Resource Bank – Cheat Sheet for Teachers
Hello English Focus Teachers!
We’ve selected the most universal and easy-to-use activities and games from the Resource Bank folder, ones that need little prep and work across groups. Each one includes a short note on why it’s worth using and a direct link to the material. The goal: quick inspiration on hand when you’re stuck planning a lesson or want to mix things up.
🧸 Youngest learners (ages 5–8)
- EF_Elementary Syllabus ideas: a ready-made sequence of activities for the first weeks of teaching (name tags, feelings mime, „Favorites“, Switch Seats). Works well as the backbone of a whole lesson, not just a single game.
- Stirrers and settlers for the primary classroom: not a game itself, but a principle for alternating „stirring“ and „settling“ activities so a lesson keeps the right rhythm. Useful when planning any lesson with young children.
- Fun ESL Games and Activities for Kids & Teens: an overview of no-prep classics, including What’s Missing, Hangman, Bingo, Memory, and Telephone.
🎲 Primary Plus (ages 7–11)
- Young Learners Resource Pack: a rich pack of games sorted by category (memory, movement, drawing, speaking, making). Ideal when you need to find an activity for a specific skill quickly.
- Essential Games and Activities: classics like Board Race, Two Truths and a Lie, and Human Experience Bingo.
- Body Parts Quiz: a ready-made quiz presentation, plus links to Wordwall and Baamboozle.
- First to Ask: a card game where students race to form „wh“ questions matching given answers, in groups of three. No prep beyond printing the cards; elementary level.
💬 Teens (ages 11–17)
- Black stories – presentation plus instructions: detective riddles where students ask the „teacher“ yes/no questions. Great for practising question formation and keeping the whole class engaged.
- ESL Games (doc): Odd One Out, Would You Rather, and Two Truths and a Lie, quick to run and no prep needed.
- Anecdotes_flashcards: topics for free storytelling in pairs (a holiday, a wedding, a favourite film…).
- Jobs Quiz: a ready-made quiz presentation (Google Slides), where students guess the job from a harder, then an easier, definition. Same easy-to-run format as the Body Parts Quiz above; no external platform needed.
📚 Universal game library (BOOKS folder)
When you need more inspiration or a game targeting a specific grammar point, reach for these books:
- 111 Creative Games for Teaching Languages: Czech-made, A1–B2, with games sorted by type (warm-up, conversation, grammar, writing).
- Elementary Communication Games and Intermediate Communication Games (Jill Hadfield): classic communicative games, 40 per book.
- Jumpstart! Grammar Games: grammar taught playfully, for ages 6 to 14.
- Grammar Games and Activities and Vocabulary Games and Activities 2 (Watcyn-Jones): reliable sources for grammar and vocabulary.
- 101 Bright Ideas – ESL Activities for All Ages and Take 5: quick, universal ideas that need little prep.
📁 The whole folder
Resource Bank on Google Drive: the rest of the library, dozens more PDFs of games and exercises, is good as a backup when you need something very specific.
