Wits & Wagers
ESL/ELL Level: Low-Intermediate-Intermediate
Age: 6 and up
No. of Players: 3 and up
In this wonderful game, a question is asked to which no one is going to know the answer—even the teacher—and everyone writes down their best guess on a dry-erase card and puts it in the middle.
Then everyone puts a meeple on the guess they think is probably closest to the real answer.
This is a meeple 🙂
Players with meeples on the answer closest to the actual answer get points and move forward on the board.
It is a very simple and fun game that requires practicing English to play but does not require any particular background knowledge or English skill to win which helps level the playing field when you have students at multiple proficiency levels in the same class.
For instance:
How many times does an average person blink in a day?
You can discuss the question and what it means and have the students repeat the question back to you.
You can discuss the question until everyone understands (which also usually includes a little goofiness) and then everyone takes a guess by writing it down on their card.
If you put students in teams of two or three, then they have to discuss what they are going to write and where they are going to put their meeple–all of which is wonderful English conversation practice.
Because of the nature of the game, students are motivated to understand, remember and discuss—all in English—without the pressure of their success in the game being dependent on their English ability.
If you are interested, I think the Family Edition is best. The questions and gameplay are just more appropriate for elementary or jr. high school students.
