Making Offers and Promises ESL Games and Activities

In this free making promises and offers game, students race to respond to statements by making promises with will or won't or offers with will or Shall I...? In groups, students take turns picking up a card and reading the statement on the card to the group, e.g. 'I need to go to the airport.' The other students listen and then race to respond with a promise to do something with will or won't or with an offer of help with will or Shall I...? The first student to make an appropriate promise or offer wins and keeps the card, e.g. 'Shall I call you a taxi?' The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. Afterwards, students repeat the game, but this time, each student responds with a funny or imaginative response, and the reader gives the card to the student who gave the funniest or most imaginative promise or offer, e.g. 'I'll take you there in my Ferrari.'

In this enjoyable making offers game, students play dominoes by matching statements to offers of help with will and vice versa. The first player puts a domino down either before or after the domino on the table, making sure the statement or question matches with an appropriate offer. 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 engaging making offers game, students guess missing words in sentences and questions that make offers with will or shall. In pairs, students take turns guessing missing words in offers and reading the complete sentence or question to their partner, who tells them if they are right or wrong. The missing words in each offer are will or shall and a verb. Students get three chances to guess the missing words and must say the exact sentence their partner has on their worksheet to win. If a student guesses correctly the first time, they score three points. On the second try, they score two points, and so on. When a student correctly guesses the missing words, they write them on their worksheet. The student with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

In this productive making offers and promises activity, students respond to statements by making offers with will or shall or promises with will or won't. In pairs, Student A starts by reading the first statement to their partner, who looks at words in a box on their worksheet and replies by making an offer or promise, adding any necessary pronouns or other words to make the response complete. If students see a question mark next to a suitable word in the box, they reply using Shall I...? If there is no question mark, then students reply with I'll... or I won't... as appropriate. If Student B's offer or promise is the same as what's written on Student A's worksheet, they write the offer or promise down. If not, Student B tries again until they get it right. Student A then reads the next statement, and so on, until all the offers and promises have been made correctly. Afterwards, students swap roles and repeat the activity.

In this rewarding making offers game, students practice making offers in various situations using different forms of Would you like...? In pairs, students take turns turning over two cards. If one card shows a situation and the other contains an offer that matches the situation, the student makes an offer with Would you like...?, Would you like to...? or Would you like me to...?, depending on the context. Their partner listens and decides whether the offer is both grammatically correct and appropriate. If it is, the student keeps the cards and has another turn. If not, the student turns the cards back over, keeping them in the same place, and play passes to the other student. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. Afterwards, pairs sort the situation and offer cards into groups based on the different Would you like...? structures.