groups

Do you have a big class filled with lots of students who want to learn English? It can be a bit terrifying, right? That’s where these ESL activities for big classes come in. These ESL Group activities are designed for large English classes and will get everyone participating in style.

But, not to worry! Keep on reading for the best ESL games and activities that you’ll want to consider for a big English class with 20+ students. Let’s get to some of my favourite ESL group activities!

Have a Big TEFL Class?

I love large classes of 20+ students! They used to terrify me when I first started teaching in Korean universities. However, as the years went by and I figured out how to manage them, I liked them more and more. These days, I actually prefer a class of 20 to a class of 1 or 2.

Large ESL classes of 20 students or more can be a bit difficult to teach English to if you don’t have a lot of practice with them. Another problem is that it can be hard to come up with games and activities that will work with a big crowd. However, help is here! Read on for my top ESL activities for big classes. Most of them will work for children as well as adults so adapt away and enjoy.

Of course, monitoring learning is slightly more difficult in a bigger class, but these activities make it possible to do it at least to some degree.

ESL Activities for Big Classes

Let’s get into the best activities for larger ESL classes.

#1: Is that Sentence Correct?

Is that Sentence Correct? is a sneaky way to get your students focusing on English grammar. The best part about it is that you can use this activity with 1 student or 100! It’s also very easy to adjust the activity from beginner to advanced. The sky is really the limit for this one, although one thing I like to use it for is a reported speech activity.

I find this ESL activity works best at a warm-up activity, or as a review at the end of class. When used as a warm-up, use it to review material from the previous class(es). When used as a review, focus on what you’ve studied that class. It’s a nice way to round off a unit as well. The best thing about this one is there is a few minutes of silent calm that descends upon your class!

#2: Videos in the ESL Classroom

Videos can be a great tool to use with large ESL classes. They are interesting, motivating, and engaging for most students. There is also a wide variety of activities you can do along with them. The sky is really the limit! Whatever you do, don’t just watch the video and be done with it. There really are a million and one pre and post watching ESL activities that you can do which are really useful for your students.

Check out this post for some ideas about how to use videos in the ESL Classroom. There are lots of ideas for pre and post video-watching.

ESL Activity for Big Classes #3: Presentations for ESL Students

Presentations for ESL students is another excellent activity to get your big ESL classes doing. Task-based learning, especially if students are able to choose their own topic is a great way to make learning more memorable. In large classes, simply put students into groups of 4-6 instead of by themselves or in pairs.

I find that presentations work best when students are given a very specific set of guidelines, mostly related to avoiding death by PowerPoint. Here are some things I tell my students:

• Only 1 slide/person plus an introduction slide.
• No more than 10 words on that slide. Focus on an interesting picture, etc.
• You must memorize your section of the speech. You can have a piece of paper in your pocket for emergency use only. I won’t penalize you if you quickly look at it once.
• Each student in the group must talk for an equal amount of time.
• Think of 2-3 discussion questions you could ask the class.

#4: Easy English Vocabulary Quiz for Kids

#5: Concentration

Concentration is a fun game to help your students review vocabulary. There are different ways to play and you can match words-definitions or words-pictures. It doesn’t matter how big, or small the class is because you students can play in pairs or in groups of up to five.

This is an excellent activity for beginners or intermediate students and children especially love to play it. You really can adapt it to just about any age or level, and it lends itself well to vocabulary, as well as certain grammatical points. For example, problem and advice, or conditional clauses.

Try out this ESL group activity and I think your students will love it as much as mine do! Or, I’ll refund your money!!!

#6: Just a Minute

Just a Minute is a great warm-up activity for higher-level teenagers or adults. The idea is that students have to speak about a certain topic for an entire minute without stopping. You can also make it interactive by having a partner or group members ask follow-up questions based on what that first student said.

It’s challenging, but you can make it a bit easier by reducing the time for beginners to 30 seconds.

#7: Reading Activities for Big Classes

Reading is a great activity for bigger classes because it can be done individually without a lot of guidance from the teacher. Check out this ESL Reading Lesson Plan Template for how to conduct one of these lessons the CELTA way. You’ll find the usefulness of your reading lessons increases substantially by using a lesson plan template such as this one.

#8: ESL Surveys for Big Classes

ESL Surveys are one of my favorite activities for big ESL classes and they actually don’t work that well with fewer than 10 students. Surveys are great because they’re entirely student-centered and they also cover all 4-skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking). Students usually really enjoy talking to lots of their classmates too!

Be sure to set up some guidelines before you start. Here’s what I usually say:

• 1-1 speaking only. I don’t want to see any groups of 3 or more.
• The goal is not to finish first. The goal is to have lots of mini-conversations in English with a partner.
• Speak English! Sure, it’s easy to speak in your first language, but you’re actually wasting your time. The goal is to practice English so go for it.
• Don’t write full sentences, but just take notes for your partner’s answers.

Remember that the challenge is in the information gap nature of it, not having to complete it quickly.

#9: Board Games

Board games are a natural choice for large classes of ESL students because you can break up any number of students up into groups of 3-5. It’s student-centered teaching all the way! The other reason that I love using board games in the ESL classroom is that you can make one for just about any topic. Students love them too!

Don’t forget to bring a little prize for one student in each group to make it more interesting. They are ESL group games made easy.

ESL Activity for Big Classes #10: Running Dictation

Running Dictation is a fun activity that children, as well as adults, love. It gets your students up and out of their seats and can really energize a lethargic class. Running dictation also makes a great warm-up activity for that Monday morning at 9 class!

It’s one of my favorite 4-skills ESL activities.

#11: ESL Speaking Activity for Large Classes

#12: Odd One Out

Odd One Out is an excellent ESL warm-up game to review vocabulary for small or big ESL classes. You put students into pairs and they compete against each other to add an element of fun to it.

#13: 3 Things

If you want to focus on writing with your students, then you may want to consider trying out 3 things. It’s a very simple, but fun ESL writing activity that requires in the way of materials or preparation. An English teacher’s dream, right?

You can find out more details about it right here:

3 Things ESL Writing Activity.

#14: Postcard ESL Writing Activity

If you can get your hands on a stack of blank postcards for cheap, then consider this simple but fun English writing activity. It’s a nice way to have students work on writing some simple sentences related to travel and vacations. Learn more about it here:

ESL Postcard Writing Activity.

#15: Don’t Forget about ESL Warmers

#16: Me Too! ESL Group Activity

This is a simple but fun ESL speaking and listening activity that can be done with larger classes. It also requires nothing in the way of preparation or materials and what English teacher doesn’t need this kind of thing, right?

The way it works is that students say a fact about themselves to find out which of their classmates also has it in common. Check out all the details here:

Me Too! ESL Classroom Activity.

#17: Dictation Writing and Listening Activity

Another idea for big ESL classes is to do some dictation. This activity is heavy on listening and writing but also focuses on things like spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, and grammar. In short, it’s a versatile ESL activity that can be done with one student or a hundred!

Want to find out more about it? All the information you need is right here:

ESL Dictation Practice.

#18: TV English Conversation Lesson Plan

One of the best things to do with large classes of students is to divide them into pairs, give them an easy-to-follow lesson plan that’s engaging and interesting and let them get to work. Then the role of the teacher is to monitor for errors and offer assistance if needed.

One of the best topics is TV. Almost everyone watches at least a couple of shows and most students really enjoy talking about it. Here’s the complete lesson plan:

TV ESL Lesson Plan.

Did you like this lesson? It’s from this book:

#19: Brainstorming Game Ideas

For larger classes, a nice activity is something related to brainstorming. In this case, instead of doing it on the whiteboard with the entire class, divide students up into smaller groups of 3-5 students to complete these activities together. They are ideal for a warmer or review activity.

If you want to help generate some new ideas and get some creative juices flowing in your classes, have a look at some of the top picks here:

Brainstorm Game Ideas.

#20: Conversation Questions ESL for Big Classes

If students in your class are interested in doing some “free-talking,” then consider this solution. Put students into pairs or groups of three, give them a print-out of conversation questions around a certain topic and let them get to talking. Of course, don’t even consider having a class discussion with a large class because it’ll be far too teacher-centred and there won’t be enough student-talking-time.

Here’s my top recommendation:

Conversation Questions for ESL.

#21: 120-90-60 Speaking Fluency Activity

#22: Current Events Lesson Plan

One of my favourite things to do with bigger English classes is to divide students up into pairs or small groups of 3-4, give them an easy to follow lesson plan that’s heavy on the conversation and then let them get to it. This one on current events is one such example. It contains the following:

• Warmer question
• Vocabulary, idioms, and phrases
• Conversation questions
• Writing prompts that are ideal for homework or extra credit

Take a look here:

Current Events English Conversation Lesson.

#23: Man/Woman on the Street Interview Activity

If you have a big TEFL class, try out this speaking and listening interview activity which can easily be done in as many small groups of 4-5 students as necessary. It’s fun, interactive, and extremely student-centered. It’s ideal for eliciting opinions from students on current events or controversial topics.

Sounds like exactly what you need to try out with your large class? Check out this article for all the information you need to get started:

ESL Interview Activity (Current Events).

#24: English Phrases and Expressions

All students can benefit from knowing more common English expressions. This helps conversations go much more smoothly if students have a variety of useful phrases at their fingertips.

I find that the best way is to teach them in related sets. Here’s one example of that:

Common English Phares for Offering Help.

#25: Word Categories ESL Games and Activities

When teaching vocabulary, I like to focus on categories of words like jobs, food, around the city, etc. This is also how most ESL textbooks are organized. It’s helpful because students can learn related words at the same time, instead of random ones that aren’t really connected which makes them more memorable. Check out my recommendations here:

Words Categories Games.

#26: Hot Potato

#27: Freeze Group ESL Writing Activity

A fun way to practice writing with larger classes is to have students do freeze. Instead of writing stories together as a class, put students into groups of 4-6 and have them make that same number of stories. Then, in the end, each group can choose their favourite story and read it out loud to the class.  More information about it:

Freeze ESL Group Writing.

#28: Closest in Meaning

This is a simple reading activity that works very well for larger TEFL classes. Students have to read the original sentence and then choose another sentence that fits most closely with the original one. It’s possible to make it as easy or as difficult as you want. Try it out:

Closest in Meaning.

#29: ESL Vocab Auction

#30: Debating

If you teach a very large class, consider setting up some debates about interesting, silly, or controversial issues. It’s the ideal activity to do in groups of four, with two students arguing the pro side and two the con side.

For some of the best ideas for topics, be sure to check this out:

Debate Topics.

#31: English Phrases, Expressions, and Idioms

A great class, whether with one student or lots of them starts off with a solid lesson plan. This one is for higher-level students and covers English phrases and idioms. Try it out, in class or to give as a self-study or homework assignment. Have a look:

English Expressions Lesson Plan.

#32: Things to With Large Classes on the First Day

#33: Directions ESL Activities

One of my favourite units to do with large TEFL classes is directions. There are a number of fun activities, including information gap ones that are a natural fit. Have a look at some of my favourites here:

Giving Directions ESL Activities and Games.

#34: Find Something in Common 

This is a simple ESL icebreaker activity that works well for any class size, from 6 to 50. Students have to mingle with their classmates, to try and find out what they have in common with each person, using questions.

The best part is that it requires absolutely no preparation and no materials except for a pen and paper. Learn more about it here:

ESL Find Something in Common.

#35: St. Patrick’s Day

I love to celebrate the holidays with my students. It can be a nice change of pace from the usual textbook activities. For this holiday, there is certainly lots to talk about as there is both an interesting history and some fun traditions happening these days. Here are some of my favourites:

ESL Saint Patrick Day Activities.

#36: Dialogue Substitution 

#37: Small Talk Activities

Small talk is one of those important speaking and conversation skills that all English learners need to master. Small talk serves an important social function and even though it might seem easy, there are lots of subtle rules surrounding it.

That’s why I like to spend time working on it with my students. Here are some of my top ideas:

Ideas for Small Talk ESL.

#38: ESL Short Stories for Reading Comprehension

One of the best things to do with large classes is a reading-focused lesson. It’s far better than the teacher trying to lead a discussion with the entire class because all of the students are active, instead of just a few.

The main issue is finding appropriate materials. If your students are at an intermediate level, you’ll want to check out these short stories about life in Canada. Have a look here:

ESL Reading Comprehension Short Stories.

#39: Five Senses

#40: TEFL Vocabulary Sheets

If you want an easy solution for teaching big classes, then look no further than these vocab sheets. They’re an all-in-one solution that you can just print off and take to class. Yes, it really is that easy. Find out more about them here:

TEFL Vocab Sheets.

#41: Jigsaw Activities

#42: After Reading Strategies and Ideas

It can be a little bit tricky to come up with things to do in large English classes. Reading is a natural fit though! It’s easy for students to do this on their own and you don’t have to worry about things like student talking time.

The key is to make sure that you’re getting the most mileage from each story or other kind of reading passage that you choose. That’s where these ideas come in! Check them out:

After Reading Strategies.

#43: Show and Tell

Show and tell is a nice warm-up activity for all ages. If you have a large English class, then consider doing 2-3 students at the beginning of each class, instead of everyone in a single day. Find out more about it:

#44: Round Robin Story

Try out this simple listening/speaking, or writing activity with your big classes of English learners. For lots of students, it’s best to put them into small groups and do it as a writing activity. Learn more:

Round Robin Story Writing Activity.

#45: Twenty Questions

#46: There Is and There Are Games and Activities

A key concept that all students need to master is when to use “there is” and “there are.” Have a look at some of my favourite activities for teaching this:

There Is There Are Games and Activities.

#47: Guessing Games to Play

Who doesn’t love a fun guessing game, right? They add an element of mystery and can ideal for a really big class. Have a look here at some of my top ideas:

Guessing Games to Play.

Need Even More ESL Activities?

If you found these ESL activities for big classes useful, then you’ll want to check out this book over on Amazon: 101 ESL Activities: For Teenagers and Adults. They’ll help make your classes interesting and fun, guaranteed.

Plus you’ll save a ton of time when lesson planning by not having to wade through all the junk on the Internet to find that one ESL game or activity that you can actually use in your classes. These ones are tried and tested and they’re awesome.

You can find the book in both digital and print formats. Keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office to use as a handy reference guide. Or, consider downloading the digital version to your phone or tablet with the free Kindle reading app.

Yes, it really is that easy to level up your teaching game. Head over to Amazon to pick yourself up a copy today, but only if you want to get yourself a serious dose of ESL teaching awesome in your life:

Teaching Large English Classes FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about teaching bigger TEFL classes. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

How do you Teach Large Classes?

Teaching large classes is difficult but it can be made more manageable by using some of the following strategies:

• Break students up into groups.
• Change groups frequently.
• Use technology in the English classroom.
• Consider a “flipped-classroom” model.
• Use a variety of games and activities.

What are the Challenges of Teaching Large Classes?

There are a number of challenges when teaching large classes. These include the following:

• Lack of flexibility
• Various levels (particularly in language classes)
• Classroom management issues including crowd control
• Only a small amount of time for individual attention for each student
• Difficulty in monitoring student progress

How do you Manage an Overcrowded Classroom?

There are a number of strategies to employ to manage an overcrowded classroom. Some of them include the following:

• Using groups.
• Making sure students are always busy
• Keeping things interesting with a variety of activities
• Making liberal use of early-finisher tasks

Why are Bigger Classes Better?

Sometimes, bigger classes can be better for students. This is because they can encourage students to use their problem-solving skills and critical thinking instead of just relying on the teacher. Also, students must work together and rely on each other as resources for learning.

Have your say about these ESL Activities for Bigger Classes

What are your thoughts about these games and activities for big English classes? Did you try out one of them from this list or do you have another 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 English teachers, like yourself, find this useful resource.

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