If you’re a language teacher then it’s always a good idea to have a few whiteboard games for the classroom up your sleeve. Fun and interactive whiteboard games can motivate the entire classroom whenever there’s a need for an energy boost and they get students engaging with language in a natural and low-pressure way. So, whether you’re working with kids or adults, if you’re a language teacher you’ll find this list of 12 whiteboard games very useful.
Whiteboard games are especially valuable in English as a foreign language (EFL) settings, where students may feel hesitant to speak or participate at first. These games encourage vocabulary recall, sentence building and collaborative learning, all while making lessons more dynamic. If you’ve completed one of the CELTA courses, you’ll know that creating a communicative and student-centred environment is essential. Doing a CELTA course online or in person is the ultimate way for English teachers to learn all the skills they’ll need in the classroom, as well as practical strategies for keeping students engaged. Whiteboard games are absolutely a part of that, so let’s look at 12 popular games which can be played on the whiteboard.
With this game, you’ll turn your whiteboard into a giant game of Scrabble. Starting with one word in the centre of the board, students take turns adding new words in the language they’re learning which connect to the existing words. This can be played individually, or you can make it a more interactive interactive whiteboard game by grouping the class into teams.
💡 Try this: Introduce a theme (e.g. food or travel) to limit vocabulary and boost topic-specific recall.
One of the most interactive whiteboard games is called “Dictation race”. Here, the class is split into teams and the teacher reads out a sentence. Each team sends one member to the whiteboard to try to write it out accurately, with as few mistakes as possible, or ideally none. It’s the perfect kind of game to play with a language learning class, and it’s a game that is widely shared in teacher training courses for English teachers.
💡 Try this: Use sentences with target grammar or vocabulary, or challenge advanced groups with tongue twisters.
For this fun game, the teacher, or the class as a whole, decides on one subject or category. Students are then given a limited time to write as many words as they can which begin with that letter. This can be done individually on a piece of paper, or the whiteboard can be brought into it with teams having to run up and down towards the board to add their selections.
💡 Try this: Increase difficulty by making students spell the word aloud or use it in a sentence after writing it.
For this challenge, the class is divided into two teams with each side assigned a vocabulary category. It’s then a relay raceto write as many words as possible. Similar to the team version of “Name dash”, it’s about running up and down to the board and about mastering vocabulary, only this time the focus shifts from letter-based thinking to recall by category.
💡 Try this: Make it harder by banning overused words or asking students to justify each word with a sentence or translation.
Add an academic twist to the classic Tic-tac-toe (or Noughts and crosses) game by assigning a language question to each square. If a student wants to select a particular square for their “X” or “O” then they need to correctly answer the question first.
💡 Try this: Include speaking prompts instead of written questions to encourage oral production.
Jeopardy is one of the most popular game shows on TV, and it can work on your whiteboard too. Simply put together a Jeopardy-style board with categories and points values, with students then asked to select their preferred categories and answer questions for points. As a team activity, this is one of the best games to play on a whiteboard in an academic setting.
💡 Try this: Let students create some of the questions themselves. Add “daily double” squares or challenge rounds for more excitement.
With the Hot seat game, one student sits in front of the whiteboard but looking away from it. A word in the target language is written on the board, and the rest of the class have to give clues, also speaking in the language they’re studying, to help the player guess what the word is. If they guess it right, they can then select who sits in the hot seat next.
💡 Try this: Use categories like verbs or professions. Add a timer or allow mime-only rounds to increase difficulty.
For this one, the teacher writes a sequence or a list on the board. Students then close their eyes while the teacher erases one element. Once they’re asked to open their eyes up again, it’s a race to guess what the missing element or object was.
💡 Try this: Include numbers, days, or verb forms to tie the activity to current units.
In this classroom language learning game, the pupils take turns writing words on the board. The game goes as the name suggests, with the next word having to begin with the last letter of the previous word. So, if playing with an English language class, for example, the word “hello” could be followed by “open” which could be followed by “night”. The whiteboard game challenges students to open up their vocabulary and to think of words which end in trickier and rarer letters.
💡 Try this: Set topic restrictions or award extra points for longer or less common words.
Pictionary is a tried-and-true classroom favourite, one which almost all teachers have used at some point. It can work in teams or with the entire class coming together to guess what one student is drawing. In a language classroom, the answers obviously have to be in the foreign language being studied, which injects an extra level of fun and chaos into the guessing process.
This well-loved game is perfect for practising vocabulary and encouraging spontaneous speech.
Hangman is another classic, and it’s perfect for developing foreign language vocabulary skills and helping students to spot language patterns. The rules are known around the world, with one player picking a word and drawing enough blank spaces for each of the letters. The others then take turns guessing letters, with correct guesses being filled in and wrong ones bringing a stick figure closer to being “hung”. If the stick figure is completely filled in, then the main player can say they’ve won, but the entire class will work together to try to prevent that.
💡 Try this: Once the word is revealed, ask students to give a definition or use it in a sentence to earn extra points.
The last on this list of whiteboard games is a great one too. It really uses the full board, starting off with one central circle containing one letter. It then has several spokes extending out to smaller circles and players must come up with a word for each spoke that begins with the central letter. Those smaller circles can then also be extended out, with the same rules applying. The idea is to fill the entire whiteboard with vocabulary, a perfect example of using whiteboards for teaching effectively.
💡 Try this:Use this as a revision game by setting the central letter as the first letter of a unit topic (e.g. “H” for health). Award extra points for less common or longer words.
Whiteboard games are more than just a fun diversion. They’re a practical way to get students participating actively, revising language in context, and staying focused without feeling pressured. They work well as warm-ups, fillers or even as a main activity, depending on how they’re adapted. Thanks to their flexibility, they can be used with different age groups and levels, and can easily be tweaked to suit the specific aims of a lesson. When students are engaged, laughing and using the language naturally, learning tends to happen almost effortlessly. That’s exactly when these games show their true value.
