ESL Games that work in large classes are an essential asset for any language teacher.  Even if you usually teach smaller classes there will surely come a time and place when a can’t-miss game designed for big ESL /EFL classes will come in handy. The Perfect match is the perfect ESL game for BIG classes. This game gets your students talking to each other while using the target language and vocabulary of your choice.

All you need is a set of flash cards with doubles.

Playing is easy and the set-up is minimal.

If you have 40 EFL students you need to have 20 pairs of flash cards (one for each student).

How to play:

1. Pre-teach your lesson’s target language.  Ex, “Do you have?”
2. Shuffle the deck of flash cards and hand out one card to each student.
3. Make sure your ESL students keep their flash card secret until the game begins.
4. Once you say “start” the students have to walk around and mingle with their classmates while using the target language in hopes of finding their Perfect Match. Ex. if a student has a card with a bunny on it they have to find the classmate with the matching card by asking “Do you have a bunny?”
5. Once they find their Perfect Match your students then sit down and raise their hands.
6. The game continues until everyone is sitting down.

I know this game will be as much fun for your ESL /EFL students as it is for mine.  ENJOY!