Sports ESL Games, Activities and Worksheets

ESL Sports Activity - Speaking: Information Gap, Asking and Answering Questions, Table Completion - Pair Work In this sport likes and dislikes speaking activity, students ask and answer questions about which sports four people like and dislike playing in order to complete a chart. In pairs, students ask and answer present simple yes/no questions with their partner to complete the missing information in the chart that shows the sports four people like and dislike playing. When the students have finished, they answer four questions based on the completed chart. show less

ESL Sports Vocabulary Games - Vocabulary: Pelmanism, Matching, Categorising - Pair Work Here are a set of fun sports vocabulary games to help introduce beginners to the names of sports. Students begin by playing a sports pelmanism game. In pairs, students take it in turns to turn over one sport picture card and one sport word card. If the picture and word match, the student reads the sport aloud, keeps the two cards and has another turn. The student with the most pairs of cards at the end of the game wins. Students then move on to play a snap style game with the cards. One student takes all the picture cards and the other takes the word cards. Both students turn over a card from their pile at the same time. If the two cards match, the first student to say 'Snap' scores a point. The two students then pick up their own cards, shuffle them and play again. The first student to get ten points wins the game. Finally, the pairs place the word cards face up on the table and categorize the sports according to certain criteria, e.g. team sports, individual sports, sports that use a ball, winter sports, water sports, etc. show less

ESL Sports Questionnaire - Speaking Activity: Completing, Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice In this insightful sports speaking activity, students complete questions about sports with go, play and do and then ask and answer the questions in a Find Someone Who activity. Students begin by completing questions on the worksheet with the verbs: go, play or do. Students then look at the verbs in the questions and think about what the sports have in common when each verb is used and review the rules for go, play and do sports collocations. Next, students write one follow-up question using go, play or do for each question. Students then go around the class asking each other the questions, e.g. 'Do you go cycling?' When a student finds someone who answers 'Yes, I do', the student writes down that person's name and asks the follow-up question to gain more information, noting down the answer. When everyone has finished, students give feedback to the class on what they found out. show less

ESL Sports Vocabulary Games - Vocabulary: Miming, Forming Sentences, True or False, Guessing - Group Work In these free sport vocabulary games, students practice sports vocabulary by playing a miming and true or false game. In groups, students begin by playing a sports miming game. Students take it in turns to pick up a card and mime the sport on the card for the other students to guess. The first student to correctly guess the sport wins and keeps the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner. Afterwards, students play a true or false sports game where they take it in turns to pick up a card and make a personal statement about the sport on the card, e.g. 'I like to play badminton at the park'. The other students then each guess whether the statement is true or false and the answer is revealed. Students score one point for each correct guess. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Sports Board Game - Speaking: Impromptu Speech, Communicative Practice - Group Work In this engaging sports board game, students share their opinions about different sports. In groups, students take turns rolling the dice and moving their counters along the board. When a student lands on a square, they talk about the sports topic on the square for 20 seconds, naming the sport, giving opinions about it and explaining their reasons. If a student can't think of anything to say or stops talking before the 20 seconds are up, they go back two squares. The first student to reach the finish wins the game. show less

ESL Sports Collocations Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Table Completion In this useful sports collocations speaking activity, students learn about sports collocations with go, play and do as well as places where sports are played. First, students look at pictures of sports on the worksheet and write collocations with go, play and do for each sport, e.g. play golf. After that, students prepare questions for each picture to find out who in the class does each sport, where they do it and how often. Next, give each student a sports card, which shows the sport they do, where they do it and how often. Students then move around the classroom asking the questions they have prepared in order to find out who does the other sports on their worksheet. When a student finds a classmate who answers 'Yes, I do' to their first question, they write down their name and ask where the person does the sport and how often, noting down the answers. Afterwards, students compare their answers in pairs and then discuss what sports they do, where they do them and how often. show less

ESL Sports Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice In this productive sports speaking activity, students answer questions about sports and then try to find another student for each question who has the same answer. First, students answer sports questions on the worksheet. Students then go around the class asking and answering the questions from the worksheet to try to find other students who have the same answer. When a student finds someone with the same answer, they write down the person's name and ask a follow-up question to gain more information, noting down the answer. The student then moves on to speak to another classmate. When everyone has finished, students give feedback to the class on what they found out. show less

ESL Sports Games - Vocabulary: Categorising, Pelmanism - Speaking Activities: Forming Sentences,  Answering Questions, Freer Practice - Group Work In these entertaining sports vocabulary games, students practice making connections between sports. The activities consist of a categorizing and pelmanism game to practice verb-sport collocations, a sport similarities game, and a sports discussion activity. First, students play a sports categorizing game where they categorize sports on cards into three groups, according to the verb that is used with each sport: go, play or do. Next, students play a sports pelmanism game to reinforce the verb-sport collocations. Students take it in turns to turn over two sports cards. If the two sports use the same verb, the student keeps the cards and has another turn. Students then move on to talk about similarities between the sports by playing another pelmanism game. This time, when two cards are turned over, the student makes a sentence about how the two sports are similar. If a suitable sentence is made, the student keeps the cards and has another turn. Afterwards, students use the cards to ask and answer questions and develop short conversations about sports. show less

ESL Sports Vocabulary Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill, Categorising, Sentence Completion, Guessing Here is a free sports worksheet to help students practice sports vocabulary and action verbs related to sports. Students start by matching action verbs to pictures. Students then complete sentences about sports with the action verbs. After that, students categorize sports vocabulary, e.g. vocabulary associated with sports equipment, etc. Finally, students secretly choose their favourite team sport and complete sentences using the sports vocabulary from the worksheet. Students then take it in turns to read their sentences to the class who tries to guess the sport being described. show less

ESL Sports Worksheet and Game - Vocabulary Activities: Matching, Listing, Listening, Drawing - Pair Work In this comprehensive sports vocabulary worksheet and game, students learn sports equipment vocabulary and play a describing and drawing game to practice the language. First, students match sports equipment to pictures and write the vocabulary underneath. Students then write which sports equipment can be used with each sport. Students then move on to think of other sports equipment that goes with each sport and add it to the chart, e.g. For baseball, students might add the word 'bat'. After that, in pairs, students take it in turns to read instructions to their partner, e.g. 'In the first box, draw something you wear on your feet when you go ice skating.' Their partner listens and draws the sports equipment being described. Students score one point for each correct picture. The student with the most points wins. show less

ESL Sports Quiz Game - Vocabulary: Gap-fill, Multiple-choice Quiz, Guessing - Group and Pair Work Here is an interesting sports quiz game to help students practice vocabulary related to different sports. In two groups, students begin by completing sports trivia questions with sports-related words from a box. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group and take turns reading each sports trivia question along with three possible answers to their partner, who tries to guess the correct one. For each correct guess, students put a tick next to the question. The student with the most correct guesses at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Sports Board Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Impromptu Speech, Multiple-Choice Questions, Guessing, Freer Practice - Group Work In this enjoyable sports board game, students practice sports-related vocabulary and talking about sports. In groups, players take turns rolling the dice and moving their counter along the board. If a player lands on a 'Talk about' square, they talk about the sports-related topic on the square for 30 seconds without stopping. If a player can't think of anything to say or stops talking before the 30 seconds are up, they go back two squares. If a player lands on a blank square, another student picks up a card from the top of the pile and reads out the question on the card, followed by three possible multiple-choice answers. The player has ten seconds to answer. If the player answers correctly, they remain on the square. If not, they move their counter back two squares. The first player to reach the finish wins the game. show less