Computers & Smartphones ESL Games, Activities & Worksheets
Today's Tech
ESL Technology Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill, Sentence Completion - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions - Pair Work
This comprehensive technology vocabulary worksheet helps students practice words related to computers, smartphones and the Internet. Students begin by...
Typical Tech
ESL Technology Vocabulary Games - Vocabulary and Speaking: Matching, Gap-fill, Forming Sentences, Freer Practice - Group Work
Here are two enjoyable technology vocabulary games to help students practice basic vocabulary related to computers, smartphones and the Internet...
Computer Dominoes
ESL Computer Vocabulary Game - Vocabulary: Matching, Gap-fill - Group Work
In this useful computer vocabulary game, students play dominoes by completing sentences with computer-related words. In groups of three, the first player puts down one of their dominoes on either side of the domino on the table, making sure...
Find Someone Who…
ESL Computers, Smartphones and Gadgets Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice
In this insightful computers and smartphones speaking activity, students ask and answer questions about computers, smartphones, and gadgets. After reviewing the items on the worksheet, students go...
Tech Talk
ESL Computers and Smartphones Activity - Speaking: Unscrambling, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Group and Pair Work
In this free computers and smartphones speaking activity, students unscramble questions about computers or smartphones and then ask and answer...
Byte-sized Vocabulary
ESL Computers and Smartphones Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Binary choice, Gap-fill - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions - Pair Work
Here is a productive computer and smartphone vocabulary worksheet to help students learn and practice verbs and nouns related to computers and...
Smart Pairs
ESL Computers and Smartphones Game - Vocabulary - Matching, Gap-fill - Group Work
Here is an engaging computers and smartphones vocabulary game to help students practice or review computer and smartphone vocabulary. In groups, students take turns turning over...
Tech Verb Take One
ESL Computers and Smartphones Game - Vocabulary Game: Gap-fill - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Group Work
In this fun computer and smartphone verbs game, students race to collect verb cards and use them to complete, ask and answer questions. To begin...
AI and Smart Technology
ESL AI Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises - Matching, Binary Choice, Gap-fill - Speaking Activity - Discussion - Pair Work
This comprehensive technology vocabulary worksheet helps students practice words related to artificial intelligence, machine learning concepts, and emerging technologies. First, students...
Caught in the Act
ESL Smartphone Vocabulary Activity - Vocabulary and Writing: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions, Sentence Completion, Story Writing - Group and Pair Work
This handy smartphone vocabulary activity helps students review and practice verbs and nouns related to smartphones. In two groups, students start by...
Smarter than Smartphones
ESL Smartphones Board Game - Vocabulary: Multiple-Choice Questions, Guessing, Providing Vocabulary - Group Work
Here is an entertaining smartphone vocabulary board game to help students practice words related to smartphones. Students take turns rolling the dice and moving their counters along...
Tech Team Taboo
ESL Computer Vocabulary Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Word Association, Describing, Guessing, Freer Practice - Group Work
In this creative computer vocabulary game, students describe and guess computer nouns without using associated words their opponents have prohibited...
Using Computer and Smartphone Vocabulary
Computers and smartphones vocabulary covers the words, verbs, and phrases people use to talk about devices, apps, and online actions in everyday life. Students who lack this vocabulary struggle to describe basic digital tasks clearly, which holds back their ability to communicate naturally in both spoken and written English.
This page covers computers and smartphones vocabulary across A1-A2, A2, B1, and B2 levels, with twelve resources including worksheets, speaking activities, vocabulary games, and a board game, with one activity available as a free download.
When to Use Computer and Smartphone Vocabulary
Describing device problems: When something goes wrong with a device, speakers need precise vocabulary to explain the issue clearly to tech support or a repair shop, such as telling someone that a laptop 'won't connect to the Wi-Fi' or that a phone 'keeps freezing on startup.'
Discussing digital habits in conversation: Everyday conversation regularly turns to how people use their phones and laptops, so learners need vocabulary for talking about habits like how much time they spend on social media, which apps they rely on, or whether they 'back up their files regularly.'
Following and giving tech instructions: Workplaces and classrooms regularly require people to follow or pass on step-by-step instructions for digital tasks, making vocabulary like 'right-click,' 'scroll down,' and 'tap to confirm' essential for anyone who needs to guide or be guided through a process.
3-Step Framework for Teaching Computer and Smartphone Vocabulary
1. Build the Vocabulary Foundation: Start by giving students structured exposure to the key words before asking them to produce anything. A worksheet that opens with matching technology words to pictures, then moves into completing sentences with technology nouns from a box, and then asks students to pair each verb with a noun to form the names of actions they can do on a phone or computer gives learners a logical progression from recognition to use.
2. Put the Verbs to Work: Once students know the vocabulary, a card game that forces them to actively retrieve specific tech verbs locks the words in fast. Players ask each other for the verb card they need to complete a gap-fill question on their worksheet, for example calling out 'Do you have send?' and then using the verb in its correct form when they receive it. If a player is denied the card, they hear 'No. Take one.' and draw from the pile instead, keeping everyone engaged throughout.
3. Push for Fluency Under Pressure: For the final stage, a team description game that forces students to talk around words they cannot say builds the kind of flexible vocabulary knowledge that sticks. Students write their own three keywords for each computer noun card, then swap decks with the opposing team, which means the taboo words are ones their opponents chose, making the constraint genuinely unpredictable. Players have 30 seconds to describe the noun without saying it or using any variation of the banned words, so using 'browsing' is just as illegal as saying 'browser.'
Common Mistakes with Computer and Smartphone Vocabulary
Wrong verb with technology nouns: Students often use a general verb where a specific tech collocation is required, defaulting to a word that feels grammatically safe but does not match standard usage with that noun. Wrong: 'I did a screenshot of the error message.' Correct: 'I took a screenshot of the error message.'
Using 'open' for all app and file actions: Students often use 'open' as a catch-all verb for any interaction with an app, file, or browser function, when English uses different verbs depending on the specific action involved. Wrong: 'I opened the volume on my phone to hear the video.' Correct: 'I turned up the volume on my phone to hear the video.'
Common Questions About Teaching Computer and Smartphone Vocabulary
What is a fun game for teaching computer vocabulary?
The game Smart Pairs turns vocabulary review into a memory challenge: students flip one sentence card and one word card, and if the computer or smartphone word completes the sentence, they keep both cards. Cards that don't match go back face-down in the same spot, so players have to stay sharp and remember where everything is.
What is a good speaking activity for technology vocabulary?
The activity Tech Talk, available as a free download, creates a real information gap: two groups each unscramble a different set of questions about computers or smartphones, then swap partners to interview each other and note down the answers. Students finish by reporting back to the class on what they found out about their partner.
What is a useful worksheet for computer vocabulary?
The worksheet Byte-sized Vocabulary covers both verbs and nouns in sequence: students match nouns to definitions, underline the correct verb in context, match sentence halves, and complete sentences with words from a box in their correct form. Two warm-up discussion questions at the start also give students an immediate chance to activate what they already know.
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