On this page we have collected some games that could be used for teaching English as a second language. Each one is provided with a little description on

• the necessary facilities (computer/Internet)
• the level of proficiency
• the skills to be practiced

• Wacky Web Tales
  with the help of the internet even beginners can create crazy tales by typing in a couple of nouns verbs and adjectives. Some of the tales are based on well-known children songs and nursery rhymes so they give the students a chance to learn some of these as well, apart from practicing spelling and reading. Internet is needed to play the game. You can check out the kind of tales that can be created and the way the tales are put together!

GAMES FOR INTERTMEDIATE STUDENTS

• John's Word Search Puzzles
  are fun for beginner, intermediate and advanced students alike! (Athough usually there are too many sophisticated words, probably causing difficulties for beginners!) No computer or Internet is needed for this game - on the part of the students - as these puzzles can be downloaded and printed out for the students. There are numerous puzzles on different subject areas, easy ones and more difficult ones as well, depending on the subject. Here are some puzzles for you to try on the subject areas of bones, fruits, and vegetables.

• Origins
  requires access to the Internet and some interest in etymology on the part of intermediate or advanced students. You can guess the origin of some rather peculiar phrases, which gives the possibility to learn the phrase at the same time as well. A fun way of building vocabulary! If you are interested take a look at this example!

• The Case
  is the Internet version of the well-known game "Crack the Case". It is a great way of pacticing reading for intermediate and advanced students who like solving mysteries. Since the cases can be downloaded from the Internet no computer is necessary for this game. The cases found here are not only fun to read, but can be "turned into" classroom activities as well, initiating discussion thus practicing speaking and listening. For all you mystery-lovers out there, here is a case for you, and this is the solution!

• Chinaquest
  invites players to join a team sent by the American Government to explore and make a report on China. To do this the team members have access to a number of documents (pictures, passages from works on literature, history, religions, and other aspects of Chinese culture). ChinaQuest could be turned into a classroom game, as well. In that case the whole class could participate, perfecting their communication skills. The game is ideal at intermediate and advanced level. Should you wish to find out more about the game have a look at this site!

GAMES FOR ADVANCED STUDENTS

• Syndicate
  is a vocabulary building game for advanced students only (originally created for native speakers prepairing for their SAT). Since this is not a free software the game can only be ordered at this site, so not a lot of useful information is avaliable here, apart from a free demo disk that can be downloaded (unfortunately we had some difficulties with that too!). For those who are still interested, here are the subject areas: Rooty Hoot Hoot - multiple Greek and Latin roots, Word Wave - word families, Word Web - single roots, Word Ogees - analogies and SynOpps - synonyms/antonyms.

MISCALLENOUS

• Free Sample Edutainment Games
  Here is a site where you can find games for all levels and different skills. These games do not require a computer or the Internet, but you can also order the commercial version of the selected games at this address. If you do not have time to start searching on the web, we have downloaded a copy of the page for you!
• ESLLessons
  Among a collection of classroom activities you can also find a couple of fun games (eg. riddles) that can be used for teaching English. If you are too lazy to visit the site, click here!