Top 10 Games That Teach English

The Dice Tower
236712
2002
Tom Vasel presents the Top 10 board games that help teach English and communication!

00:00 – Introduction
00:53 – #10
01:40 – #9
02:24 – #8
03:05 – #7
03:39 – #6
04:14 – #5
05:02 – #4
05:37 – #3
06:27 – #2
06:59 – #1

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57 Comments

  1. Top 10 games that teach the Vasel dictionary ? :p

  2. What's your opinion of Scategories? We play it all the time in my family.

  3. So nice my wife is english teacher and i recommended her some of those but i didnt know 4 of the list. Now i can show her more. So usefull

  4. Nice list if you want straight word games, but I would prefer games like Eldritch Horror or Above and Below which have lots of reading while being a more regular gamer's game.

  5. I do not agree with Codenames. I have had a hard time playing it with people with whom English is a second language. Even for those who are virtually fluent, they find it very hard because English has so many idioms, innuendos, nuanced word meanings. Words can have many definitions based on context. I have found Codenames Pictures to be more fun for people learning English. It challenges them to describe what they see without being constricted by word connections.

  6. My family really enjoys Wordsy by formal ferret games. Kinda of a newer Boggle.

  7. That list was very helpful, thanks! I teach english in Brazil and I find games like betrayal at house on the hill great for students since they are constantly reading cards, trying to figure if they are good or bad.

  8. nice. I marked a couple of these games that I will add to my classroom. My current student group is especially deficient in vocabulary so these will be great!

  9. Please do more of these videos! As a teacher I really appreciate them!

  10. I only played Word Thief once, but I thought it was pretty good.

  11. I cant find the game called JUST ONE that Tom mentioned. Tom do I have the name right?

  12. Concept: great to learn how to describe new things in a foreign language from some basic ideas.
    Bananagrams: help to think more quickly about words you already know so you can use them when speaking.

  13. Wow, I had no idea you were a TEFL teacher Tom. So am I 🙂 I always play board games with my students, and this summer I am going to be designing some communicative lesson plans for a summer camp in London.

  14. OK, my top games that I frequently use in English classes are Secret Hitler (or the Resistance), Codenames, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, Insider, Coup, Deception Murder in Hongkong, Spyfall, and When I Dream. I have played a lot more games since I graduated as a TEFL teacher, but these tick the most boxes for me. The criteria are:
    1) usefulness and possible justification in terms of the lesson aim
    2) easy to learn, easy to teach
    3) what the students enjoy
    4) the length of the game
    I would say The top 3 are When I Dream, Secret Hitler, and Codenames.

  15. I missed something… how do you play spyfall?

  16. Nice presentation! I specialize in making language-learning card games, so I would add my own game, Language Guardians, to your list. I like to use games in class, so thank you for sharing this video! I'm an ESL teacher in China, so I find this very useful and relevant. I would be most eager to try Spyfall, and Knitwit seems like a very, very creative idea. Dixit is the only one on your list I have played and I played it with German and Chinese people, which made it even more interesting because people used culture-specific clues to beat each other. I actually have created a language-learning card game called Language Guardians. It's like UNO and language-learning combined. If anyone here is interested to check it out, here's the link: https://languagecardgames.com/product/language-guardians/Cheers!–Matt

  17. Roblox must be here. It teaches me how to speak English well.

  18. Maybe you should give an example of the game

  19. Great list. We use Dixit alot.
    I also make mine own taboo cards with vocab that we've learnt through the term, but I like the look of banned words.

    I use imagidice for creative writing assignments.

  20. I'm *really* grateful for this list. I get new games, my new kids get a fun way to learn. Double win!

  21. Spectacular Rich Beauty & Brilliance says:

    Wow! These are great suggested games for learning new vocabulary! Thanks.

  22. Some the games has't available on the Playstore

  23. Hi. I'm not agree with SpyFall on 10th place. It's exactly the game, while playing you should make a sentence, but not only to guess a word. Evolution also good for this reason, as you should read and understand a text on card.

  24. Some the games has't available on the Playstore

  25. You want learn us english, and video language is english wtf :DDDDDDD

  26. Tks, friend!! Me and my family are ESL students and you give us precious clues. God bless you!

  27. 10.spyfall
    9.word on the street
    8.knit wit
    7.letter GO
    6.word slam
    5.untold
    4.codename
    3.dixit
    2.brink your own book
    1.banned word

  28. THANKS A LOT TOM!!
    I've bought two of the games you recommended (Word on the Street and Code Names Images). They both worked great with my students (all ages).
    I would really love it if you guys made more videos like this. It takes a lot of time and research to find good fun games for the classroom. It's definitely worth the time, students learn faster and having a blast, but I've also wasted a ton of money by trying games (especially those purchased from overseas), so all help is much appreciated!!!

    Here are some more recommendations for teachers:
    To review vocab: Dobble, Guess in 10, Pop for letters, Pop for blends or Pop for word families
    To practice basic speaking: Story Cubes, Time's up Kids, Similo and the classic Taboo
    To engage in conversation I found co-op games to be fantastic! Pandemic and Horrified are on all my students' top five

    I'm on the look for games that encourage a little reading: just bought Dog Crimes but I haven't tried it yet!

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