Games to use in the classroom
Immersive learning can be extremely important, especially when dealing with a subject as daunting as a new language. However, it can be difficult to constantly come up with engaging, educational activities for students to reinforce the taught information. This is where modern board games come to the rescue! With thousands of new games releasing each year, there are so many options out there to support, engage, and assist that it may be overwhelming to know where to get started.
I am here to help you with this dilemma, and to walk you through recommended board games for a variety of classroom sizes, English familiarity, and age groups. The games are roughly divided into English proficiency groups, starting with the easiest games. I will include information on the player count, and the time to play the game. I hope you’ll find this a useful resource, let’s get started!
All the games listed below are available to try in one of our cafes. Additionally, you can purchase most of them directly from us with a 5% discount! Use code
JETs2024DC
during checkout at the Online Store, or show your JET membership in the physical store to use the discount.
Board games for basic English
Below is a list of games you can easily use in a beginner-level English class. Support your students by using basic English vocabulary, as all of these games center on giving specific hints to other players.
Eigo Dake
Players: officially 3-8, but can work with any player count.
Average play time: 15 minutes
Recommended age: 10+
Eigo Dake is a game that might actually be more fun the less English your students speak! The game has each player drawing a card, and having to explain a target word only in English. To complicate things, each target word features a forbidden phrase (to avoid being too easy). Since the target words are written in Japanese, this is a great game to have students practice new vocabulary, and think creatively about familiar words and concepts.
Key skills: Word association, Vocabulary practice
A Fake Artist Goes to New York
Players: 5-10
Average play time: 5 minutes
Recommended age: 8+
A Fake Artist Goes to New York is a simple drawing game in a small box. The clue master writes an identical clue for all players, aside from one who will get an “X” as a clue. The players then all take turns drawing one single line on a shared piece of paper. Each player will get to draw 2 lines in total, upon which point voting happens. The fake artist has to guess what the actual word is, whereas all other players need to guess who the fake artist is. This light game can be taught in a minute and serves as a great start/end to your English lesson. As the clue master you can adjust the difficulty of the word to ensure all students understand it. The students will have fun drawing badly to not give the clue away, but not too badly to be suspicious - especially once the accusations and explanations start flying!
Key skills: Drawing, Debating
Timeline
Players: 2-8
Average play time: 15 minutes
Recommended age: 8+
Timeline will support both the students' English and history classes! In Timeline, all players work together to place historic event cards in a timeline. Each card has the event - e.g. invention of the toothbrush, invention of radio, the first sale of a cuddly toy, etc. Players discuss where in the timeline this event took place, before flipping the card to check if they were right. Even if the cards themselves are written in Japanese, you can foster and facilitate the discussion to take place in English. Students may be surprised and delightedat how wrong/right they were about their guesses.
Key skills: Debating, Collaboration
Hanabi
Players: 2-5
Average play time: 25 minutes
Recommended age: 8+
It might seem strange to put Hanabi, a game with limited communication, on a list of games to practice English… But give me a moment to explain. Hanabi features cards of different colors from 1 to 5. These cards must be played in the correct order to score the highest amount of points. The twist? You cannot see your own cards! You need to collaborate with other players using a limited number of hint tokens to supply each other with vital information. This is a fantastic game to improve the students’ collaboration, critical thinking, and memory skills. Although the only clues you are allowed to give are either a color or a number, the game often leads to discussion of what the next best move is, or trying to remember all previously given clues. Classroom aside, Hanabi is a genuinely fun game that I would recommend to everyone.
Key skills: Memory, Critical thinking
Board games for intermediate English
Wavelength
Players: 2-12
Average play time: 30 minutes
Recommended age: 14+
Wavelength is a fantastic cooperative word game that features a cool gadget - a big rotating dial! Each turn, one player becomes the psychic and receives a category with two binaries (e.g. HOT and COLD, DIFFICULT and EASY, etc), alongside a card showing the target location of the dial. They must give their team a clue, after which the team members rotate the dial to try and match the card as closely as possible. Students will have a lot of fun debating how hot or cold exactly a salad is, or how difficult a task it is to do jumping jacks. Even if the game is in Japanese, you can facilitate the discussions to take place entirely in English. This is another game I can safely recommend outside of the classroom setting, as it’s a great party game too!
Key skills: Debating & working together, Abstract thinking
Spyfall
Players: 3-8, 3-12 (Spyfall 2)
Average play time: 15 minutes
Recommended age: 13+
Spyfall is a hidden identity board game - this is a genre of games in which one - or multiple - players are trying to blend in with the others. In this case, all players aside from the spies know a secret location. Players take turns asking each other any question related to the location to try and suss out who the spy is. But you have to be careful! If you make your question too obvious, the spy can guess the location and win the game! It’s a great mix of subtlety, false accusations, and surprises! This game might be a bad fit if your students struggle with lying or blending in, as these are required for the game to work properly. There is a free online app you can try that emulates the same experience, so you can give it a go before committing to the purchase.
Key skills: Subtlety, Thinking on the spot
Board games for flexible English
Werewolf / Avalon / Coup / Resistance
Players: 3-12 (varies depending on the game)
Average play time: 15 minutes
Recommended age: 10+
All of the games listed above fall into the hidden role / social deduction category. Like Spyfall mentioned above, some players will be trying to blend in with the others by lying about their roles. If your students know each other well, these games offer a wonderful and memorable experience - as long as they remember that this is only a game. Since discussion is at the heart of all of these games, your students will only communicate using as much English as they can. I listed multiple games because they essentially form the background for conversations. Werewolf is the most popular one, whereas Coup is probably the easiest to play. Classroom aside, I highly recommend these games for a variety of social situations.
Key skills: Conversation, Quick thinking
Codenames: Pictures
Players: 2-8
Average play time: 15 minutes
Recommended age: 10+
Codenames is a “modern classic” board game, meaning you can find it stocked in shops that wouldn’t normally sell board games. Placed in the top 150 board game list on BoardGameGeek, Codenames will test your students’ word association, teamwork, debating, and ability to think outside the box. Each game, a grid of random pictures is laid out. The players are divided into two teams, and each team nominates a team captain. Only the captains know which word belongs to which team. The team captains take turns giving their teammates one word clues, followed by a number - how many words on the grid relate to this clue. It’s always fun to watch the team debate what potential words the captain meant with their clue. Codenames comes in all kinds of variations, including a Disney only game, a 2 player only variant, and a standard, text-based edition.
Key skills: Debating, Thinking outside the box
Dixit
Players: 3-8
Average play time: 30 minutes
Recommended age: 8+
Dixit features a deck of 84 cards with stunning illustrations. The game encourages players to engage their imaginations and give a perfect clue to describe their dreamlike card. In each round, one player becomes the storyteller. They choose one of the cards in their hand, announce a clue, and place the card face down. All other players also choose a card to place face down that most closely matches the given clue. The storyteller shuffles all cards and reveals them to the other players, who must then vote on which card they think belongs to the storyteller. If everyone guesses correctly the storyteller gains no points! The discussions that take place after the card owners are revealed are usually a delight. Dixit features a plethora of expansions, each with gorgeous artwork that can freely be interpreted in endless ways. Due to its focus on interpreting art, it’s easy to play regardless of prior board game experience.
Key skills: Interpretation, Imagination
That wraps it up in terms of games you can find in stock at our cafes or our store! I hope you found this information useful. Please let us know if you end up using any of these games in the classroom on Twitter (@Jelly2games, @PapaPolski). Best of luck with teaching!
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