Making Decisions ESL Games and Activities
In this free spontaneous decisions game, students race to make spontaneous decisions with will and give reasons for decisions. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and reading the situation and question to the group. The first student to respond by making a decision with will and giving a reason for their decision scores three points. The other students then each have a chance to score one point by making their own unique decision and giving a reason. If the first student doesn't form their response correctly, they are out of the round, and the other students can answer. The student with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.
In this fun will for decisions game, students race to match spontaneous decisions to situations. To begin, the reader picks up a card and reads out the situation on the card to the players. The players then race to find an appropriate decision card on the table in response to the situation. The first player to put their hand on a matching decision card and read out the response wins and keeps the two cards. The player with the most cards at the end of the game wins. Students then play again with a new student being the reader to give everyone a chance to play.
In this useful making decisions game, students play dominoes by matching questions to decisions or vice versa. The first player puts a domino down either before or after the domino on the table, making sure the question matches with an appropriate decision or vice versa. The other players then take turns matching their dominoes in the same way by putting them down at either end of the domino chain. The first player to get rid of all their dominoes wins the game.
In this productive making decisions game, students complete second conditional questions about moral dilemmas and guess a partner's decisions. In two groups, students begin by completing second conditional questions about moral dilemmas with verbs in their correct form and adding endings from the choices shown. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group. Working alone, students then guess whether their partner would decide yes or no to each question, marking their answers in the appropriate column. Students then ask the questions to their partner to see if their guesses were right or wrong. Students put a tick for each correct guess. The student with the most correct guesses wins the game. Afterwards, students share some of their partner's decisions with the class.
In this engaging making decisions board game, students practice phrases to make and explain decisions. In groups, players take turns rolling the dice and moving their counter along the board. When a player lands on a square, they pick up a card, read the decision-making scenario aloud to the group, consider their options and then make and explain their decision using two phrases from the game board. For example, if the decision-making scenario was about being invited to two different events on Saturday, the player might say, 'I've decided to join the movie night. I thought this was the best option because I usually go shopping on Saturday afternoons.' The other students listen and judge the player's response. If a player is able to make and explain their decision using both phrases correctly, they stay on the square. If a player takes too long to respond, forms their response incorrectly or can't think of anything to say, they move their counter back two squares. The first player to reach the finish wins the game.
