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Free ESL Battleship Handouts

3/15/2014

The most popular post on this site is Sink Your Class Today with ESL Battleship.

Now, when I say it’s the most popular, that doesn’t really mean much – it gotten but 178 views this month.

But people like it nonetheless, and I figure I’ll give you some more handouts to use with that game board.

Folks, if you’re not using this game in your class, I’d give it a try. My students really liked it, but I will warn you, they also get tired of it quickly, especially if you play it too often.

So what are these free handouts?

The first two are for your listening round (there are 3 rounds in my ESL Battleship – Listening, Writing, and Speaking).

One has to do with pen pals, and it’s for mid-level students. The next one is about the American holiday of Thanksgiving, and it’s for higher-level students.

Here’s what the pen pals ESL handout looks like:

For the writing round there are also 2 handouts. Both are about the same level, but the questions are slightly different. Here’s what one looks like:

Hopefully these will help you out with classes in the coming weeks. Good luck!

ESL Battleship Writing 1

ESL Battleship Writing 2

Mid-Level ESL Battleship Listening (Pen Pals)

Upper-Level ESL Battleship Listening (Thanksgiving)

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Going Global With Geography

2/20/2014

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Chances are good that vast majority of your students haven’t travelled around the world, and probably haven’t even left their country or even their hometown! But that doesn’t mean they’re not interested.

Your students are interested in the world, even more so now that you’re teaching them. Making a fun and informative ESL Geography PPT is really the way to go, and this post I’ll show you one of them that worked well for me over the five years I was teaching.

Find this and 50 more ESL PPTs on the ESL PowerPoint Games Page

Teaching ESL Geography

This ESL geography lesson is great for the following reasons:

Informative: Students really learn a lot with this lesson and they’ll get the names to some countries they may have been wondering about.

Bilingual: If you’re teaching in China this lesson is great because it has all the names in Chinese and English. If you’re not in China you should be able to go to Google Translate and get what you need fast.

Lengthy: This PPT seems a bit short, just 18 slides, but it really can take awhile if you put some work into it. A little planning before class will give you ten minutes of introduction, then the PPT, and then perhaps a game or activity at the end. That’s pretty easy and honestly, I did that kind of stuff 5 minutes before class.

Let’s go through some of the slides now, huh?

If students write these down it will kill time

Here’s the first or second slide (I usually put a big picture and title slide first) that gives students an idea of what’s coming up.

If your students are anything like mine they’ll probably start copying this down in their notebook. ESL students love to collect vocabulary words, and I think geography is useful.

Most of my students in China didn’t know much about geography, and this ESL Geography PPT is really good to use with the game Where in the World.

Great for spelling and memory games at the end of class

Each of those continents will have a title slide like this, that students dig looking at.

When I taught this I’d go over each country, name them, get the students to repeat, and maybe tell a little of what I know about the place. Ask them what they know too, and you can probably get a few minutes out of this.

Make games with lots of picture slides

Each continent will have one country profiled, and maybe a city. It’s just another chance to show them a picture, which makes it easier to elicit English sentences. Add in more picture slides yourself to get even more time from this.

Here are some good questions to ask for pictures slides:

What do you see?
What colors are there?
What are those buildings?
Is the sky clean?
Would you want to live here?
Have you been here?
What do you know about this place?
What continent is this on?
What is a city in this country?
How do you spell that city?

As you can see, there are lots of options, and you could probably even get a little game out of it if you put some extra planning in before class.

This slide works great to start ESL Geography conversations

The last slide of the ESL Geography PPT looks like this. I taught this a lot with grades 5 and 6, so the conversations were pretty limited. Also, my classes were huge.

If you have a smaller class this will go better. Put them with a partner, have them ask these questions, and have them write down a small dialogue. Here’s an example:

Greg: Hello, Tom!
Tom: Hello, Greg!

Greg: So Tom, what continent do you want to go to?
Tom: Ha, that’s easy – Africa!

Greg: Why do you want to go there?
Tom: Because I love hippos!

Greg: Alright…why?
Tom: I don’t know, they’re beautiful!

Greg: Uh, are you sure you’re OK from that football injury last week?
Tom: The doctor said I was fine.

Greg: Whoa, look at the time, I’ve got to go!
Tom: Alright, bye!

Overall I think you and your students will be impressed with this simple yet effective ESL Geography PPT.

You can make your own pretty easily, or save yourself some time and get this one for $0.99.

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Do You Want Free ESL Jeopardy Games?

1/30/2014

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My ESL students loved playing PowerPoint Jeopardy.

I did it for 5 years, going from simple games to more complex versions. All of these games used an easy Jeopardy PowerPoint Template that you can get online for free. After that you just have to plug your info into 6 different categories.

Today we’ll run through one of the last ESL Jeopardy games I made when I was teaching ESL in China.

This game was for a class of low-level students aged 11 to 13. For many teachers not in China this would be a level you’d find with younger students.

The game was made for students using EF (English First) training center books. That’s why you’ll see that middle category with a picture of some characters – this is the EF story for teens.

Here are the 6 categories I have for this game:

Pictures;
Grammar;
TB (EF Trailblazers Story);
Vocabulary;
Spelling;
World Cities.

This is the standard format I follow with most of my games, except that I usually switch out that last category to something a little different each time. I can keep all those categories the same because this is a template – all I need to do is plug in the appropriate words from the students’ book that week.

I also only use one screen, the one you see above. What that means is I don’t go up to the $1,000 questions. I used to make games that long but found these 30 clues were more than enough for one class, especially when we only play for 20 minutes.

Here are what a few slides look like in the ESL Jeopardy categories.

ESL Jeopardy Pictures Category

Pictures are one of the best ways to get younger and lower-level students talking. Nearly every game will have pictures like this.

This parrot is a pretty easy one, and is a $300 clue. It was a word my students had been studying as we did an animal unit earlier.

Here’s the $400 clue, which most students get wrong. They’ll usually say desert, which I guess could be correct, but we mentioned something with Mars a week or so earlier.

I like to throw fun things in there that make the students groan when they see the answer. It makes it fun for everyone, but especially you. And when you do the same game 5 times you have to be entertained.

ESL Jeopardy Grammar Category

Grammar is a great category, one most students can’t pronounce, and therefore stay away from for most of the game. When they do choose it, however, they find these are some of the easiest questions.

This is the $100 clue and you can see it’s quite easy. I always leave the answer slide blank as the answer could really be anything.

Below is what the $500 clue looks like, which for this level is a little more difficult. I would expect an answer like: “I have a book. I have an elephant.”

Sometimes with this, and with most questions, I’ll let the team give the answer or talk about it so that one person can give it. Usually the class will be divided into two halves. Sometimes if one team doesn’t know I’ll give it over to the other. I never take away points for wrong answers.

ESL Jeopardy TB Story Category

I like to put things into the game that students can find in their book.

Most ESL books will have some kind of story throughout the chapters. This could be similar characters or places or even a theme. Use this to make your games more fun and force students to recall old things.

Here are two slides from this category to give you an idea of what you can do with your ESL student book.

That’s a picture I got from the book and most students don’t remember this short passage about a pen-pal. Some of them might remember seeing the picture, however, so they’ll start to flip through.

These clues are fun to put a time limit on, allowing the other team to guess if the current team can’t find the answer. Always put the page number there in case they don’t find it, and they know you’re not lying.

ESL Jeopardy Vocabulary Category

Vocabulary words are a must for your ESL Jeopardy games. Typically you’ll have a large list of words in the back of the student book. Simply go through and find what works and what doesn’t.

This is another question where I’ll leave the answer slide blank. Here I just want the student to give me a few household items they know, preferably in a sentence. In fact, if they give you a sentence without being asked you might want to give them an extra $100.

It’s always a good idea to put a picture onto your answer slide when you’re doing vocabulary. You want these kids to learn this stuff, and an image only cements those English words into their head more.

This last one is really something that might fit better into the grammar category. I like it because it forces students to say a lot. Here’s a typical answer I’ll accept:

“I always brush my teeth. I usually watch TV. I sometimes go to Hong Kong. I hardly ever eat pizza. I never go to the girl’s WC.”

ESL Jeopardy Spelling Category

Honestly, this is probably one of the worst categories in the game, and let me tell you why.

You have to write out these words before class. If you forget to do it you’re screwed.

I’ve tried shutting the large computer monitor off and then scrolling down to see the answers, but it usually doesn’t work – the students see. I also make so many of these games and have them for set classes that I forget the answers.

If you don’t remember to write down the words you choose, have a book handy or just give out a tough word off the top of your head.

This is also a good category to let the other team have a go at it if one team misses the answer.

ESL Jeopardy World Cities Category

This is another fun picture category that students always love. I start out real easy and always try to have a $500 clue that no one will get.

The London clue is $200 or $300, pretty easy. Students like it a lot and the other team gets angry when it’s something easy. Of course they’re never like that when it’s their turn!

This last one is the $500 clue and hardly anyone in my classes knew it. Act fast because all your students will know Rio come the 2016 Summer Olympics.

I’m Giving These Away for Free…If

Well, you can see that this game is pretty long and pretty fun for students. I’d usually do this at the end of the class, starting when I had about 30 to 40 minutes left. Students liked it, but if I did it too much they got tired of it. Like most ESL activities you need to do keep it fresh, and that requires some planning before.

I can’t sell these games. Well, maybe I could, but I don’t know. First, I’m using this template that I got somewhere else. Second, I can’t sell something with EF pictures in it. Finally, some of those pictures in other categories might be questionable as well.

So that all means that I’ve got to give these PPTs away for free! That’s right, you can have this one for free, and if there’s enough interest I’ll put more on the site.

But that means you have to comment on this post if you’re interested. Just say something like where you’re teaching and how good or bad your classes are.

If enough people do that (10+) I’ll put this game and more out for free – I have about 25 to 30 of them!

Until then, happy teaching!

ESL Jeopardy Game 1 - (Low Level, High)
ESL Jeopardy Game 2 - (Mid Level, Mid)

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Scenic ESL Ocean Getaways: Fun & Games Start For Under $1

1/25/2014

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Around this time back in 2009 I was struggling.

The Chinese New Year holiday had just gotten over, and I was back in the classroom after a good 4 or 5 weeks off.

I had 5 months left on my contract and I did not want to teach another class of Grade 4, 5 or 6!

But I had to. So I sucked it up and started to think of some new ESL PowerPoint ideas that the students might like.

One that popped into my head was something about the oceans. Here’s what I was thinking:

Like all my ESL PPTs, it’d be visual, probably with lots of ocean maps.

Maybe I’d even put some cool pictures in there of ocean animals and ocean ships.

And hey, why not a short conversation or dialogue as well?

I got to work during one of my breaks in the teacher’s office, and this is what I came up with.

ESL Ocean Pictures

The first few ESL slides will show you some great scenic pictures. When I used to teach this class I’d often have students shout out what they saw, ask questions about what they were seeing, or jut talk with their classmates in Chinese.

Usually I’d stop on each slide and elicit some ‘Wh’ questions like “What do you see, Where is this” or even things like “Is this sunrise or sunset?” It gets students a little excited and gets things going.

I’d say you can get about 5 to 7 minutes out of this, maybe more if you do a good job eliciting responses from your ESL students.

ESL Ocean Maps

I wanted to teach a little geography with this lesson so I got maps of each ocean and stuck them in.

These pictures are pretty cool because they show the bottom of the oceans, meaning your ESL students can really see some of those underwater mountains and trenches.

Some of the maps are a little close up, and this one in particular was put in because it was the sea closest to where I was teaching, Shenzhen near Hong Kong. If I were you I’d just take this slide and put your own picture right in there.

There are a total of 5 ocean maps in the ESL Oceans PPT, although you can easily add more. And don’t forget there are many inland seas and large lakes. Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and could make a cool lesson all by itself.

I kept the maps low on this PPT because I was teaching younger students at the time and it just would’ve been too much for them. I usually got about 10 to 15 minutes out of it.

ESL Ocean Animals

The ocean’s all about weird and strange animals, and this slide showing a jellyfish was always fun.

Remember, each slide shows the picture first, and then you have to click to get the different lines of text. My students, especially the younger students, would “ooohhh” and “aaahhh” and talk to their friends for a minute.

They’d be excited to know the name of these animals in English, especially this shark! The language in the ESL PPT is pretty easy where you can read it and explain it and they’ll generally understand.

There are 6 cool slides like this, and if you time it right you should be able to get 5 to 10 minutes out of it.

ESL Ocean Boats & Ships

Students like ships and the oceans have lots of them. I included 12 ships, boats, and other cool ESL ocean transportation slides for your students to get excited about.

You have to figure I lived right on the coast when I was teaching, so many of my students saw these kinds of boats frequently.

Ferries, sailboats, and yachts all have slides, and my students were quickly saying the names in both English and Chinese – in other words, they were learning.

Here you can see an aircraft carrier, something my Chinese ESL students always got excited about. Typically I’d get around 15 to 20 minutes out of this longer section in the ESL Oceans PPT.

ESL Ocean Dialogue

The last slide is an ESL conversation slide. If you’ve downloaded any of my ESL PowerPoints before then you know that I like putting these in there.

ESL conversations are great ways to get your students talking about what they just learned. And it also gives you a little downtime as they work together, talking mainly in their own language to produce something in writing that they’ll then read out loud to the class.

You can then sit back and take notes on their performance, pointing out a few grammar flaws and pronunciation errors. This one is pretty simple, and is good for lower- to mid-level students. Expect to get 10 minutes or more depending on how you approach it.

Making Your Own ESL PowerPoints

You can add in more slides to this PPT if you’d like, and what’s so groovy about these ESL PowerPoints, they work great as templates.

Simply use the same design over and over and find your own pictures. I mean, let’s be honest – these aren’t scientific or technological breakthroughs here.

They’re PPTs I made in the teacher’s office and in my crappy ESL dorm in the evening. They took a bit of time, and that’s really what you’re paying for here – time.

See, when you get an ESL PowerPoint like this you save yourself a lot of time planning and producing. That opens you up to do all manner of other things you could be doing. Pretty good for $0.99, huh?

This ESL Oceans PowerPoint is a win-win for everyone! So what are you waiting for? Download your copy right now.

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76 Slide ESL Christmas PowerPoint Just $0.99

12/8/2013

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Christmas is here! Yea!

Yeah, but if you’re anything like me you’re more like ‘meh.’

But the truth is if you’re an ESL teacher you’re going to be doing something with Christmas. Either you’ll be having some kind of Christmas event or party, head out for some kind of Christmas field trip with your students, or just try to mention it in class.

If you’re going to mention Christmas in your ESL class then I encourage you to check out this ESL Christmas PowerPoint.

This ESL Christmas PowerPoint has 76 slides and is great for a variety of reasons. First of all it’s wonderful for young children. I did this ESL Christmas PPT with my grades 4 and 5 students one year and they liked it a lot. I’ve also done it with older students and they got a few laughs out of it as well.

Here are some of the features this ESL Christmas PPT has for you:

Vocabulary Slides

It has more than 20 different vocabulary slides. These have great Christmas words like Sleigh, Reindeer, Fireplace, Bells, Christmas Presents, and more.

My students always loved seeing these pictures, even though I was usually the only one talking about them. And if you want to play some computer PPT vocabulary games these could be a good place to start.

Christmas Music

The PPT has lots of different songs. I have all of these audio tracks from when I was an ESL teacher, but I can’t include them with the PPT because of copyright issues.

But if you’re anything like me I bet you can go and find them pretty easily, or if you email I might be able to help you out. There are 11 songs, meaning this class could take awhile! All of the lyrics are in the PPT so if teaching Christmas Music is your thing this will work great.

Santa vs. Aliens

I did this PPT one year and when Christmas came around the next year I wanted to mix it up a little bit. That’s why I made up this story about Santa vs. Aliens. It’s a fun little story that you can get your students to read, and maybe even act out. And if nothing else it’ll kill about 5 to 10 more minutes of class for you.

Well, What Are You Waiting For?

This should serve as a great starting point for you to showcase Christmas to your ESL students. In the coming weeks I’ll put up some great ESL Christmas coloring sheets, ESL Christmas games, and other cool things – many of them for free. Until then share this $0.99 ESL Christmas PowerPoint with your students!

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Try Where in the World Free!

11/17/2013

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I just don’t understand why a lot of people aren’t downloading this awesome ESL PowerPoint – Where in the World. This is a fun ESL PowerPoint game, and it’s free!

That’s right, a few months ago I put the first 2 ESL games for free. A couple days ago I was looking at my site analytics report and I saw that hardly anyone’s looked at this game.

Then I realized that I hadn’t really talked it up that much since making it free. Well, here goes.

Free ESL PowerPoint Game

This fun and easy ESL game only has 28 slides, for a total of 14 pictures. Students need to name the city, country, or continent that the picture shows to get points.

The catch is, I always take the very first word out of the students’ mouth. So if there’s a great picture of Beijing, and they know it’s Beijing, but they get excited and yell out China, well, that’s going to be less points.

How Does it Work?

I always show a copy of my world map, which is saved right in My Documents so that it’s easy to pull up. I tell them that the world has seven continents, and ask them to name a few. They’re pretty good.

I then ask how many countries there are. A lot of students will come close. There are about 206 to 207, depending on the world situation at the time. After that I ask how many cities, and I get a groan. I don’t know, millions.

Points are Simple:

Continent = 1 point
Country = 2 points
City = 3 points.

If one team doesn’t know, I give the other team a chance. If one team gets the continent or country, I give the other team a chance to get the next answer.

I really hope that you check out the free game I offer in this exciting series. If you like it you can buy more, or make your own,. It’s pretty easy, and it will help you get through those last frustrating 20 minutes of class. So what are you waiting for? Download this free ESL game today!

And don’t forget you can buy more for just $0.99 if your students love it – and they will!

Game 1
Download Free!

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4 (Low Level)

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New ESL Cartoon Creator

9/25/2013

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Wow, I found a great ESL tool today!

I’m writing a book for a guy in Malaysia right now about getting backlinks for your site. One that I was looking into was creating cartoons to draw traffic to your site. While exploring sites that allow you to create those cartons I stumbled on one that is great for ESL classes.

The name of the site is Make Belief Comix and I wish I would’ve known about it when I was teaching ESL. Here’s a look at the cartoon I was able to make in less than 10 minutes:

Each comic can be three panes long, and you have a wide selection of things to choose from for your ESL cartoon. They include:

Multiple characters;
Thought and conversation bubbles;
Background colors;
Story titles.

That’s a lot of great stuff, and if you have a one-one-one ESL student you can probably make one right on the computer. If you don’t you can go to the site and make up cartoon templates.

Here’s one that I made real quick:

ESL Students Can Write Anything!

That’s pretty simple and it took me a few minutes. It doesn’t have to look real fancy for your ESL students to enjoy it. Here are a few ways you can benefit:

If you make a dozen templates you can easily print one in a rush before class;

Students have fun doing this in pairs or small groups, giving you a rest;

It’s great for presenting to parents and can take about 3 minutes each group;

You have something that shows writing, teamwork, creativity, spelling, and grammar.

What’s not to like? Check out this great ESL cartoon creator site today to make your ESL classes more fun!

Also check out these other great articles on ESL Cartoons.

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More ESL Cartoon Dubbing Worksheets

8/1/2013

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I really used this activity a lot when I was still living and teaching in China. All of my students loved doing it, even the ones that didn’t love anything. It’s perfect for pair work and you can do it with one-on-one tutoring students as well.

You can read my original ESL Cartoon Dubbing post here.

All you need to do is go around Google and find comic strips. Here’s a good example of one of my earlier ones with Peanuts:

After that you need to erase all of the text, copy the image into a Word document, and then print and cut them out.

It’s always a good idea to model a completed cartoon dubbing comic strip to your ESL students. The funnier you make it, the more fun the class will have and the better the activity will be.

Let each student, pair, or group stand up to present their comic strip to the class. Rolling dice is a great way to choose your ESL students at random!

I know you’ll have fun with this cool ESL activity, and that’s why I’ve put some more cartoons up on my Free ESL Worksheets page. I hope you and your students have a blast with these great ESL cartoon dubbing worksheets!

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Free ESL PowerPoint: Deserts of the World

7/5/2013

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When I was teaching ESL in public schools I quickly learned to always have PowerPoints. Some of the better PowerPoints were those that dealt with places. Having ESL PowerPoints with pictures really helps a lot. Students can see places that they know, and translating that into English and their first language won’t be too difficult.

I made several ESL geography PowerPoints, highlighted countries and oceans, and showed the different regions of the world. Students always enjoyed them, and there was a lot of new vocabulary words for those that were actually interested.

ESL Deserts PowerPoint

One of the better PowerPoints is Deserts of the World. This ESL PowerPoint will work great with the Desert Escape ESL adventure game. You can spend one week showing this to your classes and then play the game the next week or two. That could take you a month with some classes!

Here are a few things you should do before class:

Start off by downloading the PowerPoint and going through the different slides;
You’ll see a map of the world with 10 deserts highlighted;
You’ll then see a table showing the size of those deserts;
Next you’ll go through each of those 10 deserts one-by-one.

What is a Desert?

What gets many students right away is that the first desert shown is in the Antarctic. Most will say that a desert can’t have snow, but you’ll have to remind them of what the definition of a desert is. Scientists classify areas receiving 250mm of rainfall or less each year as a desert. Many cold regions, even though they’re covered in snow and ice, don’t get that much rain each year.

Not happy? Your students probably won’t be either, and that will spur them to debate. Let them argue back and forth and just sit back and smile as the clock ticks away on your ESL class.

Fun Deserts

I loved doing this ESL PowerPoint in class for a very simple reason: I could easily tie in a movie. When you get to the Kalahari Desert you’ll be able to explain that people actually live in the desert year round.

Perhaps you’ve seen the movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy.” You can find it on many online sites, particularly in China where I was teaching. It’s great to show the first 10 to 15 minutes to let the students see what life is like in that desert. And hey, you can always show the whole movie later in the year, or even that class!

Here’s a link for the video:
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/_2wACVThpL0/

Desert Vocabulary

There’s a lot of vocabulary you can throw at your ESL students with this PowerPoint. First, you have all the words that go with deserts near the end of the presentation. Make sure you present a lot of these words before class, like:

Continents
Sand Dune
Empty
Dry
Cactus
Cacti
Oasis
Mirage

Those words are a great place to start and you’ll probably find that your students can come up with many more.

Have fun with the ESL Deserts of the World PowerPoint, available for free on esladventure.com!

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ESL Adventure Game: Desert Escape

6/29/2013

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I’ve decided to put a new ESL adventure game up on the site for $1.99. This game is called Desert Escape, and like its name implies, you’ll be trying to escape from a desert. To download the game, click the Buy Now button below.

I came up with this game when I was teaching English in China with EF. They had a chapter in one book about deserts, so I thought this would be a fun game to make. I was also heavily influenced by the old Sierra computer game, King’s Quest V. This game came out back in 1990 and the map you’ll use for Desert Escape is a very similar to that game.

How This ESL Game Works

You’ll have to go through this ESL PowerPoint yourself long before you go to class. It’s a big game, 104 slides, and there are lots and lots of hyperlinks. Navigating through the game can be difficult, that’s why you’ve got to do it before class.

Map: There is a map included with the game. I’ve got both a .jpeg and a Word document so you can print it out or put it up on the screen. You’ll need this map to see where the students choose to go. The rule of thumb is that if the students go 5 screens, or squares on the map, without finding water, they die. When they find the desert nomad you can give them the map.

Temple: In this game there is an ancient temple. Students might be able to wander up around the cliffs and find it, but they won’t be able to get in. You see, the temple door is locked and they need to get a key. To do that, they’ll probably have to wander around some more, or find the map. The game will ultimately end inside the temple.

Bandit Camp: At the far corner of the map is a bandit camp. These bandits have the key to the temple, but the students need to think of a clever and creative way to get it. There are also 5 smaller tents that students can look in to find useful things. You’ll also have a chance to fight some bandits, which you’ll do with dice.

Oases: There are several squares on the map marked as Oasis. These will allow the students to get a drink and continue on. When they reach one of these they start walking fresh, meaning you start over at zero squares moved.

Aliens: When I made this game originally I had aliens in it. It was part of the book I was using and it’s a big part of the story. I’ve taken most of the stuff out, but you have to realize there are some aliens looking to get in that temple. They’re walking around the desert, so when you and the students get bored, go to the aliens screen. Here you can fight, which is pretty much just rolling dice. My students always liked it and I know yours will too.

This ESL adventure game gives you many choices at the bandit camp.

Petra, in southern Jordan, serves at the final act of the game.

Your ESL students will quickly find out that an oasis is their best friend.

You’re going to need a few extra things to run this game properly, and that will take a little preparation work on your part.

Map: You’ll need to print out a few copies of the map. I’d make this on heavier construction paper or card stock if you’ve got it. When I printed them like that I crumpled the maps up in my hands so that they look used. If you have a map that is all wrinkled and torn it really makes it look authentic and your students will get a kick out of it when you finally pass it out to them. Make a few copies for however many groups you’ll have.

Your students will get this map once they find the desert nomad.

Extra Materials Included

Audio: This game has some audio files, which you’ll see when you go to those slides. I’ve never embedded the audio, which means if you want to listen to it within the game you’ll need to delete the current audio file icon, got to insert and click on movies and sound. Then insert a new audio file. You’ll be able to search and find the file. When a message box comes up, type in ‘play on click.’ After that you’ll have to redo the custom animations so those audio icons show up last. It’s a pain, so you might just want to minimize the game and play from the folder.

Dialogues: Also included are the actual transcripts of the dialogues. If you don’t want to fiddle around with the audio files you can simply print out these character dialogues and read them at the appropriate time. It’ll be easier for many teachers and you can change them around a bit. One note, Khan is the name of the alien’s leader, or was when I first made this game. You can change it if you want.

Teacher Notes: There’s a detailed set of teacher notes that I wrote up for this game when I was doing workshops and telling other teachers about it. I’ll include those as well, and they’ll really get into the details on which slides take you where, how to find the nomad, and what happens when the kids die. It will answer most questions and should help a lot.

Well, I hope you like Desert Escape. My students really loved it when I broke it out and many other teachers gave it a try. It’s a huge game so it’ll take you 45 to 60 minutes. You might even want to break it up over 2 classes. Let me know if you like it and if there’s anyway to make it better.

If you want to get even more time out of deserts, check out this FREE Deserts of the World ESL PowerPoint.

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Teaching ESL Geography

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Free ESL PowerPoint Game

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Game 4 (Low Level)

ESL Deserts PowerPoint

What is a Desert?

Fun Deserts

Desert Vocabulary

How This ESL Game Works

Extra Materials Included

Greg Strandberg

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